I got into a discussion tonight with the second counselor in the bishopric about movies. I mentioned the Matrix and how it can make you think about things (actually the concept of a Matrix existence can solve so many hangups I have with human suffering and religion and gives me the framework of what a real test would be). I also recommended Gattaca to them but told them they might not like it. His wife them said something about Avatar and how horrible it was. Apparently it was really offensive to her about how "nude" the aliens were, and how they were really just blue humans.

I thought that was incredible, I'm either completely de-sensitized to erotica or I'm missing something. I tried to bring up a couple points like modesty being relative (swimsuits vs church clothes) and perception (American vs French vs Pygmie). I got some incoherent stuff back about how important it is for women to dress modestly and how if it is meant to arouse a teenager it should be avoided.


So am I off base here? Is Avatar a soft porn movie in disguise that "Satan is using to corrupt teenagers"?

It NEVER entered my mind that the aliens were naked blue humans or that ANYONE could have modesty issues with the film.

Good thing they cut the sex scene. Cameron specifically said that the aliens must have boobs. He intentionally wanted them to be humanoid so that the viewers could empathize wih them more.

You'd think Mormons would love the whole tree of life part.

She sounds like the type that would protest Victoria's Secret because her son looked at the mannequins as he walked past the store and she thought he was addicted to porn.

Sheesh! I feel sorry for her husband.

Being aroused by the Na'vi would be equivalent to beastiality in my opinion. They have fricken tails and cat faces. We let our 12 year old son watch it and we didn't feel an ounce of guilt over him seeing glimpses of the blue boobs. Boobs are a part of life and I think that the LDS sexualize them even more than regular society does, even blue CG ones.

Mygarsh, did you see how the tails of the Na'avi linked with their "flying horses"? Shucks, it was practically sexual and definitely obscene!

And gawdalfriggin'friday, the humanoids had tails; anyone who thinks the maker of this film wasn't making an allusion to evoution is nutso!

And the environmental themes were downright Marxist and anti-capitalist!!

Dangblasted pinko commies I tell you!

Don't you folks watch your Glenn Beck?!?

Okay... [/sarcasm off]

Nah being attracted to Na'vi isn't like being attracted to animals... It's like being attracted to furries.

Just when I thought I heard every strange thing about Mormon repression, something like this comes up. This person seems like the type who thinks that the Victoria's Secret catalog is the same thing as Playboy.

Sadly I ran into a chatroom full of people who really thought Avatar was racist simply bevause some of the Na'vi langauge had African roots and the aliens suposedly represented Africans.

Their converstaion was so ridiculous. I had really liked those people, and I had thought they were intelligent. Avatar being racist? Jesus, there is such a thing as beng OVERSENSITIVE!!

Avatar was all about racisim, exploitation and empirialism.

I didn't care for the unorigional movie(Dances with Wolves, in space), but the fact that "She" found it sensual, is a bit telling about HER.

No wait, it was "Medicine Man" (the one with Sean Connery).

And a lot of others are suggested... Plot is just one element (often a minor one) in evaluating the richness of creative works... And there really aren't any original plots left, so everyone just re-uses the old ones in new forms...

For those of us with a pronounced left brain tendency, such elements create an additional level of appreciation that others may not care for or even perceive... No big deal; it's strictly a subjective matter; an old gf of mine (same degrees I have) picked up something I never would've seen in John Irving's "Hotel New Hampshire." This wasn't just the obvious references to Freud and Gatsby and such but rather involved a bit of obscure Roman mythology... It didn't seem like that big of a deal to me (of course I'd never read the original story), but she enjoyed her discovery...

There is, however, a bit of a "con code" among writers in that they will often deny the existence of stuff like this... Just a bit of playfulness...

Like the Beatles insisting "Hey Jude" was written to John Lennon's son rather than Bob Dylan...

People who are looking for something to be offended by always manage it.

I shit you not, I've heard moral objections to the Disney Princess movies before like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and the like.

Basically the objection was that the Disney Princesses are encouraging young girls to dress like whores and have sex or they won't be happy, something like that.

In my opinion the appropriate response to something this reactionary and intolerant is to take the maturity level way down. Simply point your finger and laugh hystarically. Blowing a few raspberries doesn't hurt either.

If someone is offended by naked blue humanoids with tails, that says something more about what's going on in their own mind than what they actually saw on the screen. Its a similar phenomenon to the "doubt creates shout" that was posted in another thread.

Some of you may not remember, but they said the same thing about Yellow Submarine, The big Blue Meanies.

foundoubt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Some of you may not remember, but they said the
> same thing about Yellow Submarine, The big Blue
> Meanies.

What was wrong with the Blue Meanies? Weren't they dressed modestly? If so, I'd like to point out that Donald Duck is naked on the bottom. We should definitely boycott him.

Uhhhhhhh, so EVERYTHING should be avoided then!

I remember being a teenager and sometimes being aroused in science class for NO REASON.

I guess science class should be avoided. Well, TBMs would agree with me there.

Man I remember pointing North when my first investigator committed to baptism. The only way to keep a young man down is to put him into a coma . . . actually I don't think that would work either.

Trying to use movie plots to make points in a serious discussion is ludicrous.

Navi chicks do nothing for me, way too big and uber skinny.

Now Donald Duck, I could do that duck... ;)

I'd do her

I wouldn't. She's too darn tall. i'd never be able to reach her breasts, even in missionary position.