The Performances of the Actors

[Sngä'i Tìrey-yä]

Cameron confirmed though that the sequels would be following Jake and Neytiri though, so unless they moved to a different clan (unlikely as it seems as though Jake has become clan leader of the Omaticaya) it'll be about the same tribe.

When/where did he confirm that? Do you have a link?

I don't remember where I read it, but I'll try finding it. I know I'm not making this up (not that crazy yet).

Source will be posted when found.

[Sngä'i Tìrey-yä]

Cameron confirmed though that the sequels would be following Jake and Neytiri though, so unless they moved to a different clan (unlikely as it seems as though Jake has become clan leader of the Omaticaya) it'll be about the same tribe.

When/where did he confirm that? Do you have a link?

Found it!! Third paragraph down~

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1628605/story.jhtml

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

I loved the casting of the movie. Some people believe that the movie is racist because almost all Na'vi are played by black people. The main reason behind that is that different races have different vocal qualities, don't pretend like it doesn't exist.

[Txepa-utral Atxkxe]

I loved the casting of the movie. Some people believe that the movie is racist because almost all Na'vi are played by black people. The main reason behind that is that different races have different vocal qualities, don't pretend like it doesn't exist.

I LOVE YOU! Someone with sense! I really drive me bananas when people say this movie is racist...vocal quality, and frankly, face structure. The Na'vi have a really awesome quality that few other races have. Shouldn't that be a compliment if anything, seeing as they're the sympathetic ones? And who kills the big bad? Neytiri. Whose actor is non-white.

Not that is should matter at all. 

[Txontaw]

I think that all of the Na'vi and Avatar actors are just that; actual actors (and actresses, if you want to get technical). They had to act out everything. Like Cameron said in one of his interviews, they were basically in a play, with hardly having any props and having to create a world out of it. They did a splendid job.

[Sngä'i Tìrey-yä]

I loved the casting of the movie. Some people believe that the movie is racist because almost all Na'vi are played by black people. The main reason behind that is that different races have different vocal qualities, don't pretend like it doesn't exist.

orz

You, my friend, have earned a round of applause. Those individuals spouting 'racism' clearly aren't forward thinking enough to look past outdated ideas of inequality and realize that each race has distinct differences which can be used to enhance music, movies, and other media.

[Txontaw]

I loved the casting of the movie. Some people believe that the movie is racist because almost all Na'vi are played by black people. The main reason behind that is that different races have different vocal qualities, don't pretend like it doesn't exist.

orz

You, my friend, have earned a round of applause. Those individuals spouting 'racism' clearly aren't forward thinking enough to look past outdated ideas of inequality and realize that each race has distinct differences which can be used to enhance music, movies, and other media.

I know, seriously. I don't see how anyone but the real lunatics can say that this film is racist, because of incredibly obvious reasons. #1) The director's white. Hello?

#2)The only way they can really get a good "tribal" tint to their English is by getting black people. It's not racist, it's the truth. How many white people do you know who can do a good accent like that? I thought not.

[Txantslusama tsamsiyu]

What do you guys think of Stephen Lang a.k.a. Quaritch performance in this movie and others. I did some research and found out he was in Public Enemies, Gods and Generals, and others. I liked his performance in all those movies including avatar. He is bad ass . In public enemies he plays as the guy from Texas. In history his character killed John Dillinger. In Gods and Generals, he played as Stonewall Jackson. It was a pretty long movie, but otherwise good.

[Txontaw]

I thought he was very well done. I think he was one of the few people who actually had to wear make up in that movie, if you discount the dots on the faces of the Na'vi actors.

Also, he just doesn't sound like a Stephen Lang to me. Stephen Lang (no offense to any other Stephen Langs out there) sounds more like someone not buff or with his accent. Good thing the character wasn't named Stephen Lang.

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

One quick thing to Txontaw, I have the exact same quote in my signature but translated just telling you in case you wanted to know it. Kiyevame

[Txontaw]

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

Although translating the vrrtepri plltxeaÿ ayngaru (I'm sure I butchered that horribly, could you please show me the correct way to say 'demon's speech to everyone'?) is kind of pointless, I admire your Na'vi skill.

[Nìwotxkrr Tìyawn]

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

Although translating the vrrtepri plltxeaÿ ayngaru (I'm sure I butchered that horribly, could you please show me the correct way to say 'demon's speech to everyone'?) is kind of pointless, I admire your Na'vi skill.

I actually couldn't find anything wrong with it, although I'm not perfect, you should wait for another opinion.

[Tsamsteu]

Thanks, I'll take a look at it.

Although translating the vrrtepri plltxeaÿ ayngaru (I'm sure I butchered that horribly, could you please show me the correct way to say 'demon's speech to everyone'?) is kind of pointless, I admire your Na'vi skill.

demon's speech would most likely be:

sä-plltxe vrrtepri-yä

Speaking   (of) Demon's -------> demon's speech

essentially, you put the genetive (possessive -yä) on the wrong part, the verb, when it shouldve been on the noun; also, the sä- is an instrumental noun deriving infix..hence it changes speak (plltxe) to speaking, or speech....i believe..

[Txontaw]

Ah, I haven't gotten to the sä- prefix yet. Thanks for the help, anyway

[omängum fra'uti]

I have to say, I am impressed by... Giovanni Ribisi. Seriously. Parker Selfridge comes across as a man who truly does not understand why what he is doing as wrong. He honestly doesn't seem to realize what is going on; he is not so much "evil" as he is just seriously ignorant.

And the thing is, that role could, very easily, have been turned into a moustache-twirling caricature of a villain, making a mockery of the whole thing. Selfridge is a guy doing what he thinks is the best job he can to help Earth and make money, and do so in a "decent" way, or so he thinks. He is a man trappe din his own limitations, but doesn't get turned into some mouth-breathing, cackling cardboard cutout bad-guy saying "kill them all, heehee!". The disaster potential with that role was huge.

Ribisi did a great job with him, portraying the unintentional evil but balancing it with the character's motivations and making it easy to understand why Selfridge thinks he's being "reasonable".

The moustache-twirling caricature of a villian role was already filled by Quaritch, so he had to go with something else.

That said...  I completely agree.  Having worked in the corporate world, I saw in Selfridge the stereotypical middle management persona, who is there because he can deal with people, but doesn't really understand the full ramifications of it all.  Kind of like a non-caricatured version of the pointy haired boss from Dilbert, in a way.  His decisions were based on what he believed to be in the best interest, but he lacks the front line experience to know what it all really means.

And as corny as some of the lines were...  Selfridge came off as very believable...  I swear I saw in him some of the people I have worked for in the past.

[Hawnuyu atìtse'a]

Selfridge was also one of the more passive-aggressive characters, he could have wreaked havoc if he wanted, but his lack of action did more damage. Very impressive. I do think Quaritch was more impressive though.

Quaritch initially didn't strike me as a bad guy, he seemed very dedicated as opposed to the "hired guns" and had an aura of leadership around him. It was Jake throwing his recon assignment in his face that motivated Quaritch to go after him. After all, Jake had led Quaritch to trust him. This transition was one of the best and most believable I've seen to date. Kudos, Stephen Lang.

[Txepa-utral Atxkxe]

Selfridge was also one of the more passive-aggressive characters, he could have wreaked havoc if he wanted, but his lack of action did more damage. Very impressive. I do think Quaritch was more impressive though.

Quaritch initially didn't strike me as a bad guy, he seemed very dedicated as opposed to the "hired guns" and had an aura of leadership around him. It was Jake throwing his recon assignment in his face that motivated Quaritch to go after him. After all, Jake had led Quaritch to trust him. This transition was one of the best and most believable I've seen to date. Kudos, Stephen Lang.

Nice that someone recognizes that Jake really WAS a traitor--as much as it may have been justified, but that's depending on point of view and such. But Stephen Lang was awesome. Quaritch could have been played SOOO horrendously, and with three huge scars on his face, it made him look so obviously evil that it would have been difficult to take seriously had the part been played with less care and effort.

[omängum fra'uti]

**Warning** **Warning**
Wall of text inc!  Masks on!
**Warning** **Warning**

Jake's position is a little more complex than just traitor...

He was there for what was initially a science position, but since he had none of the science training of his brother, he was assigned as protection.

Then it gets a little fuzzy...  He's part of the Avatar program, which is Grace's department, so technically that's where he reports...  But as protection he's also part of security, which falls squarely in Quaritch's camp...  Being a marine and not a scientist, he feels more of a connection to Quaritch, so that feels more "right" to him, and he falls in line with the orders.

So he originally betrayed the scientists by reporting to Quaritch, even if it was very transparent and they all knew it was happening.

But wait, there's more!  Selfridge is in charge of the entire operation, so Grace and Quaritch fall under him, and he was the one who assigned Jake to Grace's team...  And while they don't say it, he was probably also the one that directed Quaritch's side job for Jake, though possibly only in a passive role of listening to Quaritch give an idea and approving it.

So now he's torn between doing what he's supposed to be doing, and... doing what he's supposed to be doing.

If he had just stayed as security escort, it would have probably been as Quaritch said, a whole lot simpler.  But then through his restlessness surrounded by the unknown, his childish behavior landed him in a spot where his role changed.

Now instead of the double life, he was playing a triple life.  And both the sides of his previous double life approved of the triple life; Grace because it gave the scientists an "in" back into the Omitakaya, and Quaritch because it gave him inside intel that would have otherwise been difficult or impossible to get.  In his leading the triple life, he starts to become confused...  He starts to forget who he is, and get lost in who he is being.  As he says in his log, he feels like his Na'vi life is the real one, and the other a dream.

So when the excrement hit the air agitation device, his hand was forced.  Of course Quaritch was planning there to be an attack all along.  Selfridge was prepared for it, though he didn't really understand the full implications of that.  The scientists were of course opposed to the plan and wanted to stop it, even if they knew they were powerless, but they had an outsider point of view.  Jake, on the other hand, was in deep with the Omitakaya at that point, and they were of course opposed from a much closer to home point of view.

No matter what Jake did, at that point, he would be a traitor to at least one of his three lives.  By that time, even after just three months, he was in deep with the clan, and spending nearly every waking hour in his avatar.  But not only in his avatar, but in his avatar in a completely different life.  This is in stark contrast to Grace and Norm.  To them, the avatar was just an extension of themselves; they continued to be the same person, just 9 feet tall and blue.  But Jake was somebody else.  And he played that role lone enough he started to believe it.

So he was a traitor.  He was using a position given to him against those who gave it to him.  He was, as they say, biting the hand that feeds him.  But, he probably didn't see it that way.  By that point, his mindset was that he WAS Omitakaya.  He spent so long going through the motions that he became them, so when Quaritch asked him how it felt to betray his own race...  He probably didn't feel like he was; in his mind he was being loyal to his clan and leading them to drive off the invaders.  His final log paints this pretty clearly.  He doesn't refer to the RDA folk as "the humans" or "the RDA" or anything like that.  To him at that point, they are just aliens who invaded the planet.

Of course the catalyst in all this is Neytiri.  On the surface, just a piece of blue tail for him to chase, but deeper than that, it was someone for him to connect with the clan.  Someone who, in the end, made him feel like he belonged (Even if he didn't notice how patronizing she was being by that point).  If she hadn't become so close and connected with him, he would never have gotten "lost in the woods", tail or no.

[Txontaw]

Well, it all turned out all right in the end, no?

[Roiki]

I swear I saw in him some of the people I have worked for in the past.

Indeed he reminds me of a certain upper boss i've met while working, with the golfing and all that.

In one interview Ribisi described his character as having "ledger fever", being obsessed about achieving good results no matter the cost. After all, if he didn't pull through it most likely meant the end of his career.