James Cameron, the Oscar’s, and the Real-Life ‘Avatar’.
Published by Nick Magel, February 23rd, 2010 Americas , Corporate Responsibility , Corruption , Dirty Energy , Extraction , global warming , Impacted Communities , Indigenous , Oil , Popular Culture , Video 11 Comments
It’s Oscar time and people are all counting the days until we can sit down, play the Oscar polls, critique the Oscar De La Renta dresses, and cringe at the hot mess that is Mariah Carey. Oddly enough I’m now eagerly waiting with them this year; not to compare my impeccable eye for style, or guess the winner of the Best Song (Weary Heart, from Crazyheart duh), but to see if James Cameron, director of that little movie that could, will put some action where his mouth is.
“What if in his acceptance speech James Cameron mentioned the real-life Indigenous Ecuadorean heroes who are battling the real-life evil oil corporation Chevron?"
She then continues:
"If Director James Cameron accepts an Academy Award next month, he should let his faithful fans know that while Pandora is fictional, what is happening to communities in Ecuador because of Chevron’s actions is as real as it gets.”"
Now THIS seems like something worth watching on Oscar night, help us spread word on Facebook and Twitter (where it’s already gaining) by retweeting and posting “I want Avatar director James Cameron to mention real-life Ecuador struggle against #Chevron at #Oscars: bit.ly/9Rvut8 #realavatar RT Please”.
My personal two cents is that, after taking his narrative from the all-to-familiar .. http://changechevron.org/blog/avatar-is-real-in-ecuador/ .. struggles of indigenous communities and their fights against resource extraction, colonialism, and the corporations that perpetuate the destruction of these communities, James Cameron has a responsibility to use the global venue of the Oscars to highlight communities that are more real than any 3d glasses.
Last month Josh Schrei wrote a great piece .. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/josh-schrei/avatar-and-the-vocabulary_b_413853.html .. on how Avatar’s dialog mimics the rhetoric of so many corporate hacks and unfortunately there are all too many real-life Avatar plots, from India .. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1964063,00.html .. to Peru. .. http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1222-hance_avatar.html .. However the case against Chevron resonates with me for two reasons. One is has the potential to share some commonalities with the films ending in the very near future. Chevron and CEO John Watson are facing a potential guilty verdict in the next 6 months for their dump and run .. http://chevrontoxico.com/about/environmental-impacts/ .. in the Ecuadorean Rainforest. Granted this battle will not be won with majestic trees, or flying dragons; it will be won with a communities unending will for survival, and a global rally for justice. While the means may be different, the result will be the same in that one of the world’s most powerful corporations (Chevron) will be held accountable to their crimes. Which leads to my second reason to why the Chevron/Avatar connection resonates with me.
The Chevron case is already sending ripples through the oil industry on how they are operating in communities, don’t get me wrong they are still destroying communities for the black gold but they have taken notice. Now we need these corporations to move beyond “taking notice”. As the Chevron case builds to a crescendo, and if Chevron is found guilty of the over $27 billion in damages, oil corporations worldwide will be forced to take measures to rethink their operations and their consequences, and communities will have an unprecedented momentum to fight back against the likes of John Watson who enable some of the most atrocious operations and crimes in the world.
This trial is a legal catalyst and Avatar has the potential to be the pop-culture catalyst. Something as simple a mentioning the ongoing fight in the Ecuadorian Amazon would be an enormous act of solidarity with communities that inspire his narrative, and bring the real-life stories of corporate corruption and colonization to an entirely new audience waiting to take action after being inspired by Avatar.
11 Responses to “James Cameron, the Oscar’s, and the Real-Life ‘Avatar’.”
Tim DeChristopher Feb 23rd, 2010 at 7:22 pm
While I know this isn’t quite the point of the post, the direct parallels between Avatar and the Bougainville Revolution were just brought to my attention.
Like the Navi on Pandora, the Nasioi struggle in Bougainville began in reaction to Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine.
Like Jake Sully, the military leader of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, Sam Kaona, was an officer in the Australian organized Papua New Guinea Defense Force who was supposed to attack Bougainville but instead joined them and married Josie, a Nasioi woman.
The Nasioi literally began fighting with bows and arrows and slings against machine guns, and they eventually won the war. During a seven year blockade, they relied on the bounty of their environment to become entirely self-sufficient. Their struggle has been referred to as the “Coconut Revolution” because the gifts of the coconut were so vital to their victory.
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