First off, the Manhattan LP has asked me to shoulder some of the blogging burden for Serf City, the deal being I can talk about whatever I want. The first installment is a capitalist's comment on the movie, "Avatar":

http://serfcity.wordpress.com/

So, there's that, but also, if a person were to be offended by this movie (as it seemed a lot of people expected me to be, but the movie is so laughable, how could I be?), I think there's a basis. Sully, the crippled marine/avatar, enters the innocent, peaceful, wondrous world of the Na'vi, and earns their trust, not by being especially curious, sensitive, helpful, etc. (Sigourney Weaver's character was all that and they'd already kicked her out) but by being klutzy, poking or kicking everything he doesn't understand, reminding me of something I heard about sharks recently, that biting things is their way of investigating them. Nevertheless, he's got that certain something, and once he picks up the local lingo, he's not only leading the Na'vi in battle, but marries their hottest female, who according to their custom, was betrothed to Wes Studi. (If this were the professional blog, I guess I'd look up their character names.) So when I boil down this huge watery stew, what I get isn't an indictment of capitalism, but the time-honored tale of the white man's mastery of the childlike indigenous population. Groundbreaking, Mister Cameron! My friend even summed it up when he said during a big battle scene when the hammerhead rhinos appear unexpectedly to push some tanks around, "Tarzan friend to all animals in jungle!"