It has often been suggested that everything ever written boiles down to seven plots, they are: the quest, rags to riches, overcoming the monster, voyage and return, comedy, tragedy, rebirth. It is with this in mind it is no surprise that Avatar left me with a feeling that I had seen it before.
A young man travels to an alien planet.
The planet is very rich in a valuable substance that is mined/harvested.
Before long he is living with the natives where he falls in love with one of them.
The natives travel by riding on the back of the planets creatures, this is also a rite of passage for young men.
The young man soon rises to lead the natives in an attach against their oppressors culminating in a one on one fight.
Both films have quasi religious undertones. Although not exactly the same, there are lots of similarities between James Cameron’s new epic and David Lynch’s underrated adaptation of Frank Herbert’s novel. One thing that is very different, the revenue. Avatar took $73million in its first weekend. Dunes gross revenue on general release was just $30million, ot 75% of its budget.
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Interesting comparison. I hadn’t thought about it that way… I am very excited for the new Dune remake coming out next year!
Why, oh why are they making yet Another Dune remake? Wasn’t one disappointment enough? Even IF the new “Dune” film is better than the original or the Sci-Fi channel remake, it still has the Sci-Fi channel fart cloud to clear out of it’s way to make people realize the new one is going to be far FAR better and closer to the original book than anything so far.
On another note- I truly wish hollyweed would look at Isaac Asimov’s “Foundation” and make a film (or trilogy?) out of it. That would ROCK!
Hmmm, you are right – the only difference is that despite many faults Dune remains interesting.
I just got back from Avatar and jotted down my thoughts on how Avatar reminded me of Dune.
>A powerful corporation exploits a foreign planet for a precious commodity: Unobtainium = spice
>Employs a mercenary force to subdue the natives: Marines = Sardukar
>An outsider with special abilities is alienated from the oppressors and becomes accepted as member of an fierce, indigenous society who have a religious connection to the planet: Navi = Fremen
>He learns to ride a dangerous animal as a right of manhood: Banshees = sandworms.
>He falls in love with a native.
>He attains a mystical leadership status.
>The indigenous society conquers the technological invaders by using their intimate knowlege of the natural environment against them.
>The knives the Navi carry look like the description of crysknives.
>Could the ducted fan helicopters be ornithopters?
Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Avatar movie. The movie that David Lynch made from Dune had an interesting artistic theme but was just so wierd. And it RAINED at the end. OH COME ON!!!
I heard James Cameron say this was the movie he wished someone had made when he was a kid. Well, I think he did a wonderful job. I just wonder if he made the movie that Dune should have been.
The one thing that you might have mentioned (as well as the author of the post we’re discussing) is the fact that our leading guy in Avatar doesn’t have any supernatural abilities at all. Rather it’s his Disabilities and Disadvantages (paraplegic and not well-schooled) that make him the ideal person to learn the Na’vi from the inside and become one of them. He knew he was as bright as a 15 watt bulb, he was just there to prove to himself that he could still be a soldier and not just a cripple, to use the same term Sigouney’s character used.
But every other point is absolutely spot-on. I think hollywood has just about run out of original stories to tell and all is left is to make films based on TV shows and remake older films like Steve Martin has been doing so well for so long now.
avatar TOTALLY smacks of dune.
the following elements in dune are also part of avatar.
dune prominently features mining interests done in a foreign if not hostile environment, prophecies/signs that are interpreted by the native(s), trials to gain acceptance and learn the ways of the natives, a rite of passage for the protagonist (which includes an untamed and dangerous animal/beast), love is thrown into the mix, to the very ending.. well i don’t want to say without giving away the ending (well don’t read this sentence and stop here but as a hint.. think the color of paul’s eyes as the story progresses)
having read dune before seeing avatar, the plot wasn’t as interesting as it could have been, because it wasn’t too hard to guess how things would turn out
hey and look up poccahonis (spelling oops) SAME THING!!
fall in love with the native, tree of life vs the willow lady, bf gets jealous and tried to kill him….yadda yadda on and on 🙂