Horner's Corner

“They killed their mother”: Avatar as ideological symptom

by on Jan.09, 2010, under film

Watching Avatar, I was continually reminded of Zizek’s observation in First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, that the one good thing that capitalism did was destroy Mother Earth. “There’s no green there, they killed their mother,” we are solemnly informed at one point. Avatar is in some ways a reversal of Cameron’s Aliens. If the “bug-hunt” in Aliens was, as Virilio argued, a kind of rehearsal for the megamachinic slaughter of Gulf War 1, then Avatar is a heavyhanded eco-sermon and parable about US misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. (What’s remarkable about Avatar is how dated it looks. In the scenes of military engagement, it is as if 80s cyberpunk confronts something out of Roger Dean or the Myst videogames; Cameron’s vision of military technology has not moved on since Aliens) At the end of the film, it is the human corporate and military interests who are described as “aliens”. But this is a film without any trace of the alien. Like most CGI extravaganzas, it flares on the retina but leaves few traces in the memory. Greg Egan finds little to admire in Avatar, but he does defer to its technical achievements: “mostly, the accomplishments of the visual designers and the army of technicians who’ve brought their conception to the screen appear pixel-perfect, and hit the spot where the brain says ‘yes, this is real’.” The cost of this, though, is that it is very difficult to be immersed in the film as fiction. It is more akin to a themepark ride, a late-capitalist “experience”, than a film.

Read more on avatar here, from  k-punk.

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4 Comments for this entry

  • SteveWinston1984101
    February 28th, 2010 on 8:34 am

    Your widespread comments are nonsense. Greg Egan clearly didn’t watch it properly. “It is very difficult to be immersed in the film as fiction” what did you mistake it for a game show. I see no connection between Aliens and the Gulf War. ” Camerons vision of military technology hasn’t moved on since Aliens” That may be because they are set in the future. Your article flashes in the eye but leaves nothing in the memory unlike Avatar which will stay with me for years. Go and watch some friends.

  • Chris
    Chris
    February 28th, 2010 on 11:57 am

    Not an entirely coherent comment, I think, nor a very measured one. But I publish it in the spirit of free comment..

  • SteveWinston1984101
    March 1st, 2010 on 8:07 pm

    It is not my intention to attack anybody personally. To accuse Avatar of being a heavy handed Eco-sermon is very harsh. For cultures living on the sharp end of global corporate greed it is very relevant. I can poke numerous holes in Avatar. It’s easy to criticize. Pandora would be nuked for one and the tree of souls would have cruise missiles launched at it. The first hint of insurrection would be met with merciless around the clock carpet bombing. This would be done in the name of protecting freedom as is the case in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also any commodity that changed hands for $20’000 dollars a kilo would not be so easily given up. Good science fiction is a dying art in my opinion. Gone are the days of Philip. K. Dick. and his amazing tales of awe and wonder which take the mind to dizzying new heights. The stories that shaped modern science fiction movies have been substituted for generic by-the-numbers predictable good v evil rubbish I accept that to be a fact. I do however genuinely feel that Avatar is timely poignant and highly relevant story. Hopefully you will find these comments to be slightly more coherent.

  • Chris
    Chris
    March 2nd, 2010 on 9:31 am

    That’s fair comment -and I agree with you about PK Dick’s work (I’d add James Blish -would you?)

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