Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Avatar Makes the Circuit of the Jokers

And some serious debate too


Everyone is making fun of Avatar. The Late Night jokers, Youtube videos, and even at the Oscars.

Cameron took his movie VERY seriously. He even wrote a whole book depicting Pandora, the Na'vi and the language. I am not sure that he is taking this joke making with stride.

At the Oscars, right in front of Cameron, several people dared to squeeze a laugh out of Avatar. The funniest was Ben Stiller coming out in full Na'vi gear to present the Best Costume category. He then looked straight at Cameron, went into his imaginary Na'vi monologue, and ended up saying in English, "I See You." If Cameron were the Queen, I am sure he would have declared "We are not amused."

There was a more serious discussion on Avatar on Steve Paikin's The Agenda at TVO. The leftists and the rightists on the show equally hated it. The leftists say it wasn't overt enough about discrimination, oppression, colonization etc., while the rightists say that there was nothing racist about Avatar, it was just too simplistic and sweeping about race. The clever and astute Paikin simply lets the ball roll where it may, with a mischievous grin on his face. This must be the panel of his dreams, where all his hosts agree, but for different reasons.

Here is the TVO video. It is about 45 minutes long, but I think it is worth watching.