Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Movies In America: Avatar




The movie industry plays a huge role in the American culture. Many Americans spend some of their time watching movies at home or going to the theater to see the new releases. Obviously, because of people’s attraction to movies, the movie industry makes a lot of money. So why do certain movies make more money than others and what makes people so attracted to certain movies?
Let’s take a look at Avatar, released in December of 2009. This movie won three Oscars and made about $212 million dollars (http://www.examiner.com/). What attracted people to this movie?
Avatar tells the story of a paraplegic marine, Jake, who is taken to Pandora on a mission to try to get the natives of Pandora (the Na’vi) to move to a different place. The Na’vi people don’t want to move because they live in peace with nature. The Na’vi people worship their goddess, Eywa, who is a huge tree (like Mother Nature). Everything revolves around Eywa. Because everything in Pandora revolves around Eywa, they don’t want to relocate and it makes it hard for Jake to negotiate with them. While trying to negotiate with the people of Pandora, Jake finds himself attracted to the princess and learns the ways of the people who live there. He is then torn between doing what his mission intended and doing what is right for the people of Pandora.
Avatar is essentially showing that nature is the root of all things and technology is destroying it in a way. This is shown by our “Go Green” supporters in the United States, who were most likely the reason for Avatar becoming so popular. Avatar supported their idea of preserving nature and using its resources. And yes, other people who aren’t “Go Green” supporters did watch the movie and help them make so much money, because it was a great movie but the majority was probably those who are “Go Green” supporters.
Avatar might have made a lot more money if the idea of technology destroying nature wasn’t so prevalent. This might have turned some of its customers away because they didn’t agree with the story and the message they were portraying. I believe this is why certain movies in America become more popular and make more money than others. We, as Americans, are very opinionated and are allowed to believe in whatever we want to believe in and if the producers in the movie industry want to survive, they must make a movie that will appeal to the majority and this is very hard to do in the American society today. Producers end up making sequels to other movies or they make a new movie that is very similar to one that already exists and no one wants to see that. People want always want something new, that they haven’t seen before.
Many people are interested in many different things and the producer will never make a movie that every person in the United States will want to see even though the movie industry plays a huge role in our culture. Watching movies is a great American past time and movies are entertaining. But, in this case, Avatar appealed to a vast majority of people in the United States because many people are “Go Green” supporters and it also appealed to the youth because it was shown in 3D. This is a movie that people would watch over and over again because it is so interesting and there wasn’t a movie produced like it before.

21 comments:

  1. I think that technology isn't destroying nature, but rather ignorance of people when they use technology.

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  2. i find it funny that movies usually cater to liberal views but half the country, or more, is conservative... quite an audience there.

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  3. I find Crane's response funny, and true. I wonder why they cater to liberal views. Avatar was a great movie,and this is a great post.

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  4. I did not see the movie and don't plan on it. It may be good for fans but the whole 3-D thing has gotten a little out of control.

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  5. I think that this is a good post, and Avatar was a great movie.

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  6. Avatar was one of the more popular movies, which is very weird, considering it came out a few years ago in the form of a movie called "Pocahontas". Just my personal opinion, but the movie Avatar is totally either an allegory for Pocahontas or just a rip off with better special effects.

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  7. This was a good post and Avatar was amazing.

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  8. I personally did not see the movie, but I heard good things about it. Technology can be so beneficial if it is used for good. Still, we need to take control of technology before it takes control over us.

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  9. I watched Avatar on my laptop..I should watch 3D..anyway This movie criticize about human life in this century. Technology Civilizations destroyed nature, and animals. Through this movie people should think again about importance of nature and nature which is destroyed by human.

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  10. It looks like kids movie. However, this movie has most important message for everyone who live in the world. I really liked it.

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  11. I didn't see the movie because I personally don't like the 3D movies. I heard that the movie was really good though, and I think that technology is important but people need to watch what they do with it.

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  12. I have not seen Avatar, but I think that our advancing technology is a good thing.

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  13. I loved Avatar. It was really good, and the forest glowed in the dark!

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  14. I think This movie is good. We can see there how human technology is growing. Thanks good post

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  15. The weapon is only as strong as the person using it, technology isn't destroying earth. Avatar was good and I enjoyed the pictures!

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  16. I did not see the movie Avatar, however I think the author made many good points.

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  17. Your post was great, and the movie was great too.

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  18. I did not see this movie, but I agree in that people need to be aware that technology can be dangerous and could change the future.

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  19. Technology can be the best thing since sliced bread, as long as we use it right.

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  20. It's kind of funny how ratings of certain movies and shows can be changed because of the new "hot" topics. Like Jon and Kate Plus 8 and how the divorce episode was the highest rated episode.

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  21. Politics and Art go together like soup and sandwiches.

    Unfortunately this meal almost made me puke. Sure I'm "green", in that I believe we need to preserve nature and stave off global warming as fiercely as we can, but this movie's message was just too blunt and simple for me.

    It might be a good storyline for a sixth-grader, but all I saw was the overly-simple hatred of technology and favor for natural, primitive ways of life. This is, in my opinion, just as wrong as thinking that nature will always take care of itself, with no need for our help.

    The movie was good in the end only because of its visual effects and because the universe was an interesting one to be a part of for a couple hours. But as Carson points out here, the magnitude of its popular reception may be due more to Cameron's astute measure of his audience's politics than actual story-telling ability.

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