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Pandora: The World of Avatar Announcement, Construction, & Preview Discussion

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AliciaStella said:
Something to remember is... the Na'vi are not people... they are aliens on a distant moon. The actors actually went through training to learn how to walk and move not like a human in the film. The Na'vi barely understand where the "sky people" come from when the film starts. They are represented more as aliens than people. But they are also creatures that respect and love the land. They use everything they have. They convert leaves into bowls, plants into tools, and why not use leftover machines to their advantage as well? These aliens do not have the same hangups that humans have (they have different ones unique to them.) They have respect for the land, and these relics from the old battle are now part of the land. Look at the downed helicopter covered in vines and moss. It's now beautiful and looks just as part of the landscape as any of the rocks or plants around it.

Now, having said all that, Pongu Pongu is actually run by a human. According to the land's backstory, he took an expedition from ACE years ago and loved it so much he came back, never left, and opened a tiki bar. This of course is a human that had no first hand account of the battle between humans and Na'vi. He just fell in love with the land and the culture and decided he wanted to stay, and now he makes his living selling refreshments to new visitors. So, it's not about the locals opening up a food window and appropriating the leftover military hardware, it's about a human doing that. He enjoys the Na'vi culture so he dresses the mech suit in Na'vi braids. He makes arts and crafts and builds the animals he sees on Pandora out of leftover junk that he finds in the old munitions bunker. He's a weird guy.

But more importantly, he's also fictional.

Below is Joe Rohde's explanation of tiki bars and narrative placemaking in a theme park land from Instagram. He grew up in Hawaii:

Narrative placemaking is not a "push" form of storytelling. You are not forced to look in any particular direction, pay attention to any particular character, or place yourself in any particular place. Instead you are free to look at anything you please, and think whatever you choose to think about it. However, whatever is there to be seen should be filled with meaningful detail, so that if you do look, and you do think about what you see, there is story, emotion, and philosophy to be absorbed. Not very different than the real world. The tiny Pongu-Pongu tiki-style walk-up bar on Pandora is such a place. Because I grew up in Hawaii, I remember tiki bars that were not retro… they were sincere. They were made by vets who had returned from World War II in the South Pacific, which ended only 10 years before I was born. The idea of people returning to peace, of taking the trash of conflict and up-cycling it into something that will be used for celebration, friendship, and fun is poignant and meaningful. The idea of the power of a creative soul to recover beauty out of destruction is important. Or. It's a great place for a tasty colorful drink. And that is true too. Only depends on how closely you look.​
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Thank you for the backstory. I'm not on board with the explanation especially because we all know Avatar represents Europeans coming to America and doing disrespectful crap to the locals for a buck, I'm, aware of the history of my ancestors.
To say the Na'vi are just aliens who don't understand is silly. The humans are the aliens, not the Na'vi. And although they didn't understand how they get there they understand they destroy their secret places and killing a ton of Na'vi's while making a buck.

The whole backstory is told badly if you need to read up on it. It's like Disney Springs all over again. First there was a spring, then people builded a village, then the Disney company came, kicked the people out and put restaurants and shops in there. Why bother making a story if it's that silly (and not in a funny way).

Then the other thing that I'm wondering what the back story is. On Pandora humans can't breath. But (I guess) this valley has a plant that produces air so it's breathable there. The Na'vi will die in that deadly gas (nasty plant) so that's why we don't see them, except in the boat ride where we all breath the same air.
Also, don't the other plants who are in the valley, need the (for us aliens) toxic air to survive?
 
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tielo said:
Thank you for the backstory. I'm not on board with the explanation especially because we all know Avatar represents Europeans coming to America and doing disrespectful crap to the locals for a buck, I'm, aware of the history of my ancestors.
To say the Na'vi are just aliens who don't understand is silly. The humans are the aliens, not the Na'vi. And although they didn't understand how they get there they understand they destroy their secret places and killing a ton of Na'vi's while making a buck.

The whole backstory is told badly if you need to read up on it. It's like Disney Springs all over again. First there was a spring, then people builded a village, then the Disney company came, kicked the people out and put restaurants and shops in there. Why bother making a story if it's that silly (and not in a funny way).

Then the other thing that I'm wondering what the back story is. On Pandora humans can't breath. But (I guess) this valley has a plant that produces air so it's breathable there. The Na'vi will die in that deadly gas (nasty plant) so that's why we don't see them, except in the boat ride where we all breath the same air.
Also, don't the other plants who are in the valley, need the (for us aliens) toxic air to survive?
Click to expand...

And why again are they letting Muggles into Hogwarts and Diagon? If you can't have a suspension of disbelief in a theme park, you aren't going to enjoy any of it.
 
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fryoj said:
And why again are they letting Muggles into Hogwarts and Diagon? If you can't have a suspension of disbelief in a theme park, you aren't going to enjoy any of it.
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There are in story explanations stated in FJ for muggles in Hogsmeade. In Diagon I believe they drop the pretense and act like everyone is a witch/wizard.

fryoj said:
No, she is a witch.
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Her parents are muggles and visit Diagon with her. I also believe squibs can visit Diagon.


Anyway back onto Pandora please. :)
 
Teebin said:
I can't stand Joe Rhode. He is a lookin-article and overly verbose in his hype. On camera, he speaks as though he was addressing a 4 year old.

Teebin rant 67E...
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I am amazed he is almost the same age as I am, I think the only thing I can boast about is being able to out drink him :doh::died::curse: My life is what I made it.
 
tielo said:
Thank you for the backstory. I'm not on board with the explanation especially because we all know Avatar represents Europeans coming to America and doing disrespectful crap to the locals for a buck, I'm, aware of the history of my ancestors.
To say the Na'vi are just aliens who don't understand is silly. The humans are the aliens, not the Na'vi. And although they didn't understand how they get there they understand they destroy their secret places and killing a ton of Na'vi's while making a buck.

The whole backstory is told badly if you need to read up on it. It's like Disney Springs all over again. First there was a spring, then people builded a village, then the Disney company came, kicked the people out and put restaurants and shops in there. Why bother making a story if it's that silly (and not in a funny way).

Then the other thing that I'm wondering what the back story is. On Pandora humans can't breath. But (I guess) this valley has a plant that produces air so it's breathable there. The Na'vi will die in that deadly gas (nasty plant) so that's why we don't see them, except in the boat ride where we all breath the same air.
Also, don't the other plants who are in the valley, need the (for us aliens) toxic air to survive?
Click to expand...

The "story" of this land is only there if you research it online and watch Disney's promotional videos. There's hardly any ACE presence until you queue up and even then it's minimal until the preshow. Absolutely makes no sense unless you know what they're going for in advance.
 
Teebin said:
I can't stand Joe Rhode. He is a lookin-article and overly verbose in his hype. On camera, he speaks as though he was addressing a 4 year old.

Teebin rant 67E...
Click to expand...

The under-reported story is that Flight of Passage is a classic Rohde ride - a detailed queue with a ride at the end that doesn't measure up. (I'll make an exception for Safari, but the point holds for Kali, Everest, Dinosaur, etc)
 
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Joe said:
There are in story explanations stated in FJ for muggles in Hogsmeade. In Diagon I believe they drop the pretense and act like everyone is a witch/wizard.



Her parents are muggles and visit Diagon with her. I also believe squibs can visit Diagon.


Anyway back onto Pandora please. :)
Click to expand...
How can muggles see dementors then?
 
The truth with Diagon and Uni is that there isn't one true answer. Entertainment TM's (Conductors at Knight Bus and Hogwarts Express, Tales, Celestina) are told vehemently that EVERY guest is a wizard/witch unless they explicitly say otherwise, and their scripting reflects that. In Orlando, though, FJ attendants call guests muggles, but in Hollywood, they're called students. Dumbledore seems to imply that we're muggles, but as someone mentioned, we can't see dementors if we are.

In Diagon, everyone's a wizard/witch per the ability to buy a wand and the fact that Bellatrix calls us Muggle-borns, but front-of-line cast at Gringotts calls us muggles, even as we go to "open an account". Mileage varies depending on which shop you go into in the rest of Diagon.
 
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