Eco-responsibility and blockbuster: Can Avatar 2 become an example?
How does a movie highlighting the need of environment protection can be taken seriously, knowing that the whole cinematographic industry is worth several Gigatons of CO2 ?
Let’s remember: Avatar 1 introduced us to the Na’vis, people of the planet Pandora and living in symbiosis with their environment. This harmony will then be disrupted by the invasion of the planet by the Humans, seeking to exploit a mineral that could solve the energy crisis of the Earth: the unobtanium.
The stage was set, and we quickly understood the director’s point of view: an obvious parallel with the current situation on Earth, even more so today, 13 years after the first screening.
Currently, humanity does not hesitate: destruction of ecosystems, disappearance of endemic species, etc.. This is also happening in France and its islands, as in New Caledonia for example.
On this South Pacific island, which has more than 80% endemic wilderness (i.e. that exists nowhere else in the world), industries are exploiting the soil to extract nickel — a natural component that is essential for making… batteries or solar panels!
With Avatar 2: The Way of the Water, James Cameron puts the spotlight on the exodus: fleeing to protect oneself from others. A new parallel with our Earth? For sure! Due to human activity, many animal species have to migrate to find a new place, and sometimes even one that is hostile to them !
Although both films have their own identity, they both openly denounce the damage caused to our planet by human activity.
But did James Cameron make his films following their ecological morals? Did he follow energy saving and eco-responsibility rules on the set? And overall, what is the environmental impact of these blockbusters?
In reality, are the members of the production team part of the Humans, or the Na’vis?
Another Na’vi-pocrite with the environment protection?
To begin with, the main filming and producing studio (Manhattan Beach) was completely equipped with solar panels. Good point here, as it was profitable no only for Avatar’s production, but also to each and every new production to come.
These panels were installed 10 years ago, right after the success of Avatar 1. A the time, James Cameron’s team received a lot of criticism concerning the lack of consideration concerning the environmental impact of such a movie. The director chose to change this part before producing Avatar 2, by trying to be coherent with the message shared by his movie.
Another good point: all the meats given to the teams in the studios were 100 % vegan. James reunited all of his 130 coworkers and declared “We have to walk the walk. We have to live our lives, as the people working on this film, consistent with the message of the films. »
So, we’re all going to eat vegan on this production. One can also precise that James Cameron uses (for several productions now) drones instead of helicopters to film aerials scenes. Quite ingenious to reduce one’s carbon emissions!
Avatar’s promotion: a bar set at the bottom of the abyss Noting what was previously said, we cannot denied that James Cameron tried to appear «less terrible» than a common production. However, can we keep this statement for the entire movie,
including everything outside of the production itself?
The promotion of the film, a peak greater than the abyss !
Of course, we saw that Manhattan Beach is equipped with solar panels. But it also houses an artificial pond, created precisely for the film: 36 meters long (118 feet), 18m deep (59feet) and 9m high (30feet). Was it really necessary to build such a thing Isn’t there another pond in Hollywood that could have been used for this set? Why not those made for Titanic, for example?
Moreover, the project has been planned for more than 10 years. Some softwares have been developed especially for this film. It was entirely filmed with 3D cameras, in relief and at high frequency (HDR), therefore at 48 frames per second (instead of the usual 24).
This represents more than double the impact of a traditional production in terms of storage and data consumption.
In the end, a monstrous amount of data, images and videos were generated, stored and processed. All are the direct cause of CO2 emissions. Such pleasure for the eyes, such pain for the planet!
Finally, if one had to remember a single event linked to Avatar 2, it would be that dolphin’s show, which took place in an amusement park exploiting animals during the movie’s promotion in Japan. As mentioned by the french association « C’est Assez » on Twitter :
« How could Avatar’s campaign team gave his agreement to promote the movie at the
Aqua Park Shinagawa, Japan — a country sadly reknown for his captures and annual
cetacean slaughters ? »
So ? Is this movie #Graou or not #Graou ?
It’s really hard to call an American blockbuster green, and Avatar2: The Way of the Water does not abrogate this fact. However, you can’t blame James Cameron for not proving to the world that it’s possible to do a little better than the previous film. Step by step, a few tons of CO2 can be saved, and those few tons here and there might, at some point, start to make a real difference.
The obvious next step would be to think this way about the entire life cycle of a
production, from its writing to its international promotion.
#Graou4thePlanet
