Some Thoughts After The Special Edition - PAA (Spoilers)

[Tsyal Makto]

Well I saw the SE today, and besides being the greatest movie I have ever seen, it brought back a massive flood of emotions akin to the first time. However, this time it's different, it's not depression, it's anger. It's pure, blood-boiling rage about what humanity has become, and what this Earth has become.

All of this began to set in around the time of Iknimaya and beyond. Throughout the entire movie I was making side-thoughts in my head, comparing the average day of a Na'vi to the average day of humans - both modern and primal, and for some rather obvious reasons, this is where it all set in. What does the average day of a Na'vi consist of? Hunting, horseback riding, flying, climbing around the forest, and general enjoying nature and the company of all of it's life. Their routines are also much more lax - sleeping when they want, eating when they want, and generally doing things as their bodies require them. Pretty similar to the day of the average primal human (sans flying). Now, compare that to the modern human. Most people have to drag themselves out of bed at an unnatural hour, commute to whatever work they have, spend most of the day doing a job in an unnatural environment (indoors, flourescent lights, etc), commuting home again, likely eat a highly processed dinner, and spend whatever time is left socializing with loved ones (if they are lucky enough to have them, many people are lonely).

Ironically, if human advancement is in terms of workload and quality of life, we have regressed. Many tribes only need to work, on average, two hours a day to do all the necessary choires in a day, compared to the 8+ hours people work today. The rest is spent having fun with family, the tribe, and nature. Contrary to popular belief, living in a tribal, hunter-gatherer society is not some sort of hell. In fact, it is probably more enjoyable than anyone would expect. There was little disease (disease was a product of agriculture), and people were taller and stronger. Plus, you didn't have to worry about your colon rotting away from tainted eggs or beef.

Each day is an adventure to the Na'vi, and used to be for neolithic humans as well. Humans used to spend each day exploring Earth's wonders, hunting on horseback for buffalo in a similar way to the Sturmbeast hunt. Everday could be an adventure today, too, but why don't people make it so? It can be done, people who "rewild" show that it's possible (and hopefully the Revolutionists and LN tribe will, as well). Want a Hometree? Build a treehouse. A Pa'i? A horse. Ikran? Ultralight. Why don't more people do it, then? Because it's not what the corporatist ruling class wants. These rich pigs need wage slaves to help advance their domination of our world. They want people chained to society by debt, so that they can't leave. That's why credit cards are pushed so much, why interest rates are so low, yet loans and mortgage interest rates are so high, why college is so expensive. They WANT you underwater, they WANT you in debt. That way, you CAN'T leave, because if you did, they would send the finger men after you. Then you're not a citizen, you're a god damned indentured servant!

Now, I don't want to don a tinfoil hat, but I can't help but feel that this is a master plan by the ruling class and corporations of this world to create some sort of fascist neo-fuedalistic, 1984-esque future. Call it what you want, but this is the way it is going. You've got things like the Patriot Act, or Corporate Personhood, which constricts the rights and voices of the people of America, and idiots like Glenn Beck in the mainstream, jamming lies down people's throats (I wish this guy would just do what he failed to in the 1990s, and munch on a revolver on live TV). At the same time Europe is facing a similar fate, as corporate wolves slowly creep into that system, as well (Silvio Berlusconi, the Prime Minister of Italy, for example, controls the majority of the country's media). Plus, industrializing China...nuff said.

But, at the same time, none of that matters, because...well...Network said it best.

What it will likely take to change this system makes me cringe when I think about it. We can't let it go on, then we'd have Earth circa 2154, an industrial cesspool with 20 billion de facto slaves. As bad as it sounds, I stand by my belief that the only option would be a massive, likely violent, uprising. Mike Malloy and George Carlin are right, there's no working in the system anymore, it has to be taken down by force, and sadly, will probably be trailed with blood. This isn't Ghandi's world anymore. The people who control the world today would kill him and all of his followers if it was good for their bottom line. They can buy and sell any politician they want, and put out any propoganda they want. Simply taking the pacifist apporach would be about as effective as nicely asking a nympho to stop screwing. It just won't work, the forces against the world are too much.

Nope, this Na'vi isn't depressed anymore. This Na'vi's mad as hell, and he isn't going to take it anymore. It's Post-Avatar-Anger now.