Oél Ngáti Kámeie: Avatar Discussions
“I ducked and threw my body sideways, instinctually catching myself as the Banshee narrowly missed me in its perfectly executed dive. My breath caught as I looked down 700ft to the earth below. Whew, what a fall that would have been!”
Looking to my left I smiled to see that my friend had dodged sideways in her seat as well, and was just as startled by the epic scenery and integrative experience the 3D movie was causing.
I’m an Optical Engineer; I’ve been studying and working with light almost daily for a decade. I understand how a LASER works and know what it stands for. I’ve built and aligned many of them. I’ve created holograms in labs and use them to test 18 million dollar space optics. I’m working on JWST whose goal is to look at light billions of years old to find out about the first moments of our universe’s existence.
I also have deep naturalist roots. I was born at home, spent the first half of my life pooping in an outhouse, and shared months every summer in the forest with my family. I’ve had many woodland creatures as friends, nurtured animals back to life, and hunted with hand made tools for food. I’ve collected more seeds and berries than most squirrels, know how to process acorns into a delicious meal, regularly sleep under the stars, drink water from springs, graze for food while on hikes, and feel and embrace the energy of the natural world.
I loved Avatar. It shouts awesomeness to the optical engineer in me and embraces my naturist-hippy core. But more than either of those, it gives me hope.
Avatar has been sold out in theaters for almost a month now. It is currently the 2nd highest grossing movie of all time. Last I checked (yesterday) Avatar was still trending on Twitter. Amazingly James Cameron was able to create a film that could knock the socks off our world, and also include an incredible message about respecting and participating in life. James Cameron, right on! You’ve spent years promoting pushing 3D technology so you could make this movie right, and now you have, and astoundingly, the world appreciates it!
Brittney wrote something a couple days ago that sums up the energy Avatar shares really well. She is a being whose connection with nature runs clear, swift, and strong. She doesn’t have a blog (yet!), so I’m including some if it here because it encompasses what I would have written, plus some beautiful gems and perspectives I could never describe.
“Just saw Avatar! What an amazing experience! The 3D was quite impressive, however the underlying story was what captured my attention….”
“…If you strip away all the layers of man made material, these layers that have blinded and bound us, you can see, feel, hear everything and everyone around you…”
“…How is it that we should be evolving as a species, however seem to be living our lives so far from the truth of what is “real” and what may ultimately sustain us?…”
“…I am a creature of this earth, as are you, and him and her. Walk into a forest and sit. Walk into a forest by yourself. Face a tree and touch it. What do you feel? What do you smell? What do you see? Hear? Let your senses come together and allow yourself to be immersed in the full sensation that may occur. Smell the bark…moist and fungal, dry wooded, sweet sunkissed sap…life. See the array of colors covering each square inch in front of you…rich brown, warm auburn, cool ash, rust, black, charcoal, vibrant and muted greens…a halo of light surrounding the tree tops. Listen to the branches dancing peacefully or perhaps at a full happy sway…moving to the music of the wind. Feel the love… light… life enter ever so gently into your spirit. You are connected. You are the tree. You are the wind. You are the grass. You are the flower and the vine. You are the eagle overhead. You are me. I am you.
Shhh…listen…look…give…take…eat…feed…flow…love”
Love you Brittney, and your way of sharing.
hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu
I could talk for quite awhile about the technology that went into 3D movies. It is fascinating, brilliant, and oh so cool! James, another optical engineer and great friend, and I saw it together, and we both came out grinning for so many reasons. One of which was watching the world finally getting a taste of the spark of wonder we both get exploring a universe moving only at 2.99792458×10^8 m/s, and inhabited by beings of pure light.
If you haven’t seen AVATAR yet, see it before it leaves the Theaters. And see it in 3D! A friend asked me if there is much of a difference and my response still stands.
“3D my friend! Avatar is the movie 3D was designed for; it’s a crime to see it in 2D: like seeing a rainbow in black and white…”
Think about it! This film is being seen by million of people throughout the world; all of them getting at least a bit of its message. It’s time we deepen our appreciation for what keeps us alive at the core level. It’s time we admit that we are ready to share this world with each other. It is time we stand up and acknowledge our gift as responsible loving citizens of the universe.
Awareness precedes change as the blossom precedes the nourishing fruit.
“I See You”
Well, I went in thinking I’d be wasting my time (and likely getting a headache from the glasses), but I came out thinking that all the hype (and the fact that Rupert Murdoch owns the movie studio) has actually done the picture a disservice. While the plot is rather predictable, it still has something for anyone concerned about aboriginal rights and how they connect with the greater environmental situation. A native population having a strong medicine bond with the land is exactly what european “immigrants” found when they arrived here (same story in many other places). While I can personally relate to the giraffe-like beings in the film, what I’m most interested in is if it’ll draw any young people to native rights issues.
This is a good point Peter. I have not yet seen any response beyond “whoa… cool.” The human race being aware of an issue is great, but taking action to make a correction of motion is what will distinguish us as partisipants in the world rather than just knowing observers.
Tell me about this headache idea. I’ve heard many people say they thought that would happen. Is this left over from the days of the red/blue 3D movies?
It could be left over from the red/blue days, but in my case, I don’t go to many movies and so tend to get a bit mezmorized in the vision department, regardless of special effects…. of course, I was so curious about how something like this is shot that I kept removing my glasses to see the blurry screen and try to figure out how it’s done.
I spent several years involved in Boulder’s chapter of the Big Mountain support group (sending aid to traditional Navajos and Hopis who were resisting forced relocation from their lands by the government), so I look at stories like Avatar with some interest. There are so many ways in which we’re being shown how connected we all are, and just what a huge reservior of god is available to everyone. In addition, the 3d was just f**king awsome!
I can’t wait to see the movie again.. This time in 3D. Really connected to the message, and was inspired for days afterwards in many creative ventures. Making a lot of music, talking and writing and reading a lot. Not about avatar per se, that was my reaction to it. The simple message of get up, get out, and every person makes such large ripples in the world. I have to say I was inspired! We are all connected in ways we seldom realize and what ever way we can be positive, to be creative, to help the person next to us is soo impactful. We also rarely get to see the massive effects of our ripples and waves, but every now and again we can see the effect of some small interest in a someone’s life years later. —-
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- On the other hand i’ve heard of a post avatar depression phenomenon. Doesn’t make a lot of sense, but I guess a lot of people get out of the movie and then look around and think…. Crap… What are we doing….
This sucks…
To me… if everything was easy… that might depress me… If everything were easy what would be inspiring, what would motivate, what would drive you to move?
It looks like the movie has become quite popular in China as well, and I just heard this morning that the government there has banned it due to a number of internet bloggers comparing it with what’s currently going on in the western part of the country- natural rescource extraction at the cost of the native population.
It is a good question Matt. Hypothetically if everything was easy would there be any reason to exist? And less hypothetically, survival is really easy these days, so what motivates us as humans? Are we dying of depression or using this extra energy to work towards something even more incredible; something that never could have existed had we remained fighting for our lives on a daily basis.
Post Avatar depression bothers me. It suggests to me that those people wish the world would change to something more inspiring, and yet they are unwilling to dive in and be part of the change. It’s OUR world, our species, we need to take an active roll in making it what we want. This is why I love your response to the movie.
Your increased creativity, and drive to make ripples and follow them is fantastic. I don’t know if James Cameron had that specific goal in mind, and honestly, it was something that I totally overlooked, but what a wonderful parallel!
It’s fascinating Peter, how humans deal with greed and morality on a global scale. It doesn’t surprise me at all that China is banning Avatar, although it definitely is sad and disturbing.
One of the things I appreciate most about the internet, is this ability to make and keep global communities. I believe internet is the the strongest step towards global free speech we’ve ever made.
Now let’s see if we can get China blocked from reading this blog. Kevin? Trey? Are you out there?
Not a day goes by that I don’t think about “Avatar”. More specifically, the ‘what if’? What if we became more in tune with nature, the world, the universe? Each other?
Also see paralells between the Tree of Voices & Tree of Souls to the Star Wars ‘The Force’.
I’m ready to see Avatar again.
Great post, Larkin!
it is really exciting to watch 3d movies. i hope that there would be 3d sexy movies too.`,”
Ha! I didn’t even think about that Anna. Now that 3D TVs are starting to become available I’m sure 3D sexy movies will follow shortly. Both Panasonic http://www.panasonic.com/3d/ and Samsung http://www.samsung.com/us/learningresources3D/ have 3D TVs out now, so it shouldn’t be long. Happy Summer!
of course 3d movies are cool too watch that is why we are developing 3d tvs today ,;’
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