Avatar Proves We Can’t All Get Along

All you need is love...

As a few of you many know, I study film in school – which makes me a bit of a pop culture fanatic. Naturally, this passion, coupled with a long-harbored affection for Titanic, led to my interest in director James Cameron’s most recent project, Avatar. I’m sure I don’t have to give a plot summary – many of you contributed to its $1 billion box office roundup – but for those of you who don’t know…

SPOILERS! Avatar is the story of paraplegic soldier Jake Sully (Sam Worthington). In his quest for physical freedom, he agrees to travel to the world of Pandora, where a priceless metal is hidden beneath the grounds of the Na’vi people. Jake agrees to dig up as much information as he can on Pandora by going undercover, using the body of a human/Na’vi avatar – hence the title. Seduced by the use of his legs in the alternate reality, he ignores the greedy businessmen who are willing to destroy the Na’vi people, and their beautiful land, for a share.

Love, in the form of Pandorian Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), will reform Jake, forcing him to consider the lives of others before the complete use of his body. Jake must stand up to the men hellbent on destroying Pandora for their natural resource. Hmm. And so life imitates art – or art imitates life. And according to The New York Times‘ Patrick Goldstein, “America’s prickly cadre of political conservatives” aren’t happy about it. Righties have slammed the film’s pro-environment/anti-corporation stance, as well as its anti-military undertones. He quotes John Nolte, who described the film as…