Avatar. Awakening our conscience!

Avatar…certified as the biggest blockbuster of all times.

So what is the secret to its success? Extra ordinary special effects? Perfect screenplay? Great casting? Is this enough to create a blockbuster? Or you need a special ingredient?

James Cameron let out the secret during a talk " I want to make something that has this spoonful of sugar of all the action and the adventure and all that…thrill me as a fan…and also in the enjoying of it makes you think a little bit about the way you interact with nature and your fellow man…a film with a conscience"

Conscience. That's the special ingredient!

Cameron knew the modern man is always low on conscience. And conscience when awakened is more euphoria inducing than nicotine and alcohol.

"Yes… I want to change…I can do it…I have done it earlier…I will do it again…there is a different man inside me waiting to wake up…from tomorrow I am going to…"

That tomorrow may never come but as long as the audience's conscience is awake while leaving the cinema hall James Cameron would be happy.  The universal box office formula is stronger the word of mouth bigger the block buster.

The challenge was how to awaken the dormant conscience?

James Cameron seems to have been inspired by our Leela Matas & Pujya Gurudevs preaching Vedanta. The art of living.

You are just back from your company meet in Bangkok and your wife asks you to accompany her to a satsang by Leela Mata on karma yoga! That night your conscience keeps doing somersaults!

Navis are not only colored like the Hindu deities but epitomize the godly world we aspire for while Parker Selfridge & gang behave like the asuras unleashing the demon within them.

The Navis live at a very primate level, on a tree using a leaf for a bed, harmoniously within their unspoiled world

The asuras call them savages! No work ethic! Enjoying a permanent vacation. How low can anybody fall!

Navis don't even take their animals for granted. They bond with them, connecting their neural queue to its antennae, before traveling on them.

The asuras army is filled with mercenaries who have sold their soul for making money! No bonding wonding just show us the money honey!

The trees are sacred to the Navis…Asuras want to bomb it out of existence to mine the unobtainium deposits underneath it.  How do you make the savages understand that there is nothing more sacred than money!

And to top it Navis don't seem to have any currency. If the material world is an illusion a maya why buy or sell anything! So obviously no traffic jams, no pollution, no monthly targets, no EMIs and no stress!

Already mesmerized by the technical razzmatazz…the audience connect is complete…they want to be the Navis. They envy them. Idealize them. Aspire to be like them. And start hating them human beings.

The stage is all set for the big conscience awakening.

And just before the interval Jake Sully wakes up to the truth "out there is the real world ... in here is the dream". And in that dream state we go out to spend another thousand bucks on snacks!

Jake Sully is caught in a typical human dilemma. How to balance lifestyle and conscience.

Should he dump the Navis to earn money for his leg operation or be true to his Navi Avatar?

Along with Dr. Grace Augustine he pleads with Parker Selfridge

"You need to wake up Parker…the wealth of this world isn't in the ground it is all around us…the Navi know it and they are fighting to defend it…if you want to share the world with them…you need to understand them…"

But Parker Selfridge is an archetype human villain, low on conscience, fueled by greed & fear. Greed of getting hold of the rich deposit of unobtainium & sell it at 20 million a kilo on earth. And the fear of losing face

He retorts "Killing the indigenous looks bad…but there is one thing share holders hate more than a bad press…it is a bad quarterly statement…"

The Navis in the audience cringe in disgust "...how human can one become!"

And asks his security chief Colonel Miles Quaritch to pull the trigger

The gung ho colonel is only too eager.

"Every one on this base is fighting for survival…our only security lies in preemptive attack…we will fight terror with terror…hostiles believe strong hold is protected by their deity…when we destroy it we will blast a crater so deep..."

And as the human beings run out for the battle the Navis in the audience start rooting for the Navis. They want the Navis to beat the shit out of them selfish human beings!

Avatar Jack invokes the power of the secret…seeking support from the cosmic consciousness and manage to vanquish the materialistic, greedy, low on conscience human beings.

All the Navis in the theatre start cheering. Their conscience is fully awake. James Cameron has done it better than the Leela Matas.

And as the audience leave the theatre they sms and call their friends "awesome…" "Great…" "Must watch…"

The euphoria lasts till their car gets caught in a traffic signal or they get a call from their boss to forget about the Bangkok trip and start thinking about the sales closing.

They shed their Navi avatar and land with a thud on earth.

Ready to fight terror with terror! Screw the conscience!

But by then James Cameron & company is dancing all the way to the bank!

Prasad Rajagopalan

Prasad is a partner in Insights film production
Contact
prasad.iyen@gmail.com)
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