avatar draft

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Avatar essay

Adam

Avatar is one of the most elevated action movies that actually has many morals and a lot of resemblance to our world today. The movie avatar is a popular movie about the Na’vi people and the sky people who live in the land of Pandora together. In the movie Avatar there are lots of examples of ethnocentrism. The humans assume they are dominant over the Na’vi tribe; they express this by attacking and destroying home tree. Cultural contact is a plays a huge part in the movie Avatar. It also relates to our past, the cultural contact of the first nations and our interactions with them in the past. The world of Pandora is covered in many tribes of people. The humans think that they have to teach them to learn their ways because the humans consider their selves better than the Na’vi. Just like the in the poem the white man’s burden the humans think they need to control the lives of the lesser people in this case the Na’vi. The movie avatar is jam packed full of excitement and is a fantastic example of all three ethnocentrism, cultural contact, and the belief that you are better than all.

 

The example I find does the most resemble in the movie is ethnocentrism the belief that your culture is superior to all others. The humans in this case are the example with the belief that they are a cut above than the less superior Na’vi. They at first try to teach the Na’vi English and try to teach them how to interact just like we do. Ethnocentrism is expressed through the humans actions after recognizing the Na’vi don’t believe in the same religion don’t speak the same language and have a distinct appearance compared to humans. In so many ways the Na’vi are so different from the humans but they are also very much the same. Both the Na’vi and the sky people live on Pandora, but the humans do not understand the deep connection the Na’vi has with the land. They are so unaware that ever missile they shoot at home tree damages not only the land but also the people and animals that interact with it. Ethnocentrism is brought upon the Na’vi and they are forced away the humans declare themselves better a desperately attempt to push the Na’vi out for good.

 

Up ahead was Pandora. You grew up hearing about it, but I never figured I'd be going there. This is one of the quotes Jake sully (the Avatar) said on his way to Pandora this is the beginning of his journey. This moment is the beginning of the true interaction between his culture and theirs. The Na’vi start to trust Jake they teach him their culture and Grace comes to the camp and teaches the people how to speak English and their ways of life. This cultural contact was very fine in the beginning as they started to trust Jake, the general had a different plan as Jake started to learn the ways and gain the trust of the Na’vi the general decided it was taking too long. He sent in trucks to push down some of the land. Jake is upset and starts to destroy the cameras on their trucks and they accuse Jake of being a traitor. At this point the cultural contact between the Na’vi and the sky people had become horrific. This way the humans used to push the Na’vi away is called marginalization. The humans did not understand the ways of the Na’vi and how they were so connected to the land, they also did not see how much killing the land also hurts the Na’vi tribe. The humans were not aware what then did there for the cultural contact when extremely bad dreadfully fast there for it ended in a horrible relationship between both cultures.

 

The final main modern relation is the white man’s burden and how the humans believed they had to teach the Na'vi how to act like them. The white man’s burden mostly relates to the way the humans believed it was their responsibility to take care of the Na’vi. This relates to the relationship between the Europeans and the first nations, how the Europeans thought it was there duty to take care of the first nations. Just like in the movie the Europeans built residential schools for the first Nations people. Just like in the movie the Europeans believed that they should be assimilated and taught the religion and language of us. This is one huge example of the relationship between Avatar and the poem The White Man’s Burden. The Na’vi could have easily been left alone but the greed of the sky people became the factor of tragedy in the film. This is a key example of The White Man’s Burden associated with the establishment of Canada and the motion picture Avatar

 

Throughout the movie there are many examples of all three major topics, Ethnocentrism, cultural contact, and The White Man’s Burden. In the movie we see that the Na’vi people are over looked people that are mistreated and neglected by the humans. This movie quite clearly shows and relates to our world today but mostly our past and the way we treated the first nation’s people and how poorly we made decisions. The reactions and way we interacted when we first came in contact with the natives and how the sky people acted in there encounters. The discrimination of the Na’vi and they force they used to push them out just for the resources it was an unnecessary way of dealing with the dilemma. All around this film is a great clip if you can recognize the symbolism and the messages that are in the movie.