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After Avatar premiered on the big screen I noticed it having a strange effect in some of those around me.  Then the headlines pointing out how there was a rise in depression from some who watched the movie.  This cause was pinned on the movie being “a little too real” CNN with that being followed up by pinning it on the intense visuals.

This left me curious, there is a real effect being caused but the explanation of visuals for the cause did not make sense.  After watching Avatar Eric and I talked about the experience and the feelings left behind and he pointed out the cause.

The Cause

Experiencing Avatar gives one a religious experience stimulating metaphysical urges.  If lacking in one’s life this will leave a longing, drawing attention to the emptiness that already exists in their life.  Due to our secular society this whole event is felt but probably not realized on a conscious level.

It’s Human nature

It’s human nature to feel the need for a connection.  This need is what drives us as a species to be social creatures.  This is not only one sought between each other but also between our environment around us and to a greater universe.

This is the deeper purpose that mythology and religion serve as they help us to get connected to one another, our environment and the greater universe.

Without it one is left with a restless longing.  This longing can be ignored or temporally filled but it still persists if those connections are not made.  Our secular society has become quite adept at even distracting ourselves so much that the longing is numbed.

How Avatar stimulates it

Avatar does something amazing by giving the viewer an experience of a beautiful setting in which the characters have a deep connection to each other, the environment around them and to a greater universe giving immediate validation of that connection.

This starts with the viewer being able to relate to Jake who through a dreaming state gets a direct neural transmitted connection to a Na’vi.  Through the Na’vi we are connected to the rest of the world around.

A Na’vi does not just climb on a mount and ride around or fly around on it.  They make a neural connection to the mount, a bond that is very deep and reciprocal.  It is a connection that has immediate reward and shown true through the creatures response.

They connect with those that came before them through the Tree of Voices.  This connects the Na’vi to their ancestors and validates this afterlife with immediate feedback.  Connecting to the Tree of Voices they can hear the voices of their ancestors.

The connection to a greater universe is shown through Eywa and the Tree of Souls.  Through this experience we see the validation of a person’s soul and it’s ability to transfer from one back into nature and even it’s ability to reincarnate transferring from one body to a new one.

The validation goes so far that even Eywa validates the prayers of the people.

The result

While experiencing the movie we also experience the deep connection and the validation of that experience.  Once the movie ends so does the experience.  The audience member returns to their life and if they have a longing it is made apparent and thus the feelings of depression and a strong desire to return to the Na’vi.

The sad thing is because we live in such a secular society many will not realize on a conscious level those metaphysical urges were stimulated.  Then the distractions set in and attempts to ignore the feelings.  Pushing the longing back down into the unconsciousness and Missing the opportunity to take edifying action.

Exploring Avatar’s Religious Elements

Eywa

Eywa is the great spirit of Pandora revered by the Na’vi and represented through the interconnectedness amongst all of the flora, fauna and indigenous peoples.  The Eywa is most represented through the Tree of Souls, Tree of Voices and the Atokirina which are little floating airborne jellyfish like creatures.

Emissaries of Eywa

The Atokirina’ are seeds from the Tree of souls that float around on the air of Pandora.  They are viewed and revered by the Na’vi as spirits sent from Eywa.  Their presence is viewed as a sign to the people to help them and guide them.

Tree of Voices

The Utral Aymokriyä is a tree kind of like a weeping willow but the branches hanging down are full of neural connections.  These trees are viewed as a sacred space.  The Na’vi can connect to the branches and hear the voices of their ancestors, kind of like a prayer space.  They also partake of the more sacred rights under the branches of the tree like marriage rights.

Tree of Souls

The Ayvitrayä Ramunong is a tree similar in appearance to the Tree of Voices except it has a massive root structure that is close to the surface.  The Tree of Souls can make neural connections to the Na’vi and other creatures around it by sending out many small tendrils.  Through that connection one can get a direct experience of Eywa.  They can even transfer souls from one body through Eywa and back into another body.

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Leaving the theater I was disappointed in Avatar’s marketing efforts.  If only they told me this movie was a Planetary Romance I would have had much more interest in watching it.  Avatar is the first good Planetary Romance in a long time.  They are hard to pull off with the last really good example being Dune.

A planetary romance is a story style where the setting becomes the main character.  In Avatar we get to explore Pandora, it’s inhabitants, and the unique interconnectedness of everything on the planet.

I was so proud with the introduction into the depth of the setting.  This begins with a subtle clue from the scene where Dr. Grace and Norm studying the root structure of a tree and noticing how vast that structure stretches and how interconnected it is with all other plant roots in the area.  The big reveal after Jake slowed down listening to Neytiri and actually looked around is a breathtaking scene with all the plants glowing and even the moss lighting up with each foot steep.

Na’vi

The Na’vi are the indigenous species of Pandora.  9 to 12 feet tall, blue skin with bipedal humanoid features. One of the most distinctive feature is the series of tendrils that protrude from the back of their head masked by their hair which is in a long braid.  These tendrils are used to make a neural connection with the Pandora’s plants and animals.  This gives the Na’vi a more direct means of communicating with their environment and even leaving impressions upon the fauna that can be recalled by latter generations.

Pa’li

Called a Direhorse by the humans.  It is used by the Na’vi like a horse as a mount to ride around on.  Standing in at 13 feet tall and 14 feet long, mostly grey in color with blue stripes.  The Pa’li has two long antennae that the rider connects to the tendrils in the end of their hair.  Through that connection the rider can direct the mount through mental commands.  This makes the training process very quick because once the connection is made all the rider has to do is think stop, go, slow down and gets the desired result.  The tricky part in riding is for the rider to realize the Pa’li is like an extension of self rather than this other thing to be ordered around.

Ikran

Called a Mountain Banshee by the humans.  The Ikran are a flying predator with four wings used as a mount by only the strongest of the Na’vi warriors.  Like the Pa’li they make a neural connection through the Iran’s antennae but this is a life long connection meaning an Ikran will have only one rider.

This process is a dangerous one performed alone in front of the other warriors.  This part of the movie has many similarities with Dune and the Fremen sandworm riders who go through a similar ritual to become a true warrior and one of the tribe.

Toruk

The Ikran are mythically like the Sandworms in Dune leaving the Toruk like Shai-Hulud.  I loved how the name means last shadow because it’s the greatest predator of the skies with nothing as large or as fierce as it.  The Toruk has only been tamed five times before.  Those instances were at times of great trouble where their riders brought the tribes of Pandora together to overcome the adversity.  The Na’vi celebrate the Trouk in dance, song, and with elaborate totems that symbolizes both the fear and respect accorded to the creature.

Toruk is massive in size, scarlet in color with black stripes and a midnight blue crest on top of the head and on the lower jaw.

Eywa

Eywa is the great spirit of Pandora revered by the Na’vi and represented through the interconnectedness among all the flora, fauna and indigenous peoples.  The Eywa is most represented through the Tree of Souls, Tree of Voices and the Atokirina which are little floating airborne jellyfish like creatures.  For more on the interconnectedness read Avatar’s Religious Experience.

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Blessed be the Dunecat and all His cuteness. Bless the coming and going of Him, May His passing ease the world. May He keep the world smiling for all his people.

(via Dark Vision Hardware)

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The technology behind the Avatar program turned out to be more interesting then originally believed.  From all of the trailers I expected the Avatar’s to be like a big mech suit or something, thankfully I was wrong.

The Avatar’s are a biological creation made up from a blending of human DNA and Na’vi DNA.  This creates an avatar for the human to operate that would be entirely biological and can function within the same environment as the Na’vi.

They use a machine that not only uplink the human to it’s avatar but makes a much deeper connection.  The tube that the human sits in gives full neural feedback so the Human feels what the Na’vi feels.  This is like experiencing things in a dream state.

On the plus side if your avatar dies you don’t necessarily die.  But as shown through Norm’s experience the death of the avatar does put a great shock to ones system.

I really loved how the Na’vi viewed the avatars.  They called them dream walkers and demons.  Dream walkers is very fitting first because of the obvious reasons of how unlinking and downloading from the avatar is like falling asleep.

One thing that bothered me some was the need to have the avatar genetically matched.  They introduce this concept early on which at first seems ok.  Unfortunately there is no more justification for this particular need.  I was left with the feeling that the matching was only required to justify why Jake was brought into the program.

What do you think about the genetic requirement?

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James Cameron’s Avatar gets two overall ratings a 10 and a 3.  The 10 rating is for the Na’vi parts of the movie that were so well done the 3 is for the human parts that were worse than a Sci-Fi original movie.  Overall Avatar is a visually beautiful planetary romance that is worth watching.

This is the first good planetary romance in a long time.  Planetary romances are hard to pull off with the last really good example being Dune.  For more read Avatar The Planetary Romance.

The beginning of the movie is too slow, the first hook was terrible and I was glad once they got to Pandora.  It’s offensive to use a wounded vet with a dead brother to make me feel sad and to peak my interest in a movie.  Then to use a “genetic match” excuse that has no further explanation as to why it was so important… weak.

The saddest thing is that this movie would not make it past the studio’s slush pile if someone other than James Cameron sent in the script.  The studios would have read the first few pages, printed a rejection letter and tossed the script into the trash.  Thankfully this was not the case.

The tech behind the avatar program is more interesting than originally believed.  I loved how the Na’vi called them the dream walkers.  for more read Concept and Tech of the Avatar Program.

Avatar’s Immaculate reality issues made watching it harsh.   I felt like Jake  fully immersed in the immaculate reality exploring and enjoying the depths and wonder of Pandora only to have the red button mashed ripping me back to reality sitting in a theater watching a movie. This back and forth was jarring and upsetting because James Cameron was able to reestablish the immaculate reality, which is not easily done once broken, only to break it again every time we went back to the human parts.

The parts with the Na’vi exploring the wonders of Pandora were so well done.  The animation makes everything seem so life-like.  All of the characters and setting elements have such depth that their reactions and interactions are so believable.  Watching these parts I wish the movie was two hours longer.

The human parts on the other hand is why the movie was an hour too long.  They were so bad it even dipped below the quality of a sci-fi original movie.  The characters are flat, poorly acted, stock characters taken from other sci-fi and westerns.  This flat, lack of depth issue in the humans parts of the movie is exacerbated with the overuse of the desaturation effect used on those scenes.

Confusion is added to the human parts because they aren’t clear if the soldiers are actual military or private contractors a la Blackwater style.  A small effort would have cleared this issue up.  This may seem like a small point but it is distracting taking the attention away from the experience.

Avatar’s religious experience is a more insidious issue brought up by experiencing this movie.  For more read Avatar’s Religious Experience.  This heightens the absence of that connectedness in our own lives even if not realized on a conscious level. Thus many leave the movie longing to return and with a sadness over their own situation.

The sad thing is produced in any other culture other than the U.S. we wouldn’t have had to deal with the human parts and Avatar would have been an amazing animated movie.  Unfortunately due to the prejudices of the American audience we had to have human parts in the movie so that Avatar could be classified as a movie with special effects.  This is a must see movie and probably an owner for me.

Plot / Story:

A planetary romance about Pandora and the indigenous people the Na’vi as they struggle against the Human corporation that wants to strip mine their homeland.

Likes

• Visually beautiful
• Planetary Romance
• Concept and Tech of the Avatar Program
• The Na’vi parts were so well done

Dislikes / Concerns

• Concept and Tech of the Avatar Program
• unobtanium
• Issues with Immaculate Reality
• The human parts
• The Military confusion
• The use of desaturation effect on humans
• Genetically matching the Avatar
• Beginning and first hook

• More Avatar on dashPunk

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Out this week we have one DVD to feature:  Planet 51.  Do we Love It, Rent it, or Avoid Like Plague?

Renter

• Planet 51:  The premise makes me laugh.  The voice cast is outstanding: Dwayne Johnson, Jessica Biel, Justin Long, Seann William Scott, Gary Oldman, and John Cleese.  I’m looking forward to watch this movie.
  • Buy it / Rent it
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Xavier Institute for Higher Learning Meet Your British Counterpart.  A Ribble Valley businessman put in a bid to buy the Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales.

His intentions is to open up a school or retreat for the psychically gifted.

“It has always been one of my ambitions to open a psychic retreat somewhere and this would work on several fronts.

It will be somewhere where psychics can go to meet like-minded people, to further their interests and develop their psychic senses.” He said.

(via Lancashire Telegraph)

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All I have to say is micro-napping, what a fun and sick thing to add to the world of Freddy Krueger.  I wonder if they will bring over the concept of the avian version where 1/2 the brain naps at a time like sleeping when awake.  Fun time for Freddy!  Watch the video below

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Snake eats alligator move over for we have found a fossilized proof of a snake eating a dinosaur.  At first I thought it was like something out of a 50’s B movie.

Unfortunately or fortunately depending on your perspective it turns out that the snake was 11.5 foot long and the dinosaur was a new born 1.6 foot long.

Read the full fascinating tale over at National Geographic

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Check out the first Alice in Wonderland movie made in 1903.  What is really neat is that the film was made 37 years after Lewis Carrol wrote his novel.

The full length of the movie was 12 minutes which 8 of them were able to be saved by the BFI National Archive.  Enjoy the movie!

It’s amazing to think the effects of Alice shrinking and growing is one of the earliest movie effects.  It looks really neat.  The cat that they got for the Cheshire cat looks good and so content, if only my dog would be so cooperative for filming.

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