Saturday, January 16, 2010

'Avatar' as a gender-challenged stereotype???


I'm still laughing at a wonderful post on the blog Jaded Haven concerning the movie 'Avatar'. Would you believe that some people see it as an affront to gays and lesbians because it's 'gender-normative' (whatever that means)?

A delicious quote from one of the affronted:

“The message is not to respect and honor difference, but to respect that which conforms to the socially constructed norms and ideologies of the imperial power – in this case Science and Gender Normativity. So again, the Na’vi’s gender and sexuality norms look just like ours because those codes are fallaciously constructed as fundamental to Life itself. The Na’vi people are different from humans in certain ways, but they do conform to the imperial culture in two important ways: they “biologically” embody earth’s socially constructed gender norms, and as a corollary, their religious ideology fits with our scientific one. If the Na’vi’s gender norms were anything but what they are, their race would surely be relegated to the sub-human domain of Hutts and Orcs.”


Oh, my . . . and here was I thinking that Avatar was fiction, not fact!

Go read the rest at Jaded Haven. Warning: may not be work- or family-safe. Also, if you haven't already read it, check out Lawdog's take on Avatar. It's giggle-worthy.

Peter

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

See, once people stop being cold, hungry and afraid of the wolves, things like this happen.

Jim

Tex said...

WOW, these people amaze me! IT IS A MOVIE FOLKS! I can't believe everyone is making such a big deal out of the most ridiculous things. I mean there are more important things in the world to worry about then the movies hidden meaning or discrimination towards gays. Next they will say that Twilight has a hidden meaning. Im not in anyway saying discrimination towards gays is not important, I am just saying it is a movie.....

Old NFO said...

LOL- Gotta agree with Tex- I'm not spending good money to see it, I'll wait till it comes out on the airlines... :-)

Anonymous said...

Well, if the Na'vi weren't "normative" they would have a rather brief existence as a species.

Archie

Anonymous said...

Jeez, "people" (and I use the term loosely in their case), IT'S A FICTION, NOT A DOCUMENTARY.

If you have a problem with the "message":
1-Contact Mr James Cameron. After all, it's HIS movie.
2-Scrape up the money (if you can) AND MAKE YOUR OWN DAMN MOVIE. That way, you can put ANYTHING at all into it you want. Or don't want.

Otherwise, shall I call you a waambulance?

B Woodman
III-per

Anonymous said...

Um, how are you supposed to sell tickets to an action/romance movie about a soldier who impersonates self-budding blue cats? I don't think the average 15 year old male will go for it, let alone shell out $7 - $15 for tickets.

Someone's reality check is bouncing.