AVATAR, for real?

We were going to see Avatar for my friend Albeiro's birthday last week, but it was sold out when we got there. So then we were going to see the Princess and the Frog, but my friends in line ahead of me bought the remaining tickets... :-( So the rest of us saw the next Chipmunks movie. Albeiro put it well - entertaining, but not great.
So, we decided to try again on Saturday. I went with my friends Vivi, Christian and Laura to buy tickets ahead of time, and this time we got to see it for real. And I must say- good movie! I'd heard that it was really good, and I'd heard that it was good for its effects and not its storyline. So I had no idea what to expect going into it. I only knew it had to do with an ex-Marine and beings from another planet, so honestly I wasn't even that excited. It sounded like a boy movie. I didn't think I was going to like it, because I much prefer a good plot to good effects (as one of my Grover friends told me-I'd never make it in a film history class!). But, I wanted to be with my friends and I tried to maintain an open mind (whereas I didn't even consider watching New Moon since I found out it was a suspense movie and I KNOW I don't like that kind of movie), so I got quite a pleasant surprise.
Being someone who lives in a culture different from the one I grew up in, I found myself identifying a lot with the protagonist (oh man I can't remember his name. I saw it in Spanish so a lot of names slipped by, I had to focus more to understand what was going on). I think it was Ben. Well, that's what I'm gonna call him. If you are interested in traveling, foreign missions or just learning about other people/cultures, I highly recommend this movie (ahem ahem Grovers going to MAC). If you've seen it already and it didn't make you think about this, see it again and start contemplating. Ben does some good things, some bad things, and some things I don't understand.
Good things- Ben went in with the position of a learner. He wanted to learn and understand, what were the natives called? Navi? You know who I mean. Did he commit a lot of mistakes? YOu bet, they didn't call him "Idiot" for no reason. But, he learned and adopted their ways. Was it necessary for survival? I'd say so. Did that also gain him the appreciation of the natives? YOU BET!! Would the natives listen to anybody else? Only the other people that respected and tried learning their culture. Are things the same way in other countries on this globe? Yup!
Of course there had to be a girl for Ben to throw some romance into the storyline. But another important thing I've learned (especially when going through bureaucratic hoops), is that it is SO helpful to have a native/local by and on your side speaking up for you and supporting you. They understand the system and give you more credence. Otherwise you're just another foreigner.
If you haven't seen the movie stop reading here because I'm going to give the end away. Ben ends up joining the side of the Navi -truly becoming one of them. In some ways this is good, in some ways perhaps not so much. In cross cultural ministry terms there is a difference between being incarnational and going native. When you're incarnational, you're still you, but you live among and become like the nationals/natives/locals. When you go native, you pretty much abandon yourself, you lose your past and who you are and you just become one of them. Maybe that's not the best description but I hope you get the idea. I think it's kind of a fine line. But, there is a definite difference between me being a gringa living like a tica and me just trying to be a tica. I know I can never really be one of them. I will always be a gringa to the core, though I maybe la gringa mas latina... ;-)
Anyway, Ben went native. And really, I think it was more taxing on him than anyone else, and I believe that would be the case for anyone who tries to go native. It was so taxing psychologically. It's hard enough for me to be here, away from my life in the States. Though, at this point I feel like my life is more here than it really is there. I'm actually really grateful it takes hundreds of dollars and 3+ hours in a plane to go back and forth, because I'm sure I would lose my marbles if I could go back and forth more easily. For Ben it was just a dream, the push of a button and he was in his other reality. And especially having such limitations-having nonfunctional legs and not being able to leave the base on Pandora- in his "real life" and such an incredibly contrasting freedom, it's no wonder his realities basically got inverted. It was like his life as an Avatar was more real than his actual real life. This is where more of the unrealisticness/fiction comes in and makes it harder to make comparisons. But, sometimes I know how he must have felt, being so torn between those 2 worlds!
What I don't understand is why he told the dudes on the base that he could get the Navi to move when he knew it was impossible. I guess he was just covering so he could continue his "fantasy" life there. But lying is never cool. What was the solution to the problem? That's not easy, but I think I would have to side with Ben and the scientists. Perhaps economics and progress would have pushed and said move on, and that's almost understandable. But if you're threatening a whole unique life system, I find that too big a pill to swallow.
And what a fascinating culture the Navi are/have!! Talk about creativity when they were being thought up! And I always admire stories that have their own language-like the Elves in the Lord of the Rings books (and movies-but the credit goes to Tolkien!!) And all the effervescent stuff, hammerhead boar-like animals and the whole interweaved nervous-system plug the end of your haid into anything like a USB outlet was wicked cool. But, I prefer my Judeo-Christian roots and grace and love and salvation rather than the more Lion King "Circle of Life" kind of deal. I think we can learn from them-we don't often respect and steward nature as we should. If anyboy feel like being romantic just tell me "te veo..." (I see you).
I think I might have had more to say (can you believe that?), but this is it for now. I just watched a trailer and his name is Jake. Oops. Sorry.