"I See You": Colonial Narratives and the Act of Seeing in Avatar (original) (raw)

Avatar has revolutionized the film industry. James Cameron introduced a new level of immersive visual storytelling that captivated audiences worldwide. While some previous studies on Avatar have highlighted some important research findings, they seem to leave Avatar's themes understudied. "Avatar" explores themes of colonialism, resistance, and environmental issues, highlighting the harm caused by resource exploitation and the need for responsible resource management. It depicts the exploitation of weaker groups by more powerful ones, with humans representing the colonizers and the Na'Vi people representing the colonized. The film emphasizes the resistance of the Na'Vi, their fight to defend their homes, and the involvement of nature in the war against humans. Additionally, it addresses environmental destruction caused by human greed and disregard for the environment. This study suggests that further research could explore comparative analysis with other works to provide a broader understanding of the themes.

The 19th century has seen the emergence of a new genre in literature in the form of science-fiction with philosophical undertones. Space-oriented sci-fi has always attempted to prophesize conflict between mankind and extra terrestrial race, be it in War of the Worlds in the 19th century, Foundation in 20th or the Oscar winning movie Avatar in the 21st century. Today, with science and technology regulating every sphere of life, man realizes the need to save humanity from the murderous clutches of scientific advancements. The same need to save humanity is visible in Avatar when the inhabitants of Earth go to colonise the world of Pandora (for materialistic gains just as Britishers came to India) but, instead, are awed by the spiritual superiority of Pandorans and their harmony with nature.

Considering the controversial assumptions of 'Avatar's narrative, yet the massive box office success and the widespread fascination with the film's CGI effects, as well as the announced four sequels in the upcoming years, is it worth revisiting the film and with what aim? I wish to suggest yes; the film remains a worthwhile cultural phenomenon to examine for its particular staging of post/modernity that underlies environmentalist politics. In this paper I build further on Bruno Latour's and Tim Morton's readings of Avatar and argue that the film not only unconsciously undermines its ideology through the level of the medium, but also on the level of the narrative itself. Through a close reading of a dialogue from the film I show that, if taken seriously from a postcolonial anthropological perspective, the dialogue signals a decolonization of the hierarchical divide between western sciences and Indigenous knowledges, which the film overall remains unable to articulate.

This essays function is to act as an analysis of two academic sources, and contrast them to one another. Looking into how they respectively offer two alternative positions that conform to similar ideologies, and then contend them with my own interpretation on the given case study; Avatar.

The present essay analyzes Avatar (2009) by director James Cameron in the context of the great American mythological narratives. With a focus on the performance of the myth of the Frontier and of the Manifest Destiny, in addition to the American Dream, that film’s script, mise-en-scène and characters are discussed as a rupture with Hollywood and mythological conventions. Such a rupture of the conventions of the myth is understood as a symptom of an important crisis currently experienced by American society, thus reflecting the need to rethink the present of the country, as well as its future alternatives.

A close reading of James Cameron's Avatar as a recent manifestation of the 400+ year romance of the natural, ecological Indian.

The controverted responses to James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), as well as its use to support a variety of political and ideological agendas, seem to imply that there is something in this film for almost everyone. An analysis from the perspective of trauma studies suggests that the key to its impact may lie in the way the movie reflects the fundamental fear of human alienation from nature, which is part of the wounded condition of our contemporary culture. This article embarks on a study of the representation of and working through of trauma in the movie, both based on the reiteration of stereotypes and the recreation of ecotopia. It also reflects on the implications of the phenomenon known as the Pandora Effect, or the reported feelings of depression at discovering the impossibility of real immersion after watching the movie. It ends with a problematizing of the uncritical application of the trauma paradigm and a revision of the model into a culturally sensitive trauma theory that avoids neo-colonial appropriation and takes into account the historical unresolved grief of colonized peoples.