Characters (Avatar)

Last night, summer staff got together and watched Avatar. I had watched it when it was in theaters and had been thoroughly disappointed by the movie. I was really excited to go see it -- the graphics alone were exciting -- but also because I thought "Well, this will be entertaining." Unfortunately, TVtropes ruined my life, and it made enjoying the movie much harder. When I say TVtropes ruined my life, I don't mean that it made things worse -- in fact I love that TVtropes ruined my life. I can see the intricate web of story that entangles movies and novels and its a new level of enjoyment that I have found in being a consumer of entertainment. But it does mean when something cliche comes out -- it had better come at things in a new way, or with compelling characters, or with some modicum of understanding that they are taking a previously done story and need to do more then give it a face lift.

I am, I'll admit, a character person. I spend most of my energy in writing on characters because without them, you don't have much of a story. I like character driven pieces, where the fate of the world may be hanging in the balance, but its not the world people are concerned about -- its their friends and families. And the friends and families are people I know. So when I say that the major failing of Avatar was the characters, you must keep in mind, that for me, characters are the only story, which is to say, I didn't like the movie. If you liked it, congratulations on not getting caught up in the trope ridden, one demensional, cliche stuffed, 3-D blockbusterness of the whole thing. I was not so lucky.

For a moment I'll put aside my rage at the problem of characterization to point out a few things about the plot of the movie to assure you that the plot of this movie is not the problem, and to draw your attention to the fact that while you can have a solid plot, without good characters, you can destroy the good parts of your narrative.

There is a school of thought that states that there are seven stories in the world: Man v. Self, Man v. Man, Man v. Society, Man v. Nature, Man v. Supernatural, Man v. Machine and Man v. Destiny. I would say that most good plots employ a few of these in order to accomplish a multi-faceted world of story. It is not necessary, if you're playing with layers of each story, to have multiple stories, but it can help to have more then one. There are several at play in Avatar: Man v. Man, Man v. Society, Man v. Supernatural -- they all come into play in some way and in some ways there are so many interesting interactions that could come about because of these stories. The interaction of these stories are the most interesting and compelling parts of the movie, in my opinion: when Colonel Mile Quaritch and Sully go up against one another there is real drama and it feels fresh and interesting in a way it shouldn't because we've seen this scene before. Why? Not because its in a magical, color filled world, but because its a mixture of Man v. Man, Man v. Machine, Man v. Nature, Man v. Society and all of it together is a new lens through which to view the scene.

The movie can illicit the right feeling, is the point.

Why then is there such a failure in illiciting any feeling from other parts of the film? My explanation is the characters. There is a flatness to most of the characters that has nothing to do with the characters. You've got Jake Sully who is solider boy, strong and dumb. You've got Neytiri, the warrior princess who's all cold at first and falls in love with a dofus for some reason. Grace the scientist lady, and Tsu'tey the proud warrior guy. These are the only sides of each character we see.

Jake Sully is the main character. You've got three hours to explain who he is and to make it clear why he is going to go native. Instead you get a convoluted idea that Jake Sully is a solider guy who is strong and dumb. There is no depth to his character. Events slip off of him because he's a flat surface. Look at the scene where he is shown his brother, and the lack of emotional response it gives you. He never once mentions his brother again. Could this mean they weren't close? Sure. And no, you aren't supposed to be too emotional about the brother -- but as the viewer you're not to be upset. Sully should be and it should be in his actions, but it seems like the five years of hibernating sleep makes it possible for him to just forget he had a brother who died. We never get to see the moments that make him emotional. Instead he comes off as a cliche without redemption. He might not be emotional -- fine -- but from the indications, he just has no emotions in general.

Neytiri also has a huge role in the movie and rather then go into her world, we get this cliche bullshit about how she's to be the new spiritual leader of her clan and mate Tsu'tey. Imagine the wealth of character that could be drawn from that -- the fight within herself about falling for Jake, for letting down her people, for being forced into something she might not like, or maybe she does? We are lost because we have no emotional hook. Instead she is one-dimensional and stiff. And I should note, these faults are not faults of the actors, who did well, its a fault of the writing.

The single facet of each character is focused on and what you get is a cliched story about a guy who goes native. Its a weird mixture of a Disney Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves with a heavy handed conclusion. If the characters had been more developed, beyond the single feature that separated them, then the movie would have transcended its base, and become a truly good movie. Instead its a gimmicky (creatively gimmicky, with fantastic scenery porn, but still gimmicky), cliched piece that is, at best, merely passable as entertainment.