Will Avatar Spark More Originality?
by Kevin Roberts
Avatar, opening in the US tomorrow, has Hollywood holding its breath. The $350 million spectacle by writer/director James Cameron seems destined to one of only two possible fates: spectacular blockbuster or massive bomb. The middle road never seems open to Cameron, who famously drives Tinsel-town bean-counters bonkers with his uncompromising vision and gargantuan budgets. Sigourney Weaver calls him an "idealistic perfectionist", which is a pretty good aspiration for all of us.
I haven't seen the film yet, but I wish it well for three reasons.
One, Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in New Zealand has been responsible for the special effects, which are said to take 3-D animation to a different plane. Another hit for Weta would be great for this awesome Wellington Lovemark - and for the city itself.
Second, I love James Cameron's gutsy approach. In an industry teeming with yes-men, corporate cronies and wannabes, Cameron stands apart as a maverick who rises and falls on the size of his talent, not his Rolodex. He put his philosophy this way:
"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success."
Most importantly, I hope that Avatar succeeds because it represents something that has all but disappeared from mainstream film - a truly original idea. It is not recycled from a TV show or old movie, nor is it based on a book, play, musical or comic book. James Cameron is the sole writing credit, and the story is woven entirely from his imagination.
The rise of innovation in Hollywood (and Wellywood and Bollywood) has been startling, but it has not been matched by the rise of great originality - in fact, the opposite has happened. The graphs below show how the number of films made from an original idea - as opposed to sequels, book or musical adaptations, comic books or earlier films - has declined dramatically in the past decade. Instead, we are saturated by sequels. 15 of the top 20 box office hits of the 2000s were sequels (and some of them were brilliant, but the point is valid).
The last decade will be remembered for awesome innovation we used to help tell stories on screen. Let's hope that the '10s is known more for the creativity and originality we bring to storytelling itself.
Image source: http://www.topnews.in/avatar-will-make-titanic-look-picnic-says-james-cameron-2244474
Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.
Avatar, opening in the US tomorrow, has Hollywood holding its breath. The $350 million spectacle by writer/director James Cameron seems destined to one of only two possible fates: spectacular blockbuster or massive bomb. The middle road never seems open to Cameron, who famously drives Tinsel-town bean-counters bonkers with his uncompromising vision and gargantuan budgets. Sigourney Weaver calls him an "idealistic perfectionist", which is a pretty good aspiration for all of us.I haven't seen the film yet, but I wish it well for three reasons.
One, Peter Jackson's Weta Workshop in New Zealand has been responsible for the special effects, which are said to take 3-D animation to a different plane. Another hit for Weta would be great for this awesome Wellington Lovemark - and for the city itself.
Second, I love James Cameron's gutsy approach. In an industry teeming with yes-men, corporate cronies and wannabes, Cameron stands apart as a maverick who rises and falls on the size of his talent, not his Rolodex. He put his philosophy this way:
"If you set your goals ridiculously high and it's a failure, you will fail above everyone else's success."
Most importantly, I hope that Avatar succeeds because it represents something that has all but disappeared from mainstream film - a truly original idea. It is not recycled from a TV show or old movie, nor is it based on a book, play, musical or comic book. James Cameron is the sole writing credit, and the story is woven entirely from his imagination.
The rise of innovation in Hollywood (and Wellywood and Bollywood) has been startling, but it has not been matched by the rise of great originality - in fact, the opposite has happened. The graphs below show how the number of films made from an original idea - as opposed to sequels, book or musical adaptations, comic books or earlier films - has declined dramatically in the past decade. Instead, we are saturated by sequels. 15 of the top 20 box office hits of the 2000s were sequels (and some of them were brilliant, but the point is valid).
The last decade will be remembered for awesome innovation we used to help tell stories on screen. Let's hope that the '10s is known more for the creativity and originality we bring to storytelling itself.
Image source: http://www.topnews.in/avatar-will-make-titanic-look-picnic-says-james-cameron-2244474
Kevin Roberts is the CEO worldwide of The Lovemarks Company, Saatchi & Saatchi. For more information on Kevin, please go to www.saatchikevin.com. To see this blog at its original source, please go to www.krconnect.blogspot.com.Labels: Creative Genius, Creativity, Kevin Roberts, Movies, Risk Management, Strategy
posted by Blogging Innovation at 12:01 AM
4 Comments:
White Guilt Fantasy
Avatar is a classic scenario you've seen in Hollywood epics from Dances With Wolves, Dune, District 9 and The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member.
If we think of Avatar and its ilk as white fantasies about race, what kinds of patterns do we see emerging in these fantasies?
A white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior.
These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations.
The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed.
This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.
At one point I'll have to agree with you Stephen: The scenario has been done several times before(Dancing with Wolves and Last Samurai being good examples, not so much District 9)
But,seriously, I don't understand, why some people always have to find a way to view something as racist. Do you like to provoke/upset others?
Thee scenario is not meant to demonstrate "White" supremacy, but have the protagonist overcome his own, set worldview and open himself for something new.
(btw neither in district 9 nor in Last Samurai does the Hero end up leading anyone)
Avatar may not have the most original storyline, but it gives you truly breathtaking Images (even for weta-standards), a lovely designed alien world and characters you actually can relate to, all things most of the recent Hollywood productions failed to deliver.
So, if you can handle a story hat has been done before in a similar way, go see it, you're in for a great ride. If not, stay at home and blog about how Gi-Joe is racist for having a Caucasian being the best Ninja.
Merry Christmas to all (including Stephen)
PS: please excuse my bad English
I have been to watch avatar.
And as a film making fan, fantasy movie fan and FX fan i say this movie is a new step on the film making history...
why...
some reasons,
one of the things of the movie is the story of getting into the Navi (the local tribe, they call indigenous people)truly they are, but the concept of the Avatar (mixing the DNA of the person with the Navis is a fantastic concept).
Now, the criticism to the great corporations always looking for gold, silver, oil and willing to destroy (literally destroy) anything there is on the way... that social point of view is crucial in the film.
Another thing will be the focus on how the naiv connect with all the planet (they feel all as energy, pure energy, and the planet gives them everything they need). I remember a part in the movie when the main actor said: "why are they going to get out of the big tree, there going to do it for a light coke"... that is another criticism to our techno social movement, that make us lost our values, our respect to nature and our respect to the human beings and animals...
So, besides the visual effects which are expectacular because immediately puts you in other dimension (Weta digital worked for 3 years in a row)... i saw the movie at IMAX 3d and the experience is thrilling...
I really thing that a lot of movies coming out are missing the point of a great script, are missing the point of the social impact of the movies in the lives of all the people who watch them... remember is entertainment, but the entertainment is with drama, with comedy, with terror, and all always is going to impact us...
Avatar also sparki originality by focusing on technologies recent being used , such as RIA technology(based on adobe flash) www.avatarmovie.com and making a partnership with Coke to produce an awesome commercial based on Augmented reality...(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jx0IAZkgEco&feature=player_embedded)
all of this connected with the global campaign made with Mcdonals using AR also...http://avatar.mcdonalds.com/RainForest/en-AU/Demo.aspx
Great for AVATAR and Cameron...
the above poster knows nothing. And Stephen you hit the nail on the head with your analysis. This is all about white guilt. But the author of this entire article is so completely off base that he refuses to acknowledge it as such. lol trying to claim this is an original idea...it's like ferngully on acid! Southpark paraphrased it well: Dances with Smurfs. Avatar might be an amazing movie but trying to hype up its epicness to fit a paradigm is a bad way to go about things mr. blogger person. Saying it embodies Jim Cameron as a maverick with unique ideas would have to mean that the movie is practically a tailor made vaccine for hollywood elite, liberals and evironmentalists. I have no problem with Cameron going for that crowd, but there's he clearly taking the path of least resistance. If the movie were to be truly timeless and Cameron were to be acknowledged as truly great, then his film would have to be controversial and not some jazzed up rehash of a played out idea that only gets made because of Hollywood's racial guilt.
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