In defense of AVATAR: What Price, Originality?

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A few days ago, I watched the movie Avatar in 3D. I had heard Kenneth Turan (L.A. Times), who reviews movies for NPR say (possibly quoting someone; I could not find a good transcript on the Web) that the script sounded as though it was all the movies of the past "put in a blender." In other words, the script was being faulted for a lack of originality.

A few years ago, a colleague of mine, a teacher, an immigrant, was trying to explain to his class that, starting from the basic information that they were learning in class, they could create "something new." At that time, I had only a vague idea of what kind of originality was being referred to, here, but as time passes, I am beginning to see what the message was, and how it could be interpreted in a variety of ways.

The idea of originality is the standard-bearer of the American Economy. The Better Mousetrap was the first poster-boy of American Ingenuity, and over the last century or so, the American Economy has set itself up as the champion of all that is good about America, and has set up American Ingenuity as the engine that drives the American Dream: Even You can Be A Millionaire! Go to school, and learn all about Better Mousetraps, and BUILD ONE!

Record companies are driving themselves crazy, protecting their particular brand of musical mousetraps; the latest manifestation of this is the downloadable music cut, which (unlike a favorite record,) you cannot give to a friend. Kindle, Amazon.com's bid to create books that keep on giving to them, but not to the purchaser, is an attempt to extend the power of copyright. DRM is an attempt by certain sectors of the movie industry to limit the life of DVDs sold to the public. Everything we buy is being chained to some sort of planned obsolescence.

Together with the Gutenberg Project, The Gnu organization, founded by Richard Stallman and others, seems the lone standouts against this movement to monetize ideas systematically. Around the world --most significantly, the Western Hemisphere-- programmers and software engineers, as well as amateurs, are working to develop software that is free to all users. (Not free to exploit commercially, but free to use.)

What is the cause of this madness to control intellectual commodities? One reason could be that the US is finding it harder to find raw materials for physical commodities, and has to glorify "intellectual" commodities instead. Though in principle intellectual commodities are an inexhaustible source of wealth, the World will surely run out of spectacular ideas that make really big bucks one of these days. The industry of higher education, most notably the PhD manufacturing business (of which your blogger is also a beneficiary, to our embarrassment) is based on the fact that anyone desiring to join the ranks of academia should be able to write a thesis based on original research. It used to be the case that the lucky few who discovered something worthy were encouraged to document it in a dissertation, on the strength of which they would be awarded a doctorate. But this is America. If you are a professor, you should be able to do original research all the time, and advance your way through the ranks to the extent that your colleagues approve of your scholarship. The assumption is: If you're smart enough, you can do it. As a consequence, many of our best and brightest are sifting through the trash-heaps of knowledge, trying to find some trivial result that will earn them the coveted degree, which was originally intended to qualify one to teach. How much this intellectual scavenging equips one to prepare to teach is something that continues to puzzle many. It is amazing that this cadre of intellectual garbagemen succeed in teaching our sons and daughters anything. As for myself, what has helped me is less the nightmare of research than the fascinating hours I spent in the classroom, with instructors who happened to be decidedly not under pressure to publish.

Coming back to Avatar, the basis of its plot is how an Earth human, sent out to mingle with members of an alien society with a view to negotiating the rights to mine some miracle mineral, finds himself sympathizing with the aliens.   (Added later: in a purely sci-fi/fantasy setting, there would be speculation as to whether the aforementioned mineral might be the cause of, or be somehow related to, the amazing physical and mental powers of the natives.  This theme is found in the Phase/Proton books of Piers Anthony.)

Certainly, this is a recurring theme in fiction and in literature. Why? Because it is a recurring theme in post-14th century World History, a tragic strand in American history, one of the reasons for WW2, and indirectly one of the engines of the current wave of terrorism. The Arabs, and Muslims throughout the world, know that the US wants the oil in Iraq. Even if the US leaves peacefully, the original invasion, and the resulting loss of life, will be blamed on oil-hunger, no matter how much it is subsequently smoothed over.

In addition to the spectacular visuals, there is much to be said about Avatar. More than the stunning effects of Star Wars (whose achievements the present movie hardly devalues), I was reminded of Kubrik's "2001", a movie that must have inspired my generation far more than Star Wars inspired that of our children. The glamor of technology just 20 years in the future is greater than that of several centuries to come! (or that of galaxies far, far away.) After all, we can imagine living this dream. So, to conclude, the beauty of Avatar, even if it's limitations in the area of writing and plot are deemed fatal by some critics, lies in the execution of the ideas. I personally did not like the endless violence, the huge explosions, the scenes of devastation (though they were, in retrospect, unavoidable, and minimal, given the story line,) and some of the repetition. But the flaws were forgivable.

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