The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

The Harriton Banner

The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

The Harriton Banner

The School Newspaper of Harriton High School

The Harriton Banner

The Movie That Took the World By Storm

After Titanic made cinematic history, blew apart the box office, and basically became an icon of an entire generation, its director, James Cameron, seemed to take a break from movie-making.  Of course, no one’s complaining about this sabbatical, because of his latest movie: Avatar.  Within seventeen days of its release on December 16, 2009, Avatar made an estimated $1,018,811,000 worldwide, making it the fastest movie to ever hit the billion-dollar mark.  There’s no question in the public eye that Avatar will join its sister Titanic in making cinematic history, but there’s an essential question that must be answered… Is it deserved?
Avatar – set in 2154 – is the story of a disabled ex-marine, Jake, (Sam Worthington) who takes his brother’s place in a highly-funded venture of a private company.  The company’s goal: a precious mineral-like substance located on Pandora, a distant, Earth-like moon of another planet.  However, the company faces a major problem; the largest store of those minerals is directly underneath the home of a tribe native to Pandora.  The people call their clan the Omaticaya, and they belong to a species that specialists call the Na’vi.  Under the supervision of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), Jake’s task is to befriend the Omaticaya in order to persuade them to move their home elsewhere, so that the company might mine the ground underneath.  Jake – and all of the other operators – must do this through their avatars, which were genetically engineered specifically to their DNA, because humans can’t breathe Pandora’s air without suffocating.  As Jake is immersed in the Omaticaya culture, he finds himself slowly beginning to understand them as a people; of course, that might have a little to do with the pretty Na’vi princess, Neytiri (Zöe Saldaña) who teaches Jake the Omaticaya ways and helps him train in order to become one of the tribe’s warriors.  As Jake’s eyes are opened to his human superiors’ attitudes of indifference to – even hatred towards – the Na’vi, he realizes that he must choose between his own species and that of the woman – Na’vi – he loves.  The problem is, Jake is rapidly running out of time; if a compromise can’t be reached, the company will simply bulldoze the Omaticaya’s home and anyone inside of it.  Eventually, a predictable situation unfolds: the two opposing forces fight each other.  But which one truly has Jake’s allegiance?
If the plot-line sounds a bit predictable to you, that’s because it is.  After I walked out of the theater, my first comment to my sister was, “So, basically, Avatar is Pocahantas… in space.”  Most of the movie can be easily anticipated.  The thing that can’t be expected – the thing that more than saves Avatar, but that elevates it to iconic heights – is the extreme depth of the Omaticaya culture. Cameron worked with a linguistics specialist to develop the Na’vi language, collectively producing over 1,000 words.  More than that, the entire world Cameron constructs in Avatar is completely believable.
Of course, if Cameron were given a budget remotely close to the number floating through the rumors, one would almost expect a movie as technologically astounding.  A studio spokesperson has been quoted saying that the budget “is $237 million, with $150 million for promotion,” but others’ estimates are between $280 million and $310 million without accounting for promotion costs.  Regardless, Avatar is one of the most expensive films ever produced in the history of Hollywood.
To film Avatar, Cameron invented techniques all his own.  The team used motion-capture animation technology, which allowed them to change the virtual world around as scenes were being shot; usually, the animated characters are later added into a pre-created environment after filming wraps.  In addition, the actors wore custom-made skullcaps with a tiny camera attached to the front to capture their facial expressions.  Because of this, about ninety-five percent of the actors’ performances could be transferred into their digital characters.
Not everyone is so happy about the messages they think Avatar is preaching.  Critics point out the ‘blatant’ use of the typical Hollywood racism: the white savior coming to protect the natives.  Jake, the protagonist, is Caucasian, but it’s very interesting to note that all of the actors who play members of the Omaticaya are not white.  Even the Vatican has spoken out against Avatar.  While praising its environmental message, the Vatican newspaper – L’Osservatore Romano – said the film “gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature.”  However, both the Vatican newspaper and the Vatican radio praise Avatar’s “extraordinary” visual effects.
Overall, though, the response to Avatar has been astronomically positive.  The movie-reviewing website RottenTomatoes.com has given it a ninety-four percent approval rating from its Top Critics, saying, “It might be more impressive on a technical level than as a piece of storytelling, but Avatar reaffirms Cameron’s singular gift for imaginative, absorbing filmmaking.”  But the big shocker is Avatar’s box office success.  Avatar has beaten almost every movie-related record possible, save one: the highest-grossing film of all time, worldwide.  And the current record holder is none other than Cameron’s own Titanic.  Twenty-seven days after it was released, Avatar has grossed a worldwide total of $1.424 BILLON!
Of course, being blessed with so much success, how could Cameron not make a sequel?  In fact, he’s planning on turning Avatar into a trilogy!  From what he has publically disclosed, the second movie will follow Jake and Neytiri, instead of becoming a prequel; Worthington has already signed on for the sequel.  In an interview, Cameron said that the next movie wouldn’t take as long to create, since all of the groundwork for the animation has already been laid out.
If you haven’t yet seen Avatar, I highly reccomend that you do!  Don’t get lured in by 3D features of the show – the 3D showing actually made me feel a bit nauseous and not all images are clear.  Avatar is entirely worth seeing in theaters, and just might become the worldwide highest-grossing movie of all time.

Leave a Comment

Comments (0)

All The Harriton Banner Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *