I haven’t seen Avatar yet. Judging by its box office take to-date, I’m in the minority. I know people who have seen the movie as many as six times (half in 3D and half in 2D, to “really absorb the difference”). There is a subset of moviegoers who reportedly suffer from depression because Pandora, the world created by James Cameron and his team, is not a real place that they can go to. In a story that ran on CNN.com, the administrator of a popular Avatar community site says, “I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed.”
The story also quotes teenaged Ivar Hill: “One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Pandora, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, what we have done to Earth.”
One of the striking things about the popularity of Avatar is its crossover appeal. People who normally weren’t sci-fi nerds before seeing the film, some of whom believe that they’ve undergone some sort of semireligious awakening as a result of what they’ve experienced. They’re willing to overlook glaring flaws like a threadbare plot and clunky dialogue because of the feeling it gives them.
The New York Times ran a feature on the Tea Party movement in the inland northwest yesterday, and it is fascinating reading, regardless of your party affiliation. Some select and context-free quotes follow, but really, go and read it yourself.
“I can’t go on being the shy, quiet me,” she said. “I need to stand up.”
One of the angles that seems prevalent in any piece I’ve read about the movement is that these fervent enthusiasts are everyday people who were not engaged or motivated to participate in politics, sometimes with the insinuation that this makes them the exact people who should be having such a major impact on politics (depending on which party’s spin is most melodious to the ear). Maybe more importantly than their shared, bootstrappy origins, these activists “tell strikingly similar stories of having been awakened,” the profile goes on, as well as noting that “Many describe emerging from their research as if reborn to a new reality.” What’s motivated them? “They are searching for some larger answer.”
Who do these people sound like? Kind of like the people a few ‘graphs above them, no? There’s an interesting parallel here. Whether it’s a pervasive attitude of uncertainty spurred by political forces or some odd fin de seicle cultural force stoked up by 2012′s nearness, both the tea parties and hardcore Avatar fandom reject the status quo and look toward an idyllic new one.
Not to mention, they’re all absolute looney-tunes.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I love it. I’m so glad you wrote this.
In general, I think it’s very human nature to search for something bigger than yourself. Unfortunately, the lowest common denominator is going to find motivation in 1) scare tactics or 2) movies/TV/media.
People were very motivated/moved by, say, Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, but how lasting was that?
I also see a lot of Tea Baggers as the Baby Boomers who were once Flower Children, and they have always needed a cause (rebellion/Anti-War to Regan as Daddy to Clinton boom-time business to Tea Baggers). (NPR did a great piece on Tea Baggers loading into their vans like they did for Woodstock.)
Given the critiques of Avatar (racism, colonialism, etc.), I don’t wonder if Tea Baggers and Avatar don’t hit the same demographic — white, “middle” class, “normalized.”
Unfortunately, our society has this idea that we live in a true democracy, not representational one. I do not expect the average citizen to be able to make a policy decision, but I do expect lawmakers to (or have people on their team to help). I also expect lawmakers to be smarter than the majority of people, including myself. Which the Tea Baggers seem to think the Average Joe/Josephine make just as good politicians/advisors & that drives me batty.
Erica: You know, I’m all for everyday people wanting to get more active in government. I think that the way our government was designed, we were supposed to have Joe the farmer in the House for his couple of years. But then he goes back to his community, hopefully with a better understanding of the legislative process and the nature of representative democracy. The rise of the career politician dashed that naive hope against the rocks pretty handily (that said, I don’t like the thought of the guy who boasts that he failed PoliSci twice in that NYT story getting elected to higher office). So yeah, everyday people being more involved is great, just not under the fervor of some alarmist nonsense about how the Executive Branch is trying to ruin the country on purpose as some sort of conspiracy theory move to create a global anarchosocialist society policed by murderbots who kill straight white males on sight (which is a glib overgeneralization, I realize).
I missed the NPR story you refer to, but I really want to track it down. I think the parallel is really fascinating, even though I may be a touch dismissive in the post. I think you hit the nail on the head in that people need something to believe in, and that the most visible thing to believe in is a steady stream of fearmongering. Or lithe blue giants who fly on dinosaurs. Either or.