Comments

1. Joachim says on Jan 25, 2010 @ 05:14 AM:

   Check out the following comment from Alex Jones to the movie avatar:
   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Om_Myyp78

2. humphreys says on Jan 25, 2010 @ 08:57 AM:

   Ha, he's virtually incoherent! You can see the fury in the man's eyes. Still not sure what his point is, though...

   Regarding Avatar, I think the point is that the propaganda is done in such an overstated and artless way that even your average blogger gets the point. Surely such ham-fisted polemics won't be effective.

   Except, as WLC pointed out, when it is preaching to the choir.

   By the way, I haven't seen the film yet, but I hear that Sigourney Weaver's character is called Augustine Grace. Surely a theological subtext of some kind. Any comments?

3. Brandon says on Jan 26, 2010 @ 08:15 AM:

   Check out a Christian sci-fi authors review of Avatar at www.christiansciencefiction.blogspot.com

4. David DiSilvestro says on Jan 26, 2010 @ 09:32 PM:

   in regards to avatar... This was one of the worst movies ever. It is almost a complete remake of Dances with Wolves or rather Dances with Smurfs.
   However, I completely disagree with WLC about unobtainium. In the great documentary, the core, this is what they used to safely navigate to the center of the earth. As a chemistry tutor for many years, I know we are on the verge of discovering this stuff.

   Honestly, the best thing about this movie was the special effects. It is very predictable and WLC's take on the movie is spot on.

5. KStret says on Jan 27, 2010 @ 05:36 PM:

   Is there any chance James Cameron will go back to making movies like Terminator and Aliens? Once he made Titanic it was all over.
   Has any one watched the deleted scene from Titanic, where Bill Paxton holds the old lady over railing of the boat and threatens that he will drop her in if she doesn't give him the diamond? She coughs it up and it made the movie about 5 minutes long, so they cut it.
   Cameron's response to the controversy accusations shows the Hollywood mind set. He is so out of touch, he thinks everyone agrees with him.
   Unfortunately, many movies often imbed left wing views political in the stories. Even the show 24 is starting to do it now. It's not Islamic terrorists we need to watch out for; it's evil, rich, white multinational corporation conglomerates who own Blackwater and Haliburton.

6. Joachim says on Jan 29, 2010 @ 05:21 AM:

   KStret you should check out

   http://www.hollywoodinsiders.net/

   Furthermore in order to understand why they are doing this watch this:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU

7. Jonny says on Jan 29, 2010 @ 08:31 AM:

   I couldn't find where to properly make this comment, but I really wanted to get this off my chest.

   I listened to podcast about entitled Contending with Christianity's Critics (Part 2) and I just wanted to make a quick comment. What was he referring to when he had that he pinpoint the sources of the NT to within months of the original events. I found that very surprising. I went to a Christian college and I never heard anyone make that claim. What evidence is he referring to? He is talking about textual criticism right?

8. Joachim says on Jan 29, 2010 @ 09:18 AM:

   Jonny this is like the last place to put this question :)

   However, you should read more about it on
   http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pagename=popular_articles_Jesus_Of_Nazareth

   Or watch the debate craig-carrier here:
   http://www.reasonablefaith.org/site/PageServer?pagename=audio_visuals

   Hope that helps

9. humphreys says on Jan 30, 2010 @ 03:20 AM:

   Sorry but followed the link for hollywood insiders above and saw in the first sentence the words "illuminati" and "freemasons".

   No longer will I be able to take the poster seriously I'm afraid.

   Yes I've heard the conspiracy theories about James Cameron's films and the fact that they use MK ULTRA technology to brainwash people to bring about some nefarious plot by the freemasons for world domination. Mwahahahahaha!!!!

   And I laughed then, too. Go on then, enlighten us. What part does Avatar play in this theatre of deceit?

10. Anonymous says on Jan 30, 2010 @ 04:11 AM:

    Watch this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VebOTc-7shU

    And then watch this:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48Om_Myyp78

    And about you not taking me seriously anymore:
    [ ] care

11. humphreys says on Jan 30, 2010 @ 09:45 AM:

    How do I know this is not a Masonic plot to brainwash me? ;)

12. Stuart says on Jan 31, 2010 @ 04:32 PM:

    Read this excellent review by Jason Kumar from Thinking Matters

    http://talk.thinkingmatters.org.nz/2010/james-cameron-has-saved-cinema-but-can-he-save-your-soul/

13. Joel Naranjo says on Feb 1, 2010 @ 07:11 AM:

    Does anyone notices an inconsistency in the theology/spirituality of the movie? at the beggining seems to endorse a pantheistic worldview, but at the end Eywa, the Navii deity is revealed as a personal deity who listens to prayer and intervenes to save his people from their enemies, pretty much like the judeo-christian view of God, and showing that the navii were wrong about their view or Eywa, who wouldn't attend cries for help, because she "doesn't take sides", according to one of the characters.

    How do you see this? was it an unintended inconsistency on the part of the writers who were unable to present a coherent worldview,betrayed by judeo-christian concepts lurking in their subconsious? Was it intended to appease more conservative christian viewers? was it kind of a critisism to "green spirituality", maybe saying that they should reconsider a more traditional view of God? I'd love to know what you think about this

14. robaylesbury says on Feb 1, 2010 @ 09:13 AM:

    my main concern was that i found myself fancying an alien!!

15. John says on Feb 5, 2010 @ 03:37 PM:

    Political references, even in children's movies, are sometimes not too thinly veiled these days. For example, the pompous caricature of a leader in the movie Wall-E telling the people in his recorded message to "Stay the Course;" the only way they could have been less subtle than that was to say "George W. Bush is a worthless president."

    Maybe I'm a strange creature, but any sort of overt or quasi-covert political reference in a movie kind of turns me off, whether I even agree with it or not. If I want to see people making political statements, I'll watch CNN or Fox News. If you're going to put your political ideology into a mainstream movie, at least be a little more subtle about it and engage us at a deeper level of thought.

    On a completely irrelevant note, next Wednesday will mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the great comic actor Jim Varney, a man who enriched my childhood with his family-friendly movies and skits. Rest in peace, Jim.

    Does anyone else out there miss Ernest P. Worrell?

16. dbjarhead says on Feb 6, 2010 @ 09:58 AM:

    What happen to this thought?! Movies are make believe, why does everyone believe that there is a hidden agenda? Why can't you just enjoy a movie for what it is, make believe. What happen to teaching are kids, that is not real, it's just made up?

17. humphreys says on Feb 6, 2010 @ 03:36 PM:

    Because political commentary and ideological propaganda, that could never happen in the medium of film.

18. Anonymous says on Feb 25, 2010 @ 09:40 PM:

    Would you have been so critical of the movie if the Navi were devout Catholics?
    It seems as if you have a problem with anyone/thing that brings to question the existence of God. Why can't a movie just be a movie?
    However, it is obvious that you did miss a good point made during the movie: We are all connected to each other and our planet.
    Long short; take care of you're planet or else you're going with it.

19. KStret says on Feb 28, 2010 @ 02:52 PM:

    Anonymous,

    "Would you have been so critical of the movie if the pariah were devout Catholics"

    You are missing the point. It's not that people who criticize the movie are intolerant of differing opinions. It's that there is only one opinion that's coming out of Hollywood. In short, if you are a conservative or religious in Hollywood and even remotely vocal about it, you are a pariah.

    "We are all connected to each other and our planet."

    This view point is also a religious view. Many people aren't away of this and simply give it a vague label of spirituality. The worship of the earth and believing in a impersonal force that binds us all together is a religious view. There was an invasion of eastern mysticism in the 1960s and has become very popular here in the United States. For example, Hinduism was marketed under the guise of a "science" called transcendental mediation. You also have a few subsections and variations of new age thought that is now permeating the culture.

    Can you name a movie that has recently came out that has a pro Christian view or a conservative view? Mel Gibson made the Passion and look what happened with that. No one wanted to touch it and you had all kinds of cries of anti-semitism. The movie was a huge success but unfortunately Mel Gibson didn't help the anti-semitism claims with his drunken comments. However, what follows a big hit in Hollywood is usually a bunch of copies and you simply didn't see it with The Passion.

20. KStret says on Feb 28, 2010 @ 03:04 PM:

    Joel,

    The views in Avatar seem consistent with a native American religion. They believe in a great spirit or God but also worship the earth and lesser spirits that aren't God. They believe that Shamans ccommunicate with the spiritual world and can get the spirits to do their will.Obviously, I am greatly simplifying native American beliefs....

21. humphreys says on Feb 28, 2010 @ 04:27 PM:

    There was an episode of Star Trek, if I remember correctly, where they discovered a planet which had a civilisation similar to Ancient Rome in almost every detail. They were persecuting a new religious movement who worshipped the 'sun'. Then at the end, Uhura discovered that what they meant was the 'Son of God'. And Kirk made a trite comment about how great Christianity was and ordered Sulu to go ahead warp factor two.

    It was a dreadful, dreadful episode. Not because of the fact that it was promoting Christianity, but it was promoting Christianity in a crass, ham-fisted, arrogant, artistically ugly way. It made me cringe.

    In fact, fiction which is polemical in a self-important way always makes me cringe.

22. Steph says on Apr 8, 2010 @ 09:15 PM:

    Hi all. I'm new here but I certainly agree with what I think the common thread here is,i.e. that there is only one view coming out of Hollywood, television and most mainstream media. You can almost hear them telling you that you are ignorant, bigoted, intolerant and intellectually inferior if you are a Christian or a Republican. I join in with those who say that movies are being ruined by all the subliminal and not-so-subtle messages dear to the liberal heart. I love the institution of film...just watched Casablanca again. Oh, sigh....they just don't make 'em like that anymore. I dislike the use of films and other forms of entertainment as a form of brainwashing or bashing those who don't share their beliefs. I have friends and family that feel I'm rigid and intolerant, yet I'm always ready to discuss my beliefs in a cordial and friendly way...I am not an in-your-face kind of person and I'm willing to listen to them and have a dialogue while they are not. Who is the intolerant one???? That is the liberal approach-they are right and that is that in their minds. Anyone disagree?

    One last comment: John...I miss Jim Varney, too. He was definitely underrated by many, but I thought he was a gem. I saw him on a talk show once, dressed in a suit and ascot, performing a soliloquy from Shakespeare. He was amazing!