Great discussion this week. Great to have Thomas explain 'safety briefing' from a real Marine's viewpoint, and Wahutu tell us how it feels to watch a movie about how White People come in, plunder a country, then get spiritually saved by the people they plunder. Yikes! Lots of us had stuff to say about how Avatar WORKS in culture -- what feelings it produces, what positions those feelings argue you into, and how it does all that. (Or, in technical terms, the rhetoric and politics of Avatar's visual and aural representations.) Unfortunately, given the realities of a 200-person class, we didn't get to hear from everyone who wanted to talk. And even the people who did talk probably wanted to say more! So, here's an opportunity to take the discussion further. In this week's post, we'd like you to:
1) Choose one SCENE or MOMENT in Avatar that we HAVEN'T (yet) discussed in class.
2) Analyze the RHETORIC and POLITICS of its visual and aural representations. What did it (try to) make you feel? How did it (try to) do that? In doing this analysis, you'll want to read the SIGNIFIERS (the 'things' in the film) as closely as you can, and then move to the SIGNIFIEDS (what they 'mean'), and finally to their EFFECTS (what they 'do' to the viewer). Be as specific and detailed as you can.
3) Based on evidence from your analysis, make an ARGUMENT about the 'message' the scene or moment conveys. Make you can DEFEND every point you make with specific, detailed evidence from your analysis. Our ideas about how 'fantasy' works, publically and privately, to fill the gaps between images and us may help. Also the politics of 'myth,' hiding our historical / material realities. Also 'post Avatar depression.' And lots more.
* 300 words or more -- you'll need some space for this.
* No keywords required -- but you're welcome to use them if they'll help you make your points. (And whether or not you end up using words like 'intertextuality,' 'archetype,' 'psychodynamics,' and 'structures of feeling' in your post, you'll want to be thinking in those terms anyway. )
* No text-references required -- but again, you're welcome to use them if they'll help you make your points. (Anyone care to continue the debate on the 'White Messiah' archetype?)
Have fun!
2) Analyze the RHETORIC and POLITICS of its visual and aural representations. What did it (try to) make you feel? How did it (try to) do that? In doing this analysis, you'll want to read the SIGNIFIERS (the 'things' in the film) as closely as you can, and then move to the SIGNIFIEDS (what they 'mean'), and finally to their EFFECTS (what they 'do' to the viewer). Be as specific and detailed as you can.
3) Based on evidence from your analysis, make an ARGUMENT about the 'message' the scene or moment conveys. Make you can DEFEND every point you make with specific, detailed evidence from your analysis. Our ideas about how 'fantasy' works, publically and privately, to fill the gaps between images and us may help. Also the politics of 'myth,' hiding our historical / material realities. Also 'post Avatar depression.' And lots more.
* 300 words or more -- you'll need some space for this.
* No keywords required -- but you're welcome to use them if they'll help you make your points. (And whether or not you end up using words like 'intertextuality,' 'archetype,' 'psychodynamics,' and 'structures of feeling' in your post, you'll want to be thinking in those terms anyway. )
* No text-references required -- but again, you're welcome to use them if they'll help you make your points. (Anyone care to continue the debate on the 'White Messiah' archetype?)
Have fun!
Your closing comments, as well as Avatar as a fantasy movie itself, evoke many of the same sentiments as a paper I recently read. Written by Ben Singer, it was titled "Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism". Throughout class discussions on the movie I had a nagging feeling I had heard this before, that there was something I wanted to say...and you completed my thought here! Avatar is a fantasy that uses technology just as Singer claims, however exaggerated imminent death from trolleys may have been, to over stimulate the senses. Though Singer’s article was written during the explosion of technology in the industrial revolution, the warnings of numb human sensory perception are the same. Avatar structures a feeling of longing in the audience to achieve impossible feats. Just as we spoke of the ‘post Avatar depression’, people who are so enraptured by these images and emotions forget it is all computer-generated. Taking off the 3D glasses and walking into the world of…walking, cannot possibly compare to the world of flying, climbing, acrobatics, and dinosaurs that exist in the movie world of Avatar. Cameron executed a space-jungle-lagoon so perfectly and, just as you stated, caused the audience to feel the rushes that could only be felt while flying on a dragon. Because we will never know these things people become bored, even depressed with the real world. As Singer and fellow commentator on technology, Weber state, we need to understand our technology not simply what it produces. People need to keep in mind that a human mind created this fantasy, as well as the technology that brought it to “life”.
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