Why I love Avatar

To begin I will make it quite clear that while I like both the Animated series Avatar the Last Airbender and James Cameron's Sci-fi Epic, the topic of this post is going to be focused on James Cameron's work, and not the popular nick-toons saga or the resulting M. Night Shyamalan movie adaptation.

Now to the story.

Beginning about 3-5 years ago (just split the difference and let's say 4) I began to become disenchanted with my own country of America. That is not to say that I am in any way unpatriotic, I'll match the redness of my blood and neck against anyone who should come and ask. However, devotion to one's country and love for its people and more pointedly its politicians are not necessarily intertwined.

To wit, I began to explore, timidly at first, the wonders and mysteries of foreign cultures.

My quest took a brief spin through Europe, but finding them almost as arrogant and self-righteous as my own American compatriots, I quickly shifted my focus onto the truly mysterious East. I began in the opposite direction of what I probably should have, seeking first the fun and frolic of the Far East and its rich history and diverse cultural background.

I found in the Far East a beautiful sense of humility and personal justice, that through peace of self could come peace of all. A concept that to this day I try more-or-less to follow in my day-top-day life.

However, I must say, that through this trek of mine through their culture I was exposed to my first bit of true culture shock. For example, Hollywood (one of my favorite sources for all things period) would have you to believe that despite the technology boom that has swept the world, everyone in the Far East is still working under the feudal system, riding horses, and walking down the street with large swords strapped to their side ready to explode into immediate kung-fu battle at the slightest creak of bamboo.

This is of course not the case, as several Far Eastern countries (Japan in particular) do not even allow the possession of functional weaponry within populace city limits, and certainly frown upon carrying them openly in public. Hence my young fantasies of visiting the foreign land and fulfilling my testosterone driven desire for "honorable" combat were squashed.

Now this is not to say that I was completely put-off from Far Eastern culture, I still follow with vigor the works of Hayao Miyazaki, and am quite fond of the older works of Akira Kurosawa. But perhaps the movie that most directly applies to this post from this area would be (unfortunately) an American film. None other than, "The Last Samurai."

Now I mention this movie with a little trepidation as it was not well received by all, but I personally find this movie more than any other to be of kindred to spirit to the topic of this post. Basically they have the same premise for a story, a man from a great and powerful people goes to a foreign land and learns the ways of the local and far less affluent natives. This in turn leads to a gradual shift in allegiance from their own people and a firmer love for the locals and their ways than their previous love for their own people.

Anyway, my journey through culture then led me back west to the Middle East, and I'll be honest, I didn't stay very long. Just barely long enough in fact to meet a few great people who live there. I wish I could say that I stayed there longer in my mind, but I knew fairly quickly that my search for a culture more agreeable with my personal sensibilities would not be satisfied there. That is not to say that there are not several things there that are unique and far more to my liking than American culture, but there is almost too different a vibe to the Middle East, and ultimately I decided to leave with a few curiosities, and of course good friends.

Thus we arrive at my current area of interest, and ultimately what spawned this post (bet you all thought I forgot I was writing about).

AFRICA

Africa to me is the ultimate, expression of the greater culture. There is no falsehood, no greater sense of identity, no build up, and absolutely no arrogance. To (reluctantly) quote Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie Blood Diamond, "TIA" or This Is Africa. Just a simple expression that means no matter what happens, in Africa things will go on as they always have with no break and no exceptions. It's simple, and for some reason which to this very hour escapes me, I have been completely and totally enraptured by the subtlety of this concept and the beauty of the land and people who both supply and live by it every single day.

This is the reason, and the point for me behind Avatar, not the political nonsense, not the "tree-hugger crap", and not the evil colonel. I can simply identify with the dynamic shift in the main character and the whole-hearted and gentle way in which he devotes himself to a new ideal and a new people.

Now all I need is the African girlfriend, and I'm set. lol