Avatar 2009

TheLiteraryBrain

This blockbuster movie is written and directed by the Canadian filmmaker James Cameron. Cameron is famous for making the story of Titanic into a movie, so his interest in historical events, in general, could be a reason for Avatar’s plot being based on colonisation. It could also be true that the plot of the story became what it is simply because of the science fiction scheme of invasion and the otherness that comes with it creating an exciting plot incorporating war, love and overcoming otherness.
Avatar is a tale of an alien encounter from a viewpoint not very often depicted in science fiction. This film is about the human invasion of the distant alien moon called Pandora. The film is set in the year 2154, and a corporation from Earth is mining this distant moon using US marines for protection while the corporation searches for a vital material that can be found on the surface of Pandora. To improve relations with the indigenous race living on Pandora called the Na’vi, and to be able to learn more about the biology of the moon the invaders’ scientists create avatars identical to the Na’vi. These avatars are based on the DNA of the Na’vi and are used to build bodies that are replicas of them. These avatars are piloted by human beings with the help of machines that can connect the consciousness of a human brain into the constructed avatar (one). This is a good example of what the fiction in science fiction is all about – it is comprehensible, but still impossible to accomplish for the human race. For now, at least. The scientists want to befriend the Na’vi to be then able to understand the rich culture they have and how they are connected to their nature in ways the human race is unable to or perhaps has just forgotten how to be able to do. The leading bad guy, Colonel Miles Quaritch, want to use a pre-emptive strike to defeat the Na’vi and collect Pandora’s resources to bring back to Earth (two). By doing this, the most sacred tree for the Na’vi on Pandora, the Hometree, will be destroyed and bear with it immense consequences for the Na’vi and their way of life. 

This is how the conflict of the movie comes into light. The scientists and the humans piloting the avatars become friends with the Na’vi and is soon realising the importance the ecosystem on Pandora has for its inhabitants (three). The US marines paid to kill them see the situation differently. The Na’vi are, in all definitions of the word, an indigenous race and their connection to nature on their moon is crucial for their culture to be upheld. The Na’vi connect with nature in a way that gives them access to their ancestors whose consciousness is stored in Hometree (four). They are also able to connect with the animals on a deeper level as well. The Na’vi does not just kill the animals they hunt but also thank them for providing food. So the conflict then is two sides trying to provide safety for their own people by all means necessary. This shows a compassionate race of alien beings trying very hard to uphold their natural balance with the nature surrounding them. The human invaders are jeopardising all of this with their superior behaviour against the very much inferior counterpart.

We get to see human beings as aliens from the viewpoint of the Na’vi, which is very interesting because this sets the audience in a special position. The response to the scenario of our own species fighting a seemingly defenceless alien species for resources needed to survive should be a response that triggers our empathy. However, the Na’vi is a defencelessness as a people whose appearance and behaviour is very similar to what human beings were before modern society, and that should trigger a whole other kind of empathy. The two responses are perhaps also done similarly in many viewers’ mind, which could set him or her in a position where choosing sides will be almost morally impossible. It is not until the ending of the movie when the US marines are seen in a very different and malevolent way by the audience, which could perhaps make the choice of taking sides much easier.
The science fiction genre is continually trying to examine human nature scientifically by setting them up against an alien species in a scenario where our true nature is shown. With Avatar, it is easy to examine the two species set up against each other with different cultures, values and ways of looking at existence. For the Na’vi existence means to be living in accordance with nature. They have, as mentioned, a very close relationship with their ancestors through the link of nature on their moon. Everything is connected, and if any of it is to be destroyed, they lose their sense of belonging. Human beings, on the other hand, has a completely different view on nature and life. They have treated planet Earth awful and has ended up not being able to sustain life there. The same thing is happening on Pandora when they start their military invasion destroying everything in their path which seems like a destructive pattern lacking any kind of empathy for other beings as well as the lack of understanding that nature is a big part of existence both on Earth and on Pandora. There is no denying that this kind of behaviour is in our nature as a species.

Translations: Italian - Spanish

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