Am I the only one that didn’t like Avatar? Am I the only one that walked out about halfway through because I was both bored and disgusted with the storyline? It is now in its seventh week at the number one spot. I have a really hard time placing it with classics like Star Wars or Lord of the Rings.
Were the graphics stunning? Absolutely. After a bit I forgot I was watching computer-generated graphics.
But was the storyline good? Not really. I was bored after about 1.5 hours. From a storyline perspective, I felt like I was watching a kids cartoon. It was totally predictable, had no plot twists, and followed a pattern we’ve seen in many other movies. There was little in the way of actual sci-fi concepts. No explanation of how the avatars actually worked. It was more fantasy than futuristic.
And then there was the part that disgusted me: the direct, not-even-veiled idea that corporations are evil. For example, one line said that corporate executives only like one thing less than killing people: poor quarterly earnings. In other words, the movie didn’t just imply–it came right out and stated–that corporate execs would be willing to kill indigenous species to show great earnings. Really? We’re not talking about an owl or polar bear here: we’re talking about a willingness to wipe out a sentient, human-like people. I’ve worked with a lot of corporate execs, and I’ve read about a lot who even get caught up in fraud. But none were willing to blatantly kill people (military style) just to make the company look good. It went far beyond the typical “save the environment” message many of today’s movies do. I was offended as a human being and as a member of modern society.
What made it even worse is I sat in a theater full of people cheering every time these concepts were presented. These people all drove cars to the theater, sat in an air conditioned room, and enjoyed popcorn and other conveniences of our modern economy. Didn’t they see the irony? If they had come to the theater living like the indigenous people in the movie, I would have been satisfied. Does Hollywood really have such an impact over our thinking? I hear people praising the movie all the time. Was I the only one that didn’t like it?