Film Analysis Of Avatar

This paper is a brief analysis of James Cameron’s Avatar, a very successful 2009 science fiction film. Avatar takes place in the virtual world of Pandora, created by James Cameron with digital technology and colonized with fantastic creatures and an indigenous race of 10 feet tall, yellow eyed, blue striped aliens called the “Na’vi”. With Avatar, Cameron has delivered a fast-paced fantasy adventure that weaves together a stream of powerful themes that are so important to our modern world that they extend far beyond the world of fictional film. The film itself, can be seen as a political film about war, the effects of violence, a social commentary about environmentalism, even speciesism. This could also be seen simply as a film about what it

The humans have abandoned a dying Earth and invaded this planet of the Na’vi. Pandora has mineral and deposits that the human race wants for profit. Scientist develop these "Avatars" which look like the "Na 'vi" and have drivers, whose consciousness is projected into them. The plot follows Jake sully, a former marine who is in a wheelchair. Avatar opens with Jake’s dream of flying so synonymous with freedom, then the metaphorical belly of the whale, sees the start of the hero’s journey. We see scenes of loss as Jake hears the poignant news of his brother’s death, another blow to Jake’s already depleted sense of self with the loss of his legs. Because of this, Jake is a very disillusioned and bitter person, but still a warrior at heart. In the movie he states, “All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for”. Even though he finds it in the most unexpected place, the heart of Neytiri, it was so ironic that at some point he would have to choose sides and literally fight in a battle between the human and the Na’vi that decided the fate for the entire

Whereas, the Na’vi are people who live really in touch with their community, they are all a part of the natural habitat and lived harmoniously and in a utopia. Pandora is a beautiful community where people live to survive and learn from their surroundings, not to dominate. Jake, even though he technically still has the mind of a human but the body of a Na’vi, falls in love with a blue alien by the name of Neytiri. By doing so, he “sees” the person behind the blue skin, he sees her values and heart, and falls in love with that. The same goes for Neytiri who “sees” beyond his human flesh and sees the courageous and fearless warrior that Jake truly is. Cameron shows a deep message with this film. By falling in love with Neytiri, Jake’s true humanity only occurs when he is in his Avatar dream where he is allowed to be himself. When he is awake as a human he is pressured by the military, and is seen as only ‘meals on wheels’ yet used for a selfish good. When he is a Na’vi, he manages to get in touch with his deepest emotions and his true feelings, and see what life is really about and how good life can