Avatar: Landmark Film, Social Commentary, and Spiritual Medium
During Christmas vacation, I had the opportunity to hang out with some of the homeboys in CA., and we went to see James Cameron’s Avatar in 3D. Up until now I have been somewhat preoccupied with other things and unable to jot down my thoughts, but I did keep my nose to the wind to sense what others voices had to say about the movie. The reviews out there are typically positive, and some even dub Avatar, at least in the 3D format, a ground breaking film and the shape of things to come in the world film production. Avatar is, in my opinion, a well-done edge of the seat sci-fi action flick, and a thought-provoking story for mature audience.
Avatar takes viewers on a spectacular journey into the deep reaches of outer space to a planet called Pandora. Like many other well-designed sci-fi classics, it also takes contemporary issues and plays them out in the storyline. In the case of Avatar, the movie adventure serves as a social critique of Western Imperialism, particularly the issues of colonization and the implications of Native Americans. So in Avatar, Earth’s RDA corporation travels in a fleet of spaceships to Pandora to acquire a precious mineral called unobtainium. The problem is that the planet’s inhabitants, the blue skinned Na’vi, live on the richest deposit of unobtainum on the planet, which serves as the impetus for RDA to force the Na’vi to relocate. To insure forced relocation is successful, RDA employs a team of civilian liaisons for peaceful resolutions, but also hires marine mercenaries, since the corporation is willing to do whatever it takes to get the unobtainium.
The protagonist of the story is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a paraplegic marine veteran, who is given the opportunity of working security on the planet by being mind linked into a genetically manufactured body of a male Na’vi. He is security for the civilian liaisons under the leadership of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weave), who mind linked to their own genetically manufactured bodies Na’vi, for the purposes of negotiating the terms of relocation. Through a course of events, Sully is adopted into the tribe of Na’vi, and taught their ways by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Sully then reports to RDA’s military head Colonel Miles (Stephen Lang) information about the Na’vi to gain a tactical advantage against the natives in the inevitable battle for the unobtainium. The deal is for Sully to give Miles intelligence in exchange for the promise of getting an operation that would enable him to walk again. Sully, however, discovers the harmonious respect for life and nature the Na’vi have, and begins to see the error of a forced relocation. He then uses his military prowess to unite all the Na’vi tribes on Pandora to stop RDA’s mercenaries. The happy end to the story is Sully leads the Na’vi to a victory against the RDA and sends them packing back to earth without the unobtainium.
If there is a way stories can invoke conversation about the ugly face of imperialism, Cameron certainly does such in Avatar. Some bloggers I read are critical of a white male becoming the messianic leader of the Na’vi as another form of ethnocentrism, but that race card plays both ways, and one can just as well say that the critical blogger is simply appealing to his own ethnocentrism in being offended by the aid of some on the basis of skin tone. I think the more important theme played out in this movie is Sully’s journey of being in darkness, serving an evil master for his own personal gain. He comes to see the error of his way and does what he can to make things right.
Avatar is a medium of spiritual indoctrination; the downside being a type of spirituality very similar to the pantheism (All is God) and monism (All is one) of Eastern Religions like Hinduism, or New Age movement. It represents a step in the journey away from the Christian influenced West toward the Hindu influenced East. In the imaginary world of Pandora, all things are connected into a harmonious system. The Na’vi have a appendage that allows them to link with other Pandorian plants and animals, as such all things are interconnected. The source that ultimately connects all things, guides, and animates all things is the planet’s goddess Eywa. There is ultimately neither good nor evil, for all things whether deemed “good” or “evil” in Padora, play in harmony with each other and part of the same ultimate reality. For example, to be a true Na’vi, Sully must master and ride a Pandoran banshee, a type of flying lizard, and not just anyone off the lot, but one specifically determined for him, yet the one that tries to kill him is the one determined for him. So Eywa is neither good nor evil, but a goddess who makes sure everything in her cosmos is in order.
The universe of one ultimate reality, albeit portrayed quite attractively in Avatar, is untenable. We live in a universe that is the effect of a primary uncaused first cause of all things; an infinite personal creator who brought forth this finite universe into existence, whom has spoken and revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. As such, we live in a universe of not of one thing, but a multiplicity of things. There is God, there is man, and there is the rest of creation. It is in this kind of universe that love and tolerance exists, and many know these things to be true. The self-sacrificial kind of love that gives all for the betterment of another can only be real in a universe of multiple things, for if there is no difference between me and the next person, there is nothing to offer.
Avatar is certainly on thrilling sci-fi adventure, but like all movies, it is the world of make believe, and the bones of pantheism and monism must be spit out.
Avatar takes viewers on a spectacular journey into the deep reaches of outer space to a planet called Pandora. Like many other well-designed sci-fi classics, it also takes contemporary issues and plays them out in the storyline. In the case of Avatar, the movie adventure serves as a social critique of Western Imperialism, particularly the issues of colonization and the implications of Native Americans. So in Avatar, Earth’s RDA corporation travels in a fleet of spaceships to Pandora to acquire a precious mineral called unobtainium. The problem is that the planet’s inhabitants, the blue skinned Na’vi, live on the richest deposit of unobtainum on the planet, which serves as the impetus for RDA to force the Na’vi to relocate. To insure forced relocation is successful, RDA employs a team of civilian liaisons for peaceful resolutions, but also hires marine mercenaries, since the corporation is willing to do whatever it takes to get the unobtainium.
The protagonist of the story is Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a paraplegic marine veteran, who is given the opportunity of working security on the planet by being mind linked into a genetically manufactured body of a male Na’vi. He is security for the civilian liaisons under the leadership of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weave), who mind linked to their own genetically manufactured bodies Na’vi, for the purposes of negotiating the terms of relocation. Through a course of events, Sully is adopted into the tribe of Na’vi, and taught their ways by Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). Sully then reports to RDA’s military head Colonel Miles (Stephen Lang) information about the Na’vi to gain a tactical advantage against the natives in the inevitable battle for the unobtainium. The deal is for Sully to give Miles intelligence in exchange for the promise of getting an operation that would enable him to walk again. Sully, however, discovers the harmonious respect for life and nature the Na’vi have, and begins to see the error of a forced relocation. He then uses his military prowess to unite all the Na’vi tribes on Pandora to stop RDA’s mercenaries. The happy end to the story is Sully leads the Na’vi to a victory against the RDA and sends them packing back to earth without the unobtainium.
If there is a way stories can invoke conversation about the ugly face of imperialism, Cameron certainly does such in Avatar. Some bloggers I read are critical of a white male becoming the messianic leader of the Na’vi as another form of ethnocentrism, but that race card plays both ways, and one can just as well say that the critical blogger is simply appealing to his own ethnocentrism in being offended by the aid of some on the basis of skin tone. I think the more important theme played out in this movie is Sully’s journey of being in darkness, serving an evil master for his own personal gain. He comes to see the error of his way and does what he can to make things right.
Avatar is a medium of spiritual indoctrination; the downside being a type of spirituality very similar to the pantheism (All is God) and monism (All is one) of Eastern Religions like Hinduism, or New Age movement. It represents a step in the journey away from the Christian influenced West toward the Hindu influenced East. In the imaginary world of Pandora, all things are connected into a harmonious system. The Na’vi have a appendage that allows them to link with other Pandorian plants and animals, as such all things are interconnected. The source that ultimately connects all things, guides, and animates all things is the planet’s goddess Eywa. There is ultimately neither good nor evil, for all things whether deemed “good” or “evil” in Padora, play in harmony with each other and part of the same ultimate reality. For example, to be a true Na’vi, Sully must master and ride a Pandoran banshee, a type of flying lizard, and not just anyone off the lot, but one specifically determined for him, yet the one that tries to kill him is the one determined for him. So Eywa is neither good nor evil, but a goddess who makes sure everything in her cosmos is in order.
The universe of one ultimate reality, albeit portrayed quite attractively in Avatar, is untenable. We live in a universe that is the effect of a primary uncaused first cause of all things; an infinite personal creator who brought forth this finite universe into existence, whom has spoken and revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ. As such, we live in a universe of not of one thing, but a multiplicity of things. There is God, there is man, and there is the rest of creation. It is in this kind of universe that love and tolerance exists, and many know these things to be true. The self-sacrificial kind of love that gives all for the betterment of another can only be real in a universe of multiple things, for if there is no difference between me and the next person, there is nothing to offer.
Avatar is certainly on thrilling sci-fi adventure, but like all movies, it is the world of make believe, and the bones of pantheism and monism must be spit out.
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