StreetVerse

In Defense of Avatar

Posted By: Sally Vox
Filed Under: Movies, Opinion on February 12, 2010

Avatar is the whipping boy of this Oscar season. James Cameron has been accused of being a thief, a dirty wizard who has sold his soul to Lucifer, a communist, as well as a cinematic genius. Never have I seen a best picture nominee so hotly lampooned(well at least since Titanic) by the vast wasteland of critics, internet trolls and flamers. Dances with Smurfs has become their battle cry. These people see a lackluster movie, while I see a truly promethean effort by Mr. Cameron. Allow me to champion his cause.

Sure, the story is derivative and formulaic…but I will be so bold as to say all art is derivative and formulaic.

Peruse through The Writer’s Journey, and you will see that all Hollywood scripts follow essentially the same progression of story. Christian Bale is known to turn down roles that do not follow this formula. And he’s Batman.

SHAKESPEARE WAS ORIGINAL!, a frothing troll would scream, pedantically. Was he truly so original? Tristan und Isolde was a medieval folk tale, the earliest manuscripts of the story found in the early 13th century…hundreds of years before Romeo and Juliet (aka ITALIAN TRISTAN AND ISOLDE OMG!).

Good poets imitate, Great poets steal. Julius Caesar? Ripped right from Plutarch’s history books. What made Shakespeare immortal wasn’t his uniqueness…it was his ubiquity. He created universal stories that all people could enjoy, doing so with a willingness to break the mold of formality while keeping the same damn stories everyone knew and twisting it like one of those little plastic things that hold your cords. He was the Steven Spielberg of his time.

“Let’s go watch that new Shakespeare play!”, a mud covered peasant would say. “I hear this one has TWO swordfights!”

“I dunno, my girlfriend is being a real cuckold today,” his equally dirty friend would respond. Then they’d die of plague.

South Park reiterates my point: Just because the Simpsons did it … doesn’t mean it can’t be done again. It’s about creating something fresh with the leftovers we’ve been given.

Don’t get me wrong, Shakespeare did create something new: words. Shakespeare wrote in the vernacular–not in Latin or Italian, but in peasant ENGLISH. Oh yeah,  he also created words out of thin air.

Check this: every italicized word in this article is a creation of Bill Shakespeare.

Just made that shit up! He kicked Noah Webster’s ass into the 4th dimension, where he warped into the 19th century to write the dictionary. We use a little bit of Shakespeare whenever we write, which, to many, is one reason he is considered the greatest. When someone CHANGES A MEDIUM, they become great.

Shakespeare appealed to the masses, and he changed the formula of his medium: writing.  Avatar does the same–it changes the game. Avatar speaks in the vernacular, except instead of colloquialisms, we have explosions and alien sex. James Cameron is everything Michael Bay should be. Instead of relying on 100 cuts to show a door opening, Cameron allows the viewer to see the entire action, allowing the viewer to take in the scene and participate in the action. You know exactly where that giant pteradactyl thing is, and you jump as it swoops by Jake Sully’s head. Oh, and 2 Billion dollars and counting? Yeah, that appeals to the masses alright.

Avatar CHANGES the formula. It’s magnificent 3D is unlike any before it. The depth of field determines apparent viewing distance, which is one step closer to mimicking real life. He doesn’t flaunt it either. Cameron could have chosen to make 3D masturbatory, but chose to make the 3D subtle, yet exciting. Subtlety is magic, and Cameron has created rack focuses which create subconscious emotions that are akin to eyeball orgasms. There was no camera that was able to do this as James Cameron had envisioned it. So what did the fucker do? He just MADE THAT SHIT UP. He created a whole new camera system which will eventually trickle down to users like you and me. This WILL happen. How do I know? It happened to Cameron’s rival, George Lucas.

Hate George Lucas as much as you want, Phantom Menace jump started the digital movement. His movie, shot with newly designed 24p digital cameras, changed cinema forever. A movie could now be shot inexpensively and on the fly (film cameras are extremely bulky). The Panasonic DVX100, directly descended from George Lucas’ creation, was the first step in creating affordable, cinema like images with a digital camera( as opposed to expensive film) and filming a movie nominated for an Academy Award (Iraq in Fragments). Was there another movie that changed how we view and make movies as much as Phantom Menance did?

Yep, Citizen Kane. That’s right, I compared Phantom Menance to Citizen Kane. Done, son. Lucas’ digital cameras and Cameron’s 3D have changed the medium, just as Orwell did 60 years ago. 3D is what new words are to a writer. It is a new tool in an artist’s arsenal. What if Van Gogh didn’t have watercolors or oil paints? He would just be another nobody. How many artists has James Cameron created with the innovation of 3D? How many potentials has he just unleashed?

Avatar is an important movie…one that will give Cameron his share of italicized text in the future. Give the guy a break…he’s done us all a favor.

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