Avatar: Criticism and Praise
Robin | January 22, 2010
With success comes criticism, and Avatar has been no exception. One of the more popular articles critical of this movie is by New York Times journalist David Brooks and can be found here: (Link)
I think some of what he said needs to be addressed, so here it goes.
David Brooks claims,
“It rests on the stereotype that white people are rationalist and technocratic while colonial victims are spiritual and athletic.”
Not all of the people who were invading were white, nor were all the humans who decided to help the Na’vi. I think Brooks is confusing a culture with a race.
Since strong female characters have been a recurring theme in James Cameron’s films (Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, etc) it would have been great to see that continued in Avatar, or expanded upon by having a strong Latino or Black woman be the main character, but I don’t think it’s rational to call the movie racist just because Sam Worthington (a white man) was chosen for the role. Worthington was living in his car before auditioning for Avatar, so it’s nice that Hollywood’s money isn’t going to only rich people all the time.
I personally would have liked Avatar better if the hero of the story was one of the natives (that’s why I loved “Apocalypto”) but Cameron wanted to make a movie about self maturation and acceptance, so he had to use a human as the main character; because, if he had used a native Read the rest of this entry »
Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy – backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China – is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as “one of the great menaces of our times” have an extraordinary story to tell – and some justice on their side.