Vatican says 'Avatar' is no masterpieceThe Vatican newspaper and radio station are criticizing James Cameron's 3-D blockbuster for flirting with the idea that worship of nature can replace religion—a notion the pope has warned against. They call the movie a simplistic and sappy tale, despite its awe-inspiring special effects.
"Not much behind the images" was how the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, summed it up in a headline.And:
Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, has praised "Avatar" for what he calls its message of saving the environment from exploitation. But the movie also has drawn a number of critical voices. Some American conservative bloggers have decried its anti-militaristic message; a small group of people have said the movie contains racist themes.
To Vatican critics, the alien extravaganza is just "bland."
Cameron "tells the story without going deep into it, and ends up falling into sappiness," said L'Osservatore Romano. Vatican Radio called it "rather harmless" but said it was no heir to sci-fi masterpieces of the past.In conclusion:
"So much stupefying, enchanting technology, but few genuine emotions," said L'Osservatore in one of three articles devoted to "Avatar" in its Sunday editions. The plotline of aliens who live on a distant unspoiled planet and the humans who want to pillage their resources is a universal theme that can be reminiscent of past colonizations and wars, the paper said. As such, it is easy to relate to it, but also unoriginal.
"Everything is reduced to an overly simple anti-imperialistic and anti-militaristic parable," it said.Comment: Bingo. I couldn't have said it better myself. I've probably never agreed with the Vatican more than at this moment.
For more on the subject, see
Avatar Proves that Natives Sell and
Why the Right Hates Avatar.
7 comments:
The promo picture alone makes me not want to see it. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on - it's beyond annoying.
What, don't like smurfcats?
Does that make me a bigot?
Or some sort of modern Gargamel.
Hmmm ... I don't hate them or anything like that. I just find them annoying and will be glad when all the hoopla dies down. Generally speaking, if I find something annoying I ignore it. In this case, given the massive popularity and all the analysis about the film, that is a little hard to do.
Especially if you read this blog :)
Well, as bad luck would have it, I probably won't be reading this blog or any other too much for the next few days. Heck, about the only thing I'll be doing for the next few days is trying to recover from an "acute exacerbation of my chronic obstructive pulmonary disease". Right now, just sitting up at the computer is hard. I'm lucky they didn't hospitalize me this time. Moral of the story? Don't ever start smoking cigarettes. Next to getting married that was one of the st00pidist things I ever did. I quit three years ago, however, my smoking days will haunt me forever.
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