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It's a Meme

By Joseph Lawler on 1.6.10 @ 10:58AM

ABCNews writes it up: conservatives hate Avatar.

In that article they cite Ross Douthat of the NYT, Jonah Goldberg of NRO, John Podhoretz of the Weekly Standard, and a few others as conservatives who detest James Cameron's epic diatribe against future-colonialism. To that list they could have added the Spectator's William Tucker and Peter Ferrara.

The aspects of the movie that those critics dislike are lame. But they're so cartoonish and ham-fisted that I didn't find them problematic. Hating Avatar for its anti-Americanism is like hating Aladdin for its negative portrayal of grand viziers -- the soldiers in Avatar compare to US soldiers about the same way that Jafar would to a good and decent vizier.

There is a sequence in Avatar, probably 30 of the film's 160 minutes, where it portrays the main character spending half his time in the human base camp and half his time as an avatar in the Na'vi village. As he goes along he finds himself happier with the Na'vi and longing to spend more and more time with them. You, the viewer, are forced to join him in this character development, because Cameron's Pandora is so visually appealling compared to anything else that you want the main character to stay there and never go back to the humans. It's a masterstroke. You're depriving yourself if you don't see it in 3D.

UPDATE: Wow, I'm getting killed in the comments...

View all comments (9) | Leave a comment

kingsmill| 1.6.10 @ 12:42PM

I'll pass.

Uriel| 1.6.10 @ 12:45PM

"Meme" is a stupid, made-up word with no distinct definition.

It's a word that stupid people use to hide the fact that they don't know the right word for the right circumstance.

Franklin| 1.6.10 @ 1:04PM

I just assumed it was a word they used for "stupid talking point".

Just looked it up in the dictionary: "meme [miːm] n (Psychology) an idea or element of social behaviour passed on through generations in a culture, esp by imitation [possibly from mimic, on the model of gene]"

Tony in Central PA| 1.6.10 @ 1:26PM

I predict in about five years " Avatar " DVD's ( assuming we still have DVD's ) will be found in the bargain bins.

Moe| 1.6.10 @ 1:29PM

As a member of the US Army I cannot see Avatar due to its blatant portrayal of the American Marine and hence all the Armed Forces as repugnant killers and murderers without conscience or mind. Mr. Cameron's wish to portray us all as mindless cretins whose only goal in life is to kill, maim and rape is to bastardize the concepts of honor, duty, sacrifice and courage that the average Soldier, Sailor, Airman and Marine live by. I have, as a Chaplain, given last rites over Soldiers who died as a result of catastrophic IED blasts, and each one, though possibly flawed (like all humans are) were willing to go, fight for and die for people who could never repay or thank them for fulfilling their moral obligations to defend other human beings in the most hellacious of environments. To say that there are some redeeming qualities to a moralistic screed like this is repugnant and deepens the anger we who serve find ourselves struggling against as we are told by the Cameron's, Clooney's, Damon's and their like that they support us, then portray us not just unflatteringly, but as the most morally corrupt and perverse creatures that have ever walked the planet, even to the point of potraying those who engage in a total war against humanity of all ages, as noble and decent people just trying to protect themselves. I think I will keep my money and spend it a way that honor's the lives of the men and women who have and are dying for the vapid and fatuous Cameron's of the world.