Sign of the Times
'Avatar' uses technology to pioneer a new era of filmmaking
I finally had the chance to see James Cameron's film, "Avatar." While 3D television sets are set to become available worldwide this year, I figured I might as well see the 3D version of the film and headed to the theater.
The Academy Awards ceremony took place soon after I saw the movie, which I watched with interest, only to see "Avatar" lose in every major category. Instead, "Hurt Locker," directed by James Cameron's former wife and touted as a major contender against "Avatar," came away with an Oscar in six categories, including Best Picture and Best Director.
While commercial success obviously does not dictate who wins an Oscar, I felt that more recognition was due "Avatar," which has shown unprecedented popularity at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie worldwide in the industry's history.
Critics and fans who value artistry are said to critique "Avatar" as displaying "amazing technology" but having a "banal script," or they say that "the only thing going for it is the 3D factor." The Academy's assessment of the film probably goes along these lines as well. Indeed, "Avatar" was not nominated for the category of Best Screenplay.
As some have pointed out, the plot could be considered a rehash of the 1990 film "Dances with Wolves," featuring "barbarians" living in harmony with nature and "civilized men" who oppress them. Eventually, youth from the "civilized" camp share interactions with the "barbarians" -- just as they did in the 2003 film --"Last Samurai" -- leading to revelations of their shared humanity, and so on and so forth. It's a theme that's been played out countless times.
I have yet to see it, but "Hurt Locker" seems quite interesting. It's a suspense thriller offering a realistic portrayal of a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team in Iraq. It's in stark contrast to "Avatar," a fantasy film that takes place in a parallel sci-fi world.
But if "Avatar" really were just a cheap story of a faraway dreamland, how would it have had such a significant impact on the world? Is it just that everyone wanted to see a 3D movie?
Video clips of people dressing up as the "Na'vi" from "Avatar" -- having painted themselves blue and standing under a big tree strewn with lots of toilet paper -- have made the rounds on the Internet. Apparently, they get together whenever they have the time to pretend they're Na'vi living in Pandora. One youth committed suicide after becoming depressed after every viewing of "Avatar" because the real world was not as beautiful as the "Avatar" world.
It's rare for a film that's unpopular with the Chinese government to attract the same sort of sentiment from U.S. conservatives. In the U.S., "Avatar's" paganism got under the skin of the Christian Right, and retired military personnel got upset with the portrayal of Marines as bad guys. In China, on the other hand, the government is said to fear that the public will empathize with the Na'vi, who are forcibly stripped of their land.
The greatness of "Hurt Locker" that I hear from others does not seem to justify its winning an Oscar in light of the massive impact "Avatar" has had on people and the world. This is because I believe that art is ultimately about whether or not it speaks to people.
A similar thing happened years back, when color technology first appeared in motion pictures. Many critics at the time talked about it as a "mere spectacle of technology" and questioned the integrity of films made in color. Today, however, no one would question a film's integrity or greatness on the "color" factor.
It is true that many of the 3D movies that came before "Avatar" were merely forums to show off the latest technology. But what is revolutionary about "Avatar" is that it does not use cutting-edge technology to wow audiences, but to lend more depth to the work, allowing audiences to empathize to a greater degree with the world it portrays.
It is easier to understand what's going on when we view the introduction of color technology and the foray into 3D movies both as points in the history of technological progress that allowed filmgoers to become more emotionally involved with their movies. For example, in the 3D version of "Avatar," the audience is not just able to recognize that there are insects flying in the air, they can actually feel irritated by them. It's beyond the touch of the "atmosphere" or "air" that color technology has made possible.
"Avatar" was also the first foreign film that I was glad to see dubbed, and not subtitled, and probably for the same reasons. If there had been words on the screen, I would have been forced to recognize a boundary between the world on this side of the screen and the world on the other side.
Many people found themselves empathizing more with the Na'vi than with the human beings in the movie. An acquaintance told me, "My daughter saw 'Avatar' and said that it was the first time she rooted against the human side in a movie," no doubt as a result of the empathy with the Na'vi she was able to experience.
What Cameron set out for was the challenge of immersing audiences deep inside a world that was completely and elaborately made up. And 3D technology was one of the tools he employed to achieve this.
Considering the deep emotional involvement the movie has, you will see that even a seemingly simple plot is actually a multi-layered tale that falls into sync with the experiences of the audience after seeing the film. The sense of disappointment and despair felt by the protagonist upon leaving the beautiful world inhabited by Na'vi to return to the real world is what the audience feels when they walk out of the movie theater.
Both the Chinese government and U.S. conservatives understand that deeper empathy than this would be dangerous, which is why they have expressed objections to the movie. What "Avatar" has done, for good or bad, is take on the challenge of films entering such stage of audience empathy. It is a work that will go down in history as pioneer in a new era of filmmaking. (By Ken Sakamura, Professor of Applied Computer Science at the University of Tokyo)
Click here for the original Japanese story
(Mainichi Japan) April 20, 2010