Avatar

Chris and I watched Avatar tonight.  I know, I KNOW we are the last two people on earth to watch it.  I really enjoyed it, though at first I really wasn't giving over to it.  The movie is so CG heavy that I was completely distracted for at least the first hour.  When I finally settled in though, I really enjoyed myself and I loved the message.

I didn't bring the movie up to review it, however.  There are people far better than I that do that for a living.  What I want to talk about is the furor that occurred back when the movie was released.  I recall reading and hearing about hordes of people lamenting, crying and even wanting to kill themselves due to their deep depression because they wished that Pandora and the Navi were real.  Really?  Seriously, folks?  Hey, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of alternate realities that I have read about in books or seen in movies that I have dreadfully wanted to exist and wished that I could vacation there.  But, sorry, Pandora DOES exist...it's called earth.  The Navi DO exist...better known as native Americans and other indigenous cultures.  The killing of the Navi and their animals, and the raping of their lands is exactly what has gone on practically since the beginning of time, and it is still happening as I type this. 

Since we Americans use up roughly 24% of the world's resources, yet we only comprise 5% of the population, it is safe to assume that we are the ones who James Cameron was thinking of as he wrote his militaristic, money-grubbing bad guys.  For those of us who pine over Pandora, yet ignore that we are party to destroying our own environment, it may be time to wake up and face a very serious reality.