Avatar Reaction: A Sad Day to Be a Fanboy
So, by now, you’ve probably seen the teaser trailer for James Cameron’s Avatar, and maybe, like me, went and saw the fifteen or so minutes of footage at the (somewhat pretentiously named, I feel) Avatar Day screenings. Did the footage live up to all the hype that’s been coming out of earlier screenings? Is it the Second Coming of Film?
If you check the Internet, you’ll find quite a few strong opinions about that, thrown around on any forum board that deals in any way with movies. Seen a lot of positive reaction, seen some ambivalence, and then I’ve seen what makes me ashamed to be associated with sci-fi fandom in even the most peripheral of ways: out and out hostility.
“What the f**k is this? I am so pissed off!” one post reads. “That CGI looked like f**king dogsh*t! You suck Cameron!” screams another. Post after post of people who are, for reasons beyond me, literally angry that the trailer didn’t live up to some arbitrary expectation they had in their head. Anger over what they feel to be lacking CG technology. Anger over the design of the Na’vi creatures. Anger over the “fakeness” of the environment. Anger, hate, fury. All over a movie they’ve never even seen.
And this is why I’m ashamed to be a fanboy today. That I could be lumped in with these people who seem to have some sense of completely undeserved entitlement to unparalleled entertainment experiences. That James Cameron somehow, for some reason, owes them a better film than what they’ve seen in the two minutes of clips on the Internet. That they can sit there and pass judgment on the “sh*tty” CG when they probably couldn’t even draw a cartoon cat in Photoshop that didn’t look like something you’d need to kill out of mercy. “Give me more.” “This isn’t what I wanted.” “You owe me better than this.” Me, me, me. I, I, I.
Believe it or not, folks, James Cameron did not make this movie specifically for you. Nor has any game designer made a video game for your personal, exclusive enjoyment. No writer, a novel. No actor, a role. No musician, an album. Despite your multiple followers on Twitter, no matter your number of friends on Facebook, regardless of your posting level on Yelp, you are not the center of the entertainment universe. You don’t like the trailer, fine. If you can sit there and say the CG looks like crap with a straight face, more power to you. Want to go online and express that opinion? Knock yourself out. But let’s curb the shrieking, screaming hate-filled posts anytime an entertainment product doesn’t live up to your lofty expectations, shall we?
You’re making the rest of us look bad.
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3 Responses to “Avatar Reaction: A Sad Day to Be a Fanboy”
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August 23rd, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I’m guessing by that contents of your post that your personal reaction to the 16 minutes of preview footage is “What the f*ck, Cameron? The CGI looks like dogshit…”
I honestly saw the trailer for the first time Friday in front of Basterds (first trailer I’ve seen in the theater before seeing it on the internet in a long long time). The CGI in some of the shots looks a little dodgy, but I honestly don’t really care about that. I grew up watching Doctor Who, where you could see the the word “FRAGILE” bleeding through the sets made out of cardboard boxes. I’ll overlook just about anything if the story and characters work. But if the effects are shit AND the story and characters don’t carry it then I’ll won’t let the effects get a pass either.
I never let trailers set or destroy expectations for a film anyway. Part of become a top tier filmmaker these days is opening the floodgates on the Movie Poop Shoot talkbacks as soon as you do ANYTHING.
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:16 pm
No, my reaction to the 16 minutes was not “What the f**k Cameron.” While some of the CG might be a little iffy in some shots, overall I thought it looked pretty natural. Maybe not totally real, but I’m not sure what a “real” alien on Pandora would look like. I’m optimistic and plan to see the movie twice, once 3D and once 2D. No I don’t think it’s the next evolution of filmmaking or whatever the hype machine is touting it as, but it looks like a good time at the movies (if maybe a little too much Dances with Wolves in Space). Bottom line: James Cameron has proven himself time and again and I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt, even if I wasn’t exactly soiling my drawers over the trailer.
And my point really wasn’t even about the trailer, but the current fanboy mentality to scream and rant when they don’t like something. Why the hate? Why the fury? “I didn’t think it looked that great” is just as valid as “I am so pissed off about this ugly f**king trailer!!!” Think of it as a challenge to all the fanboys out there: Let’s try to elevate the level of discussion above “I don’t like it and hate you for it.”
August 23rd, 2009 at 10:30 pm
I agree on all counts with the small exception that George Lucas spent many years EARNING the “I Hate You For It” parts of the criticism he gets in the same vain, though you’ll never hear me say “I hate you for it.” The trailer for Avatar, on first viewing did not fill me with spewing hatred at few quick flashes of questionable CGI, but did have me thinking that it looks pretty cool. You always have to wonder about a major release date push like this one, but it would have been a big loser to put this out against Star Trek and Wolverine. Even with the economy, there’s enough cinema dough for all if they plan their release dates intelligently.
In any case, in a year that Transformers and GI Joe were both released there’s nowhere to go but up.
“All you motherf*ckers are gonna pay. You are the ones who are the ball-lickers. We’re gonna f*ck your mothers while you watch and cry like little bitches. Once we get to Hollywood and find those Miramax f*cks who are making that movie, we’re gonna make ‘em eat our sh*t, then sh*t out our sh*t, then eat their sh*t which is made up of our sh*t that we made ‘em eat. Then all you motherf*cks are next.
–Love, Jay and Silent Bob. “