Madam, – I applaud Fintan O'Toole's analysis of Avatar(Culture Shock, January 23rd). My response to the film was very similar to his: a beguiling spectacle at the service of a trite story. It seems that James Cameron sunk all his imagination into creating the brilliantly conceived and realised planet Pandora and then found himself all dressed up with nowhere to go. His cutting edge technology ironically producing an idyll of nature.
Mr O'Toole draws comparison with the special effects of The Wizard of Ozwhich he argues are put, more properly, at the service of emotions, acting and story. This is a stretch. Part of the success of that movie was the inadequacy of the SFX. Dorothy finds herself marooned in another world. It could be terrifying, but the lion is clearly a man in a lion suit. These are pantomime figures, and the landscapes are clearly contained in the comforting limitations of MGM sound stages.
Kids like to be scared, but not too much. The artificiality of Oz, whether intended or not, made it just right.
Given the narrative limitations of Avatarwe should probe a little deeper to explain its unprecedented worldwide success. Sure, it is a diverting visual feast and we would hope that space tourism would throw up such delights. This could explain its success but not its phenomenal success. You would expect many Americans to be affronted by the depiction of their fellow countrymen brutally ravishing outer space as they ravaged the Earth, but perhaps there is also pride in such know-how, American can-do. You can love the gizmos and admire the harmony of the alien world at the same time.
Perhaps the key is the Marine in the wheelchair. He is disabled, but Mr Cameron and technology can transport him into the body of a beautiful, athletic, sexual, being. After all, we are all disabled in one way or another, inadequate, old, broken, earthbound. Pandora is a kind of heaven where we can be resurrected and connected instead of disconnected and alone.
The religious aspect should not be taken lightly. In Hollywood they speak of Avatarin reverential tones. They believe there is something sacred about a cultural object that makes that kind of money.
Mr Cameron is drawn to the tension of nerd against Nature. And maybe he is right. Will Nature destroy us – as the iceberg sunk the high-tech Titanic– or will some kid on a laptop find a way out? – Yours, etc,