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My film-major boyfriend has long awaited and pontificated on the visual orgasm that Avatar promised to, (and completely succeeded) in bringing. After much anticipation, some of his other film geek friends and I took him to see it for his birthday. I was expecting to go as a supportive girlfriend and enjoy some visual effects, but as a bleeding heart liberal- Social and Cultural Analysis Major-Middle East-Anti-War-Feminist Activist (for once I’m not parodying myself with this label), I had a whole lot more to say after the fact.
Overview
Avatar takes place on Pandora, a planet rich in resources populated by the indigenous, spiritual, nature-worshipping Na’vi. The story follows the conflict between a group of capitalists seeking deposits of precious unobtanium at the expense of the indigenous people’s land, and Grace, a scientist and activist who has invented a system of fusing human DNA with Na’vi DNA, making Avatars. These Avatars are Human-Na’vi fusions designed to learn the ways of the indigenous population and save them from destruction. Jake Sully is the protagonist, a disabled ex-marine whom (in Avatar form, of course) the Na’vi have chosen to trust. Though the capitalists are using him to move the indigenous away from their resources, he eventually falls in love with the Na’vi people and the Princess Neytiri, turning against the imperialists to save the Na’vi.
Colonialism and Occupation
Many critiques (both formal and informal) comment on the similarities between James Cameron’s indigenous Na’vi and the American Indians. Many others describe it as “just another leftist Hollywood film” condemning the current conditions in Iraq, indicating American terrorism in resource wars. Personally, (though I think the parallels between “unobtonium” and oil resources in the Middle East are too deliberate to be discounted), I’d like to defend Avatar as not pointing to any particular war. Rather, by putting the Native Americanesque Na’vi in an Iraqi context (with scenery reminiscent of Vietnam), Cameron is not condemning any particular war, but the dynamic between militant capitalism and indigenous populations. In this way, Avatar is timeless; it is not about any war (or conversely, it combines narratives from every pointless resource war), but about the recurring catastrophic consequences of capitalistic hegemony imposing itself on a beautiful, but delicate indigenous population.
Oppression Dialogues
Another critique that piqued my interest argued that Avatar perpetuated racist and sexist hegemony by making Jake Sully the white, male, heterosexual savior. I feel that Cameron invalidates these identities’ relevance to the sequence of events in many capacities. First, I’d like to point out that Jake’s human character is disabled, and part of his instrumental role in saving the Na’vi is his personal overcoming dialogue rather than an act of cultural domination. Secondly, in saving the Na’vi it is essential that Jake becomes one of them. Cameron does not have him westernizing the Na’vi, but rewards him with victory once he puts down his guns and learns the ways of the indigenous culture (from a powerful woman, no less). Though he uses his gun later, his role in winning the war is not as “marine” but as a diplomat who immerses himself in the Na’vi culture for their trust while knowing the tactics of the oppressor.
Naming the planet “Pandora” is no coincidence either. Cameron named his mythical land after the goddess who accidently opened a box unleashing all evil, but retaining hope. This myth explains co-presence of evil and hope in the world. Inspired by this, I feel that Avatar is about open-mindedness and counteracting evil through understanding the modus operandi of each character in a given conflict. In delineating a fictional war cross-pollinated from several familiar symbols (a prized resource, bull-dozing Holy Sites, feathered natives who fight with bows and arrows), Cameron’s Pandora suggests that understanding, hope and will power towards justice can, in fact, counteract evil.
