In anticipation of Avatar: The Way of Water being released in December, the first Avatar film has returned to cinemas.
Revisiting James Cameron’s imaginative world of Pandora — which we were introduced to in December 2009 — while entertaining, also raises a lot of questions.
It would be unfair not to state the glaringly obvious first: Avatar is brilliantly made.
Entertaining, immersive and mind-blowingly visual, even by today’s standards, the film, which Cameron wrote, directed, produced and co-edited, remains the highest-grossing in the world.
This is an unbelievable feat for several reasons.
When Avatar was originally released, The Lord of the Rings trilogy had ended, more than half of the Harry Potter franchise had already caused hysteria in the mainstream and the first Spider-Man movie had already captured a huge audience.
Avatar’s epic success was a surprise, given it had no prior fan base.
At face value, the film’s technical prowess and innovative use of 3D was what impressed critics and sold out cinemas. Avatar took the use of facial motion capture, which audiences first experienced in Lord of the Rings, to another level, heralding in a new generation of special effects that would change movie making forever.
Unlike Cameron’s first epic, Titanic in 1997, Avatar’s use of technology still looks hyper-realistic and feels out of this world.
Watching Avatar is a cinematic experience. It is a visual feast of colours, light, fantastical creatures and geography. It's a testament to Cameron’s incredible imagination and vision, but also to what movies can do and how we can experience them.
But Avatar’s storyline is one that deserves a more nuanced investigation.
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“When I was laying there in the VA hospital with a big hole blown into the middle of my life, I started having these dreams that I was flying. I was free," says Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine played by Sam Worthington, who sets the tone of the film as the story opens to a sweeping shot of a mysterious mist-covered landscape.
Freedom, from the outset, is the core of the story. Jake feels physically trapped in a wheelchair after an injury leaves him paralysed from the waist down. Perhaps more potent is his emotional imprisonment, after his brother is killed in a robbery.
Jake decides to replace his brother in the government’s Avatar Programme on the planet Pandora and is fitted into the genetically engineered body of its indigenous humanoid species, the Na'vi. As he assimilates into the Na'vi’s culture and falls in love with Neytiri, voiced by Zoe Saldana, he discovers the sinister intentions of the military to oppress the Na'vi and destroy their sacred site in order to mine unobtanium, a precious compound.
The story is filled with environmental, antiwar, pro-feminist and anti-colonial themes. They aren’t underlying, they’re obvious, challenging us to link the parallels to our history and present.
Jake's journey and his relationship with Neytiri isn’t badly plotted or poorly written — it’s predictable. We’ve experienced it before in movies such as Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves and The Last Samurai, where the trope of a “white saviour” leading indigenous peoples to their freedom is overused and inaccurate.
It seems likely that Cameron chose to use a recognisable narrative and lazy tropes to ease audiences into a new, highly complex world. Completely unnecessary, of course, if one notes how the literary works of sci-fi and fantasy authors such as Ursula Le Guin and Sheri S Tepper effortlessly meld fantastical, imaginary worlds with highly innovative storylines and distinct characters.
That said, I still believe Cameron deserves our trust. He's been willing to wait until technology catches up to his vision as a filmmaker, and so let's hope, is saving a more refined and vivid storyline for the sequels.
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
More on Quran memorisation:
More on animal trafficking
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
Farage on Muslim Brotherhood
Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
"We will stop dangerous organisations with links to terrorism operating in our country," he said. "Quite why we've been so gutless about this – both Labour and Conservative – I don't know.
“All across the Middle East, countries have banned and proscribed the Muslim Brotherhood as a dangerous organisation. We will do the very same.”
It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
More coverage from the Future Forum
The years Ramadan fell in May
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Some of Darwish's last words
"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008
His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
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