Avatar (2009 film)

Watched Avatar today. And just cannot help it but link it with another movie (or rather, animation), Princess Mononoke. Both movies have a similar theme, in which humans are taking resources from the earth, while another group of non-humans (humanoids in Avatar, animal spirits in Princess Mononoke) are trying to stop them so as to return the balance of nature.

I must admit that the special effects (computer graphics) were very well done. If games nowadays are anywhere near what I saw on the screen, things would be breathtaking. But I guess I will need a few powerful graphics card as well to be able to render such graphics...

One thing that came into my mind while watching the movie. Gaming addiction. An avatar in the computer sense is a representative of a user in an online community. When in the movie, Jake kept going back to his avatar world, skipping meals or wolfing them down, missing baths, etc. it was kind of like a computer game addict hooked to his game, spending every moment he could to spend time online (as his avatar), neglecting meals and other inconveniences of life.

I guess the message from the movie is twofold. First, we need to treasure our environment, respect nature and not just take it for granted. Secondly, you need to draw a line between your online avatar and your real self, and not let yourself grow addicted to an alter ego such that eventually, the alter ego takes over the real self.

But let's not think too much about this movie. This movie is great to watch just for the graphics.