Westside Messenger - December 25th, 2022

PAGE 6 - WESTSIDE MESSENGER - December 25, 2022
Dave Dobos
STATE REPRESENTATIVE
Ohio
House
Committees
The committee structure of the Ohio House of
Representatives is where the bulk of the legislative
work gets completed. When a bill is introduced,
it is referred to the committee that deals
with its particular subject matter. It is discussed
publicly by House members. Interested parties
will testify about the pros and cons of the proposal
so that House members understand better
its effects and ramifications. Often times, it will be
modified to accommodate the concerns brought
forward in the hearings. If it is voted out of committee,
it then can be considered by the entire
House chamber. Should it get approved by the
House, it is then referred to the Ohio Senate,
where it undergoes a similar process. Only once
a bill gains the approval of both legislative chambers
can it get considered by the Governor for his
approval.
There will be 24 committees in the House in the
135th General Assembly. The committees are as
follows:
Agriculture & Conservation
Armed Services & Veterans Affairs
Behavioral Health & Recovery Supports
Civil justice
Criminal Justice
Economic & Workforce Development
Elections & Apportionment
Energy & Natural Resources
Families, Aging, & Human Services
Finance
Financial Institutions
Government Oversight
Health
Higher Education & Career Readiness
Infrastructure & Rural Development
Insurance
Labor, Commerce, & Pensions
Primary & Secondary Education
Public Safety, Corrections, & State Security
Public Utilities
State & Local Government
Technology & Innovation
Transportation
Ways & Means
House members will get assigned to committees
at the beginning of the General Assembly in early
January. Members are designating their preferences
to the new House leadership. I have identified
three House committees that I feel will enable
me to contribute the most for our district: Finance,
Technology & Innovation, and Primary &
Secondary Education. Alternatively, there are
three additional committees with which I feel I
can be helpful: Economic & Workforce Development,
Higher Education & Career Readiness, and
Ways & Means. The Speaker determines, based on
his assessment of a member’s expertise, experience,
and priorities and the needs of the entire
chamber, who will serve on each committee.
(Dave Dobos represents the new Ohio House of
Representatives 10th District, which consists of
most of the west and southwest sides of Columbus,
parts of the south side of Columbus, Grove
City, Urbancrest, and Franklin Township. He reports
to us regularly via this column, which is paid
for by Dobos for Ohio.)
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It has been more than a decade since
director James Cameron released his science
fiction epic “Avatar” and the question
that has most often arisen throughout this
duration of time is whether it has any relevance
within the public sphere. Despite
fact-based evidence that it became the
highest-grossing box office hit of all time,
revolutionized the way computer graphic
imagery was used within the entertainment
industry, and somehow made people
believe that 3D television was the way of
the future, film critics and pop culture commentators
alike came to the consensus that
“Avatar” was but a blip on the radar of the
zeitgeist, having little to no cultural impact
on the hearts and minds of the masses.
As this entertaining, albeit rather pointless,
debate was taking place, Cameron
was steadily toiling away, stating his
intention to make not just one sequel to
“Avatar” but four additional movies within
this universe as well. The caveat, however,
was that none of them would be filmed
until he believed that visual effect technology
had caught up to the vision he had in
his head for the world of his creation.
When the announcement came nearly
five years ago that he would officially
return to Pandora, film critics and pop culture
commentators across the country
began to once again question whether anyone
would even care to revisit the lush
world that featured nine-foot tall blue catlike
natives clashing with humans as they
tried to strip mine their planet for
resources. Most believed that no one would
care to revisit that place, that it was a
waste of money, and that the public had
moved far away from this world and turned
to things such as the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, the streaming revolution, and all
other kinds of entertainment gamechanges.
What they seemed to have forgotten,
along with all that fact-based evidence presented
in the first paragraph, was that
“Avatar” created a quiet yet hardcore fanbase
that had people trying to learn the fictionalized
language of the native Pandoran
tribe, making hundreds of trips down to
Disney World to experience the related
attraction, and plunking down even more
money in this economy to see the original
film when it came back to theaters earlier
this fall. (Note: it even beat new theatrical
releases.) But perhaps the most egregious
oversight from those wondering whether
people would pay to see this sequel, or any
sequel thereafter, was that it was helmed
by Cameron. Say what you want about
him, but there is no questioning the sheer
spectacle of his movies. And if there is anything
the public wants to see, it is a visual
spectacle to the likes of which they have
not seen before on the silver screen.
Ultimately, this is what “Avatar: The
Way of Water” offers to the public: A
chance to be immersed in a lush new world
that is full of wonder, danger, and unimaginable
beauty. Describing this film can
sometimes come across like you are blowing
smoke up the tush, but in its 3D state
it is one of the most visually dazzling
movies to ever come on the big screen. The
picture is crisper, the technology more
advanced, and the motion-capture aspect
has improved by leaps and bounds from the
original film.
With all of that said, however, this film
also displays some of Cameron’s worse
traits, such as his flair for reminding people
that he is responsible for some of the
greatest movies of all time, his propensity
to use the same words repeatedly, and his
lack of detail to the story that is currently
being told. He seems to forget that the
audience wants answers to the questions
that was raised in the first film, that they
want answers to some of the questions that
are bubbling forth in the second, and that
they do not necessarily want to wait for all
the answers to be given to them in the slow
roll out of this franchise. My theory is that
either he does not care about answering
them as some threads left in the first film
were cut completely out of the second or he
feels secure in the relevancy of his world,
positive that the masses will come out to
see his vision regardless of his fast and
loose approach with the storylines. Sadly,
he is not mistaken as I know I am a part of
that segment that will come out and see it
because I do love this world that this maddening
man has created.
The sequel is set nearly two decades
after the events of the first film where we
find former Marine Jake Sully (Sam
Worthington), now fully transported into
his Na’vi avatar, living his best life with
his fierce warrior wife Neytiri (Zoe
Saldana) by his side. Over the years, the
pair has welcomed three biological children
— eldest son Neteyam (Jamie Flatters), second-oldest
son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton), and
youngest daughter Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li
Bliss) — and have helped raised two other
children, the Na’vi-human hybrid Kiri
(Sigourney Weaver) and the humanhuman
Miles (Jack Champion) who was
left behind when Jake and the Na’vi banded
together to boot the humans back to
whatever remained of the world they had
mined to near death.
Content with their growing family —
although the attitudes now coursing
through their teenagers are causing some
strife — their happiness abruptly ends
when the humans (aka Sky People) come
back with a vengeance with several ninefoot
tall Na’vi clones who were implanted
with the memories of the military men and
women who were killed near the end of the
first feature in tow.
Uninspiring twist aside, these scenes
are particularly affecting as it showcases
the harm humans can do to other worlds in
the name of advancement. It also serves to
propel the story to another part of Pandora
as Jake and the Sully clan flee from the
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Welcome to the wonderful world of James Cameron
The Reel Deal
Dedra Cordle
clones now hell-bent
on their destruction.
And what a new
world the place they
land is.
After finding
refuge with the
Matkayina, a water
tribe, the Sully family set out to explore
their new home nestled on the shores of the
ocean, meeting all sorts of fantastic beasts
along the way. Cameron spends much of
the 192-minute run time playing within
these surroundings, letting the audience
get to know the new generation of the Sully
children as they bond with majestic ocean
animals and members of the new clan.
Although it can seem indulgent at times,
as if we are playing in his own personal
bathtub full of his toys, the underwater
scenes are quite breathtaking to experience.
Less thrilling, however, is the written
story within this film, which is really just a
retread of the previous film minus the mineral
that could have saved Earth. While
the sequel certainly has more depth than
its predecessor as the stakes are higher
with children at play now, some of the justifications
for the military Na’vi clones setting
off around the Pandoran world just to
fight Jake and his family is nonsensical at
times. But that is the risk one takes when
it comes to movies that are directed and
written by Cameron — more attention is
paid to the visual details rather than the
spoken word and its story. Individually,
they can be a powerful way to move a story,
to move an audience, but if they are created
together in harmony within a film it can
be even more affecting to the mind and
heart of the masses. That unfortunately is
not the case with “Avatar: The Way of
Water,” raising questions once again about
its cultural relevance but it will still leave
quite an impression with its ability to captivate
the senses through its visual storytelling
prowess.
Grade
Visually: A+, Story: B-
Dedra Cordle is a Messenger staff
writer and columnist.
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Andrea Cordle...................................Westside Editor
westside@ columbusmessenger.com
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