After AVATAR

Aesthetics had lot to say about what is in the story that makes it story. Experts of literature might show some trends augmented with hefty names to indicate how stories have evolved over time. Story might be mirror image description of day to day life. it might be horror story, suspense story or romantic one. Considering all this variations, the soul of story which has impresses story tellers and listeners right from the ages is ‘GOOD against BAD’ with difficult but sure triumph of win. After watching 3-D AVATAR, the huge feeling for leap of humanity, near impossible happening in front your eyes and simulated yet believable actions, I wonder what was new in those techno-packed, perfectly managed 3 hours. Nothing. The good old ‘triumph of GOOD over BAD’ wrapped in state of the art or futuristic manner. PAISA WASOOL!!
If stories of GOOD defeating BAD are ubiquitous, through time, through space, why reality seems contrasting? Do we want stories telling about situations which will not be lived in reality? Do nostalgia, unfulfilled longings make stories? What roles stories play in our understanding? Are they mostly source of pastime? Are they carrier of values, morals and social structures? Are they motivated by what is happening around or do they influence potential happenings? The one sure thing, stories are hardly questions. Most of the time, they are answers, generally in over-simplified form.
If I think about what I think, I find that most of the times it is either memory or dream. The time independent thinking happens very rarely. Stories are either dreams or memories. Yet, being somewhere ambiguously away or rooted in reality, they shape actions. What pleasure I derive when I watch a movie? Apart from technological wonders, it is connection of different happenings that makes a story. But, when, it is not GOOD v/s BAD, there is no simple solution that can come out of the story. There is no fun, no hope, no positive stimulus that public can get. Portraying GOOD against BAD, labeling guys WHITE and BLACK (no racism, but shades of behaviors) and making hero’s side weaker, virtuous and ultimate winner is the key. This is meat, what remains are spices that author can add. Good spices, Harry Potter. Bad spices, movies that we do not remember.
The truth that we do not learn and even if we learn, do not practice is ‘there is nothing definite’. It is cliché. But, yet, we behave as if we have forgotten it. Regulatory methods are applied on thoughts, lives, arts and anything that seem to be manageable. We decide according to some ideal state that we cannot visualize. We hate to remember that chaos, disorder and randomness are certainties. It seems shameful for humanity that they are random. We need world anthropocentric. Man has some place, some work deserved. Controlling nature is our hereditary dream. We hate impulses, we replace them by values. We hate behaving by natural cycles; we put technology to make it suitable. The one conquered post reveals next frontier. The process goes on. Ideas emerge. Systems evolve and collapse just when they seem eternal. And, yet, story goes on. Memories are short. Thoughtfulness is exotic. It is simpler to make head empty, pay 350 rupees, buy pop-corns and watch ‘AVATAR’. We need simplicity, even if it is not simple really!