The common world of Avatar and madmen
My friend and I went to see Avatar last week.
The film embodies the sort of capital "S" Spectacle that would twist Guy Debord's undies into a Moebius strip. Simply put, it's pure escapism, a seemless merger of the real and rendered that requires its viewers to suspend their disbelief only a few inches in order to be carried away.
We both went into the theatre with an air of detached irony, expecting to be wowed by a superficial diorama of explosions and blue aliens and nothing more. But through a combination of too-beautiful-to-be-real visual stimulation, noble savage idealism and time-tested narrative tropes, we were pulled away from the world for a clean one hundred and sixty-two minutes. When we re-emerged, reality seemed so mundane it was almost unbearable.
On the bus ride home, a guy sat down across from us and started an impromptu, mostly one-sided discussion about current global events. I say "a guy" only because I can't think of many adjectives to apply to him. He looked like he was in his forties, dressed casually and clean. And aside from a certain amount of excitement - understandable, considering the issues he was discussing - there were no hints to suggest that he was going to try and convert us to a religion or ask for money. So naturally we were happy to hear him out.
Apparently, it had been a big day for news. He gave us the full run down. It went something like this: President Obama, that day, had announced the need for the world community to put aside its differences and come together in aid of the four million children who had been left homeless after the earthquake in Haiti. He had the backing of the Pope and Queen Elizabeth II, both of whom had announced similar desires for the world to join together in an act of compassion. He'd appointed former President Bill Clinton to act as America's representative in Haiti, and ordered Dick Cheney and George Bush (either senior or junior - he didn't specify) to help him.
This news would have been heartwarming enough, but there was more. The Queen had announced that she would abdicate from the throne, putting Prince Harry in her place. Harry, it turns out, was fed up with the conflict in Iraq in Afghanistan, and announced his intention to withdraw troops immediately. Canada's "young men" would be returning home, and if Stephen Harper objected, he would be forced - by some obscure law pertaining to the power of the British throne - to resign. It was time, Harry said, for the rulers of the world to act as mothers and fathers to their people. Our informant was of the opinion that Obama was a king - not in the literal sense - destined for greatness, and that we were heading for a shining new era in the history of humanity.
I told him I would have to start reading the newspaper more often. Obviously I was out of the loop. He agreed, and got off at the next step.
It's uncanny when someone proclaims, in a clear, sane manner, truths that are utterly false. The effect is less discomfiting when they claim allegiance to a religion or a nationalist ideology. But the man on the bus was no creepy-stare, spits-when-he-talks evangelical. He was affable and more or less "normal." And he explained all of this in such a sane, certain manner that, even though I didn't believe a word he said, I checked Google News when I got home - just to be sure.
Escapism is most wonderful when the world is at its most terrible. And for some reason, the present always seems like a low point. Theater attendees in 17th-century London could watch a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream and escape from a world so mad it seemed like it was on the verge of Apocalypse. (Many suspected that the whole thing would come to an end in 1666.) Avatar takes people away from cities in the dead of winter and a globe that, as ever, appears ready to tip into the abyss, and delivers them to an Edenic planet called Pandora. And the man on the bus seemed to have fled from a world where humans in uniform kill each other for reasons most of us can barely comprehend, and a shifting of tectonic plates can decimate whole populations in the amount of time it takes to watch an episode of American Idol.
I was annoyed with the man on the bus at first, for spreading this disinformation. Then I was envious. When you have a beautiful dream, you don't want it to end. And once you wake up, you're sad to see it go. He didn't seem to have that problem. He may have been mad or foolish or both, but while my dream had cost sixteen dollars and ended with rolling credits, his was still happening. Maybe he'll awake one day to find the world as it really is, or maybe he won't. Regardless, I won't begrudge him his fantasy. Once in a while, everyone needs to escape.
BRYCE WARNES
Comments
A well written and enjoyable piece. Although it doesn't make me feel any better about being almost forty, somehow.
Fewer and fewer people are commenting on this blog. Take it as a sign that they are boring.
very well written. i enjoyed reading it and found it interesting.
Wow. Props for squishing the The Society of the Spectacle in there. Ten years after reading it, I still have nightmares that Guy Debord is chasing me around Montreal with a stuffed woodpecker.
What the...?
seamless = no seams
seemless = ???
Good thinking, good feeling, good writing! Unlike Mr. Observation, I certainly wasn't bored.
If the Navi are the Nobel Savages what are we? - the Monsters of the Universe. Clearly the way the NAvi lived is not escapism but the way any wise beings would interact with their environment aka their HOME. Until we Human Beings return to the Sacred and to Wisdom we are going to experience more and more grief, suffering and untimely death. We have forgotten we are Sacred Spirits here on Earth to create Beauty and learn how to take care of the Earth. From this we become wise participating in the growth and evolution of the Universe. The message is clear - if we continue to deny that our connection to Nature is important and that we are superior to our environment and the plants and animals that we share our Planet with we have earned what we get - thousands of chemicals that we have allowed into our lives that are contaminating our water, air and land and the War on Terror that allows people to create enemies and rape the land to protect our security in the comfy cozy cheap world in the USA, Canada and Europe. The Navi are not mad they are wise - we would be wise to heed the message of this Movie and make it real.
Right on, DARLENE BUCKINGHAM
Really beautifully written.
Some of what you said reminded me of this article: http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/Movies/01/11/avatar.movie.blues/index.html
I'd say the real reason comments are petering off is that people who comment tend to be trolls, and Bryce is a consistently good writer - stylistically strong without degenerating into grandiloquency, and also thoughtful and intelligent. Keep it up.
A truly enjoyable article, except for the the comment "it's pure escapism".
I have recently read "The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World by Wade Davis" and could not help but notice the similarities with the Incas who viewed nature in much the same way as the Na'vi.
The chapter "Sacred Geography" begins with a quote from Albert Einstein, "The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind a faithful servant. We have created a society that honours the servant and has forgotten the gift."
Perhaps one reason why the movie is so appealing and compelling is that it awakens in us "the intuitive mind", which is as much a part of reality as the air we breathe.
Sick of seeing the term "noble savage" thrown around in reviews of Avatar. You even went so far as to post a link to the Wikipedia page. It would have been better if you actually read the article. The aliens in Avatar do not even come close to fitting the noble savage description. The first line in the Wikipedia article states that "The term "noble savage" expresses the concept of the natural man, unencumbered by either civilization or divine revelation". The aliens in Avatar had both civiliation and religion. It is obvious to anyone who actually thinks about it that James Cameron had no intention of evoking the noble savage image in Avatar.
Next time, if you want to cite political philosophy to sound sophisticated, please do us a favour and do your homework.
Enjoyed the piece, but am noticing a trend. What is an "evangelical" and how come it is ok to insult these people any time you need to put someone down to feel better? Just noticed that if you were to substitute any other social subgroup in the same sentence, it would be offensive. Tolerance plays favorites i guess.
Interesting - I was entirely relieved to escape Pandora's 'Desert Storm' cookie-cutter characters and take a breath of fresh air in the real world. Even with the protection of 3-D goggles, you can't run from a mundane plot.
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