James Cameron's Inspiration for Avatar

Remember James Cameron and his ‘Titanic’ phase? After sinking the ill-fated vessel, making a billion dollars and giving us one annoying catchphrase (“I’m king of the world!!!”) he still wasn’t content. He had to go to the Titanic and make a 3-D documentary about it. At this point he was just shy of raising the Titanic, taking it out to dinner and trying to sink his mast into its boiler room.

With his love for Titanic fully explored, Aliens having petty spats with Predators and his beloved Terminator now governing Cali what was Cameron to do? That’s when you take four years off, pour a big bowl of Frosted Flakes and watch a bunch of cartoons in your underwear for inspiration.


Early responses to the ‘Avatar’ trailer had many fans wondering what Cameron's influences were for the film.

The story centers on a mining company that has set base on the planet Pandora; home to a cat like race of humanoids called the Na’vi. The good natured scientists put their consciousness into genetically engineered Na’vi bodies (Avatars) to peacefully learn about the creatures. The marines use mech suits to blow them away.
Audiences were wowed when they saw the space military machinery. For many it felt like a throwback to the space age machinery we all loved in ‘Aliens’. The Na’vi, on the other hand, were just a little… cartoony.

Some people have taken the Avatar animation rip-off allegations very seriously. Heated discussions continue in forums where fans insist that Avatar stole its plot from this year’s ‘The Battle for Terra’ (or ‘Terra’ as it was originally titled). Avatar was even threatened with a lawsuit form the makers of ‘Delgo’, the animated film that now holds the honor of having the worst opening for a film released in over 2000 theatres.

Now, does the Spill crew think James Cameron would stoop so low as to steal the ideas from lesser known animated films, only to re-package them in shiny new CG technology and make a billion more dollars? Not really. But it does amuse us to think about some of the other cartoons and movies that may have served as his muse.


AVA! AVA!! AVATAR!!! HOOOOOOOO!!!!

What child of the eighties didn’t look at the feline faces of the Na’vi and immediately think “THUNDER… THUNDER… THUNDERCATS! HOOOOOOOO!” Comparisons are inevitable. Both Avatar and Thundercats center on a race of human and cat hybrids. Admittedly the story of the Thundercats is, for lack of a better word, dumb (seriously, read the plot summary on Wikipedia) but fans never watched the show for thought provoking narratives. We watched because the characters looked kick ass. We loved watching the muscular Lion-O, even with his glam rock red mane, wave around the Sword of Omens as he fought off the evil advances of Mum-Ra and his mutant minions. And what 10 year-old-boy, who at school earlier that day declared girls ‘yucky’, went home and secretly lusted for Cheetara? Sure she had a cat face, but damn, she had legs!


So Thundercats comparisons aren’t a bad thing, right? Not when you consider that the 2-D cartoon characters from 1985 look tougher than their 2009 contemporary CG counterparts. Not only does Avatar remind us of a Rankin-Bass cartoon (the company that brought us Thundercats and the 1964 animated classic ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’) , they also look softer than the characters in that cartoon. While we can picture Lion-O out there bashing mutant skulls, the Na’vi, with their large moist eyes, long skinny arms, and hippie jewelry, look like they should be passing a reefer around in a drum circle. Kumbaya, my lord…Kumbaya.


YOU GOTTA BE SMURFIN’ KIDDING ME

Perhaps the image that elicited the most reaction form audiences is the color of the Na’vi. They're not just blue - they're fluorescent blue. As in glowing, nuclear waste, Aim toothpaste, Gatorade with electrolytes, Aqua Velva blue. If this color were a crayon it would be labeled 'f--king blue’. Not exactly the warriors we expect to see on a distant planet, defending their turf from bad ass space marines.

Let's be fair, though, this is a race from another world. Why shouldn't they be blue? Well, for one, some say it doesn't mesh well with the machinery and realistic grittiness of the soldiers. Maybe if they were given a more natural palette the contrast between the military and the Na’vi wouldn’t be so jarring. Flesh colored skin or even brown and gray fur would add to the illusion of realism. Hey, say what you will about the Ewoks, but those stealthy sonsa-bitches did blend well with their environment.

In the end it is all about writing, and if it’s a captivating story we will, as many a liberal hipster college student might say “not notice color at all. They’re just cool people, man.” For others, they insists we’ll see the Na’vi skipping along hand in hand to battle while boldly singing their war cry. "La la lalalalaaaa... la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..."




DON’T JUDGE A CAT BY ITS COLOR

Let’s face it, most of the keyboard jockeys out there with serious apprehensions towards Avatar are mostly going by one thing – a trailer. Sure, comparing notes between Smurfs and Pandorians are good for a few laughs, but, at the risk of sounding like the Martin Luther King, Jr. of blue cat people, is it right to decide a movie’s failure based on the pigment of its creatures skin? And so what if movies share similar themes or plot? Is Akira Kurosawa going to rise from the grave and finally sue George Lucas for being inspired by ‘The Hidden Fortress’ to make ‘Star Wars’? After all, word of mouth on Avatar has been good.

Even the Spill Crew has seen an early screening, and if it helps the argument about reserving judgment until seeing the film, all we can say is… aw, shucks. We can’t say anything until the release date (it’s awesome!).

Oops. Did we say that?

- Korey, illustrations by Leon