I finally got to a theater on Friday night with my dad to see Avatar in 3D. A couple of thoughts:
- If you’re going to the theater, you MUST see it in 3d. It was beautiful. And what I liked most, is that it wasn’t like one of those movies where they were constantly trying to show off the new technology by having things jump out at you. Most of the 3D was very subtle and really served the story, instead of driving the story.
- The story was good; not great. With some slight variations, it was a rehash of Dances with Wolves on an alien planet and an avatar instead of Kevin Costner.
- Someone on Facebook asked about whether it was too “political,” or “messagey.” I’m not really sure how to answer. I think everything has a message – a story to tell, with a worldview behind that story. So I guess, maybe, the question is “do you agree with the message?” My short response, is that generally, I like these kinds of movies, even though, at a deeper level, they border on pantheism.
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Agree on the review. I enjoyed the MOVIE EXPERIENCE of it all in 3D, but the story was pretty simple (which is the best way to tell a great story, IMO). Curious about your take on the religious themes. At points it seemed a bit pantheistic/animistic and yet they had a central deity that was personal and independent of the creation. In that way, it challenged me to think more carefully about how God relates to creation. In Avatar, the personal, distinct deity was not all creation, but was connected to all of creation through a sort of biological neuro-network. The deity was also able to control the creation towards a particular end (defeating the sky people). I also though the movie offered a critique of old-school missional approaches vs. incarnational mission approaches. Mission school/teaching vs. living with the tribe and becoming one of them, sharing their worldview. The second birth theme of Sam Worthington’s character was also interesting. The deity was able to make him one of them, as he died to the old self and was raised again in new life as a tall blue dude. Interested in what you think of some of those ideas and where Cameron might have been going with all that. In many ways the religious aspects of the movie seemed very syncretistic to me, combining elements of Christianity, Buddhism, pantheism and animism.