Author: Inzel Jugpal
Any work of art is a self-contained little universe, a microcosm complete in itself. Our delight in such universes stems directly from the fact that they provide us with what the natural universe does not. The universe of the work of art is finite; it is ordered; it is perceptible and comprehensible; it defines and then operates within a given set of laws; it is logical; it is permanent; and ultimately, it is capable of perfection. For this reason, the “laws” of art have nothing whatever to do with the natural laws of gravity, relativity or thermodynamics (Mast, 1977).
In Avatar, James Cameron and his team spent years coming up with the art and visual for Pandora the planet on which the movie takes place. Pandora looks like a lush paradise in various shades of blue, purple and green. Both its people and wildlife have bioluminescent qualities. Even though Pandora was inspired by Earth, everything in the movie takes on an unearthly quality. There are animals like the banshees which resemble prehistoric dinosaurs, and fauna that could be find in the bottom of the oceans.
The world of Pandora is not bound by the same “order” that the natural universe follows. The Na’vi bodies have feline-like features and a blue pigment. The animals have two pairs of eyes, and have two nerve clusters. There are flying animals. The inhabitants of Pandora can form a lifelong connection with animals. Caitlin mentioned in an earlier post Avatar is rooted in reality; but it also takes flights of fancy and uses the canvas of art to escape the clutches of the “laws” governing the finite world and creates a world that is familiar yet different.
Source: Mast, Gerald. Film Cinema Movie: A Theory of Experience. New York: Harper & Row, 1977.
No comments:
Post a Comment