{"id":199,"date":"2009-12-31T20:45:32","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T03:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/?p=199"},"modified":"2010-01-07T20:39:17","modified_gmt":"2010-01-08T03:39:17","slug":"avatar-a-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/?p=199","title":{"rendered":"Avatar: A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

This post isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t entirely conlang-related, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve finally seen Avatar<\/strong> and have a few thoughts I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to share.<\/p>\n

First, of course, is the conlang. It was great to see Dr. Frommer listed right near the top of the closing credits as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi language creator\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. The language itself was incorporated fairly well into the plot, although it would have been nice to see a little more of Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s learning curve. The only thing we see is Neytiri correcting Jake\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pronunciation of nari<\/em> \u00e2\u20ac\u0153eye\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. At 162 minutes, I suppose something had to be cut. I did think it was appropriate that Jake hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t achieved enough fluency for his speeches, asking both Tsu\u00e2\u20ac\u2122tey and Neytiri to translate for him. Well played there. Overall, the actors did an acceptable job with fluid pronunciations and making the language appear \u00e2\u20ac\u0153natural.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Congrats to Dr. Frommer for bringing conlanging back into focus for the general public. Although the native language was incorporated well and sounded genuine, the Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s use of English was a little too fluent and widespread for my taste. Their rejection of what the Earthlings have to offer would lead me to believe that they would not bother to continue to practice their English skills so assiduously.<\/p>\n

One final conlang comment: The Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi greeting of Oel ngati kameie<\/em> “I see you” was a little troubling. I saw the movie with my college-freshman daughter, and afterward she said the only thing she could think of when they said that was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Peek-a-boo, I see you.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d While I understand the spiritual implications, Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi-wise, of the greeting, maybe there could have been a better English translation used: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I hold you in my eyes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d? \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I see you with my heart\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?? <\/p>\n

Now, for some more kudos. The look of the film was<\/em> visually stunning, but I think the massive hype inflated my expectations just a bit. I will agree, however, that Pandora is quite the bioluminescent, floating-mountain, hexapod-filled wonderland. Cameron did a great job of incorporating the 3-D into the film. This was no Monster Chiller Horror Theatre<\/a> or Jaws 3-D. The 3-D effects, in short order, simply became the look of the film \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not an effect. Some of the coolest shots in retrospect were in the cockpit of the aircraft with their heads-up displays. There were some shots that were bows to 3-D, but overall it was not \u00e2\u20ac\u0153in your face.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

As for acting, Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch easily deserves an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Lang absolutely nailed his role. As much as I abhorred his drive to eradicate the Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi, he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the guy I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d want on my<\/em> side in a fight. Lang provides a very interesting perspective on his role in a recent Los Angeles Times article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now for some constructive criticism, as if James Cameron needs constructive criticism from the Conlanging Librarian: Avatar<\/em> has grossed (as of Dec. 31, 2009) $268,886,074. In any case, here goes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Cameron is not a subtle screenwriter, and by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not a subtle screenwriter\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I mean he writes foreshadowing and metaphor with a sledgehammer. Both my daughter and I could see the ending coming several miles (or clicks) away. Furthermore, I could almost hear James Cameron\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice whispering in my ear: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153PSST, DID I MENTION THE NA\u00e2\u20ac\u2122VI REPRESENT NATIVE AMERICANS!!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d From the paint on their faces, to their war cries, to their horse-like mounts, the metaphor was barely a metaphor. Egads! My daughter and I agreed that Cameron could have at least given them different mounts than horses (okay, horses with tendrils and six-legs but still \u00e2\u20ac\u0153horses\u00e2\u20ac\u009d). How about a big ostrich-like lizard-bird. Say, a flightless version of the banshees or great leonopteryx (ikran<\/em> and toruk<\/em> to use their Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi terms); maybe call it a atxkxe-ikran \u00e2\u20ac\u0153land banshee\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I would also rather have seen the Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi patterned after a more \u00e2\u20ac\u0153exotic\u00e2\u20ac\u009d indigenous population<\/a> (at least to mainstream North American audiences) such as those in Polynesia or Central\/South America.<\/p>\n

Overall, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m definitely glad that I saw it, was impressed with the visuals, and was happy to see conlanging making a dent in the media. The story, as has been pointed out elsewhere, was basically \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Indigo Pocahontas Dancing with Wolves in Space\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t blown away, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d definitely suggest people go and see it. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an important film, both technically and conlang-wise.<\/p>\n

I have a feeling we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to be hearing more about Pandora and the other moons of Polyphemus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t entirely conlang-related, but I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve finally seen Avatar and have a few thoughts I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to share. First, of course, is the conlang. It was great to see Dr. Frommer listed right near the top of the closing credits as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Na\u00e2\u20ac\u2122vi language creator\u00e2\u20ac\u009d. The language itself was incorporated fairly well into the plot, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[162,45,52],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","tag-film","tag-navi","tag-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.conlang.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}