gendao Posted January 12, 2010 (edited) Edited January 12, 2010 by vortex Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Owledge Posted January 13, 2010 EXACTLY. I tell my students ALL the time that the mind cannot tell the difference between a real and imagined thing. It is just a neutral tool. If this was not true we would have no entertainment industry. We would have nothing that causes the mind to create sensations. Porn would cease to exist among other things. Avatar would never be made. We would be Borg. Your reasoning is flawed. The MIND can very well distinguish. If you were in a situation like a protagonist in the movie Avatar, you would feel completely different. You know... you just can't ignore all the seats around and the curtains at the borders of your 'vision'. But if we had no ability to artificially generate feelings (or when watching artificial events) for our body, then probably we would take movies simply as intellectual inspiration for then, if pleasant, shaping our real lives according to those ideas, and then we could enjoy them in the real world. But maybe this would translate as having no phantasy in the first place. Very complex idea. But really ... if you couldn't derive feelings from imagination, the difference between them and reality would be even greater, making a pleasant reality much more important. Wow, this line of thought is REALLY complex. Got no real desire to philosophize about it much deeper. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gendao Posted January 27, 2010 Interestingly, Pandora was actually based on Zhangjiajie National Forest in China: Ha, I knew something looked familiar about it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aetherous Posted January 27, 2010 Wow, vortex, that is amaaaaaaaaazing! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Xiao Shu Posted January 28, 2010 Awesome movie. It held many good lessons. I almost cried when he was praying to Eywa. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralis Posted January 28, 2010 In terms of cinematography, Avatar was awesome and 3D really made it mind blowing. However, the point of the movie is in the story line and portrays the stupidity of humanity bent on the destruction of nature. For a rare element worth 20m a kilo! Greed on steroids!! If anyone missed that point, they must be brain dead!! Â Â ralis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Stigweard Posted January 28, 2010 In terms of cinematography, Avatar was awesome and 3D really made it mind blowing. However, the point of the movie is in the story line and portrays the stupidity of humanity bent on the destruction of nature. For a rare element worth 20m a kilo! Greed on steroids!! If anyone missed that point, they must be brain dead!! Â Â ralis Agreed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Pietro Posted January 28, 2010 Agreed with all that has been said. Â A few things I would like to add: 1) We have said how the Vatican was against the movie, right? Well here we have a declaration from tribal leader of the Borneo tribes declaring how Avatar is real. I think Avatar is onto something. It has touched a nerve in the church. The same nerve that made the Church torture and kill pagans everywhere. The nerve that is linked to western civilization, and missionaries going out in the woods to convert the natives. (Something which is going on still now). Essentially from the point of view of the church the movie is a threat. It risks to destroy what the Vatican has been working for in the last thousands of years. It is hard to find a workable compromise between a male God and a female Goddess that practically identifies with nature. This is also why you see so many dialogues between religions that basically all believe a similar God (Christian-Jew-Muslim), and so little between those religions and nature based religions. I remember speaking with a neo-pagan, long time ago. He was a very knowledgeable man who spent most of his life investigating the ancient ways in Britain. He told me how what really pissed off the missionaries in their contact with the ancient pagan religious people was the realization that the spiritual experience of those people who (also?) authentic. Thats why they had to kill them. Â Now getting on the movie. I have seen the movie not once but two times. And I don't remember having done that (paying, that is)in a loong time. Why have I done it? Because the second time I wanted to concentrate on the 3D effect. The Nature, the scene, the technology. Â The first time I saw the movie in 3D my body opened up. Like when I am in nature. In front of a beautiful panorama. I think this movie will now set the new standard. If this is possible, why are we not getting this all the time? Think what happened when we moved from black and white to color. Think what happened when the internet spread. There are those key moments when a new technology is released, and the whole world changes. I would even say that most of the people who went to see Avatar for the second time did it not so much to see the movie again (the story is a bit dumb, we have said that), but to see how will movies look like in the future. Â More than that... I imagine a world where the technology to view Avatar will be in every house. Imagine the 3d projector. Maybe a chair with a round projector around it. It can project in 3D. It has fuull immersion 3D sound. Add phisical stimulus and you have a full blown orgasmatron. But also the best relaxing and auto massage technology. I see the economic explosion of the creation of relaxing (or stimulating) backgrounds. People choosing to pass half an hour near a waterfall. Or deep in nature. Or flying above the mountains. I am not saying this is good or bad, I am saying this will happen. And in a world where nature is really threatened this might be the biggest escape venue for everybody. Â Integrate this with computer, add some body to computer device (now would be keyboard and mouse, but that can change), and you have a full 3d immersion working environment. Your desktop becomes a sphere around you. A sphere that probably you can rotate at will. Â (I will cross post this to my blog) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mal Posted January 28, 2010 Think what happened when we moved from black and white to color. Â That's the comparison my partner made also. Those colors in 3d, it's just astounding. Â As to the story, at very least it went the "right way" We could have all been enjoying the eye candy AND noting how the Cowboys beat the Indians yet again. To take that sort of storyline risk on a huge budget mainstream movie is great. Â And I hear Lucas is saying the technology is finally there to redo StarWars in 3D. Can't wait for that, and the next 2 Avatars. Â Trying to drag my Dad out to see Avatar this weekend, Mom won't go, wish me luck. I think he will HATE the story, but you never know...... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Owledge Posted January 28, 2010 Avatar seems to have the potential to overtake global warming in terms of religious behavior. People these days seem to be yearning for new religions and belief-sets. Got bored with the old ones. Or maybe it's just psychological trickery, because I see similarities in the hype between Avatar and - for example - Star Trek 11. Â People need more grounding. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ralis Posted January 31, 2010 I am going today to see Avatar for the second time. This time it will be in 3D IMAX. Saw it in 3D the first time. A real masterpiece! Â Â ralis Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest paul walter Posted February 23, 2010 (edited) If you want to know the difference between a completely colonised 'western' mind and an 'aware' Chinese one check this out. Makes you think 'pop' culture really could have a role again? Nice circulatory trajectory for the film considering its shamanist earth message etc and inspiration coming from the Chinese landscape. [url=]http://bit.ly/aVIYZW[/url] Edited February 23, 2010 by paul walter Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
