27 January 2010 | Posted inBlog News & Updates, Featured
Avatar – A Planning Group Take
So I’m finally jumping on the bandwagon…
I saw Avatar.
It was awesome. I’m not typically one for sci-fi-ish fantastical wonderful-ness, but this really rocked. The 3d glasses and all. Yes, we all know that it has grossed an absurd amount of money, that audiences have been deeply affected by it, that the plot has been disected from every angle, that the technology utilized was ground-breaking… but for me, it was interesting walking out afterwards to discuss with the architect/boyfriend about the differences between what he saw and what I saw.
What did I see? An amazing reimagining of our environment. The inspiration drawn from so many of the beautiful and wondrous oddities in our ecosystems was truely awe-inspiring. From tiny things – coloration of flowers, textures of leaves – to large things – bioluminescent adaptations, tree structure – I was just enamored with the visual feast.
I’d like to take a quick moment to highlight a few of the comparisons I couldn’t help but draw through my nerdy-plant-minded eye as I watched. Yep, I’m putting on the Gene Siskel hat…(Oh, and I feel I must write this – SPOILER ALERT – there, I just don’t want to be hollered at because I wrote something that ruined it for someone else – I will try to spare details where possible, but I’m just putting it out there)
First – I appreciate, and truly understand, the reasoning behind making the main abode for the Na’vi a giant, protective tree. People, even Pandoran people, are deeply affected by and attached to trees (think of the emotional ties – tree of life, family tree, people tree, tree huggers) But, realistically, it’s been done. That’s right, I’m calling a FernGully. We all saw it. They had the tree where everybody lived, until the evil humans came in and clearcut. (sound familiar?) Why can’t the Na’vi be attached to a HomeRock, or a HomeHill or something more OF the earth? Oh well. Still quite a beautiful structure.
The Na'vi HomeTree from Avatar
Crysta, the Fairy, looking at the tree from FernGully
Bioluminescence on the face of a Na'vi in Avatar
Swimming in a Bioluminescent Bay in Puerto Rico
Sensitivity-inspired plant in Avatar
A Sensitive Fern
Seed-Inspired spirits on Pandora
Dandelion seed dispersal
The spiritual center of Pandora
Naturally occurring rock formations at Arches National Park
Root bridge used by the Na'vi in Avatar
Living root bridge
So…there’s my critique. Have you seen it? What did you think? What other inspirational tidbits did you find? What is the architect’s/structural engineer’s/fashion designer’s/biologist’s take?
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Awesome. I liked the not-entirely-unrealistic analogies too (except ‘unobtainium’ which is a terrible name in fiction and reality). It shows how effective the cinematic medium might be in proposing design concepts to a mass audience.
For all the sensational effects, however, I couldn’t help but be bothered by the super-typical plot pitting bad guys against good guys, and all the lazy use of stereotypes that goes along with it. It propounds a stale view of capitalist industrial progress as being destructive to anything ’spiritual.’ And maybe most such industry is destructive, but it’s possible for it not to be. It would’ve been interesting to see that possibility explored or somehow given representation, since it is the crux of resolving the two extremes.
I have not seen the movie Avatar yet – though you’ve made a much better case for it than any plot synopsis I’ve read. Perhaps this is a first for cinema, but in literature there are many examples of such well-though-out fantastical worlds with complex biological and ecological systems (some more feasible than others, of course…). I suggest keeping an eye out for the book ‘The Color of Distance’ by Amy Thomson… you may enjoy it!
Michelle, great post! There is so much to be said here about the meaning and significance of nature in the film. The Tree of inhabitance was obviously and oversimplification of habitat that kept everyone physically together and seem less tribal and more fantasy. I think this was to take some of the realism out of the movie to be honest. There was certainly a concious effort to stay clear of projecting reality onto Pandora.
Matthew I think your comment was interesting in that you mentioned the ’spiritual’ component and the exploitation of nature as a spirit.
Strangely enough the Vatican decided to make a point of chastising the idolization of Nature and taking ones focus away from “God” and that film worshiped nature too much. Which led me to a very controversial conclusion. WTF!
How do we know that in this ‘film world’ that a God could exist? Is it not a vision independant of our own world? I mean, I get that the Pope had to have an opinion, but really? You’re saying that the N’avi a fictional creature had to believe in God, and that a God had to exist in alternatre realities? This comment has already gotten to philosophical, but think about it for a minute.
At any rate, thanks for the post and getting us to see past the face value of the characters! Email me if you want to talk more about this, I’m chomping at the bit to have this dicussion!!
Good post. You pointed out a lot of things I missed. I didn’t realize the Sensitive Fern existed, for example.
As I remember, you somewhat made fun of me for exposing the greatness of the movie (and the 3D glasses)….but I knew you would just love the movie when you went. The reminiscense of the bioluminescent bays in PR were especially keen for Dad and I as well.
As I told Michelle earlier – I didn’t like the film that much; 3D made me dizzy and I thought the plot was a little blah. BUT – thankfully I still proceeded to read this post and it has enlightened me as to what I missed when I was distracted by the plot and the over-exaggerated characters’ (fake) accent.
You are right – there are a lot of subtleties in the set/scene design and researches that must have taken place, which were unfortunately overshadowed by the hype of that price tag and many award predictions. And now that you mentioned the analogy of the sensitive fern, I remembered how there were everywhere near where I grew up, long ago, and also childhood memories of observing dandelions dancing in the wind. How could I not have be reminded of these and had the slightest sense of positivity? I guess I really need one of those Trees of Souls to help me remember
Thank you.. it’s the reason I came to the site,lucy