Vices of Greed
How far can human greed go? This has been elaborated on by James Cameron’s Avatar (2009) extremely well. The narrative takes place on the moon, Pandora of a planet in a far-off galaxy in 2154. For extracting the rare material “unobtainium,” which is valued at “twenty million per kilogram,” a terrestrial firm has funded a massive space program to deploy a large-scale armed expedition there. However, the Na’vi, an indigenous group, oppose the corporation. To gain the favour of the locals, infiltrate them, or do both, a tiny handful of explorers are trained to inhabit native bodies as “avatars.” One of those scientists passes away at the last minute, and his “genetically identical” twin brother must take his place. The main character of the film is a wheelchair-bound Marine veteran named Jake.
Jake indulges with the Na’vi on a personal basis. He grew to love Neyitiri, an Aboriginal warrior of the Omatikaya clan. Their peace is, however, short-lived. Colonel Miles Quaritch operates the operation with the sole purpose of defeating the Na’vi. He didn’t stop at anything. But the Na’vi prevailed even after heavy losses. The main protagonist realised the quandary inside him that every human wants: nature. Environmental destruction follows when human greed gets out of hand. The planet Pandora had it all. Their prime deity, Eywa, is considered to be the ‘great mother.’ All species can coexist peacefully and in tune with their surroundings because of her, the widely dispersed awareness of Pandora and the guiding and balancing force underlying all of its ecosystems. The tribe follows their pantheist regimes rigorously. They share a profound connection with all living beings on their own planet. But humanity has desecrated it all.
Blue bodies, imperialistic consciousness
“For-for what? A light beer and blue jeans? There’s nothing that we have that they want,” Jake Sully says this when he realised the intrinsic interest of humanity to conquer all. He meant, why would the Na’vi trade anything they have just for the tools of imperialistic capital? Cameron submitted a sworn statement outlining his process for developing the movie’s concept. According to the statement, “Avatar is a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period. Avatar very pointedly referred to the colonial period in the Americas, with all its conflict and bloodshed between the military aggressors from Europe and the indigenous peoples. Europe equals Earth. The native Americans are the Na’vi. It’s not meant to be subtle.”
How the ‘special consciousness’ never skips a generation
Everyone loves Jake Sully, right? But if people dive deeper into the complexities of the Avatar universe. He is a white man, disabled at first, but he learns to hone his skills with the help of Na’vi. He loves the other, the exotic, which is Neyitiri. Edward Said once said, “The more one is able to leave one’s cultural home, the more easily is one able to judge it, and the whole world as well, with the spiritual detachment and generosity necessary for true vision. The more easily, too, does one assess oneself and alien cultures with the same combination of intimacy and distance.” Jake can maintain distance, but his post-colonial and exotic journey begins when he realises how fascinating the ‘other ‘ is. This is not all; he embodies the formation of the ‘White Saviour Complex.’ The term was coined by Teju Cole, as often seen in mainstream media, that a white man comes and saves a nation that is ‘nobly savage’ in his eyes. In the eyes of others, they are still savage, but only one man realises that their nobility lies in their savagery.
The franchise promotes whiteness as exceptional and distinctive, which stands out from the crowd. Because they were born with five fingers like humans rather than four like other native Na’vi, Jake and Neytiri’s children in Avatar: The Way of Water are viewed as misfits, just like Jake. As a result, other Na’vi make fun of them. But as the movie progresses, it becomes clear that the Sully children possess unique skills. Kiri (Weaver), the daughter of the late Grace Augustine’s (also Weaver) avatar body, has a particularly unique bond with Ewya, the infallible deity of the Na’vi. Perhaps the complex surpasses the intergenerationality.
The genius of James Cameron lies in the fact that the movie is open to interpretation. It questions and never looks for answers in the movies. Answers belong to the population of the watching and critiquing cult. The colonial genetic fragmentation is present in movies and Hollywood itself. Will there be liberation for the ‘other’ while the Colonial forces are constantly at work, even in the present times?
