As we step on earth, our connections grow deeper making us one with the whole universe.
First of all, as we do this, we must recognize that we are earthlings and citizens second. Our perceptions of the world, the way we behave are colored by the fact that we live on earth. We cannot divorce ourselves from the fact that we are rooted to this planet and nowhere else can we live for years and years except here. Even if another planet is found to be good for human habitation, it would still take ages before anyone could ever go there and live in the same way they have been living here on earth.
Hence this is the primary reason for the environmental movement’s global directions. What is happening in one country cannot be divorced from all occurrences in any other part of the globe. When Mount Pinatubo blew its top in 1991, we were all shattered, shocked at the white pollution it brought on our yards. The great difficulty in breathing caused by its dust after that made us realize that Mother Earth cannot be taken for granted at all.
Our shock went more haywire upon learning that the ashes of Mt. Pinatubo traveled around the world making the chicken crow earlier, as they must have thought that the dull light due to the dust covering the sun meant a new dawn.
And so the value of caring for the earth, the forest, trees, has become embedded in our consciousness now and we decry the neglect, the aggression of mining companies against virgin and fertile lands that bear food crops especially. We despise the iniquitous transformation of agricultural lands to leisure strips that would cater to the affluent and divest the people of their source of agricultural livelihood projects that they have been working on for decades as well as deprive our people of sources of food.
This much Avatar the film works on as it shows the different clashes in society: the greed of corporate pharmaceutical companies versus the need of the natives to preserve, protect and honor their ancestral lands; the aggressiveness of the military versus the gentle people whose needs are so simple and real; the materialism in the developed versus the spiritualism of the aboriginal worlds.
The film is an epic depicting the many facets of problems that beset our planet earth but which center mainly on human greed. Cameron, the writer and director truly has a big mind that can tackle the themes not only intellectually but also audio-visually. It actually takes a different kind of perspective to be able to show those ideas to large groups of audiences, of people and to persuade them to side by that standpoint of preserving Mother Earth against all forms of materialistic incursions.
I just have one comment about the acting. Jake should have been played by an actor who could be strong despite the handicap, but romantic towards the blue Navi lady. (Ewan MacGregor would have been perfect for the role.) Frankly speaking, I did not get goosepimples at all when they were making love. Now you know how I measure a good film: if it makes my hair stand on end, or makes me googoo-eyed over the hero.
Incidentally, I remember having written 3 puppet plays way back in 1994 and presenting them at the Luneta Park on my mother Esperanza’s birthday. I was celebrating her day and also starting a life of being a puppeteer for many years afterwards. The piece de resistance of the presentation was “Si Nadeeya at ang Ibong Adarna.” Nadeeya is the name that stood for the diwata (mountain goddess) who in our legends was Mariang Makiling. She protects the forest and has a companion bird which she rides as she watches over the forest and the surrounding towns.
The story. One day, a group of speculator-developers comes to take the forest, to mine it and conduct logging activities. Nadeeya together with the townspeople prevent them from continuing with their evil plans. She unleashes natural insects and animals to drive away the invaders. In the end, she and the townspeople triumph over the invaders. They resolve never to allow any other incursions into their land.
In a very simple way, the children and adults enjoyed the story which presented something unique at that time – the environmental message through a puppet show. My puppeteers included my children Eugene, Dadai or Nadezhda, and my niece, Patricia, among others.
Actually, I was inspired by the fairytale Thumbelina in creating Nadeeya, and the problem in our lot in Antipolo mountains which was encircled by a land developer to make way for a golf course, the Forest Hills. It was very painful for me to have seen huge tracts of land being bulldozed and mango trees and other plants felled down in that place. The place was agricultural – with a rolling terrain – and was illegally flattened for conversion into a golf course. A Supreme Court decision has declared the conversion illegal and the company has been told to stop its operations. But until now the golf course with foreigners frequenting it continues to cater to their leisure demands.
How far have artists’ imagination affected the directions of the environmental movements? Not much, I should say. Maybe we will reach the third millennium and see planet Earth as it used to be in museums. Meanwhile we would be living in glass houses – with oxygen contained in them for us to breathe in as the outside world has become barren, the trees and plants giving oxygen having grown extinct.
God forbid!
A Tattered Life," painting by Emma S. Orozco hanging at the College of Social Work and Community Development, UP Diliman. Quezon City
No comments:
Post a Comment