“Avatar” — Even Pacifist Aliens Need Firepower

Hollywood-types may pine for world peace, but you sure couldn’t tell by the amount of firepower in their movies. It seems like a contradiction, sure. But how else are you gonna attract a crowd? Or, for that matter, how else can you defend pacifism? Just ask President Obama who, while receiving his Nobel Peace Prize, used the opportunity to justify the necessity of war. A similar paradox ensues in Avatar.

L.A. Times’ Kenneth Turan ends his review of the new James Cameron film this way:

Perhaps most unexpected of all, “Avatar” is surprisingly enlivened by all the seeming contradictions it brazenly puts together.

At one and the same time this film is a boys’ adventure tale with a major romantic element, an anti-imperialism movie that gets considerable mileage out of depicting invading armies, a neo-pagan, anti-technology film that touts the healing powers of nature but is up to its neck in the latest gizmos and gadgets.

It’s a bundle of contradictions but James Cameron, clearly, wouldn’t have it any other way.

Cameron himself has admitted that Avatar has a “message,” but I doubt the movie is liberal propaganda, as some have asserted. Nevertheless, the paradoxical elements are intriguing. A movie about the dangers of technology… using some of the most sophisticated film technology available? An anti-imperialist movie… armed to the teeth? Who knew? Apparently, the best way to defeat these warmongering humans is to fortify your pacifist aliens. Who cares if it’s contradictory. How else can aliens survive, peacefully, without laser cannons?

Either way, I’m seeing the movie. Contradictions and all. And when those evil imperialist earthlings start strip mining and de-foresting the planet, I’ll simply remind myself of the movie’s $200-plus million budget. Guess that evil imperialist nation has done pretty good for Mr. Cameron, huh?