A character in James Cameron's cash-printing 3D film, Avatar, was written as a "negative comment" on gamers, the director has revealed.
The revelation comes in Cameron's response to criticism from the Center for Tobacco Control Research (CTCR) in the US, which complains of an Avatar scene in which an environmental scientist played by Sigourney Weaver drags lovingly on a cigarette.
"This is like someone just put a bunch of plutonium in the water supply," moaned CTCR head, Stanton Glantz.
Cameron responded: "She's rude, she swears, she drinks, she smokes. Also, from a character perspective, we were showing that Grace doesn't care about her human body, only her avatar body, which again is a negative comment about people in our real world living too much in their avatars, meaning online and in video games."
There you have it then. Gamers: the smokers of the future.
There you have it then. Gamers: the smokers of the future.
Probably true. And when everyone looks at gamers as if they're lepers, like they do with smokers, they'll find another group to ostracise. Why can't people be left to do what they want with their lives? It's your life, do what you want with it & leave people to get on with it.
And if Avatar is supposed to be a social commentary about how people live their lives through online avatars & forums et al, then it isn't a very good one. Watch Surrogates instead with Bruce Willis. It's done far better.
Avatar isn't even that good. The story was done far better in Dances With Wolves or even, dare I say it, Pochahontas.
If he's so concerned about people spending so much time in these other worlds, why allow an Avatar game to be made? Wouldn't that be exacerbating the problem Mr. Cameron?
Never mind, I doubt many people actually played it for very long.
Also, apparently it's OK to be staring endlessly at a film screen day in, day out, but the internet and games are the problem... I hear they're evil.
F*** you Cameron! Virtual world's are better than real world's - FACT! I find these comment's dissapointing from the man who gave us Aliens & T2. Let's face it he should know about Escapism
If he's so concerned about people spending so much time in these other worlds, why allow an Avatar game to be made? Wouldn't that be exacerbating the problem Mr. Cameron?
Never mind, I doubt many people actually played it for very long.
Also, apparently it's OK to be staring endlessly at a film screen day in, day out, but the internet and games are the problem... I hear they're evil.
Totally agree!
And I certainly won't be wasting time in the virtual worlds based on his movies (Terminator or Avatar!). Nor will I be wasting my time sitting in a cinema watching his glo-smurf movie.
I wonder what Cameron does in his spare time and more importantly what makes him think we would all care to do that (assuming it's something normal people can afford). Perhaps we might actually find his hobby as pointless and unhealthy as he finds ours.
Judging by the shape of Cameron I'd suggest he's not so bothered about his body either! Of the few gamers I know in real life, practically every single one of us is in better shape than James Cameron. I'd like to express a displeasure I have about how he spends his time... he needs to spend MORE time on his scripts!
come on people get it right. It's dances with wolves- with smurfs.
Also he kind of has a point. Lots of people do spend more time living online and vicariously through the net than they do actually getting out there and living.
WHERESMYMONKEY, but why does that bother anyone? I'm surprised than anyone cares whether someone on the other side of the world spends all their time playing a game... or going wind surfing... or collecting stamps... I really don't understand why people want others to do as they do.
All that matters as far as other people are concerned is that they treat others respectfully. Perhaps there's an argument for those that live off government pay-outs, refuse to work and play games instead. My Xbox friends list has a few of them. That would be a genuine complaint... but complaining about what people do in their spare time. I don't think it's anyone elses business, and I don't think anyone, except maybe someone who actually devotes their whole life, all their spare time to helping the sick and needy could even dare have reason to complain.
Maybe I'm wrong? Perhaps I should complain about people who waste money and time feeding and looking after dogs because it's not a pet I'd care for? Or how about I complain about people who watch soap operas because I happen to dislike them.
WHERESMYMONKEY, but why does that bother anyone? I'm surprised than anyone cares whether someone on the other side of the world spends all their time playing a game... or going wind surfing... or collecting stamps... I really don't understand why people want others to do as they do.
I'm not sure that is what they were saying at all...
The comment is made about her mindset, that she doesn't even care about her human body, because it is her Avatar body she wants to be in, at the expense of all else. If you translate that to video games, whereby someone basically lets themselves go to hell because all they want to do is exist inside a virtual world, then of course that can only be considered a negative.
Nobody seems to have asked the question why the CTCR have their panties in bunch about a character in a film smoking though... As if it's some kind of underground activity or something
JensonJet. I think you've missed the point entirely. He's not having a go at what people do in their spare time. He's saying that some people absuse themselves as a result. However i think whats more likely is that he's trying to dodge flack for havibg a good guy smoking in his movie by pointing a finger at the other boogeyman of modern life and i think its pathetic.
Bond smokes for christsakes. Or at least he used to. Come on so do the ghostbusters. Differnce being attitudes have changed towards smoking and no one that can be deemed a good guy can smoke anymore. It's utter crap.
I'm a gamer and i smoke. I do both becasue i enjoy them. And i'm fed up of being some kind of pariah because of it.
WHERESMYMONKEY, well now you've confessed to being a smoker I'm not sure I can even reply to you!!
Joking aside, I did actually get it. So the question still stands? Why does anyone care what another person does with their own body?
James Cameron is fat and doesn't look overly healthy to me. Do I care? Of course not. I would be more bothered about elements of his movie than I am about the man's health if I were to watch it. I totally get complaining and moaning about something you feel passionate for that affects you, whether long-term or for just a short period. But to complain about something or someone that you don't know seems absolutely pointless to me.
So I still don't understand why anyone is bothered about what people do or how they look after themselves? The health of me and my family matters to me, understandably, but haven't we all got better things to do than care about what others do? I wouldn't want friends to be unhealthy but some do worse than smoke, and that's up to them and I don't worry about it. Do you see where I'm coming from?
I understand your sentiment jensonjet. From a liberal standpoint it acutally doesn't matter what anybody does at all when it doesn't negatively effect anyone else. I say it should be permitted.
Someones health and activities in my mind are their own affair. So i agree with you. However the easiest way for ploiticians to appear like they have the interests of the people at heart is to say they care about their health. Which really they don't in fact they want a backlash. Like the whole smoking thing. they ban it, make people that smoke second class citizens it sends a message that they are doing this becasue they care about the nations health however truth be told its just a brilliant way to get more taxes. Just you watch drinkings next. Soon you'll be singled out for drinking and be made to be a social faux pas and then no one will care when the price of a pint skyrockets.
Conversely i think its the governemtns attmept to curb all forms of relaxation thats leading to so much violent crime and the like. then again a scared tightly wound animal is so much easier to control than a relaxed one.
Really do like the philosophical comments today as it provided a great read. Personaly I completely understand what Cameron is stating and I also think its a really interesting flaw to have in a movie character. Its a shame that side of her role was actually never explored in the actual film.
Come to think of it, im sure the Villain was smoking in the film too. Cameron must have got a few "back handers" from the smoking companies to raise cash lolol.
In real life terms, im sure there are people who want or prefer to spend all there time, either on the net or in those virtual world avaters or whath ever. Thing is too much of anything is bad for you regardless of what it is. If one of my friends/ family members where neglecting their bodys in anyway, I'd tell them regardless of its my bussniess or not. Health first, everything after.
That said, a little smoking here or there isn't gonna kill ya!
Well, I don't reckon gamers are exactly the most "athletic" of people.
However, saying people live too much of their life through games is just silly. There are absolutely loads of people who spend all their time watching telly - a much more sedentary pasttime than gaming!
Oh, the irony of being Jim Cameron: spending millions developing 3D tech for cinemas that not everyone i sure actually adds anything to the experience, then moaning at those enjoying another kind of technology that has often been referred to as "the movies of the 21st century". Bit sore, Jim? Oh, and as for the real irony, many of his films (most notably, Terminator 1 & 2) are techno-phobe films. So he's clearly a techno-phobe when it comes to technology he doesn't (want to) know.
The only depth Avatar has is the kind that needs the 3d glasses. It's visually splendorous but as vacuous as any other action spectaculars that tries to pass itself off as films these days.
Everytime someone opened their mouths to mutter some superfluous bulls**te I felt the cold pull of sleep drag me under.
I have never seen anything quite so overrated in all my life.
Just to put things in context. 22 quid for my girlfriend and I to watch Avatar.
Zak and Wiki cost me 7.98 brand new.
Cameron's statements are also pretensious as hell. Even arguably his best work in the Terminators were devoid of any real meaning. The plot itself is a bloody paradox which resulted in further films having no idea how to approach the timeline to make any semblance of sense.
Well done you've made a s**t load of money and proved that the mass populace can be easily tricked with the 'shiny shiny.' Now for the love of all that is holy, f**k off.
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