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Maoist movie reviews
"Avatar" (2009)
Avatar
Directed and written by James Cameron
Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation, Dune Entertainment, Giant
Studios, Ingenious Film Partners, Lightstorm Entertainment
Rated PG-13
162 minutes
2009
Reviewed January 2009
In "Avatar," a white soldier-turned-explorer/diplomat/spy (Sam
Worthington) thinks he can singlehandedly save an extraterrestrial
species by using technology and Earth experts. It turns out that he
is right. The main character seemingly betrays his military comrades,
going back on a deal with the leader of the paramilitary of an
interstellar mining company. In its own terms, there is not much to
object to in "Avatar." If this reviewer were faced with a species
that depended on my compassion for survival, I would do the same
thing. On the other hand, "Avatar" oddly confuses the matter with
animal rights. Polar bears are also a species, and many see polar
bears as helpless.
In the real world, there is no conflict with an extraterrestrial
species and there are no magical-looking creatures and plants, and
similarly there is not a white proletariat nor another Euro-Amerikan
class to carry out revolutionary defeatism as "Left" white
supremacist mythology asserts. Alleged radicals that lower
requirements and build organizations among middle-class white
Amerikans supposedly to prepare for revolutionary struggle are
deluded.
How often it has been said that the 3-D, photo-realistic "Avatar" has
raised an artistic or technical bar. The bar that really needs to be
raised is political. For example, since "Avatar" supposedly deals
with oppression of First Nations, a major Catholic blog in November
2009 criticized Thanksgiving and nationalism (in the context of the
United $tates) as idolatrous and lamented First Nation people of the
past. This could reflect either that Catholics are leading a struggle
to some extent, or that such stances are less controversial than they
might seem. Either way, communists should be even more advanced, and
should not mistake various notions of First World people for
revolutionary potential. If Catholics and Muslims aren't progressive
when they criticize idolatry of U.$. patriotism, so-called
revolutionaries who just talk aren't either. "Dances with Wolves"
(1990) did not represent an emerging revolutionary movement, and nor
does "Avatar." Kill people and cry about it later while still
benefiting from past and ongoing oppression -- it's the Amerikan way.
More unusual is the image of a Marine fighting the whole U.$.
military in a modern war, even if that war began more than half a
decade (Iraq), or decades (Vietnam), ago and being against the Iraq
War is less controversial than it once was.
The Democratic Party is a party advancing imperialist and labor
aristocrat interests, but it's not that people who vote for
Democrats, the Democratic leaders themselves and activists, artists
and pot-smokers never fantasize about fighting the United $tates and
never privately say anything unpatriotic. Many who are privately
anti-Amerikan -- whatever that means -- are still opportunist. It
becomes important to look at actions of whole social groups and
public individuals claiming to be radical privately, not just words
and fantasies that show up somewhere. For that matter, many who think
they are anti-white or opposing whites in petty conflicts and have
anti-white fantasies defend white oppression.
The savior Jake Sully's actions come after identifying with the
Na'vi. Sully literally becomes one of the Na'vi outwardly.
Identity-centered notions of epistemology tend to be incorrect.
Communists practicing dialectical materialism do not have to be
Children, oppressed nation people, etc., themselves to know that
Children and oppressed nation people are oppressed. Proposals of
solidarity between groups are based on knowing the interests of
different groups in the first place. At the same time, one does not
have to be an exploiter or gender oppressor of any sex to know that
exploiters and gender oppressors of both sexes are oppressors, and
the reaction of oppressors is not just a matter of perspective. First
World tourists can visit the Third World and leave. Third World
people largely have to stay in the Third World. In certain contexts,
to talk about identity becomes pointless or leads to "diversity"
projects that presuppose what is diverse.
This reviewer has no complaint about the depiction of cross-cultural
intimacy in this fantasy movie. In reality, First Worlders who go to
the Third World, have sex there, and leave, are more likely to be sex
tourists than to marry Third World people. First World sex tourists
and spies in Asia and Latin America aren't some kind of vanguard for
progress. Also in reality, dating does not go well with revolutionary
politics in the First World, which has an exploiter majority and no
feudalism.
With the economic downturn and "Avatar," one might think Amerikans
are on the verge of revolution. One indication that this is not true
is that recent years have been low years for numbers of strikes and
striking workers in the United $tates. The final numbers from the
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics aren't out yet, but 2009 was a
particularly low year. When the United $tates is in a recession,
strike activity is low, and when the United $tates is not in a
recession, strike activity is still low. The underlying reason is
international exploitation -- U.$. exploitation of other countries
and the inflow of surplus value. Additionally, the recent turn of the
fortunes of some middle-class people in the United $tates is not
creating a revolutionary movement, but a fascist movement. It is not
that middle-income people and professionals in the United $tates are
more revolutionary than the so-called working class.
In terms of the U.$. military and dissent, "Avatar" suggests
disillusionment, defection, fragging of COs, and spying for the other
side. In "Marxism," the class basis of this is supposed to be the
class composition of the military's ranks. In reality, most
low-income people in the United $tates are nonetheless not
proletarians. Low-income people in the United $tates are approaching
enlistment as an alternative to unemployment, a way of maintaining
the standard of living (privileged relative to the living standards
of exploited Third World workers) to which they have become
accustomed, or a means of upward mobility; more low-income people are
trying to enlist than the military will accept. (Black nationalism,
Latino nationalism and Asian nationalism have the potential to
decrease enlistment. Contradicting this work, though, are
integrationist pseudo-communists opposing oppressed nation
nationalism and fantasizing about a "multinational"/"multiracial"
uprising within the U.$. military.) "Avatar" depicts a paralyzed
white individual for whom fantastical remote-control body technology
is an obvious solution -- nothing political there.
"Avatar" might be more controversial in the Midwest and the South.
But, what might be a good thing or good for local recruiting in some
places is not necessarily good at the country level or for that
matter on the Internet, where you don't always know who is consuming
what you're disseminating. And, often what seems good locally is
actually opportunism. By dumbing down Marxism, it is possible to win
over Homer Simpson to a cause, but with bad consequences in the long
term.
The curious and open-minded scientist character played by Sigourney
Weaver in "Avatar" reminds me of supposedly enlightened urban people
in the United $tates who are actually pro-CIA, pro-Peace Corps,
pro-FBI, pro-police, pro-IRS, pro-ATF, pro-technocracy, pro-marijuana
and pro-casual-sex Democrats. That is apart from the fact that, while
both Democrats and Republicans support wars and Democrats often try
out-hawk Republicans, Democrats sometimes pose as those offering
diplomacy and sanctions as supposed alternatives to the "military
option." (In "Avatar," the "diplomatic" work of Dr. Grace Augustine
ends up facilitating a military operation.) Because of geographic
differences, organizing people outside the big coastal U.$. cities
one could get the impression of making headway, when what one is
really doing is building for the Democratic Party. The Democratic
Party includes people who are anti-white, whites who hate white
people or are dissatisfied with their own white bodies and Anglo
ways, people who think patriotism is crude, people who like Che
Guevara's face, people who are disillusioned with Thanksgiving, New
Age pot-smokers romanticizing indigenous people while ignoring
current oppression of First Nations, people who criticize the concept
of humans as "imago Dei" and believe deities should be more
ecological and less anthropocentric, people who are verbally against
wars on one or two countries, people who think there isn't a white
proletariat, people who think there is a white proletariat,
angry/alienated individuals who think everyone else or all humans
should drop dead, and people who believe in a utopia. It does not
mean they are on the road to scientific communism or revolution.
"Avatar" would have been popular during George W. Bush's
administration, and "Avatar" is popular at the time of this writing
with Barack Obama as President. The difference is that the White
House is more popular than before, and people who criticized Bush are
now in contortions trying to justify war crimes against people in
Asia and Africa, using verbal opposition to the Iraq War as a cover.
There are references to Afghanistan in "Avatar" arguably, but the
message is so muddled with various allegories that any and all
interpretations are allowed, the net result being nothing but
confusion. People will view "Avatar" in terms of their own
preconceptions.
To the degree that the audience for "Avatar" is global, "Avatar"
still presents a problem. Having confidence does not mean telling or
believing lies about the First World class structure or the
capabilities of some radical or disgruntled First World individuals
who do not amount to a class. If this review sounds negative, the
reason is that people outside the United $tates still hold onto
illusions that need to be upset and Amerikans are prone to sowing
those illusions. The Third World needs to realize what does not exist
and what is not going to happen in the United $tates and act
accordingly. Nor is believing lies about the U.$. middle class and
U.$. workers necessary for a tiny minority of Amerikans to practice
internationalism and be effective in a limited way. Telling First
Worlders to strive for a utopia while sowing illusions about the
First World forces for that is itself called "utopianism." The actual
dynamics of a situation are important. There is nothing communists
can do that will change the class structure of the United $tates
before U.$. imperialism is destroyed.