In India we have always worshipped the Nature. We guard the snake mound and pour milk throught it(eventhough the snake doesnot drink it). As I write now we are having Mattu Pongal(that is the cows, oxen and others are being celebrated before makarasankaranthi), we have a temple for rats, we do celebrate rain by a god called Varuna, Sun by another god called Surya. If we have seen our culture in India we have celebrated the nature, the food chain and also protected it. We did realize that we cannot survive without it. Now they same is been packaged by the movie Avatar and then Empire strikes back.

We do not need to bring religion into everything.

If people do not have food they die and where will there be followers to make a religion?.

I do not understand this critique.
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Vatican newspaper, radio say 'Avatar' simplistic, despite visual effects

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/100112/entertainment/eu_vatican_avatar

2 hours, 49 minutes ago


By Alessandra Rizzo, The Associated Press

VATICAN CITY - The Vatican newspaper and radio station have called the film \"Avatar\" simplistic and criticized it for flirting with modern doctrines that promote the worship of nature as a substitute for religion.


L'Osservatore Romano and Vatican Radio dedicated ample coverage to James Cameron's big-grossing, 3-D spectacle. But the reviews were lukewarm, calling the movie superficial in its eco-message, despite groundbreaking visual effects.


L'Osservatore said the film \"gets bogged down by a spiritualism linked to the worship of nature.\" Similarly, Vatican Radio said it \"cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium.\"


\"Nature is no longer a creation to defend but a divinity to worship,\" the radio said.


Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi said that while the movie reviews are just that - film criticism, with no theological weight - they do reflect Pope Benedict XVI's views on the dangers of turning nature into a \"new divinity.\"


Benedict has often spoken about the need to protect the environment, earning the nickname of \"green pope.\" But he has sometimes balanced that call with a warning against neo-paganism .


In a recent World Day of Peace message, the pontiff warned against any notions that equate human person and other living things. He said such notions \"open the way to a new pantheism tinged with neo-paganism, which would see the source of man's salvation in nature alone.\"


The Vatican newspaper occasionally likes to comment in its cultural pages on movies or pop culture icons, as it did recently about \"The Simpsons\" or U2. In one famous instance, several Vatican officials spoke out against \"The Da Vinci Code.\"


In this case, the reviews came out after a red carpet preview held in Rome just a stone's throw from St. Peter's Square. The movie will be released Friday in Italy.


The story of the tall blue creatures who inhabit Pandora and contend with humans intent on grabbing the resources of their planet has made over $1.1 billion at box offices worldwide. Partly boosted by higher 3-D ticket prices, \"Avatar\" looks well on its way to becoming the biggest grossing movie of all time.


\"So much stupefying, enchanting technology, but few genuine emotions,\" said L'Osservatore Romano, which devoted three articles to \"Avatar\" in its Sunday editions.


L'Osservatore Romano said the movie's plot is unoriginal and its message not new. It faulted Cameron for taking a \"bland approach.\"


\"He tells the story without going deep into it, and ends up falling into sappiness,\" it said.


Vatican Radio did say, however, that \"really never before have such surprising images been seen,\" while L'Osservatore said the movie's worth lies in its \"extraordinary visual impact.\"

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Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.

http://www.hindu.com/2010/01/12/stories/2010011256931800.htm



In China, Avatar finds unlikely resonance



Ananth Krishnan

BEIJING: The bull-dozers await at the gates. An evil corporation sends its guards, using every possible threat to move the residents from their land. But all resistance is futile. The people watch in horror, as their homes get torn down to rubble and they are forced to relocate.

This is a not-so-unfamiliar storyline in China where forced land acquisitions by influential real estate companies are rarely away from the headlines. Here, home demolitions are arguably the most controversial of social issues, and widely regarded as the biggest cause of social unrest.

This also happens to be the plotline of James Cameron’s epic blockbuster film ‘Avatar,’ which opened in China last week and has seemingly taken the country by storm.

A week on after its January 4 release, the show is set to break all records at the Chinese box-office.

Screenings in almost every cinema hall in every corner of the country are sold out. The film has already crossed the 100 million yuan ($14.7 million) mark in earnings. It is set to become the most successful ever foreign film in China, and the first to make $500 million yuan ($73.5 million).

The film’s ground-breaking 3D special effects and the publicity hype surrounding its release are no doubt the main drivers behind its wide appeal. But many film critics and bloggers have also been struck by the close resonance the film’s plotline has had for many cinema-goers here.

“China’s demolition crews must go sue Old [James] Cameron, sue him for piracy/copyright infringement!,” one blogger wrote at the website Tianya.com.

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Sunny Leone a true Canadian DESI now back in India !.