1. Ross Douthat in the NY Times echoed what many have been saying about the “message” of Avatar. For the record, it doesn’t make me want to see it any less (ht JS):
It’s fitting that James Cameron’s “Avatar” arrived in theaters at Christmastime. Like the holiday season itself, the science fiction epic is a crass embodiment of capitalistic excess wrapped around a deeply felt religious message. It’s at once the blockbuster to end all blockbusters, and the Gospel According to James.
But not the Christian Gospel. Instead, “Avatar” is Cameron’s long apologia for pantheism — a faith that equates God with Nature, and calls humanity into religious communion with the natural world.
Pantheism has been Hollywood’s religion of choice for a generation now. It’s the truth that Kevin Costner discovered when he went dancing with wolves. It’s the metaphysic woven through Disney cartoons like “The Lion King” and “Pocahontas.” And it’s the dogma of George Lucas’s Jedi, whose mystical Force “surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together.”
2. Next, also from the Times, is the review of the James Tissot exhibit currently being held at The Brooklyn Art Museum, entitled “Jesus Illustrated: Tissot’s New Testament”. Once the snow melts, that’s stop number two!
The close-up of Salome gloating over the weirdly illuminated head of John the Baptist is wonderfully grotesque; the image of Jesus being carried aloft by a shadowy Satan is hair-raising. The scene in which Jesus stands alone before Pilate in an expansive stone room has a terrible pathos. That of Joseph at his workbench, mooning over his pregnant fiancée, is touching. You don’t have to be a devout Christian to get caught up in the story and its sad inevitability.
3. A moving testimonial/editorial about original sin as it relates to giving lectures and giving money, from Stanley Fish over at, yes, The NY Times (ht SMZ). He finishes with the priceless William James quote, “The trail of the human serpent is over everything”.
4. Then, at Salon we have “I Am A Closet Christian”, which speaks insightfully (albeit somewhat condescendingly) about a phenomenon that many of us have encountered.
5. Slate has compiled a guide tracking all the “Best Movies Of The Decade” features that are being published. As we begin to think about our own list, we’d love to hear your picks.
COMMENTS
6 responses to “Another Week Ends: Pandoran Pantheism, Tissot’s NT, Stanley Fish, Closeted Christians, Films of The Decade”
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I think Black Snake Moan has to be up there as far as best movies of the decade.
I'm resisting the temptation to compare the examples you gave of Western pantheism to Miyazaki's more intellectually consistent and rigorous embrace of pantheism in his films. If given the choice I'd rather catch The Hurt Locker by one of Cameron's ex-wives than catch Avatar … unless someone's already willing to pay for my ticket. 🙂
That Salon piece is amazing.
Cameron has really created a work that teases with that 'sense of wonder' in the best Science Fiction stories and makes the door wide open for future 'big story' projects – I couldn't help thinking during the first hour how it would now be possible to use such means to facilitate a story like Perelandra.
Yes, the 'god is everything' view is strong, but it's possible to use 'better eyes' here, and ponder the understanding of "God's handiwork is in everything" instead. Certainly a landmark movie, filled with wonder and richly entertaining.
Howard-
I really appreciate your generous take on the film. I finally got around to seeing it yesterday and was very impressed by the visuals. The use of 3-D in particular did not disappoint. Plus, that final aerial fight scene was a triumph.
The pantheism is obviously there and more than a little heavy-handed, but not nearly as distracting as the lucas-esque script. That said, I felt there was a key departure from pantheism in the final act. Where God shifted from a "spirit which protect the natural order of things" to an interventionist, redemptive deity. Not Christian per se, but certainly more in that direction than the Ferngully stuff in the first half.
I'd call it a very entertaining film, extremely well-paced for 3 hours, with truly ground-breaking special effects that make the thin characters and wooden script easy to overlook.
At least, that's what i thought. Happy new year to all,
DZ
Okay, so a friend DID treat me to Avatar and it's a visual smorgasbord. I even enjoyed it, actually. That doesn't stop me from believing that James Cameron is the flip side of Michael Bay. After all, both Avatar and Transformers Revenge of the Fallen give us magical white kids who save the day by being considered worth of being participants in the war of an alien race. I DO concede that Cameron has made the more effective film. 🙂