Why I found Avatar objectionable in some parts plus it made me as bored as hell.

Okay, so I know the meat and potatoes of the film are anti imperialist and you are led to cheer on the defeat of the U.S. empire, but that does not make it a good film any more than smearing feces all over a wall and saying ‘that is what capitalist society looks like to you’ is art.

I will admit, Avatar did stink slightly less than a wall with feces smeared across it, but I found that it dragged on for too long, and that it was more or less Dances with Wolves crossed with Apocalypse Now. At least with a wall covered in shit, I can get the point and move on to the next one in a few seconds.

Politically, I also found it to be one of those ‘actions of an individual’ films. The main war vet in the wheelchair had to do all the groundwork on his own accord rather than trying to be an inside agitator for mass action (which clearly there was plenty of room due to soldier disillusionment in the operation).

The main female Na’vi character (Naytiri) started of as a very strong and assertive character, but as Jake becomes more and more versed in the ways of ‘Pandora’ (Shit and unoriginal name for a planet) she becomes more and more of an extension to his character rather than the other way around.

While I do understand that this film is an allegory for imperialism’ role in undermining the peaceful existence of indigenous tribes (in particular the U.S.A’s.) I also did not like the way that the Na’vi are depicted to have structured their primitive society so that when a male becomes a warrior, he is allowed to choose a female. Yes, I know he said “I have already chosen mine, but she has to choose me” and it was all very romantic, but my point is that anthropologically, this is just false and pre industrialized societies were not like this at all.

And to be completely honest, if it wasn’t for that big fuck off ‘Helms Deep’ battle sequence and the fact that I had to pay my friend back after the film for the ticket, I would have been bored stiff and probably left the cinema.

All in all, while this has been a somewhat incoherent rant about why I didn’t enjoy it, objectively it does have good politics. I just like to knit pick and found it highly unoriginal.  To close with, I would give it 2 stars which means wait to see it when it comes out on DVD, but then again, you won’t get to see it in 3D . I guess that means don’t see it at all unless you want to be privy to what people with lame taste in films are talking about.

Why I hate the television show Law and Order.

So it was about 9:30pm and I’d just gotten back home from Tai Chi, and sat down on the couch to eat an orange. It was at this time when I began to feel overwhelmed with how bland and rehashed the plots are for this heinous franchise.

Does no one else see that every episode is just as strict adherent to the ‘cop show archetype’ as the episode before it?

At the start we will always see two random people doing something that involves stumbling across a dead body (lets just say hypothetically the victim [male] had a clock smashed over his face). Then the oldest and most jaded ‘seen it all’ detective will make some really lame pun like “looks like he ran into an unTIMEly death”. This is to illustrate how over the years he has become desensitized to the brutality and nature of violent crime being swift, frequent and dealt at any time. Cut to theme song.

The two detectives will interview a few suspects, the younger one often displaying street smarts and the ability to use the slang that youth talk, while the older one acts more conservative and ‘by the book’ to emphasize their authority and how the suspect is up against a benign institution that rules with the iron fist of the law.

About three suspects in and we’ll have the one they decide to prosecute. The defendant will almost always play on some technicality and angle that appeals to the jury’s sympathy, thus hindering any chance of a smooth running second half hour.

Right before the last add break the older experienced lawyer and the more idealistic’ younger female lawyer will be in the chamber reading up for their last speech, when against all regulations, the D.A. (District Attorney) will provide them with the overlooked path to successfully prosecute their case with no ifs or buts. They always put this part right before the ad break so you ponder all the eventualities of how this may influence the verdict (it’s always guilty).

Now for the last five minutes of the episode. We get to have the more experienced lawyer go on some self righteous diatribe reducing the defendant to tears and blabbing on about what society will come to if they don’t find the defendant guilty. By the end of the episode, our conception of morality has been re-assessed leaving our ‘small l’ liberal views on the judiciary system validated and reinforced.

Fuck Law and Order.

Why The Sultanas Of Wrath?

My name is Lucas Anderson and I live in Melbourne, Australia. To save myself from updating my age every year, I will just say that I was born in 1988.

First and foremost, I identify as an international socialist and am involved in activist and campaign work in Melbourne.

Currently I am studying Bachelor of Arts (Journalism) at Swinburne University of Technology. I am a year in and have 2 left. I was also elected into the Swinburne Student Union as the welfare officer by a landslide of 400 votes over the campus right on the basis of the work I and people I work with have done around the issue of racism in Australia.

I enjoy a variety of music like jazz/fusion (Mahuvishnu Orchestra, Modern Jazz Quartet), blues (Howlin Wolf, John Lee Hooker), classical (Carl Orff, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra), punk (Circle Jerks, DRI) and a little bit of heavy metal.

Also, I like movies and don’t read much outside political stuff (not out of principal, I just can’t be bothered).

So, In closing. Hopefully this blog will serve to be a platform for my critique of certain social phenomenon’s sweeping the circles that I move and shake in. It will also be a(nother) outlet for me to voice my political opinion on events and ideas gripping the world (past and present).
Many, many music releases and movies will be criticized or praised on here also.

But more importantly, I will hardly update this blog.