Avatar film earnings over 2 billion

[Darth Wong]

Bah, its not like he had any particular warrior insight that allowed the Na'vi to achieve victory or anything.

Yes there was. None of those other Na'vi blueys would've known what a jet intake was and how shoving grenades into them would be unhealthy. While his tactics in the big war weren't so shit-hot, his being a soldier made him less limp-dicked than any scientist save for Gordon Freeman.

Knowing that a jet engine's intake is vulnerable to well, almost every object, isn't an insight only a soldier could have provided.

True, but I doubt a civilian scientist would have done any of the extremely dangerous things required to get any of the warriors in the tribe to take him seriously, never mind that near-suicidal attempt to tame a giant red dragon. For that matter, the move he pulled in order to get to position to heave that grenade into the intake was pretty damned dangerous too, and again, I have trouble seeing just any old person doing it. A disabled ex-Marine who was really not enjoying his life as a human and whose brother was gunned down back home is a higher-probability candidate for doing all of these things.

Frankly, that whole escapade was irrational and shouldn't have worked. Who would have seriously expected the entire ecosystem to side with them? A scientist would have probably evaluated the odds as logically hopeless and sadly left the Na'vi to their fate. For that story to work, you need to have a person who tends to operate on emotion rather than logic.

[Jim Raynor]

People used the phrase "race traitor" unironically to describe Jake Sully almost everywhere in the geek-controlled portions of the internet. It was pretty dismaying for me to discover how many places, which I had thought were fun, were actually infested with stormfronters.

Seriously, Race Traitor. What the fuck.

Everyone is aware of the criticism that the movie has received from the small portion of the population that didn't like it. It's story was simple, the conflict was cartoonishly black-and-white, we had all seen it before in other movies, etc. You see, a "great" movie (by the standards of snobbish critics) is one that has a deep or profound message rather than simple good vs. evil.

Well, apparently it wasn't so simple for some people out there. Ever since this movie came out, closet fascists and racists-in-disguise have been voicing their stupid opinions about it. Just a few weeks ago, I saw some people on this very board asserting that the movie's evil corporation had some governmental "eminent domain" right to seize whatever land it saw fit, and that the Na'vi were being bitches for resisting! We're talking about people with access to the internet, who have been through the public school system and are (presumably) smarter than the average redneck hick. So maybe Avatar's "simple" message is more useful and important than people have given it credit for.

[AniThyng]

People used the phrase "race traitor" unironically to describe Jake Sully almost everywhere in the geek-controlled portions of the internet. It was pretty dismaying for me to discover how many places, which I had thought were fun, were actually infested with stormfronters.

Seriously, Race Traitor. What the fuck.

Everyone is aware of the criticism that the movie has received from the small portion of the population that didn't like it. It's story was simple, the conflict was cartoonishly black-and-white, we had all seen it before in other movies, etc. You see, a "great" movie (by the standards of snobbish critics) is one that has a deep or profound message rather than simple good vs. evil.

Well, apparently it wasn't so simple for some people out there. Ever since this movie came out, closet fascists and racists-in-disguise have been voicing their stupid opinions about it. Just a few weeks ago, I saw some people on this very board asserting that the movie's evil corporation had some governmental "eminent domain" right to seize whatever land it saw fit, and that the Na'vi were being bitches for resisting! We're talking about people with access to the internet, who have been through the public school system and are (presumably) smarter than the average redneck hick. So maybe Avatar's "simple" message is more useful and important than people have given it credit for.

I just heard corporate dude's exact lines to Grace. Unobtanium. Worth lots of money. Pays for whole operation. "THIS IS THE ONLY REASON.". Not "Earth will crumble.". Not "the race will go extinct". But the bottom line. Profit. It's space *GOLD*. (You know, the whose main use to Spain was to make it absurdly rich and make decorations.)

[mr friendly guy]

But guys you are missing the point. Unobtainium is expensive, therefore it MUST be necessary. Just like how Action comics #1 is a necessity and I am dying without it, so I better save up my million bucks to pay for it. Remember, when people get ready to hit us back after we have forced them from their homes, its SELF DEFENSE for us to preemptively attack them for the second time.

[Simon_Jester]

I just heard corporate dude's exact lines to Grace. Unobtanium. Worth lots of money. Pays for whole operation. "THIS IS THE ONLY REASON.". Not "Earth will crumble.". Not "the race will go extinct". But the bottom line. Profit. It's space *GOLD*. (You know, the whose main use to Spain was to make it absurdly rich and make decorations.)

To be fair, it has obvious practical applications just from the fact that it's some kind of wacky antigravity substance; I'd pay a lot for it too. So I'd call it more "space uranium" than "space gold;" it's pretty clear that there are good reasons to want the stuff over and above it being pretty or a luxury item.

[AniThyng]

I just heard corporate dude's exact lines to Grace. Unobtanium. Worth lots of money. Pays for whole operation. "THIS IS THE ONLY REASON.". Not "Earth will crumble.". Not "the race will go extinct". But the bottom line. Profit. It's space *GOLD*. (You know, the whose main use to Spain was to make it absurdly rich and make decorations.)

To be fair, it has obvious practical applications just from the fact that it's some kind of wacky antigravity substance; I'd pay a lot for it too. So I'd call it more "space uranium" than "space gold;" it's pretty clear that there are good reasons to want the stuff over and above it being pretty or a luxury item.

Missing the point of the comparision to Spain - history has demonstrated that greed/profit alone is sufficient motivator for atrocity, if it makes you feel better about it, yea, cook up all the "it must be necessary for more then raw profit, that's why they were justified" excuses you like, but at the end of the day, RDA was in it for the money and was willing to be dicks over it.

[Simon_Jester]

Sorry, you're right. I missed the point.

I'm betting that at least some of the RDA people were thinking to themselves "it's a necessity, it's a necessity, it's a necessity" because that makes it easier to sleep at night, but even without being able to think it... yeah, they'd still do it.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Spaniards compensated their atrocities by feelgood bullshit about converting the shitnatives to Christianity to make themselves sleep at night after raping foreign lands for gold and glory. Even then, the Christian friars mistreated the natives just as well. But Gold, God and Glory, mangoes.