Comments on: Why Avatar Was Worth It: Tech Investment http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/ Mediaite Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:14:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=2012.06 By: David Harper http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/#comment-14767 David Harper Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:19:07 +0000 http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59719#comment-14767 Mr. Callan needs to get an education in science fiction before he makes comments on the story. "Unobtanium" was coined in the aerospace industry and has a fairly long history of usage. The intended joke was caught by most people in a simple literal sense and also in an inside way if you are familiar with the term. The real plot device of "unobtainium" is a metaphor for the western world's thirst and need for oil, as all good science fiction comments on the present with stories in the future. The story was classic science fiction using archetypes and plot devices that have been used by masters of the genre and Cameron pays tribute to these masters in his script. Mr. Callan needs to get an education in science fiction before he makes comments on the story. “Unobtanium” was coined in the aerospace industry and has a fairly long history of usage. The intended joke was caught by most people in a simple literal sense and also in an inside way if you are familiar with the term. The real plot device of “unobtainium” is a metaphor for the western world’s thirst and need for oil, as all good science fiction comments on the present with stories in the future. The story was classic science fiction using archetypes and plot devices that have been used by masters of the genre and Cameron pays tribute to these masters in his script.

]]> By: Joe Callan http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/#comment-14660 Joe Callan Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:19:28 +0000 http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59719#comment-14660 Fine, fine. The battle scenes were kick ass. They stirred the 12-year-old boy living inside me. Great. So do boobies. I understand it was visually stunning and groundbreaking, and blah, blah, blah... But really--to spend $500 million on a brilliant visual materpeice but NOT spend $10 grand on some hollywood hack to come up with a better name than the idiotically generic "unobtainium"? That seems pretty stupid to me. $500 million, and the best you can come up with is the need to "mine unobtainium"? So let me get this straight: you have the ability to "detect" the presence of a valuable material from interstellar range; you have the energy resources it takes not only to TRAVEL all the way to that distant location, but to also build up a significant army; and finally--you've got the resources to perfect the technology ON SITE to fuse human/alien DNA...yet you don't have the resources to just...um...find another source for your magic mineral? "You've got to suspend your disbelief, because..." No. No I don't. For a piece of "art" that cost half a billion to make, I would think you'd be able to suss out massive gaps in plot logic on the cheap, and maybe develop some characters with depth. Honestly, how much additional money could it have possibly cost to tweak the plotline to make sense, or to tweak the characters to be...interesting? All the ludicrously thick praise being dumped on this movie only proves two things: how it looks is all that's important, and the art of storytelling simply doesn't matter in cinema anymore. Fine, fine. The battle scenes were kick ass. They stirred the 12-year-old boy living inside me. Great. So do boobies. I understand it was visually stunning and groundbreaking, and blah, blah, blah…

But really–to spend $500 million on a brilliant visual materpeice but NOT spend $10 grand on some hollywood hack to come up with a better name than the idiotically generic “unobtainium”? That seems pretty stupid to me.

$500 million, and the best you can come up with is the need to “mine unobtainium”? So let me get this straight: you have the ability to “detect” the presence of a valuable material from interstellar range; you have the energy resources it takes not only to TRAVEL all the way to that distant location, but to also build up a significant army; and finally–you’ve got the resources to perfect the technology ON SITE to fuse human/alien DNA…yet you don’t have the resources to just…um…find another source for your magic mineral?

“You’ve got to suspend your disbelief, because…”

No. No I don’t. For a piece of “art” that cost half a billion to make, I would think you’d be able to suss out massive gaps in plot logic on the cheap, and maybe develop some characters with depth. Honestly, how much additional money could it have possibly cost to tweak the plotline to make sense, or to tweak the characters to be…interesting?

All the ludicrously thick praise being dumped on this movie only proves two things: how it looks is all that’s important, and the art of storytelling simply doesn’t matter in cinema anymore.

]]> By: ireenawagner http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/#comment-14632 ireenawagner Wed, 23 Dec 2009 10:13:14 +0000 http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59719#comment-14632 "Avatar", if it is as successful as I think it will be, will the meme that will challenge the elitist, the globalist, the criminal cabal conglomerate that is now riding rough-shod over the planet; using false-flag terror as the pretext for the construction of an Orwellian police state, while looting the nation-state of its publicly owned institutions and cultures, while raping the environment for its resources. “Avatar”, if it is as successful as I think it will be, will the meme that will challenge the elitist, the globalist, the criminal cabal conglomerate that is now riding rough-shod over the planet; using false-flag terror as the pretext for the construction of an Orwellian police state, while looting the nation-state of its publicly owned institutions and cultures, while raping the environment for its resources.

]]> By: BJL411 http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/#comment-14620 BJL411 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 05:18:49 +0000 http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59719#comment-14620 Pay to see AVATAR and the most dangerous man in the world, Rupert Murdoch, profits off that bought ticket. Pay to see AVATAR and the most dangerous man in the world, Rupert Murdoch, profits off that bought ticket.

]]> By: Facebook User http://www.mediaite.com/online/why-avatar-was-worth-it-tech-investment/#comment-14574 Facebook User Wed, 23 Dec 2009 00:24:46 +0000 http://www.mediaite.com/?p=59719#comment-14574 this was an amazing movie... totally worth the time to make it. this was an amazing movie… totally worth the time to make it.

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