WHY CAMERON MADEAVATAR |
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Page 1 YEAH, ABOUT AVATAR UPDATES - James Cameron: Yes, 'Avatar' is Political Speaking at a private industry screening of the film, the director with his star Zoe Saldana said that "Avatar" -- with its depiction of mineral exploitation on a distant planet and a cadre of trigger-happy mercenaries charged with instituting a scorched earth policy -- is very much a political film. Continued at The Wrap. "There are boots on the ground, troops who I personally believe were sent there under false pretenses, so I hope this will be part of opening our eyes."
This Cameron quote has to be weighed against the fact that he precisely puts the blame directly on those "boots on the ground" and not their leaders who, at the time of this movie's release, belonged to his party. The inexplicably Koo Koo Berries Colonel or General~ in charge of the stupid troops, who deserve what they've got coming to them, is a hackneyed Hollywood contrivance seen in most SciFi movies. Practically every two-bit Syfy Channel monster movie involving the military as well as theatrical releases like DREAMCATCHER and THE MIST. Cameron chose to make his Mercenaries/Marines unbelievably stupid and blood-thirsty vicious. His catharsis moment in the movie comes in the climatic battle when the Marines are being slaughtered, screaming in pain, cut in half, crushed, and so on. That's what he made and it is exactly how he wanted it. For him to demurely preen before an audience that he was making an allegory about Iraq, and then say, "There are boots on the ground, troops who I personally believe were sent there under false pretenses, so I hope this will be part of opening our eyes." Is him being an openly two-faced hypocrite. Cameron is 100% about the money and he knows how to make it: By pandering to and stoking unbridled hate. You are supposed to adore his fictional Smurfs and despise the human ones (your people, self-hate) that represent the U.S. Marines (and HOW he succeeded! Have you heard or read of all the real life boobs who are getting all depressed because they AREN'T Na'vi and don't live on Pandora?). I didn't want to believe that at first. I defended him on that point, but now he's gone all Mark McGwire and showed his hand.
He's not being anti-exploitation, because he created the exploitation in his movie. 90% of the time our real-life U.S. Marines are not involved in war but in humanitarian rescue operations: from Indonesia to the current Haiti. But that's not how Cameron wants you to think of American Marines (or American military, period). He wants his world-wide audience to think of them as worse than Al Qaeda terrorists and that's how he portrayed them. He wants people to hate them and cheer when American Marines die, so that's how he portrayed them. AVATAR is 100% fiction, so whatever Cameron writes and directs remains 100% fiction. He could have wrote about any future military and any future government no problem. It's not like he didn't do it before with ALIENS. Joss Whedon did that with Firefly and the Alliance. Babylon 5 simply had the government of earth. Before that there was Star Wars and the Empire. Star Trek and the Federation, and so on.
Cameron wanted to comment on his point of view of Americans*, the war in Iraq, and how he saw the modern Marine. So he went out of his way to have world-wide audiences know that his future Marines were specifically American Marines and were a reflection of the modern American Marine. He felt that inciting anger and hatred toward American Marines in his movie would make him the most money.
And he was right. We know this because he made AVATAR and has now said WHY he made AVATAR. Cameron is already looking forward to sequels and the last thing he wants is for AVATAR to have a bad DVD opening due to any belated backlash. I've praised his movies for over 10 years on my website and there is no denying that he is a great director. A human being? Maybe not so much. *Irony Moment: James Cameron's movies are perched at #1 and #2 on the all time world-wide box office. He could never have done that, and would not be the James Cameron we know, if it weren't for the opportunities available to him only in the U.S. and no where else in the world (certainly not his home country). ~This is not new or unique. As a published fiction writer, I've twice had a story rejected for no other reason but that I had NOT made a military commander in my story a blood thirsty psychopath. That was the actual primary reason. The editor didn't feel the character was realistic in being presented as a well-adjusted human being. I was also upbraided by a published author, who was part of my circle of readers, for the same thing. He felt it was bad character development for me to make a sympathetic and level headed military leader. He had never served a day in any military, but to him the very idea that such a person could exist was unrealistic. July 20, 2021 Avatar 2 release date, cast, plot and everything you need to know Due to circumstances beyond its control, the latest release date delay came in July 2020 when the sequel was pushed back another year from December 2021 to December 2022. If there's any positive to be found, it hasn't been delayed again (yet). Continued at Digital Spy. March 31, 2020 'Avatar' Finally Loses the Papyrus Font After 10 Years and One Damning 'SNL' Sketch Continued at Decider. March 17, 2020 Coronavirus: 'Avatar' Sequels Suspend Filming In New Zealand Continued at Deadline. September 17, 2018 Avatar 2 – Everything You Need To Know About James Cameron's Sequels Continued at EmpireOnline. February 17, 2010 Trouble on Pandora: 4 Big 'Avatar' Failures You’d think that … but all that glitters in Pandora’s box is not Unobtainium. Here are four areas where “Avatar” has failed. Continued at The Wrap. FeoNote: Nope. Sorry. But with all I've said about AVATAR (and I've said a LOT!), the one thing it isn't is a failure. Any movie that makes over $2 billion world wide in its first theatrical run, and becomes the #1 best selling movie in history (in its first run!) isn't a failure. You can call it many things - and I have - but a failure isn't one of them. Feb. 15, 2010 James Cameron on 'Avatar': 'It's my most personal film' Continued at LATimes. ..."No... gasp! You... you go on without me!" Great Cthulhu! James Cameron actually filmed an even MORE emotionally insipid death scene - thankfully cut - that will soon be seen on the AVATAR disc extras. Feb. 4, 2010 Avatar presentation at Autodesk University Dec. 29, 2009 'Avatar' and the faith instinct Continued at LATimes. Dec. 10, 2009 “WELCOME to Avatar.” Continued at NYTimes. Dec. 3, 2009 'Avatar's' True Cost -- and Consequences Continued at The Wrap Oct. 26, 2009 Is James Cameron's Avatar Actually an Uncredited Rewrite of a 1957 Poul Anderson Story? Continued at SlashFilm and io9. Aug. 27, 2009 Titanic director James Cameron grabs film's holy grail in new film Avatar Continued at TheAustralian. This article copyright 2009 & 2010 by E.C.McMullen Jr.
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