United Liberty
Conservatives who are upset about Avatar are clueless
Fri, 01/08/2010 - 3:18pm | posted by David Carlson
****Warning: Spoiler Alert! Part of this post may give away more information than you want to know if you have not yet seen Avatar****
Yesterday, I saw the new blockbuster movie Avatar. Already grossing over $1 billion in ticket sales globally (one of only four movies to do so), the massive investment of around $400 million seems to have paid off. What I want to talk about it the clear political themes that play out in the film, and how conservatives who attack the film are making fools of themselves.
The major concerns that conservatives have brought up about the film is that it attacks capitalism, the military, and pushes the environmental agenda. These claims are unfounded and show the folly in the thought process of such “conservatives.”
First of all this movie does not attack capitalism. In the movie the RDA corporation has set up a mining operation on the planet Pandora. They employ former marines for “protection.” The head of the mining operation has made it clear that he will stop at nothing to gain access to a rich mineral reserve directly under the home of the Na’vi people. They end up sending an all-out military assault which ends in the destruction of the “home tree.” This is hardly an attack on capitalism, if you understand what capitalism truly is.
In a truly capitalist society (and free society at that) there must be property rights. Property rights are the foundation of any free society, and capitalism without property rights is an economic system that lacks justice. In Avatar the Na’vi people value their home more than anything else. There is nothing that the corporation could give them in exchange for that property that they would agree to. In that case, the intrinsic value of that property is well beyond any monetary compensation. Therefore, in a free market capitalist society the company would not be able to attain that land. In Avatar they do attain that land, but through a brutal military mission that destroys and overtakes the property, killing some Na’vi in the process. Is this capitalism?
This movie has also been attacked by conservatives as being “anti-military.” In actuality, the military is not even being portrayed, but instead a company that employees ex-military personnel. This can be clearly seen as an allusion to Blackwater private military company which was used extensively in Iraq. In Avatar, the private military force was ordered to basically destroy the home of the Na’vi people. Anyone with even the tiniest understanding of justice would realize that this is wrong. Yet we have conservatives crying foul about this portrayal. If this private military invasion and destruction of private property, as well as the killing of individuals is supposed to be viewed as “good” conservatives just lost a lot of supporters.
Finally an argument against the movie is that it displays the environmental movement as righteous and capitalism as evil. The hilarious thing about this whole argument is that this movie displays a people who privately, without government, adapted to a life in symbiosis with the environment. This was a private affair, not a governmental mandate. This is actually exactly what most conservatives argue for, that the environment will be taken care of if we allow the private market to work. I already explained how the corporation was not acting within a capitalistic setting, and I believe making this movie an environmental movement versus capitalism is simply ridiculous.
All in all, conservatives should not be opposed to this movie and the more they raise a fit about it the more ridiculous they will look.
AVATAR is just one more Hollywood socialist indoctrination that pits a large predatory dangerous corporation against common folks.
Some are attempting to say conservatives don’t recognize this is what free enterprise is. Yet AVATAR is not an example that represents most businesses and corporations. Fronting AVATAR as representative of capitalism would be something communists want to present. In fact humans are naturally conservative and capitalist. But the public is continuously confronted by treasonous news media, and socialist propaganda against the attributes and lawful benefits of healthy free enterprise-that is not predatory. Commerce has its latest insult from Obama by selecting a transvestite to run the commerce dept. This is what he is telling the world that free enterprise is in America. He wants all of the Muslims to want to kill all of us. This is good timing along with the latest hollywood propaganda. They needed to paint the folks blue and give them tails so we don’t notice the socialist hype. Obama needed to do a sex transplant on free enterprise to make us worthy to murder.
http://i.imgur.com/3UDYP.jpg
So, I haven’t seen Avatar. I’ve read David’s post and heard some of the basics on the plot. That said, I’m not sure I follow your argument. Are you suggesting that the inhabitants of Pandora do not represent capitalism or or you saying that the humans unfairly represent capitalism?
Either way, I fail to understand what that has to do with such ridiculous statements as “[Obama] wants all the Muslims to want to kill all of us.” I also don’t understand what is insulting about a transvestite in the commerce department.
Please explain.
For those who missed it. An Avatar is a mythical god from the Hindu religion. This mythical god returns when there is evil in the world. So this is likely the source of the movie myth. They create a monster dangerous murderous corporation to be the vilane. Then the avatar returns and this evil is destroyed. So goes one more attack on free enterprise corporations who usually work to improve the world. The movie also paints the people blue and gives them tails so they are more week against this monster corporation. The movie design borrows from marxist propaganda. it also is a great movie to help environmentalists get recruits to stop us from developing natural resources.
The rub is they are getting families who work for corporations to bring their children to this form of indoctrination.
David,
The problem with your post is that it assumes people who watch the movie are informed and actually understand capitalism. Unfortunately, we all know this to be mostly untrue. Instead, the uninformed masses are going to see this movie and, unfortunately, somewhat fuel their already vast hatred for capitalism when in reality it’s not even capitalism they hate. WE know this. They don’t. As for the whole environmentalist argument, people tend to want to push their ideas through government mandate. Even though the movie shows privatization of environmentalism, people who watch the movies may see support for government to enforce it. It’s just how the American masses are starting to work.
As for the conservatives attacking the movie, they’re going at it all wrong. Instead of attacking the movie, they should be using the movie to bolster capitalism. They should be pointing out that what’s shown on the movie is NOT capitalism and what’s shown is EVIL. They can also use the movie as an example to show that a greener world can be achieved by communities and not governments. This is what I do when I see stories about people pulling together significant sums of money to help others.
Jake I like your points! I do not assume that people who watch the movie are informed and understand capitalism. I understand that, and what I wanted to do with this post is to point out the fallacies in various “mainstream” interpretations of Avatar.
As for your advice for conservatives, I agree 100%.
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