short synopsis of the movie. I walked out of the theater thinking it reminded me too much of Dance With Wolves. But Carrie hit it spot on…this movie WAS Pocahontas, just done up with special effects.

Okay, I’m a writer. I realize that plots are reworked all the time. I know when you take a story down to its most basic elements, there are really only seven original plots:

Overcoming the monster
Rags to riches
The quest
Voyage and return
Comedy
Tragedy
Rebirth

I also know that all stories–books and movies–are simply variations on these seven original plots. But, come on. James Cameron, the movie god, couldn’t give us anything more original than Pocahontas?

My dislikes aside, I guess in a way the success of this movie is really a plus for writers like me. If Avatar were a book, it would be shelved in sci-fi romance. It has all the elements of a single title romance: happy ending, bad guy gets it in the end, world is saved, hero finds true love, heroine teaches hero about what’s most important in life. Those are the things *I* write about, and they’re the things my fellow romance writers write about. I have a feeling if you asked James Cameron if Avatar is a romance, he’d probably say no, it’s a sci-fi thriller. But you and I know the truth. And the next time someone bashes romance around me, I’ll ask them if they enjoyed Avatar. Fodder for the romance genre is one thing I have to thank James Cameron for.