Avatar Essays

Avatar Essays Avatar Paper Avatar Paper Essay Topic: Film The film Avatar is about an American corporation that is mining rare mineral called unobtainium that can only be found in Pandora. Jake Sully, a handicapped ex-Marine, has to operate an avatar and act as a bodyguard because his twin brother who was trained to operate an avatar was killed. Soon after, Jake was told to persuade the Native inhabitants of Pandora, the Navi, to move out of the way so that the corporation could mine the huge unobtainium deposit located under their home. After many experience living as a Navi, Jake managed to become one of their people. The corporation moved in to destroy the Navis home because Jake took too long. Once the Navis home was destroyed, Jake realized how evil the corporation was and rebels against the corporation. In the end, the Navi and Jake manage to gain victory over the Marines and the evil corporation. Many have criticized this film as racist because of the male protagonist being a white man. I dont think Avatar is a racist film at all. Personally I didnt feel offended that there were no Asians or African Americans in the film. If the Jake was played by a black man like Will Smith or Denzel Washington, then the ending would be spoiled because we watched enough Will Smith movies to know that he will save the Navi and end up being the hero. Using a not-so-well-known actor would question how the film would end. Also, Jake is not the only one who decides to change sides. The operations leader, Selfridge, also learns that what hes doing is wrong. The Vatican commentators gave Avatar negative comments, saying that the film gets dragged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature. In this case, the Navi worship a goddess named Eewa. They are very religious beings that live in a gigantic tree. (LOsservatore Romano). I dont think the film was in any way offensive towards religion. The Navi were representatives of the Natives in our time, who were also very in touch with nature. The conservatives in the US claim that the movie is anti-American and anti-capitalist in its portrayal of humans as greedy creatures. I disagree with the conservatives. Greed is one of the true natures of humans. We are naturally greedy and want more then what we have already. James Cameron wasnt trying to offend the citizens of the United States but just trying show the nature of humans. The doctor in the film, Grace, was shown to be smoking throughout the entire movie. Smoke Free Movies, a campaign, took offence to this act. James Cameron states that he was making the character look evil. I agree with James Cameron when he responded to this comment by saying that we need to get used to modern times. If smoking is bad and shouldnt be shown in movies, then wouldnt that mean stealing and murder shouldnt be shown as well because its bad. The Marine Corps accused Avatar of stereotyping members of the Marines. I think that Avatar does stereotype members of the Marines. All the Marines in the movie kill the creatures and Navi without hesitation. When the Hometree was being bombarded, none of the ships backed out or even thought about disobeying except the girl. This shows how ruthless and greedy these men are. I would have made it so that more than just the girl back off from the attack just to show how sympathetic they are. All those people who wish Pandora is real are total losers. Its a science-fiction movie for goodness sakes. How can you criticize a movie by saying the alien planet doesnt exist. Some person even said he wanted to live like a Navi. I definitely disagree with their criticism towards Avatar. I cant believe people would actually become depressed because Pandora doesnt exist. Thats just plain stupid. All those people who wish Pandora need to go experience the world more. Besides, even if Pandora was real, Im sure theyd end up going there and getting killed.

6 Tips for Writing About Live Events

6 Tips for Writing About Live Events Writing about live events like meetings, forums and speeches can be tricky for newbie reporters. Such events are often unstructured and even a bit chaotic, so its up to the reporter to give the story structure and order. Here are tips for doing just that. 1. Find Your Lede The lede of a live event story should focus on the most newsworthy and/or interesting thing that occurs at that event. Sometimes thats obvious: If Congress votes to raise income taxes, chances are thats your lede. But if its not clear to you whats most important, interview knowledgeable people after the event to see what they think is most important. 2. Avoid Ledes That Say Nothing Ledes that say nothing go look like this: A) The Centerville city council met last night to discuss the budget. Or B) A visiting expert on dinosaurs gave a talk last night at Centerville College. Neither of these ledes tells us much beyond the fact that the town council and the dinosaur expert talked about something. This leads to my next tip. 3. Make Your Lede Specific and Informative Your lede should give readers specific information about what happened or was said at the event. So instead of the say-nothing ledes, we wrote above, get specific: A) Members of the Centerville town council argued last night over whether to slash the budget or raise taxes for the coming year. B) A giant meteorite was probably responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago, an expert said last night. See the difference? 4. Don't Write About Events Chronologically This is the classic mistake made by newbie reporters. They cover an event, say a school board meeting, and write about it in chronological order. So you end up with stories that read something like this: The Centerville School Board held a meeting last night. First, board members said the pledge of allegiance. Then they took attendance. Board member Janice Hanson was absent. Then they discussed how cold the weather has been lately, and.... See the problem? No one cares about all that stuff, and if you write the story that way youll bury your lede in the 14 paragraph. Instead, put the most interesting and newsworthy stuff at the top of your story, and the less interesting stuff lower down- no matter what order it occurs in. 5. Leave Out the Really Boring Stuff Remember, youre a reporter, not a stenographer. Youre under no obligation to include in your story absolutely everything that happens at the event youre covering. So if theres something boring that youre pretty sure your readers wont care about- like the school board members discussing the weather- leave it out. 6. Include Plenty of Direct Quotes​ This is the other mistake made by new reporters. They cover meetings or speecheswhich are basically about people talkingbut then turn in stories with few if any direct quotes in them. This makes for stories that are just plain boring. Always liven up event stories with plenty of solid, direct quotes from the people who are speaking.