John McGuirk

My friends, little did I know that all those years ago when my mother walked me into Ronaghan’s opticians in Monaghan town that I would be fitted only with a blindfold, condemned forever to see the world in two dimensions. My black and white view of our planet has obscured me to truth and justice. Tonight that changed.

For when I stepped into the crucible of learning that Cineworld on Parnell Street has become, I experienced a rebirth. Slipping on the glasses provided to me for only a Euro by our downtrodden comrades slaving away in their booths, I stepped into a vision of humanity which my eyes and ears have been unwilling to see.

Truth lies within these frames

Truly, we are a misguided race. Our obsession with material things, and our willingness to destroy without seeking to comprehend has rendered us oblivious to the fruit-laden garden of mother earth. I know that Hollywood, for decades, has tried to awaken us, but it has taken James Cameron, in a moment of grave selflessness, and for only a few million dollars remuneration, to rouse us from our slumber.

Avatar is not just a movie, it is a cultural and social moment. For too long, Hollywood has sought merely to entertain, instead of preaching. How many people are there like me in our world? Savages who believed that there is, in fact, something as simple as right and wrong? Tonight, I was taught a lesson that I will not soon forget. We must seek to understand other cultures, to respect their ways, and, as the symbolic last scene reminds us, to become one with them.

We must be willing to surrender our very bodies in the pursuit of peace, happiness, and the hippy way. The bonds that we thought held us together have in fact separated us from the sacred lessons learned by the first born men. Our materialism and our love of war and destruction have set us apart from all that is good and natural.

Tonight, as I sit here, I ask myself – why have the millionaire filmmakers of Hollywood never taught us this before? Why has it taken until now for them to show us the error of our evil ways?

Why have these enlightened and chosen people never, ever, told us before? It’s just so wonderful that they spent so much money to come up with something so……… …….. ……. …….. um…….. ……. …eh……. original.