Black Dot Diary

The Eter­nal Clock. Photo by Rob­bert van der Steeg, cour­tesy of Cre­ative Commons

I hate New Year’s Eve. Just think­ing about it puts me in a bad mood. All this build up just to watch the dig­i­tal clock click into a new twelve-​month cycle. All the TV sta­tions show­ing the year in review, with inane sum­maries deliv­ered by bob­ble heads. All the drunk kisses at mid­night from peo­ple you wouldn’t think of kiss­ing at any other time.

Just got back from see­ing Avatar, the lat­est movie from direc­tor James Cameron. Now, Cameron is known for the great effects and plenty of action. Think of Ter­mi­na­tor and The Abyss. I wasn’t expect­ing pro­fun­dity, but that’s what I found tonight.

On one level Avatar is typ­i­cal block­buster, super­sized with amaz­ing ani­ma­tion. But it’s sub­text is pure shamanic jour­ney, from the world tree to the rev­er­ence for the uni­ver­sal mother, to rites of pas­sage and ani­mal guides.