‘Avatar’ goes to China, tries to claim a mountain

by Jeffery Racheff

There has never been another film like Avatar. Both technologically and cinematically, James Cameron’s epic about blue warrior cat-people from outer space has set a new standard for film-making — recently it surpassed Titanic (another Cameron flick) to become the highest-grossing film of all time, with a world-wide total of over $2 billion.

A large part of that revenue came from China, where, with $100 million in box office receipts, it is officially the most successful film ever shown in the country. The Chinese love the world of Pandora so much that the film’s run was even granted an extension by the government, which usually only gives 10 days to foreign films out of fears they will butt out domestic fare.

Then, just last week, a mountain called “Southern Sky Column” (said to be the inspiration for the film’s floating “Hallelujah Mountains”) in the country’s southern Hunan province was formally renamed “Avatar Hallelujah Mountain.” Fans are reportedly already lined up to take the tour, where for a few hundred dollars you too can venture to the craggy peaks that were once potentially graced by the presence of a Hollywood photographer.

But don’t book your tickets yet. Though the ceremony was reported by a government website, Chinese officials have now claimed no such naming took place. Critics charged that Zhangjiajie (the town) had been influenced by greed and was grovelling to popular Western culture. So the name was undone, leaving the city to find other ways to bring in tourists.

This also comes as terrible news to Na’vi nuts the world over. Many fans of Avatar have admitted depression over the dream of such a world being intangible. Seriously. So it appears China’s PR machine  may be missing an opportunity here by not allowing Post-Pandora-Depression sufferers a place to heal.

Then again, many believe this would have just been a tasteless ploy to make money. Which would of course be totally inappropriate, you know, because Avatar was created to spread a message of peace and nature and love, not to make people learn how to book hotels in Mandarin.

Whatever they decide to call the mountain, you’re probably better off coming to terms with the fact that Pandora does not exist here on Earth. And if you’re still tempted to fly around the world in search of it, I recommend just going to the theaters again instead. The tickets are practically the same price.