Left-wing conspiracy?

I don't go to the movie theater very often. But this sci-fi film "Avatar" intrigued me. Most of what I had read about the film touted its cinematic qualities and 3-D experience.

The last 3-D movie I saw was back in the early '70s. It was a flick called "The Stewardesses" and featured naughty flight attendants whose legs would extend out of the screen and into your face while doing naughty things with, if I remember correctly, pilots. You had to wear silly glasses to experience it because if you took them off, everything would be out of focus. In retrospect, maybe that was the way to watch “The Stewardesses.”

It wasn't exactly Academy Award stuff.

Anyway, some 40 years later, 3-D is back with a vengeance and I was intrigued. A couple of friends who saw "Avatar" warned me that it was "anti-Republican" and/or that it had a real liberal bent.

Huh? I thought this was movie about large, blue people with magic tails?

Anyway, we caught the film in Canton and for $10.50 apiece we received plastic 3-D glasses that we could keep or recycle afterward. I kept mine just in case the 3-D experience becomes mainstream, you know like "Facebook" or "Twitter."

"Avatar" is the story of an American war veteran, who signs on to a civilian initiative on the planet "Pandora," which holds some sort of magic rock that is embedded under the environment of the natives and the folks from Planet Earth want it big time even if it means clearing out the natives. The veteran, however, has an out-of-body experience and ultimately sides with the native aliens.

OK, if you're a conservative and/or Republican, I can see why you might think the film is a left-wing conspiracy. It's kind of like Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan all rolled into one conflict with the military-industrial complex calling the shots in a doomed endeavor that costs lives on both sides and all for a friggin’ rock.

However, I think it's a whole lot simpler than all that. It's about man's inhumanity to man (or in this case, aliens) and to the environment and about how we’re all basically narcissistic and greedy.

I think given the option, most Republicans/conservatives would protest the destruction of our environment (and even the environment on Pandora), would warn against the military-industrial complex calling the shots (remember Dwight Eisenhower?) and would cheer for the underdog.

For goodness sakes, go see the movie for the unbelievable technological and cinematic experience and leave Fox News at home. And, what, you don’t think Bill O’Reilly is all about ratings?

No? Then you’re more naïve than I am.

See you next time.