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January 10, 2010
Why are Americans the bad guys?
There's been plenty of support at the box office for James Cameron and his latest blockbuster, Avatar, and in the media, too, with film critics and members of the kultural kommentariat only too happy to slam conservatives for being paranoid, too sensitive, delusional, or all of the above when it comes to the anti-American, anti-military subtext lurking not very far beneath the surface.
So it comes as something of a surprise to read Joe Klein's entry on his Time Magazine blog:
Alone in our nation's capital last night, I decided to keep in touch with the culture by going to see Avatar in 3D. I hadn't read much of the commentary about the movie, but the word of mouth was that it was visually spectacular--and yes, spectacular it was, especially in 3D (which has improved markedly since the last time I put on the glasses, before any of you were born).
But that wasn't the most amazing thing about the movie: the Americans were the bad guys. They were a mercenary army working for corporate villains who wanted to strip-mine a tribe of alien, cerulean nice-guy, enviro-theists. The dialogue was awful; the characterizations were crude ... and I'm sure that conservatives will dismiss this as another excretion of the Hollywood left. But still, it was something for a mainstream -- indeed, a blockbuster -- motion picture to have you rooting for the blue dudes flying about on birds painted like Chinese fans ... and rooting against the humans, none of whom had the requisite Eastern European or Arab villain accents.
The message that big trees are good and bulldozers are evil seems rather timely. The message that God is Green is fascinating stuff to be peddling in the shopping malls of middle America (I particularly liked the moment when the mercenaries chuckled about the fact that the primitives believed in a tree god).
I previously wrote about why I wasn't likely to put money in Cameron's pocket and attend Avatar:
I could look past the idiocy of the story, just to experience what sounds like a fully-realized alien world, but for the fact that Cameron has chosen to make the U.S. Marines the bad guys in his tale. In a week where Muslim terrorists came within a hair's breadth of blowing an American passenger jet out of the sky; where American troops continue to fight against primitive warriors in far off lands; and where Marines are dying in defense of liberty, I'm just not interested in giving money to another Hollywood dimwit who can't find it within himself to make a movie where the men and women in uniform -- our uniform, our Marines -- are the good guys.
Some Cameron defenders point out that the Americans being slaughtered by the noble, blue-skinned aliens aren't Marines, explaining helpfully that they're ex-Marines, mercenaries, and therefore, I guess, even less deserving of our sympathies.
Col. Bryan Salas, USMC, isn't impressed. The director of public affairs at Marine Corps Headquarters writes in Marine Corps Times:
Lost amid the staggering commercial success of “Avatar” and obscured by the punditry of the left and right as they debate James Cameron’s social and historical commentary are the real warriors whose heroism, valor and selfless service has allowed the U.S. to leave a war in Iraq that many in 2006 thought was unwinnable and indeed salvage success from the jaws of calamity.
“Avatar” takes sophomoric shots at our military culture and uses the lore of the Marine Corps and over-the-top stereotyping of Marine warriors to set the context for the screenplay. This does a disservice to our Corps of Marines and the publics’ understanding of their Corps.
The Marine Corps embraces a warrior-scholar mentality and prides itself on understanding host country narratives and sensitivities in complex climes and places. Gen. James Mattis, whose catch-phrase is “no better friend, no worse enemy,” better captures the essence of Marines who helped usher in the Sunni Awakening in Anbar province than the cinemagraphically convenient colonel-turned-mercenary antagonist in “Avatar.”
Let’s view “Avatar” for what it is, a leap in the wizardry of cinema, a digital fantasy and a vehicle for a film-maker to make a statement, but not emblematic of the Marines who honorably fight and fall to win our nation’s real battles today.
Posted by Mike Lief at January 10, 2010 09:40 PM
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Comments
I love the fact that Cameron is getting it from all angles. Native Americans, blacks and other minority groups are accusing him of promoting the white Messiah fantasy. Unable to save themselves from the superior culture, the white Messiah sees the evil of his people's ways and guides the dimwitted natives to victory. Cameron can't win. He went PC and the PC angle even bit him on the ass.
Posted by: Mango Taco at January 12, 2010 10:43 PM