A trip to the movies.

As the ending credits began to roll, my mind was occupied by an eighteenth century line of sociological thought.

The movie I had been watching was Avatar (Not the Last Airbender, it turns out) and though I managed to enjoy most of the movie- being a fan of anime means that offbeat Sci-Fi with four winged dragons and blade wielding mecha is my sort of thing on many different levels, the mainstream audience is only being introduced to this kind of thinking now that we have the graphical power to portray it in 3D- but a particular aspect of it struck me as odd, granted that this was, essentially, a modern retelling of a very old tale.

This was where the 18th century ideology comes into play. The ideology is that of the Noble Savage. This is in no way related to the name of my blog- I'll try to explain. The Noble Savage ideology was a school of thought that derived heavily from mysticism and naturalism, it basically romanticised a primitive, tribal way of life to the point that the spiritualism and culture of these people was considered a higher ideal than the materialism of the industrialised world.

It is a comforting thought, at times, to think of the world like this. If industrialism is evil, then the villager, the tribal is good. The same tribal that the early colonist called a savage was elevated to status higher than the narrow-minded colonist with the coming of the new age apologist.

You can see it working around you. In India, the situation is analogous to the repression of ancient indian culture by the british and the resurgence of nationalism after Annie Besant and her work to extoll ancient vedic culture as the true pinnacle of civilization.
I find it dangerous to think in terms of these absolutes. There are several aspects of western history that are abhorrent and repulsive- but the same is true of all cultures, including our own.

The media exaggerates the health hazards posed by cannabis, and that becomes your argument for stoning- you're a rebel with a cause now, counter-culture- free from government mind control. Hah.

There is nothing perfect enough to deify in this world, and one should always be careful when they turn to something for inspiration...and for justification.

Someone else's mistakes do not justify yours.

My issue with the movie was that it fell into this trap- and clumsily.

(Yes, I am a little harsh. I've been told not to nitpick, but when I see something that is close to my idea of greatness- I want to push it, push it till it gets there- Always looking for something to improve, refine, perfect. Several kinds of individuals get irritated by this kind of thinking- I know, sometimes I'm one of them- but I think that it stems from a kind of taken-as-a-given respect.)

The alien culture in the movie derives so much from earth cliches that it becomes hard to miss the lack of originality in this department. Strange worship and mob-chanting and irrational emotionality. It's painful to see these typically human idiosyncrasies being repeated, and then glorified, by proxy, on a moon of Jupiter half-way across the solar system. Let the Na'vi make their own mistakes and their own customs, please, and do not turn an alien race into a platform to showcase some of the worst stereotypes in human history.

I won't talk too much about the movie. I actually liked it a lot and intend to watch it once again with friends.

What happened during the rolling of the final credits would come under the purview of my interpretation of savage nobility.

That name is a reminder of the hypocrisy in this world- of those that live life hiding an sickeningly malicious psyche under a thin veil of civility. It is to remind one that the forces, the influences that act on the individual are numerous and often contradictory. Society's definitions of good and evil work within your brain alongside your own- can you separate your own beliefs from those of the herd?- or are the two so deeply entwined that you have simply become an instrument of someone else's thoughts?

I've wandered a little far.

I've been in the city for a few days now, and my days have been kept lively by interesting incidents.
My first three days in Delhi were marked by breaking into three consecutive concerts, and all of them were open admission to me anyway.
The first day involved crawling through a hole in a wire fence with a software programmer we'd just met to reach the South Asian Bands Festival at the old fort, because we could not find the entrance, which turned out to be barely 100 metres from my house, but we still ended up taking a painfully circuitous route that was a few kilometres longer. The second and third involved jumping spiked doors and scaling tin roofed huts to break into the Hindu college fest concerts without a ticket. Most people can get in with a little patience and perseverence, but I just don't get a kick without vicious spikes threating to pop my privates, apparently. The sad part is that my dad forgot to withdraw my admission to Delhi University, so technically I am still a student of Hindu, making my entry to the fest free.

The fourth day, I decided to go shopping

Fairly routine, met a friend from college had a nice chat, had some fast food... and managed to send Shiney Ahuja running in terror after witnessing what I assume must have been my formidably terrifying gaze.

I kind of feel bad, I mean he was coming towards me, I saw him, he saw me, turned around, grabbed his wife's hand and ran the other way. Am I really that scary/creepy/intimidating/lookslikepapperazzi? Ah fuck it. Sorry Shiney, I'm not really a fan, I kind of noted it as an interesting bit of Trivia, I wasn't going to scream and let the attention cravers realize that a celebrity walked amongst them.

So a movie this time. Perfectly normal movie. Well, different by typical hollywood standards (but you get what I'm trying to say.)

Except the people I had been sitting next to were up and yelling.
A gang of four or five people in my row, and about the same number from the row behind us, yelling at each other over some nasty comments made, apparently, about the movie.

Things escalated quickly as I turned away, sighing, and two men, both eager to impress upon their women, exchanged a quick flurry of blows before they decided that they preferred a verbal bout. One man, after punching another, demanded politeness- another, after starting the physical half of the altercation with a threatening swipe, puffed up his chest indignantly and asked if the other man wanted to "Take it outside."

I note that the fact that the guy was speaking in Hollywood cliches made me think that he'd never actually been in a real fight.

With a little effort, I tore my family away from the tamasha and made a beeline for the exit.

"Brawling in cinema hall after a Hollywood movie. Very classy." I muttered.

"What?" My sister asked.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the man right behind me. It was Mr. Hollywood-Cliche-I'll Yell-A-Lot-Then-Punch-You-Then-YellA-Lot-Again.

o fuk.

"What?" My sister asked, louder.

"What?!"

I kept my mouth shut.

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