Monday, January 18, 2010

Avatar on Aristotle


As heard in the Chicago Sun times and other news papers, Avatar, a Science-fiction fantasy film, has become one of the favorites in entertainment. James Cameron, director of the film and also director of Titanic, waited many years to film this production because he needed the right technology to come forth with his idea. It took about four years to actually finish his idea and thus presenting us with the movie: Avatar. Besides taking him so many years to produce it was also a costly production of about $300,000. Avatar is a film about two different worlds and the aims to protect their “home”. It brings up the issue of anti-war and helps connect humans to each other.
The issue here is if it was worth spending so much time and money to produce such a film? Roger Ebert, journalists, comments that “Once again, Cameron has silenced the doubters by simply delivering an extraordinary film”. This film has not only brought entertainment but also has shared the opportunity to provide us with many interesting ideas of what we think of the world and each other. Avatar starts off with an “alien” who is unable to walk. The alien is sent to “a human outpost” on Pandora where he is to achieve the “key”, in this case it’s like a mineral, to save earth’s energy crisis. They create avatars in order for them not to die. It’s a complicated description because there might be many interpretations but it mainly focuses on human race and this extraordinary life of the world.
Aristotle argues that the world should focus on liberality and that private property should be private but have its use be common. This might relate to the film in the sense that private property does not only focus on material things but also on the things in our world. Aristotle would agree with the film because it brings the idea that earth should not be fighting with the environment. Avatar teaches about Human race; these might not be real humans but they are considered to be just like anyone else. We as humans have the tendency to take whatever we feel like it without asking. This is why Aristotle argues that property should be private with some sense of common use.
Privacy gives a sense of individuality. For example war is a major impact in our lives; many go fight to protect us. Aristotle’s argument might lead into the thought that it does not always have to be private property that’s owned but also the ideas. These soldiers think about others and it does not necessarily mean that they must own something in order to be generous and help protect our country. We can see that Cameron came up with many ideas that took him a long time and if someone were to steal his credit then what is the point of spending all that money but yet he shared his idea with everyone.
Even though many would argue that Aristotle’s point of view is wrong we all have a sense to support it. That is plagiarism. Plagiarism is a big controversial topic. We can’t just “steal” from each other but we have to borrow and give credit. We can use ideas from others but they still have an owner and that is what Aristotle is trying to enforce in us. Avatar seems to be just one example of how humanity is a whole no matter the race or the property owned. We each have a sense of generosity within us that helps each provide with what one is capable of without it being taken from us.