This afternoon I was on G4’s Attack of the Show again, this time to debate with The Hot Blog‘s David Poland about Avatar. I was pretty psyched, because Dave’s a really smart guy (and the new father of an adorable baby boy. Congrats to Dave) as well as a serious Avatar supporter. I knew Poland wouldn’t pull any punches and this wouldn’t be a boring talking head fest. I was right! Things got a little feisty, and I really regret not having more time on the show, as I think Dave and I were just getting warmed up.
Here’s the video:
One thing: I’ve been percolating this theory that Avatar is a Mad Libs movie, in that it’s a film specifically designed to be familiar and to have slim characters so that audiences have more room to project themselves and to essentially fill in the blanks. It’s not ‘bad’ writing that makes Jake Sully so bland, it’s Cameron leaving you room to step into his shoes. Or wheelchair. For some people this works, and Avatar becomes an emotional experience. For people like me it doesn’t work and the film is a completely hollow bit of flat spectacle.