Wednesday, December 4, 2019

Avatar: More Than Cool Graphics

The first time I watched Avatar was in the theater, and I admit, the plot, symbolism, and acting all took a backseat to just watching a super cool graphics and cinematography. I will say this next time around I was able to see the redemption theme more, and the sort of social and spiritual baptism of Jake Scully. Additionally, I could see an "in the world but not of the world" trope with Scully and the doctor, who must be human though incredibly sympathetic to the Na'vi. This reminded me of how we're told to live and minister with all people, even if our personal ideologies differ.

After reading Burton's piece, I was surprised at how nicely Church teaching were inserted into the movie, and the amount of correlations. Though Avatar isn't specifically directed towards the church, there is great value in having a globally-known movie flush with LDS allusions. It allows us to champion, or more like adopt, a film that wasn't a homegrown work. And that's great. The concept of connecting Avatar into Elder Bednar seems like a stretch, but there were some beautiful connections you could have never made without that connection. 
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4 comments:

  1. Kendal ClawsonDecember 4, 2019 at 5:50 PM

    I like your idea about being more sympathetic to people with different ideologies than us. Hadn't thought about that before with connection to this movie. Interesting to think about.

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  2. Marcus CainDecember 5, 2019 at 7:11 AM

    I like your thoughts and perspectives about the movie because none of these came to mind when I watched it. I can totally see where these thoughts came from and I like the connection with being in the world but not of the world.

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  3. KatyDecember 5, 2019 at 8:50 AM

    I like the idea of baptism you came across. That's something I hadn't thought about, but it is a key part of the film and the redemption theme.

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  4. Dorothy SmithDecember 5, 2019 at 6:43 PM

    I agree that it is both interesting and rewarding to relate two topics that seem foreign to one another. The similarities between this movie and Elder Bednar may not be obvious at first but like you said, they are there and interesting to observe.

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