Why We Didn’t Finish Watching “Avatar”

ME: “THEY SURE USED A lot of tech to spin a yarn about how tech is bad.”

She: “Nice visual imagination, though.”

Me: “Very nice. And the acting and casting are spot on. But it’s a planet full of Magic Negroes. Blue Magic Negroes. And there’s still two hours left.”

She: “Let’s read aloud ‘Lord of the Rings’ instead.”

Me: “Okay.”

(Okay, maybe that’s a bit harsh. But I did find it to be so obvious as to insult my intelligence. (I mean, the Good Guys wearing organic bodies and the Bad Guys wearing robot bodies would be thrown back as too small by other metaphoragers. But mostly I don’t like being preached at, even when I agree with the preachment (and especially the latter if it’s heavy-handed). I did want to like it; some of my friends did, and one who’s reminiscent of Sigourney Weaver’s character, and doing some fairly serious and beautiful work along tangential lines (i.e., avatar as revelatory experient), is “all about it” the way I am about, well, Judaism. But when A&I started saying things like “This must be where the hero doesn’t know that the monster behind him frightened off the monster in front of him,” the spell was, alas, broken.)

4 comments for “Why We Didn’t Finish Watching “Avatar”

  1. Tom Pava
    2010.09.07 at 0644

    No matter how you dissect a thing, you will never see it’s soul.

    • 2010.09.07 at 0658

      I agree. But doesn’t there have to be a soul to see? (BTW, and apropos nothing, while you were posting this I happened across Arf’s last postcard (with the pic of his box on one side and the explanation on the other). God I miss that ——e sometimes. And he still owes me $12!)

      • Tom Pava
        2010.09.07 at 0910

        I suppose that soul issue could be debated ad infinitum. Could we tentatively settle for, if you see it or not, it is/is not there, for you? How’s that for ambiguity? As for the other, he was an unique and inspiring individual, to say less than the least. I miss him as well. Have you seen his sons now that they are grown? They each embody distinct elements of his character. It’s almost spooky sometimes! (Ya’ might want to write off that $12)

        • 2010.09.07 at 1327

          Suits. I like ambiguity. I also like the offspring, whom I met and was royally amazed by at Sput’s funeral. As for that $12, it’s my sole justification for belief in an afterlife.

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