Today, I celebrated Groundhog Day (02/02/10) by finally seeing Avatar in IMAX 3D. It was simply amazing. Visually stunning! One of the first things I noticed was the obvious inspiration from Rock Art Artist, Roger Dean. This inspiration was prevalent in the whole film. In fact, it was SO prevalent, I thought Avatar might be a homage to Roger Dean. Those of you over the age of 35 – or, those of you who are knowledgeable in 1970’s 1980’s Album Art (Yes, Asia, etc.) must have picked up on this obvious feature. During the credits, I looked for some acknowledgement to Roger Dean, and didn’t see any. Thus, I did a Google search: “Avatar Roger Dean” and found that many people are talking about Dean’s obvious inspiration – and lack of any credit at all. Try this search: Avatar Roger Dean and see the results. Especially, look at this link: Did Prog Rock's Greatest Artist Inspire Avatar? - and note the Images.
It kills me that one of the greatest Fantasy Artists of recent times was so obviously used and abused – without any credit or payment. Surely, Avatar and James Cameron could do right by this fantastic artist and give credit due. Roger Dean’s Floating Islands, Dragons and Landscapes deserve better!
Interesting! I hadn't thought of that, but I can see the connection now that you've pointed it out. Hmmm...
ReplyDeleteAgreed. I loved Avatar and immediately saw tales of topographic landscapes throughout the movie. The floating islands and the arches could not in any way have come purely out of Cameron’s own imagination. As shown here, the flying steeds are straight out of Roger Dean’s “Morning Dragon” painting. I imagine that the Yes albums made a good living for Dean, but Cameron owes him big. I read an interview with James Cameron wherein he was asked “did you get your landscape and creature ideas from prog-rock album cover artist Roger Dean?” His reply was insulting: “well, maybe deep in my head were some imprints from a youth spent smoking way too much pot.” That’s horse manure. The thing that bugs me most is how millions of people who don’t know Yes music or Roger Dean’s work have seen Avatar and thinking “Wow, what a cool world!” I know several and they all say “who’s Roger Dean? Really, Yes album covers? No way….”
ReplyDeleteRoger is a soft-spoken, humble guy, and it isn’t pleasant, but he should sue. It’s his intellectual property and James Cameron was absolutely wrong for not including Dean in the process of making Avatar. He should especially sue in light of the next 2 Avatar sequels. My sense is that all Cameron had to do was recognize him and he would have been happy, even honored to be onboard for such an otherwise breathtaking cinematic experience.