Film Culture Commentary: Pining for Pandora

First there was "Avatar" the movie. Then there was this.

Then comedian Jimmy Kimmel poked fun at it.



Now here are some observations by none other than Boris Johnson, the mayor of London. Blurb:

. . . The eco-conscience of Avatar is an example of how a dominant consumerist society [or, really, James Cameron and his Hollywood ilk. -- MM] is able to exhibit its better nature, to parade its guilt, to feel good about feeling bad.

And I can't believe that many of these gloomy post-Avatar Westerners, when they really think about it, would want to up sticks to Pandora and take part in Na'vi society, with its obstinate illiteracy, undemocratic adherence to a monarchy based on male primogeniture and complete absence of restaurants. The final irony, of course, is that this entrancing vision of prelapsarian innocence is the product of the most ruthless and sophisticated money-machine the world has ever seen. With a budget of $237 million and with takings already at £1 billion, this exquisite capitalist guilt trip represents one of the great triumphs of capitalism.

Heh! "Complete lack of restaurants"!