Avatar Remix - A.V.A.T.A.R. (Anglos Valiantly Aiding Tragic Awe-inspiring Races)

A.V.A.T.A.R.
(Anglos 
Valiantly 
Aiding 
Tragic 
Awe-inspiring
 Races) is 
a 
fast‐paced 
media 
mashup 
that 
highlights 
the overplayed 
racial 
tropes 
of 
Hollywood 
cinema 
using James 
Cameron's 
multimillion‐dollar 
epic 
Avatar as 
its visual 
anchor. 
The 
hilarious 
visual 
juxtapositions 
and accompanying 
soundtrack
 of 
baffling 
one‐liners 
spliced together 
from
 seventeen
 films 
are 
both 
a 
humorous 
jab 
at racism in our supposedly liberal popular 
culture,
as 
well as 
a 
media
 literacy 
tool 
for 
deconstructing how whiteness and Other-ness is 
portrayed 
in 
mainstream 
films 
about humanitarian crises. This piece builds on our previous 
work, 
300 Epithets, 
that 
analyzes
 the 
archetypes 
used in the nationalist right-wing film, 300.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• avatar
• remix
• mashup
• trailer
• special
• edition
• james
• cameron
• race
• racism
• paternalism
• colonialism
• eroticization
• native
• indigenous
• other
• exotic
• culture
• white
• savior
• supremacy
• agency
• craig saddlemire
• ryan conrad
• val
• kilmer
• samuel
• jackson
• leonardo
• dicaprio
• foreign
• action
• hero
• indiana
• jones
• harrison
• ford
• sandra
• bullock
• kevin
• costner
• dances
• with
• wolves
• tribal
• spiritual
• environmentalism
• social
• justice
• imperialism
• nature
• ralph
• fiennes
• angelina
• jolie
• humanitarianism
• clint
• eastwood
• gran
• torino

[sxeptomaniac]

Including The Last King of Scotland doesn't make any sense, as that movie is more about the meddling of a misguided outsider, and Gran Torino not so much either, as, IMO, it's much more about a mentorship relationship that happens despite race issues, IMO.

OTOH, Tears of the Sun is dead on, especially since it came out near Hotel Rwanda, making the contrast very obvious.

[lewistonvideomaker]

@sxeptomaniac thanks for your comments. i appreciate the feedback.

[mewtiny]

I don't quite understand why Gran Torino has been spliced in, it doesn't seem to fit the mold of the Avatar storyline for me, that's more about a very solitary man reconnecting with those around him and passing on a legacy to someone who appreciated and listened to him.

[lewistonvideomaker]

@mewtiny We tried to emphasize imagery, not story line (though that's certainly important). The images, perspective through which a story is told, and assignment of agency is consistent in these movies. Your summary of Gran Torino is valid but also does not refute the analysis presented. The white protagonist (Clint) finds himself surrounded by exotic other (Hmong families) and is awe-struck by their tragedy and beauty. He adopts the cute kids as his own and sacrifices himself to save them.

[thoreauberon]

I agree that the editing distracted from the point of the video. I would love some narration or a narrative a little more coherent. Otherwise it is a good point to recognize.

[lewistonvideomaker]

@thoreauberon thank you for the feedback. for a film deconstruction with narration (inter-titles), i suggest "300 this is revisionism", which is the first video i made of this genre. for this AVATAR Remix, i didn't want to intervene with anything more than edits of the original content. no extra sound, titles, or voice-over. the commentary would remain strictly in the edits and require more work on the viewer's part to make meaning of the repetitions.

[lewistonvideomaker]

interesting interpretation. we were not actually trying to make a statement about violence as a tactic in justice struggles. violence is just a key visual way in which one's agency to make change is signified in many films. in all of these films, that agency consistently belongs to white people. in reality, of course, people of color have been central agents of change in their own liberation movements through non-violent as well as armed resistance.

[EsmenetOfSumna]

"Through -your- eyes." "Yes, boss." "strange and exotic people"

Ouch. This is painful to watch, and so very necessary.

[razboz]

@theshow2k8 history would not debase itself by reflecting anything of the sort

[MegaMissaA]

The "It is our destiny to save these people" dude at 3:11 looks a lot like Stephen Harper

[gentlerat]

@theshow2k8 And as with anyone in that kind of situation, power given can be abused.

[LordMunchkin]

@theshow2k8

Colonialism is not responsible for the exchange of the ideas and techniques. That's the goddamn printing press, which you should be thanking the Chinese for by the way. Colonialism is responsible the systemic exploitation of developing countries, the byproduct being short term growth. In it's nature a unsustainable affair, the colonialist hightailed it out when they weren't making ends meet. That left a lopsided system to fail and the people who relied on it to suffer.

[theshow2k8]

@McQuade007

History reflects the fact that whites were looked upon as gods to most poor races and in most cases,were asked to help.

[theshow2k8]

@LordMunchkin

Colonialism was very good for the most part.It helped many people and freed them from their primitive ways where many would die because of the lack of understanding of the world around them.

Most of the third world would not be where it is now and almost all would be dead if it were not for the Western world.

[LordMunchkin]

Hollywood attempts to justify colonialism at every turn. Even so called "pro-native" films end up merely putting forward the same contrivances. Instead of "we have to control the natives to help them" it's "their predicament is entirely their own fault, nevermind how we violently exploited them." In the end, it is the sad attempt of western society to live with itself after having fucked over the world for centuries. It's goddamn destructive.