It's Just A Movie, Isn't It?

I cannot understand all the conservative trashing of James Cameron's Avatar, a movie which is breaking box-office records, but is excoriated by the right for what they call a pro-environment, anti-military, anti-American message.

Really? Let's think this through.

The Na'vi inhibit Pandora, a lush, beautiful planet filled with creatures who have this unique networking ability. Here comes a company looking to mine a precious stone called "unobtanium," used for a purpose never explained to us. In the course of their work, the miners must force the Na'vi from their home tree. The obvious parallel to our history is the settlers versus Native Americans in our New World and frontier days. I won't argue with our history: many nations forced Native Americans off their land as America grew. Native Americans, however, also did their share of conquering other tribes. Who did the Na'vi conquer? We're not sure, but we know other tribes inhibit the planet. And if they are a truly peaceful people, they would not have or need trained warriors, as the film shows us.

We also know early Americans tried diplomacy, not just conquest. The movie indicates the scientists of Pandora try it, too, without much success. Oh, how they try, going so far as to create biologically-engineered clones of the Na'vi to aid in that mission. It would've been a lot easier to just walk around Pandora with oxygen masks and air tanks. Not everybody's on board with this mission, which is a major point of tension among the movie's characters. And in a good movie, you want tension.

The marine commanding the security forces, Colonel Miles Quaritch, is a real posterior orifice. So is Parker Selfridge, the head of the company mining the planet. They want the unobtanium and don't care what they tear up or uproot to get it. Here's where conservatives really get worked up, claiming the film bashes the military and corporations. But who's giving the orders? One man: Col. Quaritch. The men and women are carrying those orders out, regardless of their personal opinions, because that's what trained personnel do. Theirs is not to question why; theirs is but to do and die. How is the film anti-military for portraying servicepeople following orders? And let us remember, they're working for Selfridge, who is ultimately calling the shots on the planet.

Selfridge, as his name implies, is self-ish. So, he's selfish. Good. We're not supposed to like the guy. Filmmakers love manipulating our emotions, which is part of the reason we enjoy movies. We like losing ourselves in an alternate reality. We need heroes and villains, good guys and bad guys. But there's too many corporate bad guys in the movies, conservatives complain. So what do you want Hollywood to do? Establish a quota system for villains? Implement a new version of the Hayes Code? Sounds like more regulation to me. It doesn't sound very Constitutional, either.

Most people who are seeing Avatar are seeing it for what it is: a movie. They are not seeing it as a propaganda film. They don't go in with that notion, and they don't come out with it. Pandora, the Na'vi, the avatars, the military security forces, they're all on the screen and in our heads, and that is where they'll stay.
Is Avatar a left-wing parable? Only if you want it to be. People found political allegory in The Wizard Of Oz. Everybody else just saw a film.