Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
- President Dwight D. Eisenhower

Monday, January 11, 2010

James Cameron

He can make a movie.

So, Kim and I saw "Avatar" last night with a dear fiend. It's an awesome movie with a fantastic cast. It's message is subtle but very clear, and I would watch it again.

That said, well... it's not realistic. I know, I know, a movie about ten foot tall sentient aliens with carbon fiber skeletons is more fantasy than reality. Just go with me here for a few seconds.

If you read past this sentence, you will learn vital plot elements of the movie "Avatar" that might spoil your cinematic experience.

Any way, in the third act, the humans and the Na'Vi are at war. The Na'Vi have a sacred tree that is vital to their culture and way of life, and the humans are going to bomb it out of existence.

Unfortunately, the humans choose to destroy this tree by flying a sky armada through an area that has massive electromagnetic interference, thereby making missiles and other instrument-driven weapons reliant on line-of-sight operation.

That, right there, is where I checked out. See, we are talking about an interstellar race fighting a tribal culture. They have shuttles that can break the gravity well. They have perfect coordinates of the sacred tree.

Bomb the tree from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. Indeed, they don't even need to use explosives. A hunk of mining debris dropped from low orbit reaching terminal velocity would simply be insurmountable to the Na'Vi. A tribal culture can shove a grenade into a jet engine's intake, but they can't stop a thousand ton ballistic asteroid from slamming into their most sacred place with the force of several Hiroshima bombs.

So, yeah. James Cameron is a genius, but he just isn't capable of visualizing how massively ruthless humanity can truly be.

5 comments:

kimberkara said...

they wanted to mine what was just under the tree, and it was hollow inside, so maybe they only wanted to knock it down at the base.

I'm Scooter, but I might be a troll. said...

That was the home tree. The ancestor tree was the tree that they were going to bomb.

Joe C said...

I'm told the story is the same as FernGully.

Also, my verification word is gammy.

Andrea said...

We went and saw that movie last weekend and really liked it too. I think it showed humans as we are; self centered, selfish, thoughtless about others... we do that to lots of people every day in real life. Too bad. :/
3D IMAX is awesome for that movie!

kimberkara said...

I think the aliens were a reflection fo us as well and that is why some people walk away a little depressed. They were kind and strong and in tune with nature just as we all would like to be all of the time.