Movies can be a wonderful escape from the everyday. Whether you like drama, biography, comedy, science fiction, or even horror in your movies, movies can provide us with daily inspiration, commentary, and parallels to reality. 
One of the most hyped films from 2009, Avatar, may have a close parallel to an earthly environmental disaster. Avatar has a strong environmental message for moviegoers. Some equate it to being the best recruitment film for eco-terrorism. Most religions view it as recruitment film for the establishment of a new deity Gaia, the earth mother. But, no matter which camp your thinking may fall in, environmentalists are playing off the connection between Avatar and one particular environmental disaster area – the Alberta tar sands. Fifty environmental groups launched an ad in the Dailey Variety, a show business trade publication, characterizing Alberta’s tar sands as an eco-disaster comparable to Avatar. The ad ran right before the Oscar’s award ceremony. The Alberta Group, which manages and mines the Alberta tar sands, was taken back by the allegations in the ad. They considered the similarities to be quite a stretch. Though others obviously do not, and are quick to point out the similarities in landscape and what both corporate groups are trying to mine. The movie Avatar corporate group seeks unobtanium, while the Alberta Groups seeks to squeeze oil out of tar sands. Removing oil from tar sands is a costly and difficult process. Avatar the movie does provide us with a clear environmental message, but I personally felt that it also commented on our past dealings with Native American Indians. The movie was entertaining and does what Hollywood can do best, wow the audience. I give two thumbs up to the fifty environmental groups that found an innovative use for a current cultural icon in bringing attention to an environmental issue in Canada.
Photo Courtesy: Avatar
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