Everything's JOK

Avatar, District 9 & White Liberation Fantasies

[NOTE: I haven't seen Avatar, though being a fan of Aliens and some of James Cameron's other work (the less about True Lies the better), I am inclined to do so.  Still, spoiler warning if you haven't seen either Avatar or District 9.]

Annalee Newitz of Io9 hits the analysis on the head when she critiques Avatar as just the latest scifi rehash of an old white guilt fantasy.  From the previews I have seen, her take looks spot on.

She goes on to talk about white privilege and makes a good connection with the situation of Wikus in District 9:

Think of it this way. Avatar is a fantasy about ceasing to be white, giving up the old human meatsack to join the blue people, but never losing white privilege. Jake never really knows what it's like to be a Na'vi because he always has the option to switch back into human mode. Interestingly, Wikus in District 9 learns a very different lesson. He's becoming alien and he can't go back. He has no other choice but to live in the slums and eat catfood. And guess what? He really hates it. He helps his alien buddy to escape Earth solely because he's hoping the guy will come back in a few years with a "cure" for his alienness. When whites fantasize about becoming other races, it's only fun if they can blithely ignore the fundamental experience of being an oppressed racial group. Which is that you are oppressed, and nobody will let you be a leader of anything.

She concludes with:

Whites need to stop remaking the white guilt story, which is a sneaky way of turning every story about people of color into a story about being white. Speaking as a white person, I don't need to hear more about my own racial experience. I'd like to watch some movies about people of color (ahem, aliens), from the perspective of that group, without injecting a random white (erm, human) character to explain everything to me. Science fiction is exciting because it promises to show the world and the universe from perspectives radically unlike what we've seen before. But until white people stop making movies like Avatar, I fear that I'm doomed to see the same old story again and again.

Praise Be!

Harry Potter: Less Draco, More Snogging (& Fighting)

Uncharacteristically for us, we have seen about four first-run movies in June and July. 

The latest was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.  I can certainly say that I liked it better than the previous installment of the series.  I finished the 5th book just prior to watching that movie and as a result felt that the movie was a pale imitation of the book.  This go round, with the book firmly in my distant memory, I found that I was able to keep the comparisons to minimum and appreciate it more.  That said the general consensus of my wife, son and I was: 

Less Draco, More Snogging (& Fighting)

I feel for Draco with his dilemma about graduating from a bully and braggart to a cold blooded murderer of one of the most loved characters, but did we need to see his anguish so many times?  Plus, was it really necessary to see Draco with the cabinet: the meeting, an apple, a bird, etc.  Yes, yes we get the point, can we move on now?  If we see a gun, or in this case a cabinet, in act 1, it will be used in act 3, we get it!  Did the director need to waste three minutes of time on the cabinet, when the story completely fails to explain why Ron was so worried about a Quidditch match or why Harry received no punishment for the spell he inflicted on Draco or even get questioned on where he got the spell?  Context, continuity, any of these ringing a bell?

That all said, my wife wanted more snogging, and my son wanted more of a final battle.  I would settle for a plot without loose ends, middles and beginnings and wasted opportunities.  I really hope the final movie(s) prove to be better.

The other three movies are: Ice Age 3, the latest Star Trek movie and Up.  Ice Age 3 was no where near as good as the previous two movies and gave Ellie, the lone female character, very little dialogue.  Star Trek flubbed it on the science, but was pretty exciting and had good characters.  Of the three, Up was clearly the best, with terrific character setup and development, lots of humor and a good story.  That said, Up continued Pixar's trend of few non-white characters.  Come on Pixar, its the 21st century, can't you add more diversity to your characters.

The latest Star Trek flick prompted me to show my wife and son ST: Wrath of Khan and St: The Voyage Home recently.  Khan held up, but The Voyage Home, while talking about saving whales, a subject near and dear to my heart, didn't so well. 

Speaking of whales, the NY Times Magazine has a fantastic article on them.  I highly recommend it.