Blog Entry #3 - Avatar

Avatar (2009), written and directed by James Cameron, is a difficult movie to place in terms of genre. Sure, you could simply say that it was sci-fi/fantasy, but the movie goes much deeper. It is a movie about war, romance, comedy, drama and its setting is one of sci-fi and fantasy, but somehow this movie gives us thoughts of our past, the present, and our only seemingly distant future.

The movie takes place in the 2150’s where Jake Sulley, a paraplegic marine, takes on a job that only he can do. His twin brother was a driver of a being known as an Avatar, a genetically cloned being designed to be connected to and operated from a remote location. With his brother deceased and the only remaining genetic match being his own, Jake Sulley must learn to operate the Avatar and learn the ways of the N’avi people from which the clone was based.

There are so many elements to this film that I found enjoyable. For one thing, you could clearly tell that the planets of Earth and Pandora are very different. They create one obvious difference through a gas that is poisonous to humans, but really it goes as deep as the very colors of Pandora are far richer than most of anything we see on Earth. If you could take the Northern Lights and paint the world with them, you would have something like Pandora. Also, the way of life the Natives live by is entirely different from the “civilized” way. It is very similar, however, to the ways the natives to the U.S. lived.

This is where the theme of the movie comes in to play. Avatar was a retelling of a story we all know should know from history lessons. The explorers arrive on a newly discovered piece of land, currently known as the United States, and begin to claim chunks of it before they realize it is occupied. In order to obtain more land, the explorers begin warring with the natives. A very similar story is unraveled in Avatar, but with many twists to keep the audience always wondering just what will happen next.

Bride of Frankenstein, Review 2

Bride of Frankenstein (1935) is a horror/parody directed by James Whale. The movie opens with the lynching of Frankenstein's Monster, played by Boris Karloff, being publicly executed. Having survived the execution, the monster has a complete change of personality from his role in the original movie. He has transformed from a murderous living corpse to a misunderstood living corpse seeking friendship. When it is learned the monster has lived, Dr. Pretorius (Ernest Thesiger) pays a visit to Dr. Frankenstein (Colin Clive) in the night with a new goal in mind. Together, they are to create something new: the monster's mate.

This was a fantastic movie that made very good use of the technology available at the time of its creation. The black and white film accents the shadowy aspects of the film incredibly, where Whale shows us only what he wants us to see, when he wants us to see it. Karloff played the monster very well, from his simple murmurs and moans to the scene where he begins learning English, and even to the end of the movie where he speaks the movie's most memorable line just before devastating the castle in which he and his not-so-beloved were created.

Whale seemed to be delivering a couple messages to us throughout the film. For one thing, he told us that people are not to be judged by the surface of their skin. The monster was seeking friendship more than anything else, and the only individual capable, outside of his creators, of such friendship was the blind man. This tells us that the monster was capable of forming friendships, regardless of his hideous surface. This also shows us that the real monster of the film was not a creation of Dr. Frankenstein, but instead mankind itself. While the monster is out seeking friendship, a murderous mob of men is just a few steps behind him.

The other message this film showcased is that it is not our place to play God. Notice that all things controlled by men, that should have been controlled by nature, turned into complete failures. The creation of the monster wasn't exactly successful because he was designed to live among the citizens as another normal being. In actuality, he became an outcast of society that spent the movie seeking friendship. The creation of the bride had two failures. Starting with the obvious one, she died about five minutes later. The second failure was that she was designed to be a mate for the monster. In other words, man was creating an arranged marriage for her in an attempt to control love. This failed because she was horrified by the monster, just as everyone else was. Finally, when the monster destroyed the castle, he took Dr. Pretorius with him, meaning he was taking away the final link to Dr. Frankenstein's desires of resurrection.

Overall, this was a great movie to see for the first time, even if it was 70 years past its creation.

Bride of Frankenstein

James Whale made great use of the technology available when this movie was created. The movie was set primarily in the night, which gave the viewer many objects in shadow at all times. Whale played on this by giving us scenes where "the monster" approached people from the shadows, and them screaming upon seeing him. This is a key factor that tells us the monster frightens people upon sight more than anything else.

This is further played out when Frankenstein's monster enters the Blind Man's home. I couldn't help but laugh that the first three things he learns as a "civilized man" are a little English, smoking, and the drinking of wine. When the men locate the monster in the house, they start their pursuit once more. At this point, the monster of the film has changed. I feel that James Whale is trying to tell us that we are the monsters, judging people by their appearance rather than giving them a chance.

A second point of the film is made later on upon the creation of his bride. While trying to create someone who was to love the monster, it turned out she was frightened of him just as everyone else was. Frankenstein's monster says something that sticks out against everything else in the film just before he destroys the castle. "We belong dead." I believe he was trying to say that it is not our duty to play God or toy with the lives of others. The monsters were brought to life, but failed at their tasks. Frankenstein was not able to enter society as an accepted being. The Bride was not able to become a suitable bride for Frankenstein. Man tried to control things it was not meant to and failed, causing much more trouble than any they had before starting.