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James Cameron's "Avatar" (grading and discussion)

Grade "Avatar"

  • Excellent

    Votes: 166 50.0%
  • Above Average

    Votes: 85 25.6%
  • Average

    Votes: 51 15.4%
  • Below Average

    Votes: 11 3.3%
  • Terrible

    Votes: 19 5.7%

  • Total voters
    332
Your whole post was very well put. I will add a bit to this section.

The Indians winning isn't done enough to be hackneyed. This is as untrue as the idiotic claims the movie was predictable. Sully didn't save them all by exposing the nefarious corporation. Sully didn't defeat the evil suitor to win Neytiri's hand. Neytiri didn't save Sully from her father the ruler. The evil suitor died a heroic death, not a cowardly one. Said evil suitor didn't even argue against Sully from jealouy and spite. Sully didn't plan the strategy that won the battle. Sully didn't slay the evil Quaritch just as the villain was about to murder his lady love. Sully basically makes a confession of sin on behalf of humanity. Sully's massive white superiority doesn't make him a forceful, awesomely cool character who immediately impresses every character. Sully isn't the only one who plays the hero. Quarritch is awesomely bad ass but Grace is mean. The white guys ("we") lose. The white guys ("we") do the perp walk. The movie repeatedly defies cliches and predictability.

In any writing class, I have always been been taught that a piece has three parts, an introduction, a thesis argument, and a conclusion. In reading any of the three parts independently, one should be able to tell how the other two parts will be presented.

In the introduction you introduce a main concept, the point of argument and foreshadow the side which you the writer are on. In the second part, you assail the argument and defend the argument carefully structuring the dynamic so that the thesis can emerge victorious. In the third part you revisit the opening, reflect on the journey, and restate your position. All the parts of the paper should form a cohesive whole. Any twist or unforeseen element that is brought in, is not a hallmark of craftsmanship but is instead laziness.

The story structure of Avatar follows this format. Taken piece by piece, the individual elements do not follow a normal pattern. But the foreshadowing and presentation allows for those elements to flow naturally and the plot elements becomes easily digestible. What people decry as predictable is actually very astute storytelling.
 
I can't wait to get a copy of this script. It's a model for how to do this kind of sf movie.

In fact, I'd think that a big challenge for a sequel will be coming up with a story that works nearly as well as this one.

Really?

You are Omaticaya now. You may make your own bow from the wood of Hometree.

(she looks away)​

And you may choose a woman.

We have many fine women. Ninat is the best singer --
She forgot to show him how to make a bow, which takes months to learn, and a composite bow would of course be better than the simple self-bows the Na'vi use, as would an Abanaki bow or a modern compound bow. In any event, it's good that they're so advanced that guys get to choose a woman! :cool:

Did George Lucas write the dialog?

Edited to add: Avatar script
 
Do you really believe that? I know that is a common theory floated out there, but I have yet to see two samples presented that proves it. :vulcan: And Direhorses sounded like Velociraptors? That's a new one... :rommie:

That is not a matter of believing... I can hear it.
If you see the movie again, you can hear it too especially in the sequence where the thanator attacks Jake when he crawls under those tree-roots.
The direhorses' snorting sound is the same that the Velociraptors make when they call out for each other.

Well people hear and see things all the time that are not accurate, (which is why eye witnesses are *so* reliable) ;) so your claim proves nothing without supporting evidence.

Do they sound similar - yeah, I'll grant you that. But that they are the *same* is quite a different claim to make. You do realize how the T-rex sound was made, right? By mixing the screaming sounds of several animals. How do you think the Thanator sound was made? Well... Bingo - the same way. (And since the Thanator chase clip has been online since before the film opened, it should be an easy claim to prove - But in all the hoopla about Avatar copying this and that and everything under the sun, noone has done a comparison. I'll let that speak for itself.)

But here you go, listen for yourself... Are they really *that* similar? You might be surprised: (I was... Not as similar as I thought)
1. Avatar: Thanator chase
2. The Many Roars of T-Rex

So... What do you think?
 
They don't sound much alike, other than that they both sound like they're based on the growls of a big cat of some kind - a lion?

They aren't alike but I agree with the poster above who said that the velociraptor sounds WERE definitely in the movie.
 
Sigh... Just like the T-REX sounds "were definitely" in the movie? They may sound a bit similar... nothing more. Sometimes our memory plays tricks with us.
 
He's probably choking on the differences. In the script Sully kills Tsu'tey.

I guess he was justified, because Tsu'tey had lost his will to live. The same thing happened to Queen Amidala, but at least none of the droids spouted garbage about the Force while slitting her throat.
 
Do you really believe that? I know that is a common theory floated out there, but I have yet to see two samples presented that proves it. :vulcan: And Direhorses sounded like Velociraptors? That's a new one... :rommie:

That is not a matter of believing... I can hear it.
If you see the movie again, you can hear it too especially in the sequence where the thanator attacks Jake when he crawls under those tree-roots.
The direhorses' snorting sound is the same that the Velociraptors make when they call out for each other.

Well people hear and see things all the time that are not accurate, (which is why eye witnesses are *so* reliable) ;) so your claim proves nothing without supporting evidence.

Do they sound similar - yeah, I'll grant you that. But that they are the *same* is quite a different claim to make. You do realize how the T-rex sound was made, right? By mixing the screaming sounds of several animals. How do you think the Thanator sound was made? Well... Bingo - the same way. (And since the Thanator chase clip has been online since before the film opened, it should be an easy claim to prove - But in all the hoopla about Avatar copying this and that and everything under the sun, noone has done a comparison. I'll let that speak for itself.)

But here you go, listen for yourself... Are they really *that* similar? You might be surprised: (I was... Not as similar as I thought)
1. Avatar: Thanator chase
2. The Many Roars of T-Rex

So... What do you think?

When the thanator first jumps after Jake under the roots and then when he jumps over them to chase Jake again he makes the same (or a very very very similar :rolleyes:) sound as when the T-Rex roars after he's come through the fence.
Thanks for proving that my memory was not faulty. :)
 
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