Profoundly in Love with Pandora
James Cameron’s long-awaited Avatar sequel is an impressive eco-parable. Despite a forgettable plot, thin characters, and watery dialogue it still is a stunning spectacle that reminds you what cinema is for. It is totally immersive (excuse the pun) – watch it for the gorgeous visuals and deep ecology.
The mega-budget and the consumerist impact of the multiplex aside, one has to admire the environmentally-minded ethos of Cameron’s science fiction epic. The first film lured in massive crowds to make it the most successful film ever (at the time), with the promise of Cameron’s trademark crowd-pleasing blockbuster fodder – a formula he had refined since the 80s with a schlew of bighitters (The Terminator; T2: Aliens; The Abyss; Titanic). And yet, Avatar turned out to be loosely (and unofficially) based on Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Word for World is Forest, in its depiction of a paradisal planet’s exploitation and destruction by a rapacious, militiarised mankind. When the colossal Hometree was felled – the spiritual home of the Na’vi – we all felt it.
Apocalypse Now – the Na’vi rainforest burns. Still from Avatar: the Way of Water.
And with the sequel, and intended quintology (all presumably based upon the Chinese elements: wood, water, air, earth, fire), Cameron’s ecological agenda is being made explicit. Technically dazzling and pure cinema, but lacking the intellectual sophistication of say, Richard Power’s Pulitzer-Prize novel The Overstory (which I wish someone would adapt), Cameron’s magnum opus nevertheless uses a vast canvas to remind us of the inherent beauty and sanctity of nature — storytelling in a medium that will connect to the hearts and minds of millions. If it inspires even one person to action it will be worthwhile, but it has the potential to motivate a generation. If Cameron’s Avatar franchise could have the wide-reaching influence of Lucas’ Star Wars or the MCU – which are enjoyable but vacuous, then it could be a force for good in the world.
#AvatarTheWayOfWater reminded me of trekking in Borneo; and the solastalgia experienced there, the Amazon, etc. The heartbreaking fragility of these ecosystems I have tried to capture here:
