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Ok I wasn’t supposed to blog on Bazm for a while, but it’s too tempting. What? Everyone goes back on their resolutions sometimes 
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Avatar was a good movie, overall. I enjoyed the action scenes, especially, and even some of the pseudo-spirituality*. I really want to see how neocons and wingnuts generally respond to this film, given its hippie-ness. They’ll probably throw up a bit in their mouth .
Some themes I could detect in the film, and general issues mentioned/inadvertently touched upon:
**Spoiler Alert**
- Colonization. There was an anti-colonial message, which has been critically discussed here.
- Environmentalism. I suspect this was foremost on David Cameron’s mind. At one point the protagonist says, about Earth: “there’s no green there”, and at another point “they’ve killed their mother,” which is a reference to the Earth. The constant recognition of the interconnectedness of life by the Na’vi natives, as well as their tree-dwelling ways, are critiques of the environmental destruction human being are wreaking on Earth. The Earth is also referred to as a ‘broken planet’.
- Atomization. The message is clear: greed and materialism (chasing after unobtainable things, hence ‘Unobtanium’) lead people to be unhappy and manipulative, separating themselves from the Earth and each other.
- Nature vs. the Machine, and its closeness to Feminine vs. Masculine. The main antagonist is a hyper-masculine American man who is as much of a military stereotype as anybody could have dreamt of. He, and the other ‘bad guys’ are always in rusty machines, and during one ‘moment of truth’ where the protagonist is fighting the main antagonist, the latter is inside a robot he’s controlling, and the latter is relying on nature’s creatures who have chosen to side with the Na’vi upon the protagonist’s request. The Na’vi are spiritually led by the females of the species, have thin builds, wear jewelery, and generally abstain from violence. They use no machines except their bows and arrows (and knives, if you count those as machines), and tend to rely on ‘organic’, ‘natural’ means of fighting or accomplishing anything. Ultimately ‘nature’ wins, and the machines lie in ruins.
- Capitalism. There are four competing interests on the human side: the corporation that wants Unobtanium, whose interest is just money; the hyper-masculine military man whose interests I couldn’t quite discern, probably because I drifted off during that part; the scientists who do not want to colonize but merely to study the unique biosphere on Pandora; and the traitor who sides with the Na’vi, aka the protagonist. Eventually two of the scientists and one member of the armed group join the protagonist and support the Na’vi.
Anyway, the fact that a corporate interest was put in there seemed like a clear critique of capitalism to me.
The device used to highlight all the themes mentioned above is the contrast between the Civilized Capitalist White People, and the Noble Savage. This dichotomy is presented as a way of reminding the audience, who are supposed to identify with the Civilized Capitalist White People since they are human and so are we, that we should reflect upon our mistaken ways, and be more like the Na’vi.
* The ’spirituality’ they present in the film is a type of paganism. I call it ‘pseudo-spirituality’ because I do not consider it a real type of spirituality. For more on my theological views, visit my blog (linked below).
(Cross-posted with modification to Yes and No.)
Movie and soundtrack found on Inspirations and Creative Thoughts.
This film is about being lost and finding one’s way home. It portrays the characteristic urge of philosophies of ascent, of returning to one’s original home in God, and having faith that He will guide your way back to Him. It also shows the sensual and social side to being spiritual, the former of which is most embodied in Sufism, I feel. To the Sufi spirituality can be simultaneously erotic and pious. And of course, there is excellent music:
And in this scene, I highly recommend forwarding to 2:34 minutes.
Lastly: an interesting review.
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