An email came in today from an old friend, former mail order customer (way back when), Sound Projector scribe and all round solidified human, Miss Jennifer Hor. I reproduce with certification. Oh and for the record I have not seen Avatar but I am sure I will someday, mind you I said that about ET once and I still have not seen that sucker. I still like the original Terminator and I also enjoyed the sequence in Titanic when the ship starts to sink (from a gravitational point of view!). Anyway none of this has anything to do with anything I just like Jenny's tone, hence the reproduction here:

"Killing myself laughing at news that a mountain in south China was renamed "Avatar Hallelujah Mountain". Apparently the govt tourist authorities there hope to cash in on the James Cameron flick "Avatar". They claim that in 2008 some hack from Hollywood was taking photos of the mountain and they provided inspiration for the floating boulders in the movie. I find that a bit hard to believe. If some guy really was taking photos of the mountain, wouldn't he be arrested and get tossed into jail? Then again I confess to knowing very little about how local govt works in south China.


I did see the movie and when I saw the hanging himalayas, the first thing that flashed into my mind was that Studio Ghibli movie "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" which as you know features an aerial idyll similar to what was in "Avatar", only multiplied by 100. The other Studio Ghibli movie that flashed into my mind from time to time was "Princess Mononoke", esp during the scene when the Tree of Life got cut down by the choppers and missiles.

Just about everyone sees plagiarism of some sort or another in "Avatar". In the US, everyone sees Pocahontas, Dances With Wolves, Last Samurai and maybe Custer's Last Stand. In Russia, folks see books by Boris and Arkady Strugatsky. I have never read any of their novels in English translation but some of them take place on a warm jungle planet called Pandora inhabited by 2 or 3 humanoid species, one of which is called the Nave. Because the story is so basic, you can hang any interpretation you want on it. I have seen reviews that say the movie is racist and other reviews that say it's not racist. Funniest opinion I've seen is one from George Monbiot saying it's "profoundly silly" and "profound". Best stick to arguing with Oz scientist Ian Plimer on climate change, Mr Monbiot.

The racist aspect of the movie for me was the concentration of political and religious leadership in the female warrior Neytiri's family. From the little I have read about hunter-gatherer societies, this would never happen (they usually have councils of elders which while hardly democratic at least diffuse leadership away from one person). But Cameron is catering for us supposedly more "civilised" audiences who often confuse politicians with messiahs so maybe he's having the last laugh on us?

Currently reading "The Good Soldier Svejk" again. Whenever I forget Hungarian and Serbian swear words I have to read that novel again".

Cheers, Jen