Pick o' the Day: Is Avatar Anti-American? My Final Say on the Matter

     I read in the newspaper yesterday that Avatar is being re-released in 3-D and will soon be in theaters again in all its computer-generated glory.  That might be a big deal to some people, but not to me.  Nope.  Ain't gonna see it again.  No way.  Why?  Because of that sick feeling I still have in my craw from the first and last time I saw it (a couple of months ago).  The biggest movie ever, with enough digital effects to make all the 20-somethings swoon in ecstasy, is the biggest dud in my book of movie duds (and that's a thick book).
     Let's start with all the bad guys being Americans.  Avatar is supposed to be set in the future, kind of like Star Trek, when we are supposed to be able to visit other star systems and planets.  But the crew of Star Trek was not made up entirely of Americans.  The Enterprise was a Federation starship, and the crew reflected all manner of humans (American, Scottish, Japanese, Russian, African, etc.) along with a sprinkling of E.T's like Spock and an odd Klingon or two.  So if the crew of the Enterprise did any bad things to beings from other planets, well, you couldn't just blame the Americans.  It was a "Federation" thing.
     But in Avatar, the problem people are Americans.  They are greedy, selfish, mean, cruel, and nasty, and that's just for starters.  Now I have to admit that we aren't perfect, but by golly it's hard to think of any other Earthlings that can be considered better than us.  I know that the Radical Muslims think we're no better than  toenail fungus, but we can't make everyone happy.  So if they were to make a movie about Americans in order to show the world how they feel about us, they would probably make a movie very much like Avatar.  But they didn't need to make such a movie.  They have the  great director, James Cameron, to do it for them. 
     And then there is the problem of the poor native beings who inhabit the planet that the nasty Americans want to pillage.  Using every time-worn cliche in the book about the great beauty of the natives and their way of life, how they live in perfect harmony with nature, how their pagan religion is far superior to ours, and how they would be oh, so happy if the Americans hadn't come along.  But what James Cameron fails to reveal about the Na'vi are the very darkest facts of their culture: how their male-dominated society devalues the role of the female, relegating their better halves to roles of housewife, nanny, or exotic dancer without the right to vote or even drive a car!  It's easy to see through the propaganda when you watch a lot of Fox News and come to realize that most media has a liberal bent.  We are not stupid, James Cameron!
     I could go on and on, but I will make one last point.  During the exciting, action-packed climax to the film, we are treated to the spectacle of hundreds of American Marines dying by the helicopter-load at the hands of the beautiful natives, and we are supposed to cheer.  WE ARE SUPPOSED TO CHEER!  We are supposed to cheer because American Marines are dying!  The natives are winning!  Yayyyyyy!  They even got a few American Marines to turn against other American Marines and kill them.  Yayyyyy!  What was the production company that made this film?  Osama Bin Laden Productions?  Are you kidding me?  What kind of scumbag would even think of proposing this as an idea for a movie?  And what kind of toenail fungus would have the nerve to try to screen this piece of crap movie on American soil?  You know.  Thanks a lot, James Cameron!
      
 A quick shout-out to Eleazar, Chris, Dad, and Natalie for posting comments.  I get a little thrill reading them.  Until next time, Earthlings!