Fantasy in more ways than one

Rating: 2/10 (23 December 2009)

The world and story of Avatar are fantastic in the usual sense of that word - the setting is an created one with unusual peoples, beautiful settings, dangerous creatures, etc.
Here's the other type of fantasy - a wish fulfillment fantasy. The wish in this case is that people could learn to live in harmony with nature. In our world, people must contend with predators, disease, food shortages, etc. These things are very natural and the more in touch with nature a people is, the closer to these things they are. The fantasy is that we as a species can so dominate nature that we don't have to fight it anymore - we can tend it like Adam and Eve before the fall. We are smarter and quieter than the most dangerous predators. Disease and starvation apparently aren't issues for the Navi, nor the other problems more common in tribal peoples living off the land.
The second type of wish fulfillment fantasy is the American Indian fantasy. The Navi clearly embody some aspects of American Indian peoples - the horses they ride, their attire and warpaint, the bows and arrows, their whooping calls, their joy in battle, their shamanistic heritage, their harmony with nature. They are a collection of American Indian's most appealing (and cinematic) characteristics, while excising the unappealing things about some American Indian cultures. A lifestyle maintained by raiding, brutal tribal warfare, slavery, etc. On top of this fantasy (an idealized indigenous people), the idea that the Native/Navi could band together to repel the abusive and exploitative invaders from their lands is another type of wish fulfillment. With only primitive weapons, their harmony with nature, and righteous indignation on their side, the Navi can repel the technologically superior invaders. I don't know what exactly America and Canada would be like if the native Americans had done just that, but I doubt there would be any Hollywood for James Cameron to make his movies in.
The third type of wish fulfillment fantasy is the Mother Earth fantasy. I'm all about conserving our natural resources and protecting our environment against unnecessary changes, but I take the Mother Earth idea as a metaphor. Being in touch with nature does have meaning to me - the beauty of the earth is wonderful and sometimes restorative. But I don't believe that my ancestors are somewhere on this earth in spirit form, ready to pass their knowledge on or watching over me. I'm not knocking that belief to make a point - I'm just saying that this is a fantasy where there is a scientific basis for that belief. Pandora has a planet-wide floral neural net that (apparently) allows the plants to have some communication with each other, and where memories of Navi ancestors can be stored. So destroying plants on Pandora is literally a form of genocide.
These three fantasies are fairly harmless on their own, although their obviousness doesn't do the story any favors. If they had been background, world-building material that would be one thing, but the story dwells on them for so long and they are so central to the plot that it becomes tiresome. It felt like a long anti-invasion, pro-nature infomercial at times. And for what? If I feel persuaded that destroying trees on Pandora is a crime, how does that impact my feelings about trees on Earth, where there is no neural network and my ancestors aren't at risk? I have to make that decision based on the facts on this planet. And if I feel that the Navi are unjustly being forced from their homes, how can I transfer that feeling to Palestinians or Iraqis responsibly? Palestinians and Iraqis aren't giant blue cats - they are human beings with their own story that requires examination on its own merits.
So those types of wish fulfillment fantasies seem too obvious, and they drag the storytelling down.
There are also some points in the plot that actively harm even the weird messages that the movie is trying to send. Unfortunately it's typical Hollywood material.
The "going native" story for Jake Sully is OK, but the bit where the white guy has to become the leader to help the natives get anything done really irritated me. Of course he manages to learn the ways of the natives enough to be adopted into their clan, while falling in love with the chief's daughter, in three months. Yawn.
On top of that, the natives are pretty dumb, shooting at high-powered aircraft with bow and arrow until they get the crap kicked out of them by rockets. And why the humans wouldn't just retreat into space and bomb the Navi off the face of the planet is beyond me.
I'm not saying I wanted the Navi to lose - I just wanted them to win in a way that didn't make them look like a bunch of backwater idiots who needed a Marine (statistically not likely to be the brightest human around) to show them the way.
The "unobtainium" is central to the plot, but as soon as the big tree gets knocked down, that's the last we hear about it. Why weren't the humans in there like gangbusters trying to mine it and get the hell out of dodge? How valuable can a resource possibly be that it's economically feasible to harvest it intergalatically? Why was the unobtainium directly under the tree, and why didn't the Navi know anything about it or use it? There were too many things that could have been used to spice the story up left out in the cold.
All in all, the story is average, which is disappointing from Cameron. Of course, I don't need to reiterate that the visuals are stunning, as everyone everywhere has pointed that out.