SNL’s “Laser Cats 5,” James Cameron, and right-wing politics
Something funny from SNL. James Cameron’s latest: “Laser Cats 5”:
Per Cameron, how about this part of his acceptance speech last night at the Golden Globes:
“ ‘Avatar’ asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other and us to the Earth. And, you know, if you have to go 4 1/2 light years to another made-up planet to appreciate this miracle of a world that we have right here, well, do you know what? That’s the wonder of cinema right there.”
More fuel for conservative bloviators. From the LA Times blog “Big Picture,” hosted by Patrick Goldstein “Right wingers launch new attack on ‘Avatar’”:
It seems as if the more money “Avatar “ makes at the box office (it’s now officially the second-biggest-grossing film of all time), the more incensed its critics on the right become. The best example? Die-hard right-wing blogger/columnist/anti-Islam crusader Debbie Schlussel has now weighed in on the Jim Cameron blockbuster, which managed to drive her so around the bend that she ended up comparing it (I kid you not) to the writings of Noam Chomsky and the speeches of Hugo Chavez.
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So what’s her take on “Avatar?” She calls it bloated, highly overrated, an incredible waste of time and “just like a million diatribes from Daily Kos, Democratic Underground and every other far-left outlet about how we invaded Iraq for oil … yes, cinema for the hate America crowd.” After spewing out a host of other barbs against the film (she describes the Na’vi as smurf-like natives who “looked like Jar Jar Binks with arrowheads,” she ends with this coup de grace: “Why drive to the movies, pay for tickets and spend hours in a dark room when you can just as easily read Noam Chomsky or the speeches of Hugo Chavez in the comfort of your own home and couch? Same difference. ‘Avatar’ is an intelligence test. If you fell for it, you failed.”
And via The Huffington Post, “James Cameron: ‘Avatar is Political, But It’s Not Un-American”:
James Cameron responded on Tuesday night to critics who think his blockbuster hit “Avatar” was somehow un-American.
“I’ve heard people say this film is un-American, while part of being an American is having the freedom to have dissenting ideas,” Cameron told the crowd at a private industry screening.
Conservative commentators such as Jonah Goldberg wondered why the space aliens didn’t “accepted Jesus Christ into their hearts” and said it was a tired attack on the Iraq War. John Podhoretz said the movie was both “anti-American” and “anti-human.” John Nolte, a critic at the conservative Big Hollywood, called it “America-hating.”
So Avatar in being pro-environment, pro-community, and pro-peace is somehow un-American?
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