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nitekrawler1285 on 03 March 2014
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SvennoJ said:
nitekrawler1285 said:
 

I went to see Gravity myself.  I went because the preview looked to be full of thrilling possible life threatening situatinos which it was so most certainly the latter. Women would have gone to see Sandra Bullock and George Clooney without the graphics.

The Oscar Committee and critics take pride in talkikng about things that aren't really a big draw to mainstream audiences all the time. This is why I stopped taking reviews seriously and just judging on the previews about a decade ago.  So you can stop using both to try to convince me as they haven't for some time.

Having your land stolen and way of life deprecated by white men(America, Corporations, Whatever metaphor for imperialism you'd like) is something that almost every culture the world over can understand and identify with strongly.  It's a nigh universal tale. Making them blue instead of any shade of red, yellow, brown or black or any human skin color and you have a way of depicting a situation that never ever get's talked about ever because it's socially inappropriate to speak about.  Even when talking about a movie that depicts it. The science fiction lense makes it almost cute and cuts through the drama that normally surrounds the issue.  Avatar's subject matter is profound and merits revisiting for many non caucasian people and thus it has a world wide appeal that few movies will be able to match. I think that focus on imperialism is what causes the appeal for world wide audiences.  

I don't expect a film critic or even most American audiences to get that.  The purposeful building of the Na'vi to resemble various indigenous people's by Cameron's experts.  Here is some great stuff from the wiki that might help others understand how this film appeals specifically to non US and caucasion audiences:

Cameron said "that maybe in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man". He goes on to say "that even though there are good humans within the film, the humans "represent what we know to be the parts of ourselves that are trashing our world and maybe condemning ourselves to a grim future".[80]

Cameron acknowledges that Avatar implicitly criticizes the United States' role in the Iraq War and the impersonal nature of mechanized warfare in general. In reference to the use of the term shock and awe in the film, Cameron said, "We know what it feels like to launch the missiles. We don't know what it feels like for them to land on our home soil, not in America."[81] He said in later interviews, "… I think it's very patriotic to question a system that needs to be corralled …"[82] and, "The film is definitely not anti-American."[83] A scene in the film portrays the violent destruction of the towering Na'vi Hometree, which collapses in flames after a missile attack, coating the landscape with ash and floating embers. Asked about the scene's resemblance to the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, Cameron said he had been "surprised at how much it did look likeSeptember 11".[81]

 

Tons of reasons for international audiences to love the film that most mainstream films don't touch. Cameron managed to do it with most people having seen it and still being none the wiser. If you want to simply say Avatar is just a pretty film and that is even the largest part of it's appeal fine you are free to think so.  I think that questioning imperialism in today's society is something the world over is concerned and cares about because it is where most of our defined cultures come from. That in that way Avatar can be seen as something touching on the zeitgeist and resonating well with international audiences making it more appealing than mainstream films before it.  

My wife doesn't want to see gravity, she thinks it's dumb. I bought the blu-ray, the 2 hour technical behind the scenes footage is definitely worth watching, and it looks great. Although it pains me that all this tech and budget gets wasted on something so simple, Alfonso Cuoron could have taken on the humanities first interstellar space flight in Stephen Baxter's Ark. Very interesting and pretty realistic plot. Anyway I'm glad he got the oscars, he was owed due for Children of men.

And yes I got all that from Avatar but found it very simplistic and heavy handed. There are much better movies and documentaries dealing with the subject matter. But maybe I'm overestimating the intelligence of the general audience, it was a weird realization too when I found out that most people (still) don't see the satire in Starship troopers. So maybe the straight forward approach of Avatar better fits the mainstream. I found Starship troopers much better though.
Avatar is just Dances with wolves with colorful explosions and a happy ending, with stuff from Lawrence of Arabia as well. (Now that's a visual feast, looks amazing on blu-ray mastered in 4K restored from 70mm) Avatar doesn't come anywhere near those 2.

I stand by my reason that most people went to see it for escapism, not to get riled up over current affairs.

I guess I'm just from a sexist family lol.  

I can concur that most wanted to see it for escapism and not politics.

 I think that elements of the design of the heroes and their situation were simply far more appealing(and less excluding) in Avatar than any other comparable film with similar plot in the mainstream eye. Making the characters like many indigenous peoples made it easy for people of any culture to instantly identify with the Na'vi and escape.  Making them blue as opposed to any normal human skin color means you don't exclude any group at all.  So they weren't trying to get riled up over current affairs.  They were tricked into empathizing and escaping into it.  

Imperialism and it's effects aren't just current affairs.  It's the affairs of man since man's time has begun.  You really dont get much older than imperialism.  Any place that has a theater for people to go see Avatar has likely been touched by an imperialist nation.  So chances are more likely it can appeal. 

I love Lawrence of Arabia.  I've seen it 3x in 70mm at a local theater that plays classics during the summer.  I prefer Avatar personally though.  Surely you can see how the Na'vi are more appealing than say bugs in Startship Troopers or Ender's game or even the more direct ones like dances with wolves and pocahontas or fern gully.  The Na'vi are basically meta people designed to appeal to all of our positive image of whatever your genetic legacy happens to be.