Just watched the James Cameron movie Avatar The Way of Water (for some, like me, this is Avatar 2). My reaction is, admittedly, an expected big disappointment, and I’ll tell you why….
I am a fan of some of the greatest written science fiction stories ever put to paper (and some of those have been attempted to film). For example, and this is just a short list: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, Contact by Carl Sagan, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells (avoid *all* the cheesy movie versions!), Dune by Frank Herbert, 2001 A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke, The Lost World by Arthur Conan Doyle, and Reefsong by Carol Severance. James Cameron’s Avatar 2 movie, like his Avatar 1 movie, is *not* one of these great science fiction stories!
After watching the first of these “blockbuster” Avatar movies, my brother stated it so succinctly to me: This drenched in special effects series, the Avatar world of James Cameron is nothing more than “Dances with Wolves dressed in all blue”! We are two movies in, now, and James Cameron is proving that he cares nothing about presenting and sharing an actual original story – one with real social impact upon its viewers – and *everything* about making as much money as possible off of special effects technology. The core theme of the Avatar movies is that all humans with technology are inherently indifferent and, thus, bad, and all natives (of any planet) – meaning, technology rejecting, users of just bows, knives, and arrows who embrace strictly the aboriginal hunter-gatherer style lifestyle – are inherently all good and, thus, cannot behave as evil as the Colonizers. Only one problem to this self-hating Colonial mentality of James Cameron’s stories:
Some Indigenous Peoples here on planet Earth embrace fully modern technology and use this technology successfully to sustain their land and waters sovereignties *from* European-Arab Colonialism and corporatism! Further, in many Indigenous Peoples’ cultures (yes, not all!), a non-indigenous who becomes accepted as an Indigenous member is Indigenous, of the blood of the people and able to marry as so – not, as this movie puts into the native’s mouths, their *and* their children ridiculed of “demon” blood from the mouth of Indigenous. It takes a Colonizer’s mind to keep adopted members and their descendants “black” in identity always (‘got a drop of that demon blood in you, no matter how much you look and behave like us’).
Avatar 1 basically followed the story plot of Dances with Wolves, only now dressed in a modern corporate’s Colonial obsession with raping an off world planet’s natural environment, rather than the “American” colonized land of Michilimackinac. Worse, Avatar 2 is a literal repetition of the same story presented in Avatar 1 and in Dances with Wolves, only now with the indifferent greedy corporate of the first movie being replaced with the entire planet Earth of human beings as a whole trying to steal this human colonized planet that is deep out in space for humanity to dominion upon. If you’re going to rehash the same story again and again throughout your entire movie making career, why not show just a little interest in introspection and honest history portrayals – you know, to educate the audience, while you bank green on all your cliche emotional teasers?
So, since James Cameron never does this, then back on movie subject… Let’s welcome back, everyone, the same characters of the first Avatar movie to the second Avatar movie, so that we can have the same battles all over again between these characters that hate each other – just now fully dressed in Avatar bodies and with matching children at their hips, from all their military and science professional on-assignment sexual affairs (note, that they were all expected to return home after rotation, says the first movie, except for Grace Augustine and select crew,… character development points that were not shown in the first movie as part of their character developments,… along with their obsession with their jobs). Even the use of the pseudo-military lingo throughout Avatar 2, especially between father and children, was a cheesy addition to this James Cameron film – for every language used by Indigenous warriors have their own native language lingo that is more in touch with the Indigenous Peoples’ identity, rather than the Colonizer’s identity. I guess Jake Sully has *not* actually *learned* the Na’vi language yet! If he had, he would have been teaching his warrior children the Na’vi “military” words, not his native Colonial tongue. (Hello, anyone?)
The only thing I liked about this movie was the special effects. I really liked the special effects used to make this Avatar world! And, though doubtful – because, as a fan of serious life-changing science fiction (I hate cheesy, run of the mill, Saturday afternoon kid’s special story plot movies!) – if I ever watch these Avatar movies again, I will do so with the volume on mute throughout. To further emphasize this point, should I feign respect and choose to waste even a minute on the third Avatar movie, you can be sure that it will be a silent movie flick for me!
Now, just for contrast, so that you see my desire to treat movies fairly in my critiques… my review of the Black Panther Wakanda movie (I liked it!), that also features a water world, after it was released to theatres:
This is why I like Wakanda Forever: They kept it real, the storyline, even though they pretended that Atlantis (Talokan) and Wakanda hadn’t been at war before! They also made the Atlantans (Greco-Romans) ten times cool as f…, by adding a meso-“American” flair to these Colonizers in both costume and in the use of an indigenous language (rather than Colonial Latin, Colonial Spanish, Colonial Arabic, Colonial English, Colonial French, etc)! And, though unnecessary with the change they made with the Talokan (Atlantan) Colonizers, they still gave a direct nod to the comic origins of Namor, the serpent god-King with his uttering his personal battle cry, “Imperius Rex”! …
Here, in this movie, we have a battle between an Indigenous People, the people of Wakanda, who possess and wisely use superior technology to preserve their Indigenous land and people’s inherently anti-Colonial way of life. They are in a battle with Colonizers of this planet Earth, one of which is a neighboring Indigenous People, the people of Talokan, with similar technology capabilities. Plus, they must do battle with the historic European-Arab Colonizers of our planet Earth, of whom *not* all are bad folk (these characters, true Indigenous allies, who are working to keep Indigenous nations free, using their Colonial privileges and connections – I know, *too rare* these ones on this planet Earth!).
This is why I *rightfully* make the connection between Wakanda (indigenous by language and ancestors) and Israel (indigenous by language and ancestors) – versus – Talokan (Greco-Roman Colonizers, in meso-“American” style) and Palestine (Arab Colonizers). If only the Arab “Palestinian” settler-occupiers could understand the answer that Namor gave to his Atlantans in the Wakanda film as to why he yielded to Wakanda. To paraphrase his answer:
“Because Israel (Wakanda) is the most powerful nation in the Middle East (Africa/world), but has no allies (real allies, still working on it!). So, we make an alliance with Israel (Wakanda), so that our land is protected forever.” Even Arab-European Colonizers who pretend to be the new ancient indigenous of the lands they’ve settler-occupied, if they’re not filled with Colonizer hate, know that a resolute Indigenous nation is a good ally to have, rather than be at war with!
Black Panther Wakanda Forever is one of the best sci fi movies made in a generation! What some/many people “hate” about this movie is that it is so *pro-Indigenous* representing – to where even (USA) “Colonizers” are coming to Wakanda’s cause for her survival – defying their own government to achieve this. More, Black Panther dares to portray the possibility that an Indigenous People can be equal to or, even, more advanced than the historic European and Arab Colonizers of planet Earth (and not be Colonizers themselves for this!).
How dare we *not* cling to the tried and true primitivizing caricatures of Indigenous Peoples in “blockbuster” movies? Or, for being technologically advanced, relabeling such Indigenous Peoples as no different than the Colonizers (for their technology achievements, a false equivalence!). Thus continuing the social media act of self-justifying the history of Arab-European Colonialism upon planet Earth (and, as posited in James Cameron’s films, across the universe of available planets).
For those willing to learn further, allow me to explain in greater detail who and what a “Colonizer” is by way of this web site!!! – http://www.takemeon.org/dir/a-colonizer-is-a-colonizer-regardless-of-ancestry/ – A Colonizer is a Colonizer *regardless* of Ancestry! For those more interested in Namor’s “Imperius Rex” battle cry (we are sad, but here you go)….
https://screenrant.com/why-namor-says-imperius-rex-in-wakanda-forever/
Why Namor Says Imperius Rex And What It Means
“Keeping the original comics in mind, it’s rather fitting that there’s no explanation for the MCU Namor’s catchphrase “Imperius Rex” either. In fact, Namor’s “Imperius Rex” battle cry makes even less sense for the on-screen Sub-Mariner considering he rules over the Mesoamerican-inspired underwater Talokan rather than Atlantis and its Greco-Roman origins. In truth, it’s just a fun reference meant to honor the character’s comic roots, proving a dedication to representing the character well even if his kingdom of Talokan is different from the MCU…
While not having a direct translation, Namor’s catchphrase “Imperius Rex” is meant to sound intimidating while fitting with his name, originally conceived by Marvel Comics writer Bill Everett who simply reversed the spelling of “Roman.” That being said, there was one instance in Marvel Comics where Thor finally asked Namor what the catchphrase means while they were locked in combat in 2018’s Thor #1. Providing a less-than-serious reply, Namor said that “It means I’m going to feed your sorry Asgardian hide to the biggest sharks I can find!” While there’s never really been an exact explanation as to what Namor’s iconic battle cry truly means, it does sound pretty cool (which is ultimately the point).”
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