What we are watching is not "Avatar", but the loneliness of a strange creature named James Cameron for thirteen years.
I don't know the technical details, but from a personal perspective, "Avatar" is a milestone in the advancement of 3D movies. When you face the giant screen of the IMAX system, put on red and blue glasses, the deafening surround sound is whistling in your ears, and then you look at the overwhelming Na'vi people and the monsters on the Pandora star like a torrent, that shocking feeling Enough to be recorded in the annals of history-on December 28, 1895, when the Lumière brothers screened "Factory Gate" and "Train Arrival" in a Paris café, mankind once felt this shock, a hundred times apart. After more than a year, the audiences of the world, who have been generally fatigued by Hollywood's visual effects, finally felt the shock of a long-lost in "Avatar" again.
Regardless of the final trend of 3D technology, "Avatar" has already injected a strong shot into the world film industry. Don't use a projector or Blu-ray DVD, which is not in the face of IMAX-3D represented by "Avatar". Worth mentioning. After experiencing the temptation of small screens for half a century, James Cameron finally let us discover: It turns out that big screens have great wisdom. It is conceivable that after "Avatar", the IMAX-3D hall will spring up like mushrooms. Appeared in the theater. However, it is said that "Avatar" is to the world film history just like "The King of Jazz" (the world's first sound film) and "Vivacious World" (the world's first color film) opened up (2D to 3D) new The times may be a bit premature. First of all, the technology used in "Avatar" has been used by predecessors before, but this time Cameron has improved a lot, but there is no revolutionary innovation. Furthermore, it is difficult to say that 3D movies that cannot be watched with the naked eye have universal significance, and although the whole body texture of Na'vi people is unprecedentedly detailed and realistic, from the eyes of human eyes, the difference between CG and real-life performances is still obvious. To be honest, I think that a truly mature 3D movie should be supplemented by virtual reality technology, and should choose realistic themes rather than fantasy themes-the so-called "painting ghosts are easier to paint dogs difficult", once CG can completely eliminate animation and The difference between live-action movies is the arrival of a brand-new movie era. Moreover, in the long run, the maturity and popularization of technology will inevitably lead to a decrease in costs. Here, it is not difficult to make a futuristic conjecture: after N years, human beings may not be engaged in writing to a large extent. (Out of respect for the Chinese students, I politely used "to a large extent" as an adverb to avoid the judgment of the full name), and use images as the most important medium for human artistic creation and information expression. Imagine that in the school of the future, teachers are assigning homework: children, today’s homework is a 90-minute sci-fi blockbuster per person—the development of technology and the drop in costs make the film a completely personal work , The children go home and click the mouse, and the ideas in their minds can be expressed in images (this also means that the film and television actors are completely reduced to the legendary ancient profession).
Of course, in the current era, the technology of IMAX-3D plus virtual reality is still a legend for Chinese movies and Chinese filmmakers. Although many Chinese technical elites have joined the special effects production team of Hollywood blockbusters, although we are also using CG technology sporadically and claiming to keep up with the world trend, fundamentally speaking, Chinese movies still lack the driving force for technological progress—— In a movie market where the relevant departments call for trouble, and the combination of stars like a variety show can make a steady profit, which investor would take such a big risk to invest in emerging movie technology? You know, after "Titanic", Cameron dormant for thirteen years to practice "Avatar" (of course, "Avatar" is also to practice his "Bunker Dream")-this reminds me John Nash, a mental patient who made Princeton University wait for nearly thirty years, finally added a Nobel Medal to Princeton’s room of honor; Hollywood, which the literary and artistic youths sneered at, even tolerated Cameron’s crazy "wandering" for 13 years, and bet him 500 million US dollars at a time. The Hollywood of "Flies" is not a bad Bole, and the young people of art and literature have indeed been a bit harsh on their attitude before. Imagine that more than half a century ago, Truffauers called out the chant of "author movies" in order to resist the suppression of the commercial film system. Now it seems that Cameron has completely integrated industrial capital and individual authors into one. .
But having said that, the story of "Avatar" is a bit old-fashioned (don't use words like "This is a story ten years ago" to excuse the gods. Haven't the myths and stories from thousands of years ago been photographed by later generations? Appearing in the moment, of course, it should be judged from the perspective of the moment), and it is full of shadows of other movies: at first, watching the U.S. Marines stationed in the jungle, it feels like a "Field Platoon"; Jack Sally "moved" "Soul" to his Avatar, and clearly used the routine of "The Matrix" (for Sally, Pandora's Journey is like a video game journey. If there is a comeback in the sequel, tell the audience what is behind. It’s all fictitious in Sally’s mind, and the story is fully established); later the native Princess Na'vi rescued Sally from the beast, which was obviously the way of "Pocahontas"; then Sally went to Harry Taming Tyrannosaurus beasts on Luya Mountain, the scene is very similar to "City in the Sky"; in the end, Sally led the Na'vi people to counterattack the earth army (actually the US army), which is obviously a repeat of the motif of "Dancing with Wolves" ; When the war broke out, the six-legged horses on the ground and the tyrannosaurus beasts that covered the sky and the sun gave me the illusion of watching "Lord of the Rings." The big mechanical guy gave me the association of "The Ninth District" again-when you think about it carefully, the ideological connotations of "The Ninth District" and "Avatar" are the closest. Both are after the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9•11. In the sci-fi blockbuster, the aliens in the film have changed from the evil spirits of the Iron Curtain era to the underprivileged group (it is not an exaggeration to regard "Avatar" as a cosmic anti-demolition war), two films Almost all are images and illustrations of Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations".
Cameron is known as a "technical maniac", but in "Avatar" he reflects on the evil consequences of pursuing material technology (in a deeper sense, this is a reflection on modernity), and the weapon of thought he uses is animist. Primitive pantheistic thinking. The big pigtails of the Na'vi people in the Qing style became the medium of communication between them and other creatures on the planet Pandora. At the moment when the sacred tree was about to be destroyed, thousands of creatures attacked together and beat the Earth (US) colonial army to piss off. Of course, the "Eva" god of the Na'vi is still full of the shadow of the Christian Virgin worship. The Pandora star under Cameron's guide tube is also extremely harmonious, vividly reflecting the green world view of the ecological age-but considering the cost of "Avatar", this should be a not environmentally friendly "high-carbon movie."
As for the styling of the Na'vi in "Avatar", it is obviously an enlarged and upgraded version of the Native Americans. No way, it is said that when Cameron racked his brains to design the Na'vi people, he considered the acceptance of the male audience-so the Na'vi people can't be too dissimilar to people, otherwise, what about the sex scene of the hero and heroine in the film? put? It can't be made into "Animal World", right? (Poor Zoe Saldana never showed her face from beginning to end) Now it seems that Princess Na'vi’s bikini works well, and the tail behind her ass also has the allure of a sexy kitten—it’s a bit naive , But you don’t have to blame Cameron. Movies are made for people to watch. People can’t get rid of their limitations. In the process of exploring the universe, in fact, we can't really accept the existence of life that is very different from ours (in fact, the word "life" itself has already explained our finitude), just like what Lyme said in "Solaris" As written: "We are looking for people, not existences other than people. We don't need a world other than people. What we need is a mirror of people themselves." (It is worth mentioning that Came, 2002 Long once served as a producer to remake a piece of "Solaris")
More than a hundred years ago, Nietzsche once prophesied the "eternal reincarnation" aphorism. Perhaps, when the unprecedented visual epic created by new technology emerged on the horizon of the movie At that time, audiences are tired of the so-called modern and post-modern artistic exploration. The long-distance folktales have been packaged by 3D, CG and even VR technology and began to reappear-this is the "eternal reincarnation" of film history (here The metaphysical appropriation of the term): the combination of the latest technology and the oldest story, does it mean that the axis of a new film era is slowly unfolding?
Despite all the shortcomings, the significance of "Avatar" cannot be ignored-"Avatar" is a manifesto, "Avatar" is a propaganda team, "Avatar" is a planter, try to see the theater of the future, it must be the world of IMAX-3D!
Regrettably, for Chinese filmmakers, "Avatar" may only be an unattainable legend in their lifetime.
This is not a question of money.
So, don't be obsessed with "Avatar".
(Southnet special manuscript, the source must be indicated for reprinting.)
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