A vision of hell

Rating: 1/10 (17 October 2010)

The real theme of Avatar is the megalomania of the director. He thinks he can create a world from scratch, and he thinks of this world as Paradise. The only problem is that beauty comes from within. Bloated with megalomania as he is, his vision of Paradise comes across as Hell instead. I found the viewing of Pandora excruciating. There was a persistent sense of nausea throughout. It was meant to be the essence of beauty. But blue men with long tails undulating behind them are a utter perversity to the eyes. The garish plant life reeked of poison. The animals combined insect, reptile and mammal, bringing out the worst features in each. How anyone can conceive of this concoction as beautiful is beyond me. Compared to this the slimy aliens in Cameron's earlier films are tame.
In truth, I am suspicious of anyone who calls Pandora beautiful. My theory is this: There is something ugly inside that is compels them to say that Pandora is beautiful. They take into consideration the budget of the film, the fact that it's made by the "king of the world", that it stands as a testament to human ingenuity (technology, CGI and so on), that the film becomes the byword for hype, that it promotes the cult of celebrity, etc. In other words, those who find Pandora beautiful are also those who idolize the megalomania of Cameron. It's all a matter of worshipping excess, and if you do, you find Pandora beautiful. Otherwise you say, Hey, why are those slimy tentacles sticking out of all those animals on that planet? Yuck! The rest is a thinly disguised critique of the American invasion of Iraq, or more generally the military industrial complex. But of course it is hypocrisy through and through. Hollywood excess is an integral part of the military industrial complex, and Cameron is at the vanguard of Hollywood excess. He's a hypocrite, and no wonder his vision comes across as so ugly. Of course, not many people will say so. Not if they are worshipping at the altar of pride and excess. So Cameron taps into the general malaise and makes a lot of money. That's all there is to Avatar. It's a testament to greed and megalomania. In this universe of excess there is a "paradise", which the film tries to recreate. If you live in that universe you will find the vision beautiful. If you don't, it is the very definition of repulsive.