Every big movie gets an equally big backlash at some point.
For “Precious,” that meant some finding the film “racist” for portraying black characters in an unflattering light.
With “Avatar,” the backlash is more pronounced, in part because the film is printing money hand over fist.
It seems conservatives aren’t too pleased with the film for its ideological bent.
That’s putting it mildly.
Hard to argue with their logic. The film is an anti-human, pro-environment piece filled with demeaning portraits of Marines and blunt references to the Iraq War. It’s all packaged together with the subtlety of a sledgehammer to the noggin.
And it’s still a rollicking time at the movies.
(more below)
Conservative film critics, a group so small we could all meet in the waiting room at Denny’s, have chimed in with their displeasure about the film’s politics.
And some other critics and movie scribes aren’t too pleased about it.
It isn’t the first time right-leaning critics spoke out on a movie’s ideological bent, but it’s the scope of “Avatar’s” success that is making conservatives nervous.
What if the film changes a few hearts and minds?
They likely have little to fear. The film’s blank slate characters and razzle dazzle action will resonate more than its messages.
My concern is with the scope of the criticism. A movie critic should be able to embrace a movie that doesn’t align with his or her politics. It’s their duty, at the risk of sounding pretentous. WWTW soured on “An American Carol” even though the film took some welcome shots at Michael Moore and his lefty ilk.
But it wasn’t funny.
And the great John Nolte at Big Hollywood raved over “Che,” a film which glossed over the revolutionary’s less appealing traits.
So conservatives have every right to point out “Avatar’s” politics and critique them like any other part of the film. It’s an integral element of the story being told. But to deny the movie’s entertainment wallop is another matter, and one a critic of any ideological bent should consider wisely.
(Photo: “Avatar” is getting conservative film critics up in arms for its ideological bent./20th Century Fox)
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I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
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In a hypothetical media world where there were as many “conservative” movies as left ones, nobody would care about Avatar. The issue is that a continual string of movies like Avatar and Wall-e without counter programming have consequences. At this point in history those consequences are an even larger, even more intrusive government coupled with an ever lower standard of living for us and our children.
That being said, I don’t expect a conservative critic to tailor his/her artistic opinion based on a film’s politics, but I do expect to find out where the land mines are.
Extremely well said, K … I can’t even imagine the ratio of right to left leaning film critics. Must be staggering. And, yes, the culture is at stake, and a film critic of any stripe should mention the ‘land mines’ as you put it.
all the soldiers in the film were missionaries not stationed marines…just saying good article though