avatar: specifically, pocahontas and women's roles

[WARNING: this post will CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR AVATAR. If you intend to see this movie, look away.]

So, yesterday my mom and I went with this crazy-but-awesome friend to see Avatar. (Said friend has already seen it three times. But anyway.) And despite all the hype, I really liked it.

I say that because I have this theory that there's a direct relationship between how popular something is and how awful it is. But yeah. Avatar managed to be popular AND good. But I digress.

First thing I want to talk about: the similarities to Pocahontas (the Disney movie, not the honest-to-goodness real-life historical figure). Let us present:

1. "Civilized" guy stumbles into a wild world full of evil savages because guy is part of a mission to find gold/unobtainium.
2. Guy is subsequently discovered by beautiful, scantily clad savage girl. Savage girl is not so thrilled to find idiot on her territory (that part may apply more to Avatar than to Pocahontas. Bear with me. It's been a long time since I saw Pocahontas).
3. Guy freaks, but recognizes that he's dead meat unless he asks for beautiful savage girl's help, so he swallows his manly-man pride and DOES ask for savage girl's help.
4. Girl takes him in and teaches him The Ways Of The People.
5. When she takes him home to meet the parents, it's revealed that the girl's dad is the chief of the tribe and her mother is the wife of the chief of the tribe/spiritual leader of the tribe.
6. It is also discovered that girl has a Destined Husband/Mate. DHM is not so thrilled to find that he now has competition, and decides to make the competition's life as difficult as possible. ...Or, at the very least, be as mean and nasty as possible to him.

Yes, I think there ARE a few similarities there.

Okay, I think I've made that point clearly enough. Onto the role of women in Avatar.

Overall, I was really happy to find some girls who could actually kick butt in what is, in many ways, a straight-up action movie. Neytiri was this fantastic, smart, tough girl--but didn't come off as a Mary-Sue. Her mom, the spiritual leader of the tribe, was equally cool. Grace and Trudy, a scientist and a combat pilot respectively, were both smart and down-to-Earth, and I don't think either of them screamed once. No wuss damsel-in-distress types here!!

I don't believe I can say anything that hasn't already been said about the visual effects. Suffice to say that they were gorgeous, amazing, and breathtaking. Absolutely stunning. Aaaaand I'll shut up about that.

The cool eco-friendly message was really well presented, too...very nice.

So that was Avatar! And my opinion on it. Have you seen it/will you see it/did you like it?

Katie

coats, periods, and other double meanings

(Lefou, I'm afraid) I've been thinking (a dangerous pastime, I know), and have come to the conclusion that casual English is really very vague. Especially when you get into modern slang. This is largely, in my opinion, because we didn't make up NEW words for slang, oh no, we just used OLD words with a new meaning.

Heck, it took me months to catch up on all the subtly nuanced references to anatomy in conversations at my school.

A few words that can turn a conversation right around if the other guy doesn't know which definition you mean:

Coat. Are we talking paint, or are we talking garment?

Period. Are we talking punctuation, menstrual cycle, or even a passage of time?

Bad apple. Do we need to avoid that creepy guy outside the post office, or is it a warning against a bad culinary experience?

I'm only scratching the surface, I'm sure. There have to be hundreds of words with dangerous double meanings, and while they make English fun...in a way...they also make it incredibly annoying. Just sayin'.

And I'm not even starting down the slippery slope of "that's what she said".

Katie

the purpose of writing

In my English class the other day, as a part of our Series of Stupid Grammar Lessons That You Can Pretty Much Figure Out With A Little Common Sense, we were discussing the Author's Purpose (sorry for all the caps. Just stylistic). My teacher, speaking with some authority, said, "Authors always have a purpose in their writing. They don't just sit down and write for the sake of writing."

And I thought, "Oh, CRAP. They don't? Er, WE don't?"

Because, yes, if I'm working on a story I have a purpose, sure. I'm trying to tell a story! But sometimes, if I haven't written in a while, my fingers get a stiff and a little grumpy and refuse to cooperate with my head anymore so I open a notebook and uncap a pen and write. Just for the sake of writing. Just because it feels nice and soothing and comforting. Writing is my comfort food.

Back to the class, though.

Classmate 51, bless his perverted little soul, raises his hand and says, "My sister does."

"No," the teacher said. "She writes to tell a story or to convince somebody of something."

But for once, I think I was more on the same wavelength with Classmate 51 than I was with my teacher. Sure, I have a purpose if I'm working on a story. But there are also times that I write for no reason other than the pure pleasure of it.

I guess I can afford to cut my teacher some slack, though. She is many good things, but definitely not a creative writer in any sense of the phrase.

Katie

P.S. If you, dear reader, write, do you ever just write for the heck of it, or do you think you usually have a purpose?

yummy Japanese food and storywork

Let's start with the yummy Japanese food.

What is it, you ask? See the photo. The can looks like it SHOULD be orange juice, but it's actually kind of like that orange McDonald's drink. Which I like, so....yeah. Am not sure what the apple version of this canned "orange juice" will be like. Hm.

The other thing is little salty rice crackers with frosting on them, and they are absolutely delicious.

As to the storywork: Those of you who attend the Portales writers' group may remember a character I created at the last meeting named Orchid Rae. Her story is now unfolding at a wonderful rate, so I have something to work on over the weekend!

Katie

P.S. Thanks for the comments and the follows!

facebook complaints

FB has been giving me a lot of "oops!" messages lately. "Oops!" it will say cheerfully to me. "That file was too skinny! It cannot be uploaded!"

"What?" I say.

But my question is not answered, because FB has already been diverted by another error.

"Oops!" it cries in dismay, throwing its little pixel-hands up in the air. "The photo uploader won't work! You'll have to use the simple uploader," it informs me. "I'm very sorry."

By this point, I am somewhat exasperated. "I don't CARE," I tell it. "I always use the simple uploader anyway, because the new one doesn't work."

It becomes frantic. "What?" it says, echoing my question. "But all of the updates are GOOD and BETTER and, heck, they're just SPIFFY. Don't you think they're spiffy?"

"Sure," I say, "but also useless."

FB does not like me very much for this reason. I complain too much.

***

So, a new blog! I wanted to continue my iWeb one but it's super-slow for a PC to load--so I figured a web-based one would be better.

Um, bye?