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Discussion: Character Backstories
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Brett_Smith |
Character Backstories
Mar 22 2010, 3:37 PM EDT
Let me preface this by stating that I work at a movie theater as a projectionist manager. Ever since I saw the first trailer for Avatar I was hooked. We're still playing this movie in 3D at our location and I take great care to make sure the presentation is bright, vibrant and flawless. Anyway, I've been able to see this movie numerous times and I've put a lot of thought into it as I'm sure many of you have. My thoughts today are about Corporal Lyle Wainfleet. (He's the gunner on Trudy's helicopter) I like to refer to him as the "get some guy" because that's his catch phrase. I have always wondered why Trudy was never court-marshaled for insubordination when she refused to attack Hometree. Had she been punished, she probably wouldn't have been in a position to rescue Jake, Grace, and Norm and subsequently begin the rebellion against RDA. When Trudy refuses the attack, she says very obviously to Wainfleet "I didn't sign up for this ****." Obviously, she felt comfortable enough to say that because she didn't view him as a threat. This is because he's interested in her (how could you not be?) I don't think Trudy is interested in him but she definitely uses his interest to her advantage. Here's what I think happened: She breaks away from the fleet (you can see she did have missiles loaded) She likely fired the missiles out of sight at an empty target and returned to base for whatever reason. I believe the "get some guy" covered for Trudy when she was asked why she left the fleet early.. because he indeed wanted to "get some" from Trudy. You will also notice in the end of the movie, when Trudy attacks Quarich, her missiles are empty. This would account for that discrepancy. Anyway, just thought I'd throw that idea out there and see if anyone had any thoughts on him or other characters. Do you find this valuable? |
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JoshZitovsky |
1. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 22 2010, 4:51 PM EDT
She didnt get punished because although she refused to shoot missles at home tree, they was still plenty of people still firing, and it went down anyways. So, there really was no effect played, probally why she didnt get suspended. And as for her missles being empty at the end of movie, i dont remember that so i couldnt answer that. You have to remember that 5 years was spent on this 1 movie, unlike TV shows where you spent a week on an episode, so the chanch of flaws are very low.
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vanessa791 |
2. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 22 2010, 6:53 PM EDT
In the script, Trudy has a thing going with Norm big time, but they did not show that in the movie at all. I also never got the idea that Wainfleet had anything for her even though I agree with you that she is hot & sexy, (& no, I am not gay either). They actually couldn't "court-martial" Trudy because they were not military, this was private corporate security, or "hired guns" like Jake says. Although, I would think that Quaritch would have her suspended or fired, if he knew about her insubordination, so he obviously never knew because Wainfleet wasn't a snitch, regardless of the fact that he was a despicable creep. Sorry, Wainfleet was not one of my favorite characters at all, so I privately cheered when he got crushed by the hammerhead. I would have liked to have seen Trudy & Norm's relationship, but I understand the reason for them cutting that out, it would have detracted from the rest of the story & it was not necessary. I just wish she had made it out alive, so she could come back in the sequel. Oh well, we will at least have Mo'at, Norm, & Max in the sequel & maybe even Grace from what Sigourney said in a recent interview. I want to see more of Grace's back story as well as Tommy's & Sylwanin's, (Neytiri's older sister who was killed at Grace's school by the RDA security). JC said he is planning a novel about all their back stories for release later this year, I hope he gets moving on it asap. Some of Grace's school is in the script, but was cut out due to time. & of course I want Jake's back story most of all. The script had a great scene in the beginning of him beating the crap out of a guy in a bar, before he was hired by RDA, but it ended up on the cutting room floor.
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meadrochon |
3. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 23 2010, 12:51 AM EDT
| Post edited: Mar 23 2010, 1:00 AM EDT
"They actually couldn't "court-martial" Trudy because they were not military, this was private corporate security, or "hired guns" like Jake says. Although, I would think that Quaritch would have her suspended or fired, if he knew about her insubordination, so he obviously never knew because Wainfleet wasn't a snitch, "Wow! Quite a mouthful there Vanessa. But you are quite right. RDA SECOPS would have no judicial powers. RDA's local punishment would probably be limited to loss of pay and privileges and assignment of other duties, which may explain why she wound up pushing the meal cart . Nor can they "fire" her and throw her over the fence. Quaritch is probably contradictorily obligated to protect all (human) personnel on Pandora. Think like a captain of a fishing boat and one of your crew commits a crime. You can't fire them right there and throw them into the sea, and you have make port to turn the suspect over to the Police. Meanwhile, you have just enough hands aboard to make the trip profitable so you keep the suspect working if possible. Even in the military, you are obliged to follow all LEGAL orders of your commanders. Some of you are old enough to remember the My Lai Massacre: Lt. Cally's orders were illegal and his troops were not obligated to follow them. Selfridge as much as says that he knows he can't justify repelling a bow and arrow attack with tons of high explosive ordinance. Did Wainfleet or someone else snitch on Trudy? I think the point is moot; Either Trudy emptied her guns into the forest and hid her mini-mutiny, or she knew RDA couldn't prosecute her for ignoring illegal orders, or she didn't give a damn whether she was prosecuted. Trudy's a smart girl, I think she chose one of the latter two. Do you find this valuable? |
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meadrochon |
4. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 23 2010, 1:32 AM EDT
| Post edited: Mar 23 2010, 1:39 AM EDT
"Actually, I think Wainfleet was interested in that cute little prolemuris that hangs out down by the fence, but that's just my opinion. See my discussions in "Avatar Trivia", posts 57, 79 and 87. I make the case that Trudy's Samson left Hell's Gate unarmed and the weapons used in the last battle were hand weapons stored at Station 26. Thus, no missiles. Do you find this valuable? |
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vanessa791 |
5. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 23 2010, 1:34 AM EDT
You know that is so weird that you mentioned My Lai, because I thought of that very same thing when I was posting earlier on here. I am old enough to remember for sure. My ex husband fought in Viet Nam in '68 (Army) & told me enough horror stories to stay with me for life, but luckily he was not involved in anything like My Lai. I really considered that Trudy had the right to refuse to follow those orders, but I didn't think of them as illegal orders. What you said about Selfridge not being able to justify repelling bow & arrow attacks with high explosives makes total sense, I just did not catch that. I do remember Quaritch telling him in his office that he would take the indigenous out with gas, I never heard him mention that he might "switch incendiaries" to Selfridge if it didn't work either. I agree with your opinion of Trudy's actions too, that sounds more like her. She probably didn't give a damn, but was very careful & laid low under Quaritch's radar, so she could be more of a benefit to the science team. I could easily see Quaritch being way too busy with his agenda to have paid Trudy much attention anyway. I really think it would be very interesting to see JC's take on Trudy's back story, I considered her just as much of a hero as Jake & Neytiri.
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meadrochon |
6. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 23 2010, 2:36 AM EDT
" What you said about Selfridge not being able to justify repelling bow & arrow attacks with high explosives makes total sense, I just did not catch that. I do remember Quaritch telling him in his office that he would take the indigenous out with gas, I never heard him mention that he might "switch incendiaries" to Selfridge if it didn't work either. "I had to go to Cameron's script. What Selfridge says is: "Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there’s one thing shareholders hate more than bad press -- and that’s a bad quarterly statement. Find me a carrot to get them to move, or it’s going to have to be all stick." and later Quaritch says: "I can do it with minimal casualties to the indigenous. We’ll clear them out with gas first. It’ll be humane. More or less." I can't imagine that Quaritch requisitioned several tons of mining explosive without Selfridge putting 2 and 2 together and coming up with something near 4. Do you find this valuable? |
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meadrochon |
7. RE: Character Backstories
Mar 23 2010, 3:18 AM EDT
"In the script, Trudy has a thing going with Norm big time, but they did not show that in the movie at all ... I would have liked to have seen Trudy & Norm's relationship, but I understand the reason for them cutting that out, it would have detracted from the rest of the story & it was not necessary.Believe it or not, I would have liked to see Norm and Trudy's relationship too. It would give Norm a shot back at Jake re: "Who's got a date with the chief's daughter?". And there's some room for a little humor: Grace: "So, What's up with you and Norm?" Trudy: "Mom always said I should marry a doctor." RDA SEC-OPS's murder of Sylwanin is probably what Grace is refering to, among other things, when she says: "That tends to happen when you use machine guns on them." One of the 3D pictures on the refrigerator at Station 26 shows Grace (avatar) hugging two little Na'vi children and, clearly, Neytiri hugging a taller Na'vi girl. I'll bet that was Sylwanin. Do you find this valuable? |
