I was against watching Avatar in the beginning, because it seemed boring and I couldn’t help but to see racial undertones when ever the blue people were shown. I watched it awhile back and it was decent. My social peers have often referred to Avatar as Pocahontes with aliens. It’s very true…but you could also call it The Last Samurai or Dances with Wolves because we see a white often reluctant hero arrive and be integrated into the natives to ultimately be their savior. 
  

Now whether you see Native Americans or not you can not deny that the blue people above symbolic of race. It seem that when alien movies are done, in which the aliens aren’t bestial or monstrous, that in truth they are vehicles to portray race. As seen through privileged eyes. In an odd way movies like Avatar give us a chance to see through those eyes.

Avatar like many other sci fi films re-imagines troubling periods of history. Avatar specifically looks at the conquest of America by Anglo settlers. In the movie America is a planet called Pandora. The natives sit on top of vast resources of enormous potential wealth. Seeking glory and a ‘metaphorical gold’  soldiers and adventurous take to the new land. Likewise the Aliens sit on top a rare extremely valuable element and the planet is under conquest by armies and scientist eager for wealth and knowledge. 

The movie progresses and this is where we get the rare glimpse through the privilege eye. Unlike the actual conquest, in which genocide gets carried out, a champion arises. A white man, Jake Sully, who at first was trying to relocate the Na’vi people but then falls in love with the chiefs daughter.  He then becomes fully assimilated into the Na’vi culture and after the conquistadores march on the natives Jake becomes their champion. White guilt at its finest moment.

Somehow the cgi made the story of a white guy becoming champion for a ‘foreign’ culture, more watchable. To be frank though Avatar pales in comparison to District 9. In District 9 we again have a situation in which race drives the story. This time apartheid is the theme and the protagonist Wikus has been appointed to relocate the aliens to a concentration camp outside Johannesburg. The reason why I like this movie beyond other similar movies is because Wikus isn’t a hero.  He doesn’t adopt, assimilate, infiltrate, or becomes a champion. He is contaminated with a black fluid and begins to mutate into one of the aliens.  We then see the true horrors and opressions that the alien people as Wikus experiences their life. A mutant and discarded by his own, Wikus looks for help from one of the aliens and then betrays the alien. Always interested in his own survival it is only at the movies final moments when he takes a stand for the alien he’d been with. More in the line with Blood diamond. The white protagonist has no happy ending, he is not a true hero, in short he is a martyr. 

 So the spectrum of white savior fantasies range from becoming a champion to people of color or its martyr. The reason why they seek this dream? Guilt. After peeking pass the glass curtain and seeing the injustice they were part of, they switch alliances, assimilate and become a champion for the people they once look down on. White guilt in a nutshell. Wash away all the crimes committed against people of color, join their side because it is moral and just, and then be at the forefront and lead the people of color from within as one of its own…rather then from outside.

Avatar is just that. A white daydream about becoming another race but holding on to white privilege. In district 9 our protagonist unlike Jake has no choice about his transformation and can’t return to normal. He is forced to slum and eat cat food, and he is miserable. Adversely, District 9 is the nightmare of becoming a person of color in an oppressive system. When whites dream about becoming another race, they only do so because they ignore the truth of being an oppressed race. And that truth is that you are F-ing oppressed and chances of glory are slim. Heroism out the window but Martyrdom in range.

I don’t dislike Avatar. The truth is that it was a decent retelling of a classic arch type story. I just dislike the final message it sent to me. The conquistador still get to be the leaders of the natives. The only movie I have ever watched that was like this that I adored was The Road to El Dorado.

When are we going to see a fresh take on race in the realm of cinema? I think that Avatar would have been better without the Jake Sully character. Whose character progression fell flat for me. He was not needed. Unless that is that the audience actually needs someone to project themselves into…but then it becomes interesting no? Because people of color impress themselves upon the Na’vi while whites identify with Jake immediately…even before he realizes the error of his ways. I say its time to move beyond white savior and white guilt movies. Because in reality when you position a white character in the middle of another ethnic group all you truly accomplish is making what was supposed to be a story of that ethnic group into the white characters story. I.E Avatar was not about the Na’Vi but about Jake.

Well that was my piece…and yes I know that El Dorado has many mirrors to Avatar and accomplishes much about what I just ranted about…the characters are hard to not love okay! Besides that they don’t remain to lead to people of color. They leave just as quickly as they came. Anyway ciao!

whether this year will be any better…well one can hope…but who knows. Last year we saw horror movie flops of epic proportions…The horror genre is in a constant state of flux. I was born in 1986 so I have come to be well experienced in the birth and demise of the original slasher flicks (Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street) and the genres resurrection in the late 2000s, the rise of the J-horror film (American remakes of Japanese imports), and the rise of the torture snuff film sub-genre. It pains me to see that while once horror was driven by atmosphere and the fear of the unknown now it has turned a new leaf into an aggressive in your face blood gore over statement of the obvious.

Viewers no longer are content with waiting for a pay off. No longer satisfied with Carpenter’s perfectly-simplified explanation of Michael Myers’ evil. Instead of the one line it needed in the 1978 Halloween, but in the Zombie 2007 reboot we see the entire film is an exploration of Michael’s evil. Film makers have lost the love for the mystery of the horror genre. Everything is on full view for the audience whether it be the innards of a victim or the evil that should tease us playfully with its fleeting presence.

2011 was a testament to that. Even Del Toro’s ‘Don’t Be Afraid Of the Dark’ fell bland on my horror pallet. There was not much else better then that, it  set the standard and it was a very low one. Also what the hell was up with all the monsters of 2010 being so darn cute?!   

This thing is so cute, like a pet monkey…with evil eyes.

The rock spiders in Apollo 18 reminded me of pokemon…like geodude spiders.

speaking of pokemon…the aliens from “Darkest Hour” looked like black mews…fail.

Having feelings for someone, romantic feelings, can be a confusing thing. At least for yours truly. When you “have feelings for someone”, it means you care about them deeply or at a superficial level. In either words ‘feelings’ can range from just lust to love. Here lies my confusion…I’m not sure where my feelings lie…though I am positive its beyond superficial. Here’s a quick check list to see where in the love game you fall…
 
The check list.

1. Stop and consider why you would like the person. There’s dozens of physically attractive and clever people. But if you see something beyond looks and intelligence that captivates you, you’ve marked this person as unique and you might have feelings for them.

2. Is there a nice, but funny feeling in the pit of your stomach when you see them? If so, you probably like her/him because her/him makes something stir in you that you don’t understand.

3. How often do you think about the person? If you catch yourself thinking about this person often, and smiling at each thought well nuff said.

4.Think about how you feel when you touch him or her, by accident or on purpose. If you’re still thinking about running your fingers through her hair, then you like her.
 

If you answered a single yes to any of these then hey we’re on the same boat. Feelings are straightforward and honest. Feelings are physical experiences. I could continue on and on explaining the respondent paradigm but the cut and dry version is that we have as much control over having feelings than we do yawning after watching Warhorse or crying at the end of the notebook.

What we can control is how we respond to feelings. That fulfills my rant.

It is simple…there’s a back button.