FINAL COPY!!

Avatar Position Paper

BY: Jordan

In our history the First nations experienced cultural contact, marginalization, and assimilation when the Europeans came to America. That part of our history is

Portrayed in the movie Avatar very well. The Na’vi experienced the same things

as the First nations when the sky people came to Pandora. The sky people

started to force the Na’vi out of their home to get what they desired.

In the essay I will talk about cultural contact, marginalization, assimilation, and how they affected the Na'vi.

In the movie, cultural contact is portrayed when the sky people first came to Pandora. The sky people created “Avatars” that had the same physical appearance as the Na’vi, to try and learn about them. Unlike the Europeans who came to America and didn’t bother to learn about them and just forced them.

Marginalization- Getting pushed to the side. The sky people came to Pandora to mine unobtanium and the Na’vis sacred tree was growing on the richest place of unobtanium on Pandora. The Na’vi didn’t want to give up their sacred home tree, so the sky people tried to push them aside and take what they wanted. The Beotuk got marginalized when the Europeans  came over.

Assimilation- the act or process of assimilating state or condition of being assimilated.

 The Na’vi declined when the sky people offered them English schooling. The Europeans  like it was their duty the assimilate the first nations. Like the sky people did in the movie the Europeans put the First nations in schools and taught them English (but not very well).  

In the essay I talked about how cultural contact, marginalization, and assimilation affected the Na’vi.

Avatar Final Copy

Social 10-1 Avatar Essay

Final Draft

Darius Savage

In all of history a few things have come together more often than anything else, ethnocentrism, imperialism and marginalization. James Cameron's avatar as terrible as it was did show some close similarities to our past.

The reason these three things come together is that when the white man would conquer the African Americans, the first nations, the South Americans, etc. they would use the excuse that it is god's will for them to take over other places and expand themselves. Fueled by this belief, very few people would think different of it because they are in their minds just animals.

Even though imperialism and ethnocentrism go together, marginalization also is a big element to not only our past but also avatar. Marginalization occurs when one culture pushes back another culture until they have very little left of their own culture, and go from having all the power to being in a position of lesser power. When the Europeans first got to North America, the Indians could have just slaughtered everyone who got off the boat, but they believed these people were sent by god to share the land with them. Then more and more started coming and settling the area until the Europeans outnumbered them.

In the movie avatar, first they came in and built schools to attempt to change the natives so that they would learn English and they would be able to take advantage of them and trade for their highly valuable minerals. When the natives did not want to trade they moved in and decided to just take the easy way and scare them away, killing quite a few of them. They forced them to change and use weapons and human technology to defend themselves.

In conclusion, the Na’vi are very easily compared to the first nations. The first nations were marginalized back until they had very, very land left. The Na’vi were pushed back from big tree as they saw a lot of their sacred ground and sacred burial grounds get destroyed from the humans. The humans/Europeans are a lot like Tom Brady. They are way over rated and fail when it matters most. Like avatar.

Avatar essay Jake Williams

Avatar Essay

Jake Williams

The oppression of any peoples from any time or place is wrong and we should all know it! There is a very close relation between the movie Avatar and how our pasts played out. The humans in this movie travelled to the planet Pandora and tried to mine all of the Unobtainium from this planets core. They believed their race was more important and they needed it more. In this essay I will be exploring the different aspects that relate to our past and in the movie Avatar, as in the oppression of native peoples, ethnocentrism, colonialism cultural contact and marginalization.

  

The humans in this movie felt that the needs of their planet and existence outweighed the needs of the Na’vi peoples. This turned out to be a terribly bad way to think for the humans in this movie and usually does the same in our lives, for in this movie, and most times in life, thinking that you, or your ethnic background, is better than others will not turn out well for you. For example, the Nazis believed that their so called Aryan race was superior to all others and they tried to eliminate all “inferior” races, this, as we all know, did not turn out well for them and never will. In this movie the humans believe that their need for Unobtainium outweighed the Na’vi’s need for life and religion. This type of thought process is known as ethnocentrism. One example of ethnocentrism is when the Europeans first travelled to America and tried to control all of the land and felt that their need for space was more important than the First Nations way of life and religion.

    

The humans in Avatar created colonies on Pandora with no remorse for the areas surrounding them or the cultures they would be affecting. We can assume that this lead to an unpleasant first impression between the two cultures, leading to a flawed and harsh relationship. The humans only cared about themselves and the resources of the planet Pandora. They disregarded the race of humanoids, the Na’vi and their way of life and religion. This relates closely to how the Europeans took advantage of the First Nations of America and used them in their circle of mercantilism. They bought the furs of beavers and other animals that the First Nations had gathered, and shipped them back to Europe for a small cost. When in Europe, the furs would be manufactured into a product, such as hats or fur coats, and then they would be sent back to America to be sold at a high rate of profit. This lead to the downfall and poor quality of life for the First Nations people, and forced them into a state of poverty; this is a form of marginalization.

The simplest way of identifying marginalization in this movie is in the physical sense. The humans had a home base set up on Pandora, which as you can see in the movie, is very large and takes up a lot of the land. They forced the Na’vi away from the area, and therefore pushed them away from the human society. At a deeper understanding, the humans took away the religion, culture and quality of life of the Na’vi. This made their society more harsh and undesirable, marginalizing them in a way. They forced the Na’vi into schools and tried to make them a part of the human society. The humans always put their own race first, and their needs before the needs of the Na’vi, just like the Europeans did to the First Nations of America. The Europeans forced the First Nations to drop their culture and enrolled them into residential schools to become lower class Europeans. They forced them to do slave labour or have no job at all; the First Nations were barely considered a part of society. The Europeans, as we saw in Social Studies class, endorsed the residential schools as a “happy” place, and a place where the First Nations people were civilized from “flea bitten savages” to modern day gentlemen and ladies. They covered up the whole situation, so the higher class citizens thought it was okay. Another example of marginalization is when the Americans went to Africa and kidnapped Africans to sell as slaves. When, if ever, they were freed from slavery, they were forced into the lower class of society and made to work for less money, sit in the back of buses, use different washrooms, et cetera.

In this day and age, and from all of the mistakes we have made in our history, we should know that no person or persons should be discriminated against! As a species, humans are still very young and not the best at preserving our planet and resources. I do hope we eventually find a way to explore planets and find resources to help us prosper, but not if it turns out like in the movie Avatar, and we end up discriminating another species for the resources on their planet. I feel that this movie has a great lesson to teach us about our past, and how to prevent anything like this in the future. It is a harsh reminder that ethnocentrism, colonialism and marginalization are wrong and we should all understand that.

finished essay by jace salmon

“One does not sell the land people walk on”- Crazy Horse. One major difference between the Aboriginal people and the explorers from Europe was that Aboriginal people feel no ownership to the land, they are only borrowing and it must be returned. The white explorers feel it is there duty to build the natives schools and teach them English. This all relates to the movie Avatar because the humans come to Pandora to mine the unobtainium, they feel that they should teach them English because they feel that it is the best language, this is not the case. The Na’ vi people feel like they are being marginalized and their planet is being colonized. In this essay I will tell you how the movie Avatar relates to moments in our own history through the themes of ethnocentrism, colonization and cultural contact.

Ethnocentrism is when one believes that their race or culture is better than all others. In the movie Avatar, the humans call the Na’ vi fly bitten savages, blue monkeys and other insulting names that show ethnocentrism. The Europeans also used hurtful terms towards the First Nation people of North America such as Indians, and redskins. They want to show the Na’ vi how they should live and that they should go to school and learn English. This is very similar to what happened in Canada’s history when they sent young aboriginal children to boarding schools to learn English and go to schools that were run by Christian teachers, and nuns. They were not aloud to practice their religion, speak their language, or see their parents for ten months. If they were caught doing these things they would be punished in the form of beatings, flogging, and even rape.

Colonization is where two or more people inhabit the same area. The Na’ vi have lived on Pandora for a very long time and the humans suddenly show up and start knocking down trees, mining for unobtainium, and killing their people.  The way the Na’ vi have lived has been changed forever. The humans that come to Pandora are all races such as African American, Asian, Native American, Latina, and Caucasian. Some of these people have been victims of colonization just as the Na’vi are. European people have forced the native people all over the world from their lands and oppressed them for personal gain. This relates to Avatar because the business man Parker will stop at nothing to colonize the planet of Pandora and take what he wants for his own gain. In my opinion greed, self gain, and money have all been demons to the human race and people should learn to care not only about themselves but also others no matter age, sex, or race.

Cultural contact between the humans and the Na’ vi should have never happened. They are completely opposite people and a lot of things vary between them such as religion, food, shelter, technology, and weapons. All of these things are new to the indigenous people of Pandora, but the humans know how the Na’ vi lived because they have seen how the aboriginal people have lived long ago in history. The aboriginals of North America and Pandora are very similar. The humans have taken DNA from the Na' vi and humans and put them together to make a hybrid called an Avatar. This is similar to the first nations and the Europeans to create the Métis people. When Jake was in the Avatar body he could gain the Na'vi's trust and give information when the sky people were coming.

Over time we have seen these themes repeat themselves in our own history. The movie Avatar represents the themes of ethnocentrism, colonization, and cultural contact in a realistic manner. The invasion and ignorance of the humans as they degrade the people, rob them of their culture, and attempt to take over the land has a mirror affect to our own historical errors.  This topic is of great importance, so that we can learn from our past mistakes, and not repeat them in the future.  It also brings up the topic for review, so that our own history is not forgotten and similar mistakes not made once again.