Synopsis of the Avatar Movie - Assignment Example

Introduction James Cameron’s Avatar has a plot of somewhat similar to that of many other movies with the kind of“All of us surviving together”. (Wilhelm. 17) The magnificent effects and style, the creativity and the concept make this movie memorable for all. To meet the unrealistic expectations of the society for a movie is very difficult; Avatar did that with great deal and enjoyed a lot of hype from the masses. It is a movie which crossed half billion revenue on the box office. Despite of its massive popularity, it has also faced a lot of criticism from different sources. From Alien presentation to the grand military, from racial issues to excessive use of cigarettes, the movie has faced criticism on various topics. In short, Avatar is not only a manifestation but also an influence on the contemporary society. Starring Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Peter Mensah, Laz Alonso, Wes Studi, Stephan Lang and Matt Gerald, this movie is a full time entertainment for its viewers for the span of two and a half hours. Synopsis of the Movie Avatar happens in the imaginary world of Pandora, which is created by James Cameron using digital hi-tech methods, which is occupied by incredible living beings and a local race of blue aliens named as Na’vi. The movie has been present in three dimensions which is a relatively new technology but the use of the 3D technology has been done without novelty. Twentieth Century Fox together with James Cameron, have made a movie which is in fact an experience, which cannot be pirated. A relatively large number of audiences are paying extra to watch the movie in 3D even numerous times on a monolithic IMAX screen. (Jesser. 152) The imaginary world of Avatar is somewhat evocative of imaginary virtual spaces like the second life, in both situations the people make use of avatars to go to the space, live there and act in an imaginary world. Avatar takes a step forward, and is able to fully transmit his consciousness into his own secondary living being, disposing off his weak and disabled body in the last moments of the movie. The association between the body and the avatar, the real and the imaginary spaces, is depicted in the movie although the avatars and the humans occupy the same planes of existence. Cameron has depicted a variety of styles and genres in the movie. It is no doubt an idea of post-colonialism: it portrays the Na’vi as the harmless and respectful population, while the humans are exposed as the corporate military that leave their dying planet earth to excavate the precious resources of Pandora. The movie has presented an anti-war concept portraying the soldiers as cruel and brutal people who only aim to chase the company dollar. All soldiers are males except for a female pilot, who rejects the violent actions against the native population of the Na’vi. Many critiques have not mentioned the topic of gender in the movie but it is worth mentioning. Jake Sully is the main character of the movie who is a Marine. Because of his protagonist status, and that of his avatar, he is shown to negotiate between the masculine corporate structure and the feminine sphere of nature and science. The prominent scientist, played by Sigourney Weaver, is a biologist who is interested to have the samples from Pandora. Many critiques have attacked less relevantly on her cigarettes. She interacts with the natives to learn more about them in contrast to Sully, who approaches the world in his own naïve and playful way. A female Na’vi acts like his guide in the film who guides him through the world. Sully and his avatar are soon introduced to the tribe of the Na’vi and promptly become the most competent of them. This plot is somewhat the reminiscent of the movies like “The last Samurai” and “Dances with Wolves”. (Wilhelm. 45) This kind of narrative is also considered to have the “white savior” theme, in which a dominant race member, often not recognized by his own type, proves himself to be the problem solver of the other kind. There is a scene when Sully is asked: “how does it feel to betray your own race?” (Kurzweil) Towards the end of the movie, Sully decides to permanently change his species, which by some conservative critiques is symbolized as a myth to change race due to the white guilt. In fact the digital characters of the Na’vi are played and voiced by Afro-American actors. The moderate point of view in the movie, symbolized by a pro-environmental and anti-technological viewpoint is personified in the illustration of the humans and the Na’vi. The use of technology by the humans is for destruction and violence. The avatars are also used to converse with the Na’vi and suppress them so that the humans can get the hold of their precious resources. The Na’vi have a deep psychological connection with nature and are sensitive enough to link physically and mentally with other creatures, plants and with each other. The environmentalist expression is grasped and given a biological basis in the virtual world by Cameron (Jesser. 200). The Na’vi are capable of tapping into the network of sacred trees, which is found to develop a neural network to store memories, experiences and thoughts. One of the major setbacks of the movie is when a giant tree is bombarded by the humans for a mine construction, which was home for the Na’vi tribe. Avatar reminds of the movie “Fern Gully: The Last Rainforest” of 1992, in which a fairy race saves their forest from a logging company. The central character of this movie was a young logger who gets shrunk to fairy size magically and is made to learn to be grateful for the beauty of nature. Cameron was able to re-express the same idea in Avatar making it a magnificent revenue earner. This is a proof that cultural changes are occurring and the concept of acceptance of environmental ideology is becoming famous. (Critic Review, Washington Post.) Within the context of this paper, a brief discussion will be done to address the technological advancements and spiritual dichotomy. Through the past few decades science has made several attempts to describe the universe by experimenting, using logics, and rational means. In this era, most of the people are observed to be detached from their religious and cultural roots; there is a generic sense of dissatisfaction and disenchantment. So, it can be said that the message conveyed in Avatar is an attempt to return to nature and spiritualism. It is an attempt to re-enchant the technology driven humans of today’s world. It cannot be considered as a unique concept in the movie because it has been structured within the Modern Age Movement. It focuses on the white population making use of philosophical, spiritual and ancient cultural techniques. Even eastern practices like yoga, Chinese medicines and other methodologies are extensively being adopted these days. Music Compositions The music composer James Homer worked with Cameron in this movie after Titanic, which definitely raised the expectations from him for the sound track of the movie. Homer has definitely made a tremendous score which has served as the perfect soundtrack for the epic movie of Cameron. Sometimes Homer is critiqued that he is capable of cannibalizing his own work to the extreme level. It can be recalled how much the score of Titanic sounded like that of Braveheart. The sonic familiarity has made the movie accessible instead of sounding it too alien like. Homer is well aware of his strengths. The usage of percussions with horns and synchs has made “Climbing up Iknimaya – A path to Heaven” a magnificent soundtrack. The listeners have been really indulged in the music of this movie produced with great devotion from Homer. You can almost see and feel the Na’vi world if you listen up to “The Bioluminescence of the Night”. The grumpy strings mixed with jingle of chimes makes it really worth listening. (Critic Review, Washington Post.) The composition in the climax of the movie that is the war is no doubt one of the greatest masterpieces that Homer has ever produced. Magnificent choral ending has totally knocked out the box office. Then there is this pop ballad of “I See you” which is not considered as evergreen as the Celine Dion’s “My Heart will Go on” which has been vocalized by the beautiful voice of Leona Lewis. The lyrics have been worked upon with the collaboration of songwriter Kuk Harrell. For Avatar, Homer has worked a great deal producing classic and reminiscent music compositions that has enhanced the movie on big screen for its viewers. The music scores of Avatar for Homer have definitely considered as a work of genius. Cinematography Besides Music and direction what makes this movie an epic is its cinematography. Mauro Fiore’s work on this magnificent movie has been appreciated by most of the critiques. Portraying an imaginary virtual world to make it feel real-like was definitely a challenging task for Fiore. The natural look of the movie depicting the lush green land of Pandora with golden bright sun is totally mesmerizing for its viewers. About a decade was spent on the movie for the equipment development which included a sophisticated 3D camera fix and a SimulCam which is a relatively new technology in Hollywood. The purpose of SimulCam is to facilitate immediate playback by combining the run-time shots with pre-recorded graphics. (Jesser. 158) Fiore was brought to work on Avatar when it was about to finish the 18 months production. It is said that about 70% of what the viewers see on the screen is developed by CGI technologies together with motion capture. (Mahoney. 101) There is a scene in the movie which has been shot outside a research laboratory in Pandora over a floating mountain top. It was very difficult for Fiore to light the characters and structures on set according to the position of the sun. Only a green screen was used for the backdrop on set. Although using a green screen for shooting is not something new but the challenge was that almost every scene required some kind of light interaction. Working with the Phantom light would have been more difficult to shoot in 3D. Fiore, the Director of Photography was new to this technology and he had no prior experience of shooting a digital feature. However, using Cameron’s 3d Camera Fusion System made his life easier. This system transformed 3D by combining the loud and bulky two camera systems into a chic, silent machine which was able to adjust to unusual intra-ocular distances. Overall, it was definitely a challenging task for Fiore which he fulfilled with great devotion which can be depicted form the final outcome in the movie. (Jesser. 158-200) Conclusion However, it is paradoxical that Avatar is the most technology dependent movie of this time; it definitely conveys a meaningful message of anti-industrialism. The characters are not offered to complement their technology with nature. A classic battle scene is the heart of the movie where the super hi-tech weapons like helicopters and automated guns face the old conventional weapons like bows and arrows and the natives riding the unusually legged creatures. At this point nature decides to send the droves of wild creatures to conquer the ones with all the hi-tech weapons and equipments to give a message that a perfect fundamental world can only exist without any technology. Bibliography Critic Review, 2012. http://www.washingtonpost.com/gog/movies/avatar,1158769/critic-review.html. n.d. 8th May 2012. Jody Duncan Jesser, 2010. The Making of Avatar. Abrams., 2010. Kevin Patrick Mahoney, 2010. The Ultimate Fans Guide to Avatar, James Camerons epic movie. . Punked Books, 2010. Kurzweil, Ray. Ray Kurzweil’s Review of Avatar. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.singularityweblog.com/ray-kurzweil-reviews-avatar/. n.d. 8th May 2012. Maria Wilhelm, 2009. James Camerons Avatar: The Movie Scrapbook. HarperFestival, 2009. Read More