Avatar Reviewed

WARNING! WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!

WE WILL TELL YOU WHAT HAPPENS!

WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!



We were sitting in the semi-dark. The setting was Xmas week in suburbia, the mall, thronged with mad human traffic, anxious, hurrying shoppers, then a crowded multiplex theater. We knew better. We were way early and got reasonable seats, semi-new fangled 3-D glasses in hand; and subsequently installed on bridge of nose, we watched Avatar.

We could not help but be disappointed, it was spectacular visually, even breathtaking at times. The special effects were other worldly. The companions that we rolled with, a pair of twelve year-old new cellphone owners, gave it a 10. One said it was only his second movie 10 ever (purportedly), tied with Transformers II. James Cameron and his team scored all the visceral points they possibly could, it was eye-popping. Unfortunately, the plot was simplified and rushed to include time for as many cool visuals as possible. In the end, this emphasis on the spectacular over the subtle compromised and distorted the vision of the entire movie in a manner both poignant and tragic.

The Avatar could have been so much better as two or three movies. The story was barely nascent before it was climaxing. Major characters go undeveloped, like the gritty female pilot who frees the former U.S. Marine now Avatar and his scientists collaborators. She is a linchpin, the one military person on their side. But she is hardly sketched, she has about six lines before performing her crucial, heroic act. There is no basis for understanding why she might free them. Why does she take this action that is ostensibly against her own race, the human race, and in favor of the native population? It ultimately leads to her death in a battle where she sides against the human race and her military cohorts in a battle to the death, her helicopter painted with the Na'vi war paint!?! Huh?

The failures of the plot are all the more frustrating because there was plenty of fascinating material here. This could have easily been a brilliant trilogy with spectacularly mad character development. The main character, Jake Sully, the Marine now Avatar, is underdeveloped, too. There is barely any explanation of his brother's death and its effect on him. There is no time for exploration of his relationship with Sigourney Weaver's scientist. Similarly his relationship with the evil colonel is on fast forward. It felt like Jake Sully was be-bopping back and forth between sides, so fast it was hardly swallowable.

Another underdeveloped relationship is the one between Jake Sully, the Avatar Marine, and the future lead medicine woman. It suffers from the same problem, not enough time invested made it feel oversimplified and contrived. It was a cliched blockbuster love story. Why does she fall for him so fast? She is powerful, a future tribal leader. Her brother, the future chief, thinks the Marine-Avatar is a demon, and indeed he has these crazy passing out spells. Their romance is based on what? It could have been so much more developed, and more nuanced in two or three movies.

On top of these gaping character holes, there was lots of fascinating background they left out or skimmed over rapidly. For instance, they hinted at the whole pyschotropic weirdness of being an Avatar, the going inside another creatures body with one's own mind, but they did not explore it (a 12 Monkeys like opportunity missed). They barely discoursed on the nature of being interconnected with a horse or a flying dinosaur as part of one's own being and seeing, consciousness and senses, as the blue people are able to do. And what about the opportunity to delve into Jake Sully, he is a paraplegic! This was visually addressed only. No of the delicate psychological territory was probed. Even in the movie's visuals his morphing into the Avatar and the joy of regaining his legs is addressed in platitudes rather than the subtleties and complexities such an issue might have deserved. It was a missed opportunity to be sure.

There were other great back stories like Sigourney Weaver's efforts at a school and her understanding of the Gaian botany of the planet that are only mentioned in the barest way. This final one about the interwoven, interconnected botany and zoology of the planet, Pandora, and all the creatures on it becomes the centerpiece of the saddest part of this far too screamingly fast paced story. Violence triumphs.

Because there is no time to explain the Gaian nature of the planet Pandora in full, no effort to consider what it means to be a Na'vi, the story is left with other way out than orgiastic violence. This was tragic on many levels, but most poignantly because of the reaction of the kids in the theater: cheering on gruesome violence.

The Avatar's plot briefly summarized: evil American corporation shows up on unbelievably beautiful and verdant forest planet to mine valuable metals with massive bulldozers. They come backed by helicopter flying Marines. The helicopter and jungle visuals are eerily reminiscent of Vietnam movies. The natives resist. They are reluctant to move out of their ancestral home. Negotiations are given a very limited time to succeed. When they don't, helicopter flying Marines show up and blast the natives, families and all, with rockets, machine guns, and flame throwers out of their ancient tree that doubles as the village. The natives are decimated and flea. The Avatar subsequently returns to his Na'vi body from his human state, captures the most powerful flying dinosaur and returns to rally the Na'vi for war.

As a sidenote: Cameron, et al., offered up one more Hollywood movie cliche that reinforces status quo, in this case the patriarchy. When Sully return to rally the Na'vi for war, the Avatar's mentor, trainer, wife and the future head medicine woman is now reduced to the status of cheerleader and translator, while he the outsider, alien, possible demon, rallies the Na'vi tribes for war.

But, as we have said, the deepest, most disturbing tragedy here is the ultimate triumph of violence. The juxtaposition of National Guard and Air Force commercials playing in the multiplex before the movie started with James Cameron's failure to find a vision other greater violence as a solution was stomach churning in its implications. The Na'vi in their use of bows and arrows, their speech patterns, their face paint and costumes, their apparent enmeshing with nature could not have been more American Indian in their depiction.

It was if the plot said simply, "Well if the Native North American Indians had been a little better armed, the evil (white/European) exploiters would not have been able to drive them off the land. The Na'vi just had to get better weapons, first machine guns for riding on their flying beasts, then a helicopter gunship on their side, only then, they could win. Ahh whoops, unfortunately, the plot twists and this level of weaponry is only enough for a tie. The Marines were still going to be able bomb their most sacred tree. But wait, the planet, Pandora, can still out escalate them, all of the creatures of the planet in the penultimate moment of the movie, are seized by an epic collective moment of violence. All the creatures of the alien world join in the attack on the human Marines, the wild alien dogs, the enormous multi-colored rhinos, the other dinosaur like flying creatures and phantasmagoria. It was nuts and vile.

Even if Cameron, et al., were really going to hypothesize a Gaian planet inspired counterstrike, a storm, an earthquake or a massive electric shock delivered by the tree roots would have made far more sense then the gruesome spasm of violence that concluded the movie. This Hiernonymous Bosch like vision, madness and violence fused, had the young folks in the theater cheering the deaths of American Marines at the hands of the natives the Blue people, the Na'vi, and the grotesque alien beasts.

The message was practically Old Testament in nature, that less than righteous violence is trumped by more righteous violence with the hand of the All-Mighty on its side. Was there no other way out, Mr. Cameron? The natives could only triumph through violence? It did not seem thus to the Clarion Content. It was intertwined with the speed and pace of the movie, plot sublimated to visuals. In two hours and forty minutes could something other than violent escalation have trumped? Maybe not, but in two movies, surely a much better message could have been sent. The planet and its plants could have begun gradually sabotaging the foundations of the Marines base and its walls. The wind disrupting their flights. The rain soddening their days and bogging down their bulldozers. The tale could have been told that something other than greater violence triumphs. In fact, it was well positioned for Gandhi-King non-violent resistance wins moral.

Unfortunately Hollywood's message was, as it is all too often, "He with the biggest stick wins. My violence is more gratuitous then yours, ergo my side wins because my side produces more shock and awe." Back in the real world, Art is not just a mirror for society, for it is all the more multifarious and complex than that. Art is a hall of mirrors, angled in different ways reflecting slices and sections, angles and perspectives depending on where one stands, processing through some four billion human consciousnesses worldwide. That reflection, refraction and interpretation cycle that it is constantly on-going between humans and our Art is going to inevitably distort some of the artist's original message. The audience is not present in his or her head, but Cameron's vision gives little space to capture any positivity out of this movie. For Cameron and his team, greater violence is the answer.

The Clarion Content cannot help but consider the conjuncture between Hollywood and the election of President Barack Obama. Hollywood backed Obama in way that was important, surely fiscally, and perhaps too, in a more content rich manner, a way that influenced his vision and policy. What then about the meshing of Hollywood's visions and Obama's actions? Is it more than coincidental that like Cameron fails to find away out of the Avatar other than hyper-violence? For all the schools, the aid, the visions of Na'vi's peaceful ways and Pandora's Gaian nature escalation of violence is the key to victory. Is it coincidental that Obama similarly for all the lofty rhetoric, aid provisions, road and school building can find no other way out of Afghanistan other than military escalation? How long before the tweens and teens that made Avatar a 200 million dollar movie already make this same connection? Greater violence is the answer.

Compound words

Just a quick follow-up to our post on the University of North Carolina's Davis Library Finals' Week flash mob. How many challenging, modern, compound-or-not words were there in that post?

Flash mob, itself, a compound word, two words or hyphenated? Wikipedia opts for two words in its header, but it can't make up its mind because it then opens its entry with, "A flash mob (or flashmob)..." Merriam-Webster also opts for two words. The definitive source for such a modern term, Urban Dictionary (UD), opts for two words, as well.

However, easily flash mob is dispatched by the authorities, the Clarion Content thinks it is not as clear-cut. The idea of a flash mob is a singular concept, not an adjective modifying mob, as would be the case in "large" mob or "wild" mob.

Other problematic words emerged from this same post, handheld, for example. Mozilla Firefox is confident that handheld is not a compound word, brazenly underlining it. But then again, what does Mozilla know? Well for one thing, it knows how to spell Mozilla. Though, not so generous to potential competitors, it underlines Facebook as if it had never heard of the massive network. Facebook is a proper noun, ergo the choice for two words, hyphen or compound word belongs to the owner of the entity that is the name. In this case they have opted for one word, and Mozilla, along with Microsoft Word, Google Docs and their ilk need to accept it.

But back to handheld, once again Wikipedia waffles. "Hand held" re-directs to the article for "Mobile Device" which in its first sentence uses handheld as a single compound word. Searching Wikipedia for "hand-held" hyphenated yields a disambiguation page where handheld is treated as a compound word in four article titles and a hyphenated word in two titles. Mozilla, of course, accepts the hyphenated word "hand-held" because it is made up of two words it accepts and the hyphen is a signifier to treat them separately. Merriam-Webster in this case is definitive opting for the compound word "handheld" and dating it all the way back to 1923. The Clarion Content cannot fail to agree, "handheld" a singular descriptive state, an adjective, one word.

The final to compound or not word that popped up prominently in the Davis Library Flash Mob piece was "chatroom." Of course, Mozilla Firefox, in its stern, unforgiving manner says it is a mispelling. As noted previously, due to a programming default, it is willing to accept to "chat-room." Merriam-Webster agrees with Mozilla's anti-chatroom stance. It dates the phrase "chat room" to 1986 and says two words, no hyphen. It undermines itself to a certain extent because the Google Ad Sense ad on the page shills for a one word "chatroom" site. Wikipedia prefers two words for chatroom although the article opens with the dual warnings, "This article needs additional citations for verification," and "This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards."

The Clarion Content is inclined to disagree with the fuddy-duddies at Merriam-Webster and the negatistas Mozilla (who think fuddy-duddy isn't a word and have never heard of negatista). Chatroom is a singular concept, a noun referring to a particular meme, a virtual room where one goes online to have chats. Urban Dictionary has no fewer than eleven definitions of "chatroom" all of which treat it as one word. UD also has seven chatroom related phrases defined from "chatroom thug" to "chatroom whore" all of which treat chatroom as a singular phrase. It is certainly still arguable though, even via modern sources, for example, the website www.techfaq.com offers a more reasonable definition for chatroom than any of those on UD, but treats "chat room" as two words.

Ah, these modern words and phrases bring us much fascinating debate. One of our favorite modern linguists, And He Melts noted that, Philip K. Dick in his 1964 novel, The Unteleported Man, produced in the first thirty pages alone a massive treasury trove of hyphenated words ranging from "the impatient ("syn-cof," instead of "synthetic coffee"), [to] the needless ("break-through"), [to] the redundant ("aud-receptors/aud-monitors/data-monitors/data-recorders"), [to] the quaint ("light-years, ""colony-world"), [to] the way-ahead-of-his-time ("UN-egged-on"), and the simply fantastic ("Swiss-made nipple-assist")." We look forward to more of this kind of linguistic fun, thinking, and discussion about the compound words of this modern era. (Which is not to say there are not fun old compound words still to debate.)

Flash Mob decends on Davis Library

A fascinating spectacle that occurred during Finals' Week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has just come across the Clarion Content's radar. In what is apparently now a one year-old tradition, a flash mob descended on the university's main library, Davis library, during finals week. Their purpose to blow-off stress in a ritual that would have fired Emile Durkheim's imagination. Originally an underground thing, this year it had a public Facebook page. Attendance was estimated at over 3,000 by the Raleigh News and Observer's December 16th print edition. The video below can attest to that number.

The Clarion Content is fascinated by flash mobbing. It has powerful political applications as was first demonstrated at the World Trade Organization's November 1999 meetings in Seattle. Those were the nascent days of cell phone technology. The handheld computer that is the iPhone was a dream of science fiction. Chatrooms were the 90's caveman equivalent of Facebook. The technology available has exponentially multiplied the scale of flash mobbing's potential.

University of North Carolina officials displayed a wide range of reactions as reported by the News and Observer.

UNC Assistant Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs Winston Crisp said, "You don't know how many people are coming. If they are going to gather like that, how do you stop it?"

Randy Young a spokesman for the UNC campus police said, "We try to weigh in on whether it would be prudent to stop it or whether it would just be better to let it run its course."

Billy Mitchell, the campus fire marshal, said he had not received any complaints and was not concerned.

Check out the video. Remember it is filmed in the lobby of a massive research library that houses nearly than 5.8 million books. Student organizers brought in speakers and positioned them around the second floor railings.


This photo shows the lobby empty.



This video shows the flash mob scene December 14th, 2009.

Local Playboy Cybergirl

North Carolina, we have got news for you! The latest playboy Cybergirl is from right here in the Triangle. Stephanie Christine attends the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tarheels!





Franklin Street look out.

Deadly cocktail

The Clarion Content was greatly saddened to hear about the death of actress Brittany Murphy at a mere 32 years of age. She first came to our notice in Clueless, where she was paired with long time Clarion Content fave, Alicia Silverstone.

Murphy, a stunning beauty, played the ugly duckling wonderfully. She later had more serious and interesting roles like the tragically abused, chicken eating Daisy in "Girl Interrupted" and Eminem's love interest in the biopic, "8 Mile."

There has been mad speculation surrounding the details of her death. She was a tiny person and was reportedly underweight, bordering on anorexic. We have to be honest, that and prescription drugs were first things bandied about the staff office when we heard of her passing.

The Clarion Content has been attempting to sound the alarm bell about the wave of prescription drug addiction that has been sweeping over America. Celebrities, rather than being immune, have been at the forefront, from Rush Limbaugh's arrest with a suitcase full of prescription drugs, to Heath Ledger's tragic death from a drug cocktail of his own mixing, to this week's announcement that Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler was checking into rehab to get off prescription painkillers.

Reports from Fox News indicate Murphy may have been stumbling down the same tragic path. Scads of prescription drugs were found in the bedroom of the home where she suddenly collapsed. Murphy may have been practicing what is known as polypharmacy, the administration of excess prescription medications. The problem was compounded because likely none of the doctors writing the prescriptions had the full picture. Bottles found in her bedroom had prescriptions written for Murphy's mom (who does not live in the home) and Murphy's husband.

The list of drugs is long enough to be horrifying to the casual observer (even one steeped in drug culture): Topamax & Carbamazepine, anti-seizure medications used to treat depression and bipolar disorder; Topamax is also commonly used to treat migraines, benzodiazepines, Klonopin & Ativan usually prescribed for anti-anxiety, Vicoprofen & Hydrocodone which are narcotic painkillers, Propranolol, a beta-blocker used for high blood pressure and heart disease, as well as a performance anxiety drug and for migraines, plus the generic for the antidepressant/anti-anxiety drug Prozac; the antibiotic Biaxin; and methylprednisolone, which is an anti-inflammatory.

Going through anyone's medicine cabinet after their death is likely to reveal some personal information. It is for similar reasons that folks are so concerned about keeping their medical records private. There is no guarantee that these drugs caused Murphy's death or that there were not other factors, including possibly pneumonia or the flu. However, the Clarion Content thinks it is important that the laundry list of drugs is brought before the public eye as a warning. Our bodies are a delicate vessel. We are each only given one. Youth and celebrity both produce a euphoria and depression cycle that for many borders on bi-polar. Over medicating oneself is not the answer.

Best of the best

The Clarion Content's staff are regular visitors to Craig's List. We love their collection of the best posts submitted by Craig's List users. This isn't your grandma's Reader's Digest.

Here are the two best, "Best of Craig's List" Posts, that the Clarion Content has seen lately. Both reveal the hilarious, insider perspective that many folks have, but which is so rarely ventable in a public forum. Craig's List allows for the anonymous shout or the anonymous shout-out.

First from Fairfax, VA a post entitled, "The drudgery of adulthood for single, free-spirited life..."

Tired, achy, worn-down 39 year old seeks to trade one weekend with his 20 year old former self. 20 year old former self will get a gut, thinning hair, bills, a honey-do list a mile long, a soul-killing job, and the realization that it's going to be another 26 years to retirement. Tired, achy, worn down 39 year old will get a flat stomach, chest and arm muscles, a full head of hair, and access to keg parties and tipsy 18 year old college women. More than willing to make this a permanent thing.

Second from Chicago, IL a post entitled, "Cute but doomed girl who gave me the finger..."

You: young hipster girl with dark hair in two ponytails. Your ride stopped smack dab in the middle of George last night, while you took your sweet time pouring yourself out of the car, opening up the back door, pulling out your groceries and making sure your panties were on straight. We couldn't get around you, so my friend honked his horn, just a couple of times. You finally allowed us to pass, carrying your bag in one hand and using the other to shoot us the bird.

I know that you were totally the most punk rock girl in your dorm. However, you now live in the neighborhood known as Avondale. The person you flip off could very well be a Maniac Latin Disciple or a tough street girl who is waaaaay meaner than you. A neighbor once got a beat down for telling a kid to get the f**k off of her car. I know there's a family out there, probably in Crystal Lake or such, who loves you to death and is terrified about your move to the big city. For their sake, keep your head low, choose your battles carefully and chill out.

Check out more from the Best of Craig's List here.

NASA selecting a new patch

NASA challenged its past and present space program workers to design an emblem to mark the end of the space shuttle era in a contest that ended December 1st. They are now going through the nearly 100 entries received, including a few by those who rode one of the shuttles to space. There are only five shuttle flights remaining. The shuttle program began back in 1981. Over the years, fourteen astronauts have lost their lives on shuttle missions.

Check out a couple of cool entries here.

Census advice

One of our Pennsylvania sources sent us some advice about dealing with the 2010 United States Census. It has already gotten underway in some places and is set to get going across the country. This advice comes from the Better Business Bureau, and the Clarion Content has verified it is legit.

"With the U.S. Census process beginning, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) advises people to be cooperative, but cautious, so as not to become a victim of fraud or identity theft. The first phase of the 2010 U.S. Census is under way as workers have begun verifying the addresses of households across the country. Eventually, more than 140,000 U.S. Census workers will count every person in the United States and will gather information about every person living at each address including name, age, gender, race, and other relevant data. The big question is - how do you tell the difference between a U.S. Census worker and a con artist? BBB offers the following advice:

** If a U.S. Census worker knocks on your door, they will have a badge, a handheld device, a Census Bureau canvas bag, and a confidentiality notice. Ask to see their identification and their badge before answering their questions. However, you should never invite anyone you don?t know into your home.

** Census workers are currently only knocking on doors to verify address information. Do not give your Social Security number, credit card or banking information to anyone, even if they claim they need it for the U.S. Census. While the Census Bureau might ask for basic financial information, such as a salary range, it will not ask for Social Security, bank account, or credit card numbers nor will employees solicit donations.

Eventually, Census workers may contact you by telephone, mail, or in person at home. However, they will not contact you by Email, so be on the lookout for Email scams impersonating the Census. Never click on a link or open any attachments in an Email that are supposedly from the U.S. Census Bureau."

All makes good sense to us. Be cautious with your personal information, answer no more than the basic questions. Never give out your social security number, bank account info or credit card info to a anonymous stranger!