Young Adults
Avatar: Just a Blockbuster?
~ By Stephanie Deplanque
“History is nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” ~ Voltaire, 18th c.
What can this quote by French writer and philosopher Voltaire have in common with the last Hollywood breaking record blockbuster that is the new James Cameron’s film Avatar?
Well, the film speaks for itself; some of us will just see a great film with state of the art special effects and a story that adults as well as children can enjoy and watch endlessly. Others will see in it a commercial film (which has been admitted by Cameron himself) with a pretty mediocre story that lacks depth. However, two things cannot be denied by either of those people: first, the special effects, 3D experience, etc. is something to be seen. And second, the story is more or less our history, whether people like it or not.
Let me explain my point to you: bad guys with technology and “knowledge” discover a very expensive rock on a new place (referred to as The New World). That place happens to be inhabited, and the rock happens to be under the inhabitants’ sacred place and home. Those people are referred to as “tree lovers,” naïve indigenous people close to nature. The outsiders, Sky People from the capitalist society, try to teach them their way (the right way), but since that’s not working, they destroy them in order to get their expensive rock…. Wait a second! That sounds strangely familiar, don’t you think?
It is that side of the film that I want to discuss here. Indeed, the metaphor for colonialism is pretty obvious. The treatment by the White society to Indigenous people is clearly depicted in the film. Whether it be in the name used to described the Na’vi: “Natives,” “Savages,” “Blue monkeys” (althought the adjective “blue” could be changed for another color…). Or whether in the Na’vi’s artifacts, some of them looking pretty close to Native American artifacts, like some kind of dreamcatcher, and clothes.
Or even in the spirituality and closeness to Nature of the Na’vi: the prayer for the killed animals - thanking the sacrifice the animal made by giving its' life to feed the people, to become part of the People, again stating the point that all things are linked and nothing really ever dies. The sadness in having to kill unnecessarily. The respect of elders and spirits. The respect for unseen things and trust in tradition and legends... Even the characters are obviously representing indigenous people: Neytiri’s father is the “Indian” wise chief, interpreted by no other than the majestic Wes Studi. Her mother, the psychic, strangely resembles a Voodoo witch and is a spiritual leader, also referred as some kind of Shaman. Her first love interest is supposed to be a great warrior, mostly like the kind often depicted in films: great warrior, right arm to the chief of the tribe, often destined to married the chief’s daughter. Cliché? The Na’vi looks are also closer to indigenous than to white people. However, the Earth people or Sky People cannot be mistaken for anything else than the typical white people, occidental people. They are an obvious representation of capitalist gold thirsty people who will not hesitate to kill and destroy in order to get what they came for, although they do try to “assimilate” as this “looks better” in the public's opinion.
Indeed, at some point in the film, Parker Selfridge (played by Giovanni Ribisi) asked Sully to find out what the Na’vi want in exchange for their move, as they were offered “medicine and education” but prefer “mud!” When Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) tries to explain that there is indeed a connection between the People of Pandora and the trees, as it is a network that is linking every living thing together, she is told that trees are just “god damn trees.”
I remember hearing an elder Native American man saying that humans and trees are directly linked together as one breathes what the other exhales; this again a metaphor for explaining to our society that trees are indeed extremely important, and that we ought to protect them instead of destroying them with our bulldozers...
Furthermore, there is another common point between the Na’vi and the Native People: the respect for all living things, including plants and trees. Nature has given us everything that we need. But what do we do in return? Do we give anything back? No. Do we take everything for granted and for our taking? Yes. The problem is, Earth has a limited reserve of everything (gold and fuel included) and by taking everything and not letting the Earth breathe, we are destroying it! We are destroying our forests, we are using all the natural resources by only giving pollution in return, and we are destroying entire species just because we don’t care! And I believe this is another message that James Cameron tries to give through his movie. Jake Sully, when telling the Na’vi that they have to live because they are about to be attacked, says that there is no green left on the Sky People’s planet, that they destroyed everything there… Well, if we do not take care of that issue really soon, it is going to happen for the generations to come. Avatar takes place in the year 2154, so we still have 144 years to make sure this stays a science fiction movie and nothing else!
To conclude, should we just see a blockbuster movie created to make a lot of money here? Or is there a deeper subject hidden under the surface? Could we see a sort of a Mea Culpa from the occident to the indigenous nations? Or at least an acknowledgment of what the Occident has done to Indigenous People?
Putting aside the special effects, this is a modern, futuristic Dances with Wolves or Pocahontas, where Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) are a modern version of John Smith and Pocahontas (in the Disney version of course).
Avatar is not a very original story? Well, we can agree on that point, but it is a very important one none the less. One repeated over and over again in the past centuries. It is a story that young generations need to understand. And it is definitely a story worth remembering, and telling over and over because in the end, protecting what we love, whether it is a person or our Earth, is more important than any gold or “unobtainium”…
Art Work by Stephanie Deplanque All Rights Reserved
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