Does 'Avatar' really deserve the Best Picture award?
- Published: 22/01/2010 at 12:00 AM
- Newspaper section: Realtime
It bugged many when Avatar won Best Picture at the Golden Globe on Monday, prompting a speculation that the James Cameron's "riff on Pocahontas" will win the Oscar on March 7. Detractors sneer at the film's shallowness, hooey hippydom, and its patronising view of the "native" population, which is emancipated by a brave white person.
Some may feel blue about Avatar’s success but it is worthy in certain ways.
This view is the minority, since Avatar has struck the sizzling billion-dollar worldwide box office mark and earned near-universal glowing reviews from fans and critics.
I'm aware of all the shortcomings, the allegedly covert "imperialism" of Cameron's script, yet I count myself as an admirer of the film _ and the filmmaking. And though I wouldn't vote for it to win the Globe or the Oscar, I'm struck by the strong reaction of some of my acquaintances who thrashed the Golden Globe for awarding this "undeserved, mawkish propaganda". They despise the film, but when it won awards, the dislike is elevated to something like hatred.
I'm surprised at these outpourings not because I think the film should have won; I'm surprised because it's so obvious and logical why the film has won.
Above all, the Globe and the Oscar are NOT critics' awards. They are film industry awards. To be more precise, they are Hollywood awards. When critics give out awards, it's their cultural duty and social responsibility to champion films that most people overlook but that display unique or superior artistic quality. But when Hollywood gives out awards, it's their duty, likewise, to recognise films that celebrate the might of Hollywood, that reinforce the strength of the US film industry to the global audience.
Cameron invests his energy in the right component of Avatar _ that is, the technology that enabled him to produce this spectacle and that, to a degree, successfully convinces audiences that the only worthy place to see a movie is on the big 3D screen, and not on your home theatre.
Remember that technology has become a driving force of the Hollywood industry for at least 30 years. New, innovative technology has cemented Hollywood dominance in the world market; Cameron, if not a good storyteller, has always been a maverick innovator since the day he stopped driving trucks and apprenticed with B-movie master Roger Corman.
Of course, film awards aren't science awards, but when applied science and visual technology draw millions to the cinema and send them out in awe, Hollywood rubs its fat belly and smiles. Avatar confirms Hollywood's hegemony, and it's no surprise that it has won the Globe, and will maybe win the Oscar. Conspiracy theorists surmise that Avatar won because it has elevated the profile of 3D movies, which now represent the future of the US film industry. But this is no conspiracy; it's just an order of the sphere, as plain as a half-naked Na'vi hunter.
Only four years ago, the Oscar gave Martin Scorsese the best director prize from The Departed, a good film that was definitely not his best film, and which was a remake of a Hong Kong picture. The Departed also happened to be Scorsese's highest-profile production that was a hit worldwide, and the timing of Scorsese's recognition, late in his career, added to the myth and lore that are inseparable part of Hollywood.
Awards should be watched for fun, not for benchmarking. Yet we often look for confirmation of our taste, and we get upset when different opinions gain momentum, or are backed by the majority. Constructive criticism starts when different camps of opinions throw ideas and arguments on the table, not necessarily to prove that they're right, but to add up the meaning and dimension of the art, the movies, the music being discussed.
Avatar naysayers seem to prefer films like The Hurt Locker, Precious or Up In the Air. And indeed those films have won several awards from critics's associations in the US and other countries. But I've also heard negative comments about Precious and Up In the Air. Awards, in the end, say more about the people who hand them out than about the people who're chosen to receive them.
I have no problem with Avatar winning the Globe or the Oscar; but if it'd won, say, an arthouse film trophy at Cannes or Venice, whose idea of cinema is dissimilar to Hollywood, then I'd join in the ruckus. For now, let Avatar be.
source : bangkokpost.com
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น