Avatar

This is an issue that has been of serious contention for some time, as I have casually argued with my friends against my opponent's points since the day Avatar was released. I'm excited to hear more of my opponent's opinions and look forward to an interesting debate. Good luck. My opponent contends that Avatar is "An Awesome Work of Art". We will assume that as subjective as art is, that in fact Avatar is indeed a work of art, and that it is incumbent upon my opponent (of which he has the burden of proof) to prove furthermore, that Avatar is in fact, "An Awesome" work of art. It will be my responsibility to show that Avatar is not an "Awesome" piece of art, but rather a mediocre film, with the usual bright lights and shiny things, devoid of original substance, typical of modern Hollywood films. As such I will prove that instead, Avatar, is a mediocre work of art (if a work of art, at all). So lets get to it… First let's look at some of the contentions of my opponent: "[Avatar is] A huge creative achievement because of its theological, philosophical, social, moral, cultural, technological, existential, and other themes"… Had Avatar been the first movie to present such themes, I might agree with my opponent to a certain extent, however the plot and themes aren't original in the least, with several movies, decades old now, doing nearly the same plot, much earlier and much better. Annalee Newitz of I09. com takes it a step further calling Avatar "…Just the latest sci-fi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy"[1] Just a few examples of better films with a similar theme: Ferngully: The Last Rainforest (1992) Dance With Wolves(1990) Pocahontas(1995) District 9 (2009) same year, better film [2] "…Quality of its visual effects and related technology; because of the attention to zoological, linguistic, geographic and botanical detail" My opponent may have a valid point regarding Avatar's special effects and attention to detail. The effects are quite stunning, but this alone does not make anything an "awesome work of art". I hope to explore this more in later rounds. "Because of the vast amount of labor, cooperation, and time invested in Avatar's creation and execution" This is an entirely subjective conclusion. Would my opponent conclude that based on the amount of time and effort spent on ‘Water world' or ‘Battlefield Earth' or ‘insert crappy movie title here', that those were "awesome works of art", unlikely. Now I'd like to make my first independent argument. For any new film to be "an awesome work of art", I'd expect it to be original, compelling, entertaining, and thought provoking. For any movie to be any of those things, I believe that, at the very least, the characters have to be interesting, original, or compelling, and Avatar's are none of those. Instead, the characters we get with Avatar are nothing but rehashed archetypes and stereotypes we have seen many times before. Let's take a look: (warning: spoilers) Jake Sully: Reluctant to confident replacement that gains conscience to become great white savior of the natives. Grace: Idealistic scientist who wants to study natives. Neytiri: Well meaning but naï¿½ve native girl, who naturally falls in love with the ‘great savior of natives' character. Parker: Evil corporate overlord who just wants to mine the planet. Colonel Miles: Type-A militant who wants to kill them all. Trudy: Spicy badass Latin chick. These, among others, are all rehashed character designs entirely devoid of subtlety or originality, though the actors do a great job playing these archetypes with their one-off motives, the depth of the movie is no better for it. I'd like to add that Michelle Rodriguez is a beautiful and talented actress who can continue to be whatever archetype she likes. [3] Finally, I'd like to conclude this first round by pointing to the only original concept/idea this movie actually offers: Dragon rape. Dragon rape is something film and literature haven't really touched before. Had the movie focused entirely on the Na'vi's backwards culture of bestial rape and domination, Avatar could have been a fascinating look at what an entire planet of un-evolved, single-ethnic beings can become. Any level of plurality and diversity may have actually saved this culture from becoming what they are. But instead, the Na'vi are militantly ethnocentric isolationists, content with carrying on their dragon raping lifestyles. Shame on them… Avatar is an unoriginal, though pretty looking, rehash of other, better movies you have seen many times before. If anything, it's a mediocre work of art. Vote con. Thank you to my opponent, I look forward to his response. [1] . http://io9.com... [2] . http://www.imdb.com... [3] . http://www.imdb.com...