Avatar Is Pretty Boring

So my roommate rented Avatar from Netflix, and we both watched the first half for the first time before getting bored and going to bed. I shouldn't have been surprised that it was boring—Titanic was like a bad soap opera (read: wooden) until the boat started to sink and water rushed through the corridor and stuff. Avatar has a problem in the special effects front that, while Titanic's special effects were new and exciting, computer animation is pretty ho-hum without the interesting 3D parts. Now, I have not read any spoilers, but I'm going to guess that after the big showdown, the humans will go back to Earth, except for Jake and perhaps Sigourney Weaver, who will find a way to stay in their avatars permanently. Maybe Colin from Bones will join them, but he hasn't gotten enough face-time so far for me to make a judgment about him.

What really bugs me about Avatar is that it's just like Disney's Pocahontas except the natives have blue skin instead of brown. It's even got the Indian princess who is meant to marry the brave warrior and future chief but chooses the stupid reformed invader instead. Is it a coincidence that all the evil humankind in the movie are white? I doubt it. The movie seems like an attempt to apologize for white oppression while actually being very patronizing towards "native" (read: backwards, but peaceful and connected to nature, awwwww) cultures. It carries the noble savage archetype to a far-away planet, but it's still the noble savage archetype.

The only part I identified with is Jake when he's not in his avatar. He says the human world has become like a dream, and he can't wait to get back to the (What are the blue people called again? I feel like they keep saying different things.) world. I feel like that a lot. Last night, I was dreaming about traveling rivers in a log canoe with my elementary school friends Gareth and Denise, except they'd grown up and Gareth looked like Martin Freeman. We hit rapids and had to drag our canoes all the way back to camp in the middle of a temperate rainforest. The trees were green. There were no mosquitoes. My allergies didn't bother me, even around the giant ferns. I wasn't tired. Why should I ever wake up from that? Sometimes I feel like I just go through the motions when I'm awake so I can fall asleep and go back to Dreamland, or at least enter one of my many complex daydreams.