James Cameron’s latest film revolves around traumatic images of Imperialism, deforestation, and rogue capitalism; the same self-destructive behavior that has fueled global warming and the demise of sustainable environments. Earthlings failed attempt to colonize Pandora, a remote moon inhabited by elongated Smurf-blue natives, that carry themselves with the solemn stature of Egyptian pharaohs in the guise of characters from Cats, is reminiscent of Western imperialistic endeavors. In the same vein, military contractors set out to colonize vast territories in order to extract valuable raw materials as they try to impose their “civilized” language and culture on aboriginal peoples who maintain a holistic connection to their environment. Colonel Quaritch refers to the Na’vi (the indigenous population) as savages who “want to kill,” thus adopting the paternalistic tone of the conqueror who perceives them as soulless bodies worth wiping off the face of the Earth (Pandora, that is) should they refuse to adopt “civilized” ways.The Na’vi struggle to preserve their sacred land in the face of multinational interests is as relevant today as it has been for the indigenous peoples of colonized nations. The film Crude (www.crudethemovie.com/) documents the over-half-a-century ordeal that Amazonian tribes have gone through in order to preserve their lands and spirits from the speculative interests of Chevron. Although Western and westernized societies have come to respect the symbiotic coexistence of ab/original tribes with their natural surroundings, neither modern science nor sorcery has been able to trace, let alone explain, this communion between man/woman and nature. In the film Avatar, Cameron does a good job at conveying this symbiotic communion by employing mechanisms familiar to the audience such as the plug-and-play connection of the natives’ long braids to tree branches, a horse like animal and the pterodactyl. It is perhaps in the jurisdiction of aboriginal peoples, in their rudimentary, translucent devotion to their surroundings, where lies the cure for maladies brought about by the excess of post-industrial societies. The film emphasizes the power of the human mind and the axiomatic connections that bring the Avatar (an updated version of Frankenstein) to life.
Perhaps the underlying message is that Nature has a mind of her own, as ancient civilizations have understood for centuries, a wisdom that the Age of Reason relegated to the realm of superstition and fairy tales. In our current climate, Mother Nature has brought about global warming, drastic changes in weather patterns (droughts, floods, and unstable seasons) as a reminder that we are mere avatars, a mechanical reproduction of mercantile interests, outcasts of the original human tribes.
