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I'm a movie junkie and a Cameron fan -- at least until Avatar. Plus I love startups and business issues. James is part of this interesting movement by performe
by DanielBMarkham 16y ago
I'm a movie junkie and a Cameron fan -- at least until Avatar. Plus I love startups and business issues.
James is part of this interesting movement by performers to insult and preach to audiences. At some level, we all want to be challenged by art -- art should take us places and make us look at ourselves in ways we haven't before.
But, in my opinion, what's happened is that art has ran out of ways to easily challenge us. This has led to the development of sort of a religion -- people are selfish and harmful, the planet is in danger, we must wake them up in order to save our children.
Not getting into whether that's a good worldview to have -- there are many pros and cons -- the problem here is that this particular religion, like all religions before it, has become rigid and predictable. That hurts the art, and it hurts the business.
Avatar was a wonderfully visual film -- and an example of a movie I don't want to see again. It was preachy and trite. The plot was about as dumb as possible. But damn, it was gorgeous. I bought the first disc I could when it came out. And it's still sitting unwatched on the shelf.
When you cross the line from art to preaching, from sharing experiences to moralizing, the art suffers.
I am also fascinated by this propensity for famous entertainers -- basically our version of a high-paid circus clown -- to insult the people that are buying tickets to their attractions. James isn't as direct about it, but underneath all of this the message is clear: you are a mindless consumer and your lack of concern and selfishness is destroying the planet. You're a selfish asshole. Give me some more money and I will say it in a different way. That's got to be the weirdest business model I've ever seen.
- brc 16y agoThe most odious part of Cameron's carry on is the way he travels to remote villages in South America and parades them around like sideshow curiosities in tribal outfits. He implores us to leave them be, leave the noble savage alone (this is also the underlying message from Avatar, as I understand it) He never asks them if they'd like a refrigerator for food and medicine, an air conditioner or some roads built to increase their access to civilisation. Instead, they are just assumed to be more pure, a better way of living than the rest of us, and morally superior as a result. But nobody ever asks the villagers what they think. They're just told to stand there in war paint and look at one with the forest. I haven't seen Avatar because once I saw the plotline I couldn't bear to sit through it. It's bad enough trying to watch a decent U2 concert these days without all the preaching being folded in. Then there was the highly publicised event where Cameron was going to call 'high noon' on some bunch of climate change skeptics at a public debate. I think it was at an environment conference or film festival or something. But as the date approached he asked to have the rules changed many times before pulling out altogether. I'm sure the reason is not to give the skeptical point of view any airtime, but it just makes him look foolish and clumsy.
- superk 16y agoHe never asks them if they'd like a refrigerator for food and medicine, an air conditioner or some roads built to increase their access to civilisation. Um.. most of the natives in South America are losing out to clear-cut logging. I'm not sure how a refrigerator is going to help that.
- sigzero 16y agoI don't go to the movies to get preached to and I don't go to concerts to hear the performers political opinions. Wrong venues.
- superk 16y agoI bought the first disc I could when it came out. And it's still sitting unwatched on the shelf. Your pointless consumerism is part of the problem.