last updated: 06 March 2010
On a stormy Sunday night, I rushed back to Mecidiyeköy to meet with Özgür and watch Avatar. The film started at 21 and at 20 I was still Bahçelievler and my car’s alarm system was suddenly broke. I and dad disabled the alarm system so I could drive and be on time. It was so rainy that I even stopped listening to music and fully concentrated on the road because the visibility was very low. Anyway it was all worthy.
1. It was the first 3D movie I watched and I loved it. See, the plot is somewhat cliche and there are many movies with cliche plots but have great visuals. Still they are not good for movie buffs. Here, despite a level of cliche you can find in the movie, you will still love it because of the visuals. Boy, they have created really glorious 3D stuff.
2. A very realistic narration of colonial invasion in a Sci-Fi form. White Man exterminating the Indian… However, relatively happy ending here. So not all realistic.
3. The first half: think of it as an anthropologist doing traditional fieldwork among natives, trying to get the native point of view and gone native in the end.
4. Add to the narrative a new Sci-Fi element. Avatar usage. A similar practice seen in Snow Crash and in some other new Sci-Fi novels.
Avatar earns $232.2m in opening weekend
That’s the biggest ever for a non-sequel. It earned $73m in the U.S, the rest abroad. The LA Times points out that many on the east coast were snowed in by the worst blizzard in a decade,….
Avatar
I recently had a chance to see the movie Avatar in glorious IMAX 3D, which is the only way I would recommend anyone see the film. It is certainly not a film one sees for the writing, or the characters, or the story telling. It is a spectacular display of visual pyrotechnics, and I should probably leave it at that. However, the film is like a giant anthropological piñata and after two days of sitting on my hands I can?t hold off any more.
When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like “Avatar”?
Critics have called alien epic Avatar a version of Dances With Wolves because it’s about a white guy going native and becoming a great leader. But Avatar is just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy. Spoilers…
What storytelling risks could Avatar have taken?
Illustration: =Em-j-akahana Avatar doesn’t have a bad story, but its unswerving direction does make it a predictable one. Since the internet’s already hashed out the cultural angles of James Cameron’s splendid epic, let’s take a look at the storytelling mechanics–something he approached with a caution only $400M buys. What risks could Cameron have taken to add some surprise, without spiking the straightforward narrative? Here’s five ideas to get us started…
Avatar: What did they eat?
First off a quick link on avatar and anthropology: a brief article on anthropologist (and Melanesianist!) Nancy Lutkehaus helping plan the Navi.
Avatar
One of the most difficult things to get right in movies about aliens or the future is matching the cultural and technological sophistication of a people with their environment and history. In Avatar, the Na’vi are portrayed as a Stone Age tribe, living in relatively small groups and essentially ignorant or uninterested in technology beyond simple knives and bows. But the Na’vi are also very physically capable, obviously very intelligent, aware of their global environment, well-nourished, healthy, omnivorous, adaptive, and even inventive. They have domesticated animals, are troubled by few serious natural predators, can live in different environments, have easy access to many varied natural resources (for sustenance and building/making), and can travel and therefore communicate over long distances (dozens if not hundreds of miles a day on their winged animals).
Is blue the new black? Why some people think Avatar is racist
I am back after the holidays. Christmas day was bracketed by breaking news on health care on Christmas Eve and the underpants bomber on Boxing Day, but for the last few days I have been enjoying some time with the family.
Pocohontar
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
Avatar makeup tutorial for men
from Boing Boing by Xeni Jardin
AVATAR: Shock and Awe
I spent a great deal of effort avoiding the pre-release hype surrounding Avatar. I didn?t go to the Comic-Con session about it or read any of the online buzz or previews or reviews or interviews. The reason I did this is because I wanted to give this movie a chance to win me over when I finally got to see it. I wanted it to work. I really did.
Avatar Now the Biggest Movie Ever Worldwide
from Mashable! by Christina Warren
AVATAR: Shock and Awe
I spent a great deal of effort avoiding the pre-release hype surrounding Avatar. I didn?t go to the Comic-Con session about it or read any of the online buzz or previews or reviews or interviews. The reason I did this is because I wanted to give this movie a chance to win me over when I finally got to see it. I wanted it to work. I really did.
Oscar Caliber: Soldiers in Avatar and The Hurt Locker
(This occasional contribution comes from the team of Ken MacLeish and Zo? H. Wool. Ken is a doctoral candidate in anthropology and the Program in Folklore, Public Culture and Cultural Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He conducted 12 months of intensive fieldwork with soldiers and military families at and around the U.S. Army?s Ft. Hood in Killeen, TX. His dissertation explores the impacts of war and military institutions in everyday life via the concepts of attachment, vulnerability and exchange. Zoe is a doctoral candidate in socio-cultural and linguistic anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her dissertation is titled Emergent Ordinaries at Walter Reed Army Medical Center: An ethnography of extra/ordinary encounter. It focuses on the dialectic of the ordinary and extraordinary in the lives of soldiers who are marked by violence. )
On the whole, the movie is beautiful, but it feels like the main goal was to showcase fancy special effects. The movie would have benefited from more detailed characters, and a less linear and predictable plot. My rating is 6/10.