The giant waves of Poshivtive Senatiments in Mumbai had made me jittery enough to think twice before settling here. Now I wonder why I thought so coming from chennai, where we are as broad minded as "Ajab Prem ki Gajab Kahani" is well-scripted. Where Mumbai is struggling, Chennai succeeded. Where Chennai succeeded, US of A is flying high with Nile Gardiner at the helm, who with a job description of a foreign affairs/movies analyst, performs an anti-US-propoganda check on every movie watched. His brilliant analysis is clearly visible in one of the comments he makes for "Avatar:
When I saw the movie last night in a packed theatre, I was disturbed by the cheering from the audience towards the end when the humans – US soldiers fighting on behalf of an American corporation – were being wiped out by the Na’vi. Washington is one of the most liberal cities in America and you come to expect almost anything here – but still the roars of approval which greeted the on-screen killing of US military personnel were a shock to the system, especially at a time when the United States is engaged in a major war in Afghanistan
He reminds me of the "black and white" tool in MS-Paint:
American soldiers - white. Washington - White.
Fighting - White. US-generated war - White.Afganistan - Black. Killing US military Personnel for perfectly valid reasons - Black. Criticism for taking innocent lives - Black.
4 comments:
In my opinion Avatar was a typical satire on how development is ruining nature and how Big Corporations for their profits are still engaging in what is called "Corporate Imperialism". Standard accusation on Oil Companies.
I, for reasons biased and unbiased, believe that although it is fair to put the Corporations as proximate culprits but the entire humanity with their lifestyle is the ultimate culprit.
Lets face it we are typing all this propaganda on a highly inefficient computer sitting in a room which is lit by a bulb which at best is 40% efficient and would after this drive back home in a car which can only convert 20% of the fuel in kinetic energy.... Looks like I am supporting Nile..not sure....
I must have missed the point of the movie - for me it was just a movie with an average story line and amazing visual effects.
Was it a dig at our current lifestyle or the current approach of corporations? Maybe, and then, maybe not. I thought it was more on respecting nature than anything else, wasn't it? The culprits were surely corporations who wanted to get that metal thing "at any cost".. even if that meant destroying the sacred tree. Were we supposed to draw a parallel to what the corporations are doing now?
Was it a dig at American declaring war on everyone for everything, for their being trigger happy? I dont think so. But to expect Americans to stand up and join hands in condemning the killing of American Military Personnel when they were obviously in the wrong(in the movie - and there, their being American was not even stressed enough to leave an impression, in fact at one point, the protaganist says something to the effect of this being 'human' nature) is a demented thought for sure.
You are not supporting Nile! Your point has some logical reasoning attached to it. That is why, while your post makes me think, his makes me laugh!
Maybe Nile is just doing his job. The movie shows the army going after the 'terrorists'. I personally thought James Cameron definitely had lots of messages in the movie and after several rounds of interviews, he did admit to it. He has been an environmentalist and also spoke about being influenced by earlier wars in Vietnam etc and now Iraq etc.
But I also believe its not easy to compare Chennai and Mumbai or any city for that matter. One trigger from some stupid politician and we will start fighting, guaranteed. for example, I was shocked to read protestors shouting slogans and demanding change of name from Andhra Bank to Telengana Bank for branches of the bank in Telengana!
Oh no I am not comparing Mumbai and Chennai. I had wanted to comment on the attitude of a native towards non-native ppl. In Chennai, I was surprised when any non-southie complained about the city. In Mumbai, being a non-native, I do feel some mild discrimination towards me. Forget politicians, its a general mentality of natives to discriminate, and sometimes, as is the case with this Avatar-bashing, blow it out of the proportion.
I was wrong on saying that Cameron did not make a dig at Americans. I saw some of his interviews later on where he admits to it. But I still don't like the tangential approach to the movie, and especially that para.
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