Having just seen the film avatar I am perplexed. The film itself was utterly brilliant. The visuals were astounding. The acting quality was remarkable. The plot was...pretty good. What left me perplexed was nothing about the film itself, rather it was the majority of the people watching it. For almost 3 hours the 200 or so people in the cinema escaped into this other world called Pandora. There they saw beautiful jungles, breathtaking landscaped and wonderful creatures. They saw a world were life was tranquil and people mattered. They saw love, they saw joy, they saw hope and perhaps with the added 3D effects they almost believed that such a world existed. But then the world came to an end, the lights came up and they returned to reality, to hopelessness. It was just a film after all, just a made up dream created by cameras, computers and the active imagination of James Cameron to help millions upon millions of people escape the mundane grind of reality. So they stood up, they laughed away the grip the dream had had on them and walked out of the cinema back into a world with little dreams, little hopes and little love. Its just a film right?
Well, yes it is just a film. I'm not about to suggest there is a real Pandora out there, although I did see a documentary about planets in other solar systems yesterday suggesting there may be some that could support life. Apparently Alpha Centuri is the closest to Earth and this year it will be receiving radio waves carrying transmissions that Adolf Hitler made during WW2...so if there is life out there I guess it might getting a little worried about its neighbours on Earth. Anyway, yes it is just a film. But the dream is very real. What was so perplexing is that everyone of those people who saw Avatar tonight was touched by that dream. It resonated in them. It tapped into a part of them an innate hope that there is something more, greater, realer. Something that puts all our dreams, hopes and love into perspective. And yet having felt that innate hope stirring within them, they simply tossed it aside as a foolish dream. Lets return to our little dreams...maybe if I get that raise I can buy that 4000" wide-screen I've always wanted... I hope one day I will meet Mr Perfect... just one more lotto ticket this one has to work, its got all my lucky numbers! These are little dreams, little fantasies that entice the human mind but write cheques that life can't cash in on. So why follow them!? How many disappointments can one person take? Those little dreams never work out so what's the point? Its hopeless.
Unless...unless there is the remotest chance that that part of us that innate hope that points towards something bigger, something huge, something that all these escapist stories, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix and Avatar, something these point towards. Something these reflect. Something more. Then hope is back in business.
But I will remain perplexed. People live life with little dreams that never amount to anything more than momentary happiness a passing breeze in a scorching desert. For some this is enough to get from birth to death, for most they reach depression, resignation and hopelessness. Will none dare to dream big!
"To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."
-Colossians 1:27
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