It's fun having seen a movie that inspires one to ponder its deeper implications. It's even more fun having one's own copy of the movie, so that when one of those ponderings leads you into uncharted territory, you can just fire up the movie and watch it again to see whether your ponderings might have really been shared by the filmmaker or are entirely your own.
It's also fun writing about these ponderings, even if only for a forum where I know many posters either won't want to read what I write or literally *can't* because they lack the attention span to do so. The moment they see a post longer than Twitter-length, their minds tune out and their hands move automatically to the Next key. But that's appropriate in a way, because I'm writing about them and they'll never realize it. :-) :-) :-) Earlier I rapped about the strange reaction I found in the "gaming community" to AVATAR. Yes, there are many who loved the film, but there is a *very* vocal minority that *hated* it with a passion. And I find the reasons *WHY* they hate it fascinating, and an interesting commentary on gaming itself, and what it does to the minds and hearts of those addicted to it. Many of the criticisms have to do with the film having a "weak plot." Ironically, these criticisms come mainly from gamers whose idea of an intelligent plot line is an endless stream of Bad Guys to shoot, blow up, or otherwise destroy -- as many of them as possible, with as little intervening plotline as possible. SURE the basic plot of AVATAR is simple, nigh unto simplistic. So are the plots of most of the great myths on planet Earth. But frankly, given his audience -- trained by TV and movies and computer games to have no expectations of a work in terms of plot than to look forward to the next action scene -- it's about the best he could come up with. It's not, after all, as if someone whose entire idea of "plot" revolves around "Where is the next Bad Guy to shoot?" and "When are we going to get to blow something else up?" and "Where are the next points to be scored?" can *handle* a real plot. Also, to someone caught up in the gaming mentality (or the corporate Capitalist mentality), the concept of plot or having an actual goal for one's actions other than racking up kills and racking up points (money) is *contrary* to the very gaming mentality. Gaming isn't *about* long-term goals. It's about *forgetting* long-term goals and immersing oneself in short- term goals. "Just gotta kill the next Bad Guy before he kills me." "Just gotta accumulate more points (money) so I can make it to the next level of the game." "Gotta." "Just gotta." As mused earlier, it's an addiction thang, not a reasoned thang or an intellect thang. The whole *point* of the gaming mentality is to *ignore* the Big Picture and immerse oneself in the ever-changing minutiae of new Bad Guys to kill and new points to accumulate. It's an entire mindset based on compul- sion and on never stopping to think about what one is being compulsive about. I am not the first to make such observations. The most popular games are those in which there is no actual "final goal." The only thing that happens when you "win" is that the game restarts and you have to "win" it all over again. Or you get to move to the next "level" of the game, which not suprisingly looks exactly like the previous level of the game -- shoot the Bad Guys and accumulate points (money). Now I ask you...doesn't this sound a lot like LIFE, as lived by most of the people on this planet? Doesn't it sound a lot like the descriptions of samsara, or illusion, and the never- ending repetition of the Same Old Same Old, life after life, incarnation after incarnation that spiritual teachers talk about? Doesn't it sound a lot like chasing something unobtain- able, endlessly, rather than stepping back and thinking about what might actually be worth obtaining? In AVATAR, the element that the "Sky people" (invaders from Earth, which they have raped and pillaged to the point that it can no longer support their needs) are on planet Pandora for is sought compulsively because it contains the energy that they need to live (keep playing the game). Hilariously, Cameron calls this element "unobtainium." This term has been used in engineering and science fiction since the 1950s for any fictional material that, if found, supplies all that would be desired of it. Cameron uses it as a poignant joke, because the "Sky people" -- having destroyed their own planet in search of unobtainium -- are now ready, willing, and able to destroy another one. The impact of their actions (destroying a second planet) is not important; all that is important is obtaining the unobtainium. Sound a lot like the Wheel Of Karma? Sound a lot like Maya? Sound a lot like the "gamer mentality?" Sound a lot like the corporate Capitalist mentality? Sound a lot like the mentality of the climate change deniers and the "STFU and let us keep destroying the planet" True Believers who sabotaged the recent Copenhagen talks or who applaud them falling apart? I think it's supposed to sound a lot like those things. I think James Cameron is smart enough to have taken that step back from the lemming-like, addictive pursuit of unobtainium and put a little thought into what exactly is worth obtaining. In his film, it's a life lived in tune with one's environment and with one's fellow beings, and a life lived *without* the constant struggle for "unobtainium." It's a life spent enjoy- ing and celebrating that which can actually be obtained -- Life, Here and Now. And those caught up in the game hate him for presenting it, even as a possibility.
