{"id":1300,"date":"2009-12-20T23:36:52","date_gmt":"2009-12-21T04:36:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=1300"},"modified":"2018-08-10T01:38:35","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T05:38:35","slug":"avatar-cameron-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1300","title":{"rendered":"(Cameron 2009) Avatar"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Some old friends took me out to the sub\u00adurbs to see the first show\u00ading of Avatar on an Imax screen.&nbsp;We were over\u00adwhelmed.&nbsp;The motion-cap\u00adture and <span class=\"caps\">3D<\/span> tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies were employed intel\u00adli\u00adgent\u00adly, to tell a com\u00adpelling sto\u00adry, and to cre\u00adate a kind of Max\u00adfield Par\u00adrish beau\u00adty that under\u00adlined its theme.&nbsp;<!--more--><\/span><span style=\"color: #000000;\"> It was appro\u00adpri\u00adate to see it in Mis\u00adsis\u00adsauga, the place where Imax&nbsp;was invent\u00aded.&nbsp;James Cameron was, appar\u00adent\u00adly, deter\u00admined to make the <span class=\"caps\">3D<\/span> expe\u00adri\u00adence feel nor\u00admal, rather than treat it as a mar\u00adket\u00ading gim\u00admick, with relent\u00adless pok\u00ading and zooming.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">More than just a show\u00adcase of new film tech\u00adnol\u00ado\u00adgy, Avatar will res\u00adonate with both tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal sci\u00adence fic\u00adtion fans and with peo\u00adple, like the Tibetans, who have suf\u00adfered con\u00adquest and oppres\u00adsion by impe\u00adr\u00adi\u00adal pow\u00aders.&nbsp;The plot is a Resis\u00adtance Myth, deploy\u00ading tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal ele\u00adments from his\u00adto\u00adry and mythol\u00ado\u00adgy.&nbsp;As in most such sto\u00adries, the hero is an out\u00adsider who con\u00adverts to the cause of the vic\u00adtim\u00adized peo\u00adple, the vic\u00adtim\u00adized soci\u00adety is por\u00adtrayed in roman\u00adtic terms, and it turns out that their mag\u00adi\u00adcal beliefs are in some sense true (and the key to their mirac\u00adu\u00adlous defeat of the con\u00adquerors).&nbsp;Cameron con\u00adstructs a sort of com\u00adpos\u00adite of all the world\u2019s con\u00adquered peo\u00adples (Ama\u00adzon\u00adian and Amer\u00adi\u00adcan native peo\u00adples, Abo\u00adrig\u00adi\u00adnal Aus\u00adtralians, Tibetans, Dar\u00adfuri\u00adans\u2026) and turns them into aliens on anoth\u00ader plan\u00adet.&nbsp;All this is done with deft skill.&nbsp;The sto\u00adry is con\u00adstruct\u00aded on clas\u00adsi\u00adcal lines with\u00adout miss\u00ading a trick, and the details all work togeth\u00ader.&nbsp;This is because resis\u00adtance myths reflect real\u00adi\u00adty as far as the bad part is con\u00adcerned.&nbsp;This is pret\u00adty much how con\u00adquer\u00aders behave in real\u00adi\u00adty, and how the con\u00adquered react.&nbsp;But the mirac\u00adu\u00adlous turn\u00adaround and vic\u00adto\u00adry of the oppressed, unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, is a wish-ful\u00adfill\u00adment fan\u00adta\u00adsy.&nbsp;How\u00adev\u00ader, with\u00adout such hopes, the oppressed are left with noth\u00ading but absolute sur\u00adren\u00adder to absolute pow\u00ader.&nbsp;Main\u00adtain\u00ading hope with\u00adout a belief in mir\u00ada\u00adcles is the hard\u00adest thing to achieve for the world\u2019s oppressed.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some old friends took me out to the sub\u00adurbs to see the first show\u00ading of Avatar on an Imax screen.&nbsp;We were over\u00adwhelmed.&nbsp;The motion-cap\u00ad\u00adture and <span class=\"caps\">3D<\/span> tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies were employed intel\u00adli\u00adgent\u00adly, to tell a com\u00adpelling sto\u00adry, and to cre\u00adate a kind&nbsp;of&nbsp;\u2026<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=1300\">Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[948,27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-d-viewing","category-dr-viewing-2009"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1300"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8129,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1300\/revisions\/8129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}