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[drainer at mpinet.net]

Rhidian,

Good overall assessment and it is good to hear that your organisation is 
putting the money to good use.

Although sarcastic, my criticism was really based on the plot (or lack of 
it), the overzealous use of special effects, and the danger it poses to the 
future of cinema as art or exhibition. Here we have a product that changes 
the rules as we know it and even creates a new equation: overinflated budget 
+ proper application of sensory technology = unimagined profits.

Hollywood insiders have been pushing this agenda for a while, and indeed it 
has been reported in industry publications ad nauseum, but now here is a 
solid example of the success formula (this goes beyond the failed virtual 
reality experiments or "interactive cinema" of the early-mid 1990s, which 
were presented as attractions and, now that I think about it, likely failed 
because they were marketed *as* attractions [actually, I think someone 
discussed it on Kinejapan a few months ago]) and a justification for 3-D 
technology ("the future") and profitable use of IMAX. The latter being of 
particular relevance as the profitability of IMAX theaters has been under 
scrutiny (remember, American capitalism never stops) over the past year. 
Avatar seals the deal for 3-D and digital projection, but can cinemas bear 
the costs? You are completely right about where we are headed...


-d





----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rhidian Davis" <Rhidian.Davis at bfi.org.uk>
To: <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 4:05 PM
Subject: RE: Avatar


....
Any technical glitches don't seem to be impacting too much on box office, 
seeing as the movie now seems poised to overtake Titanic in the 'biggest 
ever' stakes worldwide. We're screening the film to packed houses at the BFI 
IMAX at all times of day, and I have to say the receipts are going a good 
way towards offsetting increased overheads elsewhere in the organisation - 
like considerably higher costs for importing Japanese prints into the UK for 
the big retrospectives. So we're glad this particular film is in cinemas and 
not just "a Disney attraction" - though given that Disney's increased clout 
in the sector and commitment to 3D will likely force the digital issue for 
cinemas everywhere, it looks like we're all headed for Disneyland anyway.


Rhidian Davis  |  Curator - Public Programmes
BFI Southbank
tel: +44 (0)20 7849 4474 - direct line (ext. 4474)



-----Original Message-----
From: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu 
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] On Behalf Of Stefan Nutz
Sent: 19 January 2010 12:49
To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Cc: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Subject: Re: Avatar

Actually I don't think Cameron was influenced by Miyazaki at all. I even 
would consider Cameron as having no doubt what Miyazaki does or who he is. I 
guess the whole design of the film was created by visual artists who are 
very aware of Japanese popculture... who are aware of the fact that 
Mecha-fighters were cool (Scott's Alien 2) and are still very popular among 
RPG players.
I am not really into videogames but as one growing up in the late 70's and 
80's I do remember nearly every RPG from Japan had floating islands (Final 
Fantasy, Zelda, Phantasy Star...) and so I think these RPG influenced rather 
the animation artists then Cameron himself.

Just a thought

Stefan



Am 20.01.2010 um 05:38 schrieb Aaron Gerow <aaron.gerow at yale.edu>:

> Just a quick response:
>
> When you look at it, the similarities with Miyazaki are there: the
> image of the forest, the non-human world, of flying, etc. But I do
> wonder if this film doesn't have a very different vision of nature.
> Miyazaki's paean to natural forces is not unrelated to his insistence
> on sticking to some analog animation techniques, but Cameron's film
> falls into the contradiction that many cinematic celebrations of
> nature do: they praise the premodern, pre- technological world using
> the most advanced technology there is.
> Avatar, I think, tries to avoid this, but only by radically re-
> defining nature in a way I doubt Miyazaki would approve. Many can of
> course see that the narrative situation of Avatar is essentially that
> of video games, especially online RPG where you, immobile at your
> station, get to roam the world, kill people, and get the girl via your
> avatar. Avatar plays off the discontent with modern technological
> reality by offering the fantasy of really abandoning one's body for
> the game world. But the trick here is that the Avatar planet, with its
> database of souls and memories, of creatures with Firewire plugs, of
> trees that allow one access to the network, is essentially the
> Internet rendered into a Gaia-like deity. In other words, I think
> Avatar tries to have its ideological cake and eat it too by spouting a
> critique of industrial technological capitalism (mining and machines)
> and praising a natural, premodern society, while all the while
> defining that society as precisely the new media technological
> capitalism that we have today. I very much doubt Miyazaki, regardless
> of all his own ideological ambiguities, would buy this.
>
> That was my initial reaction upon seeing the film (albeit at a theater
> in Japan with a bunch of technological glitches--quite appropriate, I
> might add!).
>
> Aaron Gerow
> Associate Professor
> Film Studies Program/East Asian Languages and Literatures Yale
> University
> 53 Wall Street, Room 316
> PO Box 208363
> New Haven, CT 06520-8363
> USA
> Phone: 1-203-432-7082
> Fax: 1-203-432-6764
> e-mail: aaron.gerow at yale.edu
> site: www.aarongerow.com
>
>