I have never been too devoted to the scenes when watching movies, and I am often exhausted by the lengthy and gorgeous scenes, but this movie made me watch it with great interest. In addition to the scenes, the film does have its place worth recalling.
The film is said to have been conceived by the screenwriters in the 1970s, but the elements presented are quite "fashionable" -- many of which have been the subject of much recent rethinking and discussion, especially regarding science, technology, and the environment. For example, at the beginning, the genes of humans and aliens were fused through DNA technology, such as advanced military equipment, communication technology and so on. What strikes me most, however, is the film's exploration of the relationship between man and nature, human beings (represented by Americans) and aliens.
The predatory capture of nature by human beings has aroused extensive reflection, and the frequent occurrence of abnormal natural disasters has aroused more and more people's nervousness about the environment. AVATAR, released after the fruitless Copenhagen climate summit, was a timely response to the theme of the relationship between man and nature. On environmental issues, human beings are more of an alternative to linear thinking about technology and industrialization progress. We need to ask ourselves, is endless development, expansion, and consumption our only option? Can we embrace radically different lifestyles?
The Alien Life Philosophy in AVATAR aims to provide such a revelation to humanity. They are strong and agile, connected with nature, full of affection for all things, and play the role that nature has given them. Granted, what we need is not to follow their exact path. We cannot completely retreat into the forest as hunters, we cannot fully surrender the hopes of this species to the arrangements of mystical forces, and we cannot overthrow a civilization built by thousands of years of human history. But that doesn't eliminate the possibility of us borrowing from a very different system. For example, aliens regard all life as a part of the energy cycle, and firmly believe that the energy in life is only borrowed and temporarily deposited in life, and eventually returns to the energy circle. This concept is not unfamiliar to us, but the firm belief in it has well lubricated the harmony between aliens and nature.
Can our modern civilization borrow this concept? Do we think our cars, ships, and factories are naturally borrowing energy, or do we take it for granted that energy exists to be used by cars, ships, and factories? Should we be grateful and apologetic to the creatures, minerals, and nature from which we derive our energy, or should we be irritated, annoyed, and hated for the inconveniences they cause us to use energy directly? Are we going to conquer nature or depend on nature? These questions are not unfamiliar, but in the long history, the original answers in multiple directions have been gradually obscured by a dominant voice, so that re-presenting these questions requires overcoming many internal and external obstacles.
Another interesting theme in AVATAR is the relationship between humans and aliens. First of all, since aliens only exist in people's imagination so far, and people are unlikely to imagine objects that they have not perceived at all, so I believe that human's imagination of aliens is more about real life. Hybridization and projection of experiences of various things. Americans in Hollywood blockbusters often fight aliens. In recent movies, "Transformers", "District 9" and so on have such content. And AVATAR is also a continuation of this theme. On the one hand, the fact that Americans are fighting aliens shows Americans' self-awareness: they have become so powerful that they can't find any opponents on earth, and they can only imagine powerful aliens to vent their power. However, as I said earlier, the fantasy of aliens is rooted in reality, so the aliens in the movie often find the shadows of various groups on the earth. For example, in District 9, the multinational organization knocks on alien doors one by one, sometimes encountering submissive civilians, sometimes encountering dangerous rebels. Such a scene inevitably reminds me of the plot of the US military searching the streets of Afghanistan and Iraq one by one. The aliens in AVATAR also have traces of more abundant real populations, and they seem to have multiple identities.
First of all, this group of aliens are the natives of their planet. This is clearly demonstrated by the title in the film. The expression "indigenous people" is used in the film. When it comes to the battle between the Americans and the aborigines, I can't help but think of the invasion of the Indians by the British and French colonists. The plot in AVATAR, in which the Americans drive natives from their habitats for the sake of minerals, seems to imply a criticism of this aggressive thinking.
The second identity of the aliens is the opponent of the Americans. The military commander in the film unequivocally states that for these dangerous opponents, "fighting terror with terror" is reminiscent of the anti-terrorist brand of America's global war. Just as people can see that the aliens in the film are innocent, more and more Americans now understand that many so-called "terrorists" are just political forces brought by the US government and military to their targets in order to wage war. The hat is their political rhetoric.
The third identity of aliens is more complicated, that is, are they human? The question of "what is a person" is more difficult to answer, but the judgment of "what is not a person" is generally not too complicated. For example, we can generally clearly distinguish most species in nature that are different from us. But in AVATAR, aliens do not draw a clear line between themselves and other species, and they often make physical and mental connections with each species (bind). Moreover, the investors of the mining plan and the military officers in the film obviously did not regard the aliens as human beings, so they carried out attacks recklessly. This vague identity of aliens raises another question about the relationship between man and nature. We generally advocate and support "human rights" in human politics. Then, should we also respect "seed rights" when living with nature? "(species rights)? The aliens in the film obviously respect the "seed rights" of various species, so they have sacred feelings for each creature.
All in all, AVATAR has shown some new ideas in dealing with the relationship between humans (represented by Americans) and aliens. Compared with previous films such as "Independence Day" that described aliens, aliens are no longer simply abominable invaders, and the film begins to understand aliens from a sympathetic perspective. In District 9, the aliens look disgusting, but the film patiently reveals their precious emotions. The aliens in AVATAR are simply intelligent, beautiful, and kind races, so their experiences of being violated by humans can also arouse the sympathy of the audience. Similarly, the film also reflects different attitudes on the identity of aliens as aboriginal people. We still remember the brutal, disgusting, ignorant natives that the explorers in "King Kong" saw when they landed on the island, as if their lives had no value. But AVATAR carefully reveals the Aboriginal emotions, values, and dignity of life. These are the reasons that aroused my fondness for this film.
What I'm more disappointed about in the film is the retaliatory counterattack by the aliens on humans at the end. This counterattack is untenable both inside and outside the film. The only possible motive that I can understand is that the director may want to use this counter attack to show gorgeous special effects, and then the inner spirit it shows is quite questionable.
After watching the movie, my friends felt a bit abrupt when they talked about the last counterattack. The aliens were still vulnerable for a second, so how could they organize such a powerful counterattack in an instant? Obviously each hunter can only choose one flying dragon mount, why can the protagonist have two? If these external logical fallacies are just some insignificant flaws, then the internal logic contained in this counter-offensive is the fatal wound of the defeatism conveyed by the film.
My objection to an alien counterattack has nothing to do with a moral assessment of revenge. I just want to point out a simplistic, impatient, evasive, self-defeating fantasy tendency in this line of thinking. This tendency is shown in the movie, which seems to push the aliens back to an ideal harmonious world, but the real-world political revelation it provides is rather unhelpful, even dangerous.
I think the writer and director must have been filled with all kinds of difficulties for human beings, the selfish and distorted desires of some people, and the depression, anger and hopelessness about the precarious future of human beings when they conceived the plot of this counterattack. These troubles make people feel uncomfortable. It is only comfortable to long for an explosion to clean up all the filth of the status quo. Unfortunately, the real world is such a chaos full of entanglements, conflicts, and flaws. In many cases, they cannot be thrown away like a garbage bag.
It is undeniable that we face an increasingly urgent resource, energy and environmental crisis. What is even more undeniable is that mankind has not found a bright road to overcome these crises. I would say that if we do know there is such a way and someone stops us from going towards it, I am the first in favor of eliminating him. But from the reality, we can only be careful to explore different avenues and listen carefully to different opinions and propositions. As I said earlier, since we can't learn from aliens, pick up bows and arrows to live in the jungle, and since we really need minerals and resources, we must continue to explore our way out more patiently. Overcoming the urgent crisis of humanity cannot be achieved by overthrowing everything and rebuilding a utopia.
Just recently, the Copenhagen climate summit held with a bang and failed with a bang. Its failure reflects the ignorance, selfishness and arrogance of some people, but it also reveals a truth: conflicting interests, conflicting values, and conflicting goals are inherent difficulties that we cannot avoid. We can destroy a war madman or two, we can cast out a political careerist or two, but we have no easy way to deal with the inherent divisions among the people. It should be remembered that those expansive beliefs are not only held by the hideous, human-distorted officer in AVATAR, but also our friends and relatives. Can we use violence to eliminate those who share our values?
In AVATAR, the aliens finally won the victory by relying on the attacks of various creatures summoned by the spirituality of the divine tree. After finding no way to solve the problem that science and technology or human civilization can provide, the author's comfort to the audience is the mysterious power. I think this may not be the author's most satisfactory answer. After all, what we humans can rely on is only the means we can use, not fantasy and mysterious power.
My brightest hope for AVATAR is that it will teach children that destroying forests and destroying people who are different from us is not a good thing, and that when they grow up, they can still believe in these beliefs. In the face of our problems, we have more of what we need most: patience and reason.
View more about Avatar reviews
