Avatar...round two

"I was a warrior who dreamed he could bring peace. Sooner or later, though, you always have to wake up." - Jake Sully

I think this phrase sums up the bone I have to pick with with Avatar, a movie btw that ranks in my top 10 favorites of all time.
All praise aside...and there is so much to praise about this film...I think the issue of fighting fire with fire was the weakest point for me of the film. Even though there has been much talk about creating these neat little descriptive titles like "Soldiers Vs Warriors" that somehow define away the simple fact in the end...we all will have to kill each other someday.

Now, I am a major proponent of facing the ugliness of our societies past sins and recognizing our culpability in the sins of our fathers. But historical revisionism is running rampant these days, especially in the romanticizing of indigenous people and the first nations. Nobody awakens and manipulates "white guilt' better than Hollywood and they preen their self righteous selves all the way to the bank....while we, sit in awkward inner turmoil over historical realities that we truly don't even comprehend or really know what to do about.

We are often the victims of our educational lopsidedness in regards to political posture and we have a collective cultural memory that is made up of movies and tv shows instead of the actual history that took place. Now a lot of that is good in my opinion...if you look at the tv and movie posture towards our early history in the 40's-70's it's a bleak and barren land of stereotypes, misinformation, bigotry and hyped up sentimentality that misses the mark of truth just as bad as much of today's elitist propaganda that is pumped out of the media outlets.

The savages and civilized were really worse or better than the money making entertainment industry has pictured them.

Here is an article that pretty much dismantles the view that paints early native people as Eden loving, vegi-munching, Adam and Eve like, prancing, red skinned peace niks. It's kind of like going through a mind de-programming course reading it...because some much of our cultural conditioning has been contrary to the actual historical facts...or has left out a big part of the reality of early conflicts and politics.

But...even though I love the romanticizing of a people group that love the earth, each other and living sustainable...the truth is often far from such portrayals.

And the conclusions made in the movie about he necessity of violence becoming the only outcome to our cultural clashings....worries me too.

"Our only security is pre-emptive attack. We will fight terror with terror." - Colonel Miles Quatrich

In the end, I am left with another motivation to pursue the vision of life presented by Christ as the only true vision of the future. Man seems to never see farther than his two hand's and whatever he can find or fashion to fight with...and in this film even God...or Goddess or Animal Spirit or whatever...was reduced to slaughter as the only achievable answer.

Hollywood can keep it's answers...I will turn to the Bible.