Posts tagged with escapism.
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.
Tagged with
escapism,
avatar,
insanity,
bryce,
warnes
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BRYCE WARNES
