Right-Wingers Go Ballistic Over Avatar

Here's one more thing that's sure to rocket hyper-popular Avatar to even greater heights: right-wingers hate it. America's "prickly cadre of political conservatives" can't stand its eco message, negative portrayal of vicious military contractors and its "can't-we-all-get along counterculture vibe," writes Patrick Goldstein in the Los Angeles Times.

John Podhoretz of the Weekly Standard has blasted its "anti-Americanism," while Ross Douthat in the New York Times has attacked director James Cameron's hippie-esque godless "pantheism." So why is the film succeeding so spectacularly despite its "buzz-killing" liberal subtext? Simple. "It has the politics of the left, but it also has extraordinary spectacle," says the co-founder of a conservative blog. It's a testament to the ideological rift in our society that conservatives are incapable of appreciating the "groundbreaking artistry that's staring them in the face," Goldstein notes.
(More Avatar (film) stories.)