The Film Avatar as the Highest Form of Imaginative Art - Research Paper Example

Introduction This literary essay is on the top-grossing movie of all time - “Avatar.” It is quite very interesting to note that the second-highest grossing movie of all time (worldwide) is “Titanic” which was made by the same director – James Cameron. Although both movies broke records at the time they were shown, nobody had thought the record of “Titanic” could be broken in so short a time by a movie of the same director – just a mere twelve years after “Titanic” was made (1997) to the “Avatar” (2009). Incredibly also, the two movies dislodged the long-time producer and famed director Steven Spielberg and his movies from the top ten lists. This essay tackles the film on various sections based on its theme, plot, setting, special effects, characters and technique. This will give the reader a pretty good idea on why people and critics were in unison in proclaiming “Avatar” as rightfully belonging to the rarefied field of movie greats of all time. But more than that, the bigger and real issue in the film industry is the constant tug of war between the financiers of a film and the artistic bent of the director. In this movie, it was shown that allowing a director plenty of artistic freedom can result in a very good film that is not only a commercial success but also an artistic standout. James Cameron once said that he made the movie “Titanic” out of sheer curiosity only for shipwrecks. He was greatly fascinated in diving down to the site of the “Titanic” and had succeeded in doing that because although a college dropout, he had taught himself on how to dive safely to great depths. In “Titanic” he had weaved a fictional love story into the historical facts about the sinking of this ship. In “Avatar” he created a pure fictional story but relied on an impressive special effects wizardry to tell a compelling story about greed, love and ethics. Discussion To digress a bit, it is necessary to note that James Cameron is first and foremost a top special effects director. He had learned the techniques while holding himself out for part-time jobs just so he can enter the film making industry. However, he was greatly interested in one aspect of movie making – special effects. He made big efforts to learn and master techniques in special effects and his reputation rose on this unique, special ability in movies like “Escape from New,” followed by “Galaxy of Terror” and then “Android.” He was the special effects director of these films but his first feature-length film was the “Terminator” which became an instant global box-office hit even with a relatively-small budget. His working philosophy for films is that science and art can be merged successfully in films. Theme – the main theme of the movie is rather philosophical, that of a morality play in which people from Earth would want to take over a planet for its precious minerals. A good moral of this compelling storyline is that people can live in harmony with Nature and enjoy a good life of abundance only if they take good care of nature's resources. There are plenty of metaphors used in the story to make an ordinary story into something of an extraordinary line. The peace-loving Na'vi people are depicted to sharply contrast the violence that people here on Earth often inflict on one another. A sub-theme was the usual romance story that developed between an earthling and a native of that planet which complicated matters a bit. We had seen already several movies that portray the battle between good and evil but “Avatar” has special effects elements behind it to propel the story forward and kept us in our seats. Plot - the story of “Avatar” revolves around the people of Na’vi on planet (or moon) called Pandora. People from Earth took a long and arduous (even perilous) space journey that takes several light years to reach Pandora. Their objective is to take over Pandora for its rich mineral resources (ore deposits) which people from Earth badly wanted. A war ensues. The main character named Jake abandons his own people, goes against his military mission and instead helps the Na’vi fight back against the Earth invaders. This happens after he had fallen in love with a Na’ve girl and also realized the truth about their mission which is to annihilate the Na’vi people for their refusal to give up their land or its precious minerals. It is a battle between the dark forces of evil against well-meaning people like Jake. It is likened to the present struggles of some aboriginal people like those in Brazil to preserve their culture and their pristine environment against the avarice of some loggers and mining industrialists. Setting – the film’s main setting is on the planet Pandora in which mountains tend to be floating upside down. This film is a real masterpiece in terms of special effects wizardry. It gained its success on this aspect of cinema making (special effects) since the story of “Avatar” is completely fictional with no big star names in its, except perhaps aging Sigourney Weaver. The setting brings the audience to a moon-like atmosphere in which humans cannot stay alive for long without wearing full-face masks in order to breathe properly. Other special effects are clearly visible almost throughout the entirety of the film, such as flying, giant horses, flowers which glow and the forest scene is an incredible visual beauty to watch. On the whole, setting of Pandora is an invitation for the audience to suspend disbelief for the entire duration of the movie and think everything is possible in a beautiful world in which violence is non-existent. Special Effects – this is a special drawing power of the film because people had been used to seeing films directed by James Cameron to be big on its visual special effects. This is a special ability unique to Cameron only; he had brought special effects from just a virtual job to the forefront of moviemaking by making it the central driver of what makes a movie good. It had been shown in the “Titanic” how special effects can accentuate the storyline of a movie. When audiences around the world watched “Avatar” they could hardly believe what they saw. It was as if they are in unison in saying, “why haven’t we thought of that scene before?” Characters – besides Jake, other interesting characters were Dr. Agustine (Weaver), then the sadistic colonel named Quaritch in charge of forcibly driving away the Na’vi if ever they exhibit resistance to the plan to take over their planet Pandora and lesser characters such as Parker Selfridge (by Giovanni Rissi) as the representative of the Resources Development Corporation and also the Avatar Program on the Pandora colony; the small but feisty Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez) who sides with Jake in the final battle. Neytiri is the Na’vi girl whom Jake had fallen in love with (played by Zoe Saldana). Technique – the story telling technique employed by James Cameron is one of playing it backwards. He first introduced the audience to the main character Jake as a paraplegic in which he is being taught how to use his avatar. As most people know, avatar is very common these days in the age of the Internet and many people can identify with an avatar as alternate character one assumes when going on-line in chat rooms or joining social networking sites. In another technique, Cameron establishes the upcoming conflict (between good and evil) using a foreshadowing (or hinting of what is to come) to keep the audience glued to their seats. The movie also employed clever or witty dialogue among the main characters to keep it going. Conclusion Incredibly, Mr. James Cameron had the story of “Avatar” in his mind as early as 1994. He wrote its general idea on paper which is called as scriptment (or a short script). He realized it cannot be made until such time technology has progressed to where it is today when it is a bit easier to engage in special effects. More importantly, he showed how auteur (French word for author) can give real meaning and direction to artistic film (Collins, Radner & Collins 77). The film “Avatar” again emphasized that movies are the highest form of imaginative art much better than painting or sculpture ((Pramaggiore & Wallis 2). Hollywood will continue to make movies that are escapist because people will continue to patronize them in droves. Works Cited Collins, Jim, Radner, Hillary and Ava Collins. Film Theory Goes to the Movies. New York, NY, USA: Routledge, 1993. Print. Pramaggiore, Maria and Tom Wallis. Film: A Critical Introduction. London, UK: Laurence King Publishing, Incorporated, 2005. Print. Read More