The politics of 'Avatar:' Conservatives attack film's political message

I used to see arguments on both sides, but today’s conservatives are like aliens from space. Their best candidates are not “conservative enough” (McCain) and the ones they laud are idiots (Palin). I think conservatives need to get back to the intellectuals of their class and please give us all a break from the blow hards running the show like Limbaugh, Beck and Cheney. After showing us how willing they were to follow a fool for 8 years, they should rethink their brand… not to win elections… but for the good of their party and the country.

why do they attack it- too close to the truth????

WHO CARES!!!! IT was just a movie and it was kickass awesome.

i'm conservative and it didn't rub me the wrong way. i loooved 'avatar'! wonderful message that i hope people HEARD.

The story of all of Humanity and the Theology at the heart of Avatar is the Parable of the Prodigal Son as told by Luke.

The Father [God] has two sons. One chooses to leave the peace of his Father’s Home [Heaven] to go into the Far Country [Earth] after demanding his inheritance. There he wastes his inheritance and endures hardship [War, Fear]. Humbled, tired, and broken, the Son [Invalid Sky Soldier] finally chooses to return Home and throws himself at the mercy of the Father.

When he returns Home the Father greets him with open arms and celebrates by killing a fatted calf. The other brother protests the favored treatment of the faithless son.

The Father responds "My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

In Avatar, the Son returns Home and finds the Love and the Peace of his Father [The Soul Tree] in a Loving act of Redemption by helping the Navi. And, as the Avatar opens his eyes at the end of the movie, we know that the Mind of the Invalid Sky Soldier is finally at Home again and One with his Father.

We love these stories not because they are Myth, but because in the deep recesses of our subconscious, we know that they are true. We all know that there has got to be a better way than this.

The movie Avatar briefly awakens the Mind to that distant melody in our Minds that is the Love of God. And, for a very brief moment we feel True Empathy and Love for the Navi and the Invalid Sky Soldier. Then, we leave the theater and fall back to Earth with a loud thump. And, we know that we don’t belong here and yearn to be back Home.

The left are not only consumed by a hatred of America and the West, they also firmly believe that to acquiesce and avoid conflict at all cost represents 'peace'. But it was not always thus. For most of human history peace meant being able to plant your crops or herd your sheep without being set upon by marauders and murdered, with you last thought the knowledge that your wife and children were about to be carried off into slavery. It meant building a prosperous community in which people could follow their livelihoods withour molestation. It meant being able to travel the roads without being beaten and robbed by brigands. It was greatly prized, and it was very rare.

Peace is not just when war is over and the armies have gone home. Peace is the condition of being secure in one's property and person. Of being able to perform one's routine activities
without fear. We seem to have forgotten how rare and precious real peace is. The typical condition of mankind a couple of centuries ago was to live in brutality and fear. Men had to be armed and eternally vigilant to attain peace, and women and serfs could not hope for it without the protection of rough men ready to do violence on their behalf. But today, in the luxury of our current circumstances, the whole concept of peace has morphed into the concept of avoiding conflict at any cost. When bullies emerge to confront us, we are not to take up our cudgels against them. You must remain supine before your persecutor, allow his boot to remain firmly on your neck, and then you will have peace. You must rely on reason, on discourse to dissuade the assassin from his task. Understand his point of view, look at historical reasons for his behaviour, acknowledge your own culpability in creating the conditions that produced his outrage. You deserve all that you're getting, you must know that. Give him everything he wants, and then what follows will be 'peace'.

Everybody that I know who has seen Avatar, whether conservative or liberal, appreciated this film and told me that they loved it. So those of you here trying to create division you are big failures. Cry and whine all you want, you will never stop the Juggernaut that is Avatar and its message about the circle of life and the interconnectedness of all living things.

Christians call it the HOLY SPIRIT....get a clue and a life.

For those that don't know about history ... Here is a condensed version:

Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.

The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:

1 . Liberals, and
2. Conservatives.

Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to B-B-Q at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement.

Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly B-B-Q's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement...

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. Those became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals.. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer, mostly Bud or Miller. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing..... They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans. That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history:

It should be noted that a Liberal may have a momentary urge to angrily respond to the above before forwarding it.

A Conservative will simply laugh and be so convinced of the absolute truth of this history that it will be forwarded immediately to other true believers and to more liberals just to tick them off.

And there you have it.

Let your next action reveal your true self .

Conservatives can kiss Avatars ass. The message is the heart and soul of the film, and anyone who disagrees with it, has neither.

Avatar sounds like a pile of anti American, hysterical neo-environmentalist, misanthropic guilt ridden liberal Left propaganda and bullshit to me. I was going to see it but now I will skip it as I do not wish to be insulted. Pity the teens who will be brainwashed into hating their own culture. This film is just another contribution towards the destruction of Western civilisation and the dumbing down of the masses.

The underlying factor to the movie was, in my opinion, "don't destroy a culture for your own gain." of which, humanity has been guilty of since the beginning of time. It's our version of survival and natural selection, just really exaggerated.

juQuinn great synopsis of a movie I haven't even seen yet, very well written

The grotesquely beautiful scenes of war in this movie are not the message. Yes, war is glorified but its purpose here is to deliver a message of peace and redemption.

Who in this audience did not shed a tear when the “Tree House” was destroyed?
And, who did not feel a sense of release and longing for peace and love when the Navi are saved by the redemptive and selfless act of invalid ski soldier who fell in love with a Navi.

The Theology of this movie is quite powerful and new. The movie told the story of a civilization that lived in complete harmony with their planet. A planet where every creature is considered sacred and all its creatures are interconnected as One.

The Sky People on the other hand are portrayed as mechanical and soulless being connected to nothing except their machines, their fears and their inability to ‘see’ Their eyes could record images but their hearts and minds were completely blind to the love and oneness that enveloped planet Pandora. The Sky People were in search of more resources because they had already killed their mother [Earth]

Perhaps, the story tells us, there is hope for us that we may finally learn to ‘see’. Perhaps, it is not too late to save Mother Earth. She is old and tired and choking in the detritus of her blind children. In the end the Sky People are expelled from a paradise that they did not understand and deserve because they could not ‘see’

It actually just reflects humans throughout time...
hey, if it hurts is because there's some truth in it.
5gms of Mercury for 1gm of gold... uhm.

Who cares what anybody says about this film. James Cameron is a living treasure of American Cinema and I will go see anything him and George Lucas, and Steven Spielberg produce, period, end of story.

I actually thought it was more of an indictment of all of humanity regardless of political persuasion.

The premise was not the Corporation but Humans invading another planet looking for resources and not caring what the consequences for the locals would be so long as we humans got the damn minerals.

And they lost! Thank God.

Nuvis 1

Humans Zero

Well now I think I should go see the movie. I love liberal bias.

Also I've noticed that anytime a book, movie or song comes out that makes people think and question every thing they've been spoon fed since birth, whether truth or theory ,. the critics all come out in droves to discredit it anyway they can.The DaVinci code is only one example of the fear that the powers that be, may, whether church or state, be losing the oppresive hold they have on peoples minds and thought process and how they view their very existance. People need to question, it's how we grow and evolve and learn to think for ourselves. If you are secure in your beliefs and structure you have nothing to fear and what do you care what theories or opinions a person/persons have about your beliefs and convictions. Deep down inside people have doubts and questions about alot of things, especially when doctrine that is absolute has so many contradictions, but people will never voice those questions because they are afraid of looking different or subversive or going against the system. The old same ole, same ole your either with us or against us type of mind set. For the critics, those who can, do...those who can't criticize.

their blue cat people, really? like, seriously? I guess ill have to have a talk with my cat when I get home about his liberal views on the legalization of cat nip.

Hey stop shouting.. I can hear you :-)

Haha it's funny to me how some conservatives fear literature and films like this and Harry Potter and the Golden Compass. Either they are extremely insecure in their own beliefs or they, knowing all too well how to influence peoples' political opinions using media, don't want any liberal media cutting into their action. If they are so afraid that other ideas might seem appealing to people, then they can't very well believe that their conservative views stand on their own merit.

Maybe they don't want non-wealthy fiscal conservatives to realize they've been conned into taking a political position that is against their own best interest.

The best part for me is that in complaining about this movie, it necessarily follows that they are admitting that they are like the bad guys, because if there are no similarities between the bad guys in the movie with real conservatives, their argument that the bad guys in this movie represent conservatives totally falls apart.

I can't wait to see it!

From the article:
"Some conservatives have panned the movie not just for its overt political tones, but its criticism of American actions."

Right because conservatives never criticize the government?! What-EVER.

This is funny...no different than when the Catholic church was campaigning against the Harry Potter books to deflect from all the publicity of their own criminal acts and abuses. This no different. What is the big worry is that this movie will reach a demographic that has never really had a big involvement or awareness of the political landscape nationally or globally. Teens.Their involvement and awareness has never been so prevalent has it has been in the last few yrs.Even if this movie is a veiled political statement, I say bravo, as they are the future of this country and it is just as much their future as any adult. If this movie can send a wake up call to the future generation of the blatant corruption and abuses and destructin that's being caused, I say more power to em.The powers that be always worry when something has the power to communicate the truth and create change and awareness no matter what form.My daughter is very well versed in these issues because we have open discussion on all topics in our house and saw the movie as well, she took away what the movie was trying to convey, as well as being entertained and awesome special effects.Whether this movie was targeting specific groups or just the over all tone of society/humanity, Cameron did a great job. Considering all the negative, superficial, inane crap that is out there that teens, people are being inundated with that is labeled entertainment for profit, a story/ movie with a worthwhile message is always going to come under attack by somebody or some group. I still find this article amusing, but mostly the people attacking it amusing and over all pathetic with way too much time on their hands...lolol.

good! i'm glad to hear it upset some tight ass republican.
:)

Liberal? Sure.
But what part of this movie is their problem? Which of this films antagonists do these conservatives feel was wrongly portrayed?

Saladin----"So even in a fictional environment their ideology forbids them from admitting fault about anything. It sorta reminds me of that scene in Jesuscamp where the camp counselor introduces the kids with a lecture about how God hates Harry Potter because "warlocks are enemies of God."

Sums it up nicely.

You all have way too much time on your hands!

One thing about RED DAWN--it shows how the shoe would be on the other foot.

Marvelous...

gotta love anything that pisses off conservative close minded, selfish corporate elitist who screw the people at every turn

this movie didnt rub me the wrong way.

the american pie series has been pissing me off lately though

This film doesn't rub "conservatives" the wrong way, the film rubs "Morons" the wrong way. Film and literature with those themes are as old as the hills. It's what the New Testament of the Bible and the founding of Christianity was all about afterall. I'll reiterate: they're NOT conservative, they're cretins.

Part of what I thought was so great about the movie was that it didn't really paint either side as the bad guys or good guys. It was really just a portrait of humanity, and how we treat people that are different, but who have something we want. Native Americans anyone?

FOOLS! Ya'll have obviously missed the true meaning of the movie. The pure of heart peace loving creatures represent America. The humans are in the movie are actually terrorists. The whole thing is in support of the war on terror and defending freedom. Jake leaves the terrorists and sides with Na'vi because they are America and we all know that America is awesome. Or maybe it's just a movie and I'm blowing smoke out of my ass.

The white man saves the day again. If your into cliche plots, giant naked smurfs, a mercenary army 100yrs in the future with the same level of weaponry used today (apparently humans go go to distant planets, but they can't make spear proof gunships), bestiality (always 'plugging in' to their animals), then Avatar is your movie!

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2236872

Avatar is a good movie,after a long time see that kind of movie.this movie gave us some Massage.this movie very clearly show what is does in Politics.The white man saves the day again. If your into cliche plots, giant naked smurfs, a mercenary army 100yrs in the future with the same level of weaponry used today (apparently humans go go to distant planets, but they can't make spear proof gunships), bestiality (always 'plugging in' to their animals)

http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=2236872

I can't believe how people can't take every opportunity possible to ensure the continuity of the planet. I truly believe we need film makers like Cameron to send these messages as they hit home to a much wider demographic than most and invoke strong emotions in all of us.

Who cares if it's too Conservative ... our planet is dying!!!!

If you find something to be offensive then some part of you knows it is deserved.

Can they possibly be suggesting that killing people for greed and destroying the planet we live in isn't a bad idea?

As long as people are talking about it, I think it's already succeeded.

yes...it has that message.
humans, the earth, our resources, our resources diminishing...i've wondered why we haven't heard from them sooner.
but it's no big deal, they're still a bunch of dicks who won't appreciate it.

i'm not too attracted to the movie, the underlying message is appropiate, however, James Cameron has made a shitload of money and has probably had more viewers for the movie than for any bullshit on FOX.

i don't feel this should become a big thing, it simply is not a surprise and the movie is done and made :)

well we all saw this coming

Interesting stereotype.

I'm a conservative, yet i found this movie to be absolutely wonderful. Sure, i knew what the message was, but that did not deter me from loving this film.

Some "conservatives" need to "conserve" their energy for something other than a movie.

if they attack, it brings attention to how true it is.
the republicans can eat it.

This is typical right wing bullshit. They WANT people to go see this movie because it glorifies war and Marines. Every showing is accompanied by a plethora of military recruitment commercials.

Join the military and you too can be a bad ass. Just don't plan on coming home with your arms, legs, psyche or life intact.

After viewing this movie you have to conclude that "...this is never going to happen. Ever." The human grasp is contained right here on earth. You are no space cowboy. Reduce, reuse and recycle. That's the message. Pandora was built in a few years on super computers and based of a script that was written in two weeks, yet it took since the dawn of time to create the habitats we can't escape. Global warming doesn't have to be real because the impact of overpopulation is already here in many other forms.

BTW Jonah Goldberg believes Avatar is gobbling up all the recent fallen religious people into believing in a "hidden liberal faith" conspired by Al Gore.

Shut the3 hell up already!!!!

Conservatives also hate "It's a Wonderful Life."

Ahh yes... gotta love it when the so called "conservatives" are up in ire about, uh, CONSERVATION?!

Sad. I assumed that there would be a reaction like this after seeing the film. I am also assuming that it is just the right wing extremists who are offended by the political messages involved.

It's just a movie- I'm sure no one is changing their view of the world based on a fictional movie. Now, if they really are changing their view based on Avatar, then they probably shouldn't be involved in the political process anyway.

I feel sorry for the conservatives...perhaps we need to help them craft a response

to this liberal propaganda.

I'm pushing a new script, where fundamentalist republican billionaires get thousands of happy slaves to build them ferrari shaped rocket ships, which send them off to seek and exploit new worlds, so they can live like emperors with millions of people acting as their own personal servants.....These crafty heroes ruthlessly defend their luxurious lifestyles, mansions, giant cars, huge boats, and hot tubs against all comers with careful strategy and hate speech.

What's not to like?

I'm calling it 'Avarice'...A new beginning

All comments and ideas welcome
http://www.topnflnews.com/

Sigh. I am not sure I even agree with the fundamental premise of the article. There are a lot of TRUE conservatives whose political philosophies I respect. This sounds more like the rantings of right wing extremists who hide behind the formerly honorable moniker of "conservative."

When I was growing up the movie that caused this crowd to foam at the mouth was the Wizard of Oz, which they branded as a thinly-veiled homage to Communism. My reaction now is the same as it was then: yawn...please pass the popcorn...

I'm sorry, but this is hilarious. It's almost like the conservatives who are complaining about this are seeing everything as a conspiracy theory against them. Well words are only words, or to better fit this, plot themes are only plot themes and they should only hurt if they are true.

Conservatives think *everything* is liberal.

If a Russian skinhead badmouths America, an American conservative will call him a liberal. -_-

corporate greed, "contractors" and environmental exploitation? that's a list of everything the republicans love!

"i dont see how anyone isn't against overly greedy corporations, utterly destroying the environment, and defense contractors."

Well if you have vested interests in corporations, can profit from utterly destroying the environment, or can profit from PMC(private military contractors) activity then i could see how you are against these things. Money does strange things to men and men do strange things for money.

I think the most important line from the whole movie is when the main character prays to the alien god and asks her to scan the memories of the dead scientist and see that her people have killed their mother and that there is nothing green where she comes from. This is literally where we are heading, and when the agricultural system collapses due to lack of biodiversity then people are all gonna freak out because they cant eat their Ipods and luxury vehicles. They will also be disappointed when the financial system collapses and their money isn't worth the paper its printed on. The fed is the wizard of oz and eventually the people are going to open the curtain.

Well I guess the game is up: these conservatives embrace corporations, greed, rampant destruction, and genocide. Making a movie with the obvious moral message that being greedy and violent is bad is apparently too much for them to handle. So much for values.