Marred Observations

dean trippe | moonbase a: Avatar vs. Avatar

deantrippe:

Avatar vs. Avatar

I finally had a chance to see James Cameron’s Avatar last night, and while it was visually amazing, the rumors I’d heard about the casting and themes being racially insensitive were unfortunately true. The film deviated dramatically from the source material, Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender; so much so, in fact, it’s hard to believe the filmmakers had even watched much of the groundbreaking series.

These issues have been covered far more effectively by the folks at Racebending.com and i09, but I made this simple comparison chart to give you an idea of how different the movie is from the original cartoon.

As you can see, many of the characters have been replaced by blue cat people called the “Navi.”

In fact, the four elemental tribes have been reduced to just two, the Navi, an amalgam of the Water, Earth, and Air tribes, who thankfully retain much of the spiritual influences of the show, but not their telekinetic “bending” powers; and the Fire Nation (confusingly referred to by the Navi as the “Sky People,” who are portrayed as military forces controlled by corporate interests. Fire Lord Ozai (not pictured above), played by Giovanni Ribisi, is especially weakened, having morphed into a pathetic middle-management type issuing racist orders throughout the film.

The animal life in the film retains the fantastical amalgam-style invention that permeated the cartoon, but is far less adorable, as it seems the creators instead aimed for the “extreme” vibe audiences now crave in blockbusters. I’d have love to have seen the familiar tigerdillos, turtleducks, and catgators. Momo, Aang’s faithful sidekick/pet is the most obvious example of this extremification. Momo’s film counterpart is an enormous pterodactyl dragon creature ridden by Aang (because unbelievably, the film omits Aang’s stalwart friend and air transport, a sky bison named Appa).

In any case, critics and fans are right, Avatar raises the bar for what is technically achievable in film, and the 3-D effects were beyond impressive. But I can’t help but wonder what a more faithful adaptation would have been like under a less ambitious director. What I wouldn’t give to see a filmmaker like M. Night Shyamalan, who’s shown a propensity for handling faith-centric stories and racial sensitivity, take on the Avatar universe. Ah well, maybe someday.