Avatar is an entertaining fantasy movie. My wife was “never bored” through the whole 3 hours, Jaspers’ best part was when Jakesully threw the bad-guys out of the plane, and Tait’s “worst part” was when Jake was a human (“that was just boring”).
None of them thought the movie a “anti-American, anti-capitalist, anti-mining rant” (Financial Post, 5 March 2010) ! I’m not quite that vitriolic, although the “message” does build on an ingrained “anti-development” mind-set, and is not helpful.
That company was out-of-line (do you think ? ), and it was great to see them nasty dudes off the planet ! But Avatar is not an example of what happens in the world and no “lesson” about anything. It is a fantasy movie and great entertainment.
The evolution of corporations from profit takers to community builders is ongoing, is not perfect and demands even greater effort. The conflict over “development” exists throughout society and not just in the remote corners of the world. There will always be concern about development, almost always accompanied by polarising fear, anger and ideology.
NZ is burdened by a crippling outflow of educated graduates, and many areas of the world remain mired in poverty without access to medical care, clean water, education or stable food supply. The world needs development and profits because the ugly truth is that they are necessary to improve society.
The “lesson” is to strengthen our institutions, strive to understand and respect for each other, engage and embrace both sides of the debate, and work for sustainable solutions to the problems and opportunities which face us.
The old “heads in the sand” approach didn’t work for the Na’vi and it didn’t work for the “company”. Smart heads on both sides would have avoided bloodshed, grief and destruction.
The challenge is to do a lot better than that !