Bad messages

Rating: 1/10 (4 February 2010)

Contrary to what many people on this web site believe, judging a movie based on its morality and message is a legitimate form of artistic criticism. Literary critics in the early part of the last century always analyzed the underlying messages in the novels they reviewed. They believed that recognizing the messages the novel was sending to its viewers was as important as how well it was written. Unfortunately, modern movie critics tend to shy away from moral analysis of the movies they review because it is not politically correct.
Avatar is sending so many messages to its young viewers it is very difficult to summarize them all in a few paragraphs. First, there is a false equivalence being made in the movie between humans and animals. The Na'vi are able to communicate with animals by "connecting" with them mentally. The animals in the movie are self-aware and are capable of understanding complex ideas such as right and wrong. This is simply not true. Animals act purely on instinct. They are not capable of analyzing their own behaviour; nor are they capable of understanding such complex ideas as "right and wrong". An animal, for example, cannot choose to commit suicide because he cannot override his survival instinct. A human being can. If a human being falls into the ocean he can chose to drown himself. A dog cannot. Similarly, animals are not capable of such high ideals as self-sacrifice like we saw in the movie. These characteristics are unique to human beings.
The political messages being sent in the movie are so clearly a product of far-left thinking. The movie unfairly (and stereotypically) attacks capitalism, mining, modern technology, corporations, political conservatives and economic development in general. Near the end of the movie, the film turns into a completely unfair and silly commentary on the "brutality" of the American military, and the American war on terror. At the same time it tries to promote environmentalism, new-age religion, socialism and tribal culture, often in childish and silly ways.
The scene where the ridiculous military general murders hundreds of Na'vi so that the corporation he works for can mine a mineral is simply absurd. What corporation in the United States directly employs military personal? Even if there were such a corporation, would the US government allow them to commit genocide simply to make a profit? Of course not. Even if you naively believe that George Bush went into Iraq for the sole purpose of obtaining oil, that was a government decision, not a corporate decision. This silly vilification of corporations is unreasonable. Many corporations do a lot of charity work in their communities. Contrary to what the extreme lefties claim, it is the global corporations of the world that are helping third-world countries come out poverty. The idiot anti-globalization nuts are fighting to keep them in poverty.
Finally, I'd like discuss the sexual messages in this movie. You may have noticed that Na'vi have tails. There is a lot of hints in the movie that the tail is a phallic symbol (it represents the male genitals). Dr. Grey says, "Don't play with that, you'll go blind." For those of you who are too young to know, this is a reference to an old myth which said that masturbation leads to blindness. The Na'vi use their "tails" to "connect" with animals and trees l. I am not going to get into the complicated issue of whether the Na'vi "connection" to their animals is a sexual one, but it is certainly implied in the movie.
Just some things to think about.