AVATAR in Digital 3D

James Cameron has done it again with Avatar. The movie is now the number two grossing movie of all time under Titanic which is also a James Cameron film. The movie has been in theaters a little over one month and it has already grossed 1.6 Billion dollars, catching up quickly with Cameron's Titanic which grossed a total of 1.8 Billion.

My History of Film II professor today made a comment about the film and the importance technology has played in the history of filmmaking over the years. Professor Korte said, "The history of the cinema is the history of the invention of its means." James Cameron's idea for Avatar came into existence 15 years ago. The movie has taken so long to hit the silver screen because Cameron literally had to wait for technology to catch up to his idea. The man is a pure genius.

Ok, so the movie is beautiful, and aesthetically pleasing, but you may be asking yourself how one could make such a claim as to call Cameron a Cinema Genius? One of the first elements of the film I noticed was the number of different film genres that Cameron comprised into one 2.5 hour film. The film is a romance, a fantasy, a fairytale, and a science-fiction film. Cameron encompasses all of these different genres based in the American story of European Bigotry Vs. the Native "Savage."

To add to the brilliance of the film, Cameron has created an actual language for the Na'vi people, living on Pandora. Leading lady, Zoe Saldana plays Neytiri, who is the first native of Pandora the audience is introduced to. Saldana was the first actor presented with learning the language and made it her own. All other cast members followed her lead with pronunciation, dialect, and accent.

Perhaps this is the philosopher and the hopeless romantic speaking in me, but Cameron has created an ideal, perfect world with Pandora and the Na'vi natives. These people live in a world where their energy, the energy of their forests, and the energy of their diety are all one entity. There is not civil war amongst the Na'vi people. There is no tearing down, and destruction of their forest for bigger and better technological advances. There is not harsh competition and jealousy amongst the natives. Even the most aggressive animals in Pandora survive as one unit with the Na'vi people.They feed on each others energy, the energy of the forests, and they all work, live, survive, and prosper as one. If one suffers, they all do. In the world of Pandora, the Na'vi people have what appears to be nerve synapses at the bottom of their manes of hair, that connect with the synapses of the animals that they use for transportation in their world. The two organisms' actually physically connect, feel each other's energy, and they work as a machine. It is incredible to see. Cameron has created a world unlike anything our mortal world has ever known. It is simple. It is pure. It is a world you cannot help but wish existed, which is what makes the movie so enchanting.

The movie called for a great deal of physical work from the actors which is the reason why when watching the film, even though these actors when in Pandora are approximately three times as large as their human selves, they look, move and respond identically to the way they would in their human bodies. Cameron accomplished this through new technological advances. The actors were put in black suits where they did all their physical work against green screen type technology. It is amazing to see these actors with an incredibly alien-like appearance, but still know without a doubt that it is Zoe Saldana herself playing the part. The Na'vi had the same mannerisms, facial expressions, body stature, and physical responses to that of the actors playing the part. It is obvious how much work, time, and detail went into making the film and that is precisely why it is the cinematic masterpiece it is. This film has completely broke the mold for filmmaking today. Filmmaking will never be the same again. Well done, Cameron.

I apologize for the lengthiness of this post. I guarantee you not all of them will be this long. Avatar is just one of those films...

Til next time...