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 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. 

Essay done Mr. Bowtie

Avatar Essay

The following essay will show the connection to the fictional movie, Avatar, with real-life, historical globalization. The Na’vi and human contact show a great deal of similarity with the European­-Native contact. If you compare any of the major events in the movie to history, the settling of North America and enslavement of African’s, both show ethnocentrism, marginalization, and assimilation. James Cameron and his writing team undoubtedly planned these things when he came up with the plot and story. By the end of this essay I hope to prove that history can and will repeat if given a chance.

I’m going to start with assimilation as my first topic of discussion; namely the Avatar Program. The Avatar program was made so that the scientist’s could interact with the Na’vi on a personal level, but the program was funded by the company, whose intention was to as Parker Selfridge, the Head administrator for the RDA on Pandora, says paraphrased, “…If you walk like them, you talk like them; they'll trust you.” This is basically is saying that the Avatar Program was made to show the Na’vi how they were supposed to act.

Marginalization is shown throughout the movie. It is most prevalent with the people that haven’t actually interacted and talked to the Na’vi. I’m sure that Jake Sully was feeling this when he first arrived on Pandora and accepted Mile’s Quatrich’s offer and in-return he could get his real legs back once he got back to earth. In this instance he is showing that he thinks that the many Na’vi living in the Hometree, for who knows how long, are no were near as important than his legs. The other best example I can think of is with what Parker Selfridge tells Jake that he needs to make the Na’vi move from their Hometree, “Killing the indigenous looks bad, but there’s one thing that shareholders hate more than bad press...and that’s a bad quarterly statement. I don't make up the rules….”

Ethnocentrism, in its definition, is the belief that your culture is superior to every other culture, and this is very true with the humans on Pandora. It is shown when the human’s go around calling the Na’vi blue monkeys, and savages. The fact is the Na’vi are just as sapient as human just not advanced as the humans.

Finished Essay.

Social 10-1: Position Paper

                                                                                By Jeri Blackmore

                                                               

Globalization in its simplest terms is the combining of cultures for the overall growth of society via cultural contact.  James Cameron directed the movie Avatar with ties loosely relating to globalization through the western colonialism theme.  Throughout this essay I will be exploring the key concepts of contact between cultures: ethnocentrism, marginalization, and colonialism relating back to the film.  Avatar conveys key plot lines from important events in history and how they shape our overall worldview in this time period. 

            In history, Europeans always thought of themselves as the greatest and most deserving species.  Natives were forced out of the land the tribes lived on to assimilate and become more like the English.  Ethnocentrism is shown through the lack of accommodation and respect for the native peoples freedom and culture.  In Avatar, the Na’vi live peacefully off of Pandora as the Natives did on our land until the sky people (humans) decide to brutally take away their home for the use of natural resources.  The sky people knew that their machinery and weapon technology was far advanced from the Na’vi’s that they would have no chance to win.  Land to humans is power.  The superiority of a race was based on the material aspect of having land and making money before any empathy was shown to people who had a life there. 

            James Cameron used marginalization to show the human dominance over the avatars.  The humans were obviously more powerful as they pushed aside the inhabitants to get to and profit from the Hometree.  Residential Schools were also a form of marginalizing as for they took children away from their homes and families for the integration into a Canadian society.  This was supposed to be a way to depopulate the natives and strip them of their individual beliefs and values.  Marginalization of a group, race or culture prohibits globalization and development of any kind. 

            Control from the government can strictly decide the freedoms a person or group may possibly obtain.  Before and during the early 1900’s in a colonialism attempt to gain more control the government strictly regulated the existence of First Nations tribes.  In the film, the army has more control than the scientists because of weapons.  Controlling the Na’vi population was easy for the humans.  Confusion stopped the avatars from identifying the threat and having a chance to remain in control.  Dominance of people results in power is the colonialism theme we’ve witnessed in avatar and history.  The influence a governing system broadcasts is the general view society will absorb. 

            Cultural contact diminishing equality between races is not okay.  Marginalization, colonialism, and ethnocentrism were used in history to forge a divide between humans.  Avatar is a form of entertainment that shows some flaws in our history.  Historical events created our way of life and worldview.  The globalization of society continues to grow today through contact between cultures.  Reminiscing on the past, we can learn from the mistakes and educate ourselves so division of this extent will not happen again. 

           

Finished Avatar Essay

Avatar Position Essay

Brett Rider

In the movie Avatar Director James Cameron represents certain themes very well.  Many of the events in the movie are similar to what happened when the Europeans first came to North America.  For one example the way the Na’vi are pushed aside by the Sky People is a lot like how the First Nations were pushed aside by the Europeans.  In my essay I will talk about how the movie Avatar represented the significance of cultural contact, ethnocentrism, colonialism, and marginalization.

The way the Sky People interact with the Na’vi when they first get to Pandora was similar to the way the Europeans and First Nations people of North America interacted.  The Sky People are only there to get the resources, so they try to push the Na’vi away.  This is also imperialism because the Sky People are trying to gain control over the planet and the unobtanium that is on it.  The Sky People and Na’vi are two very different cultures with very different ways of doing things.  Each group shares a collective identity different from the others.  The reason they fight with each other is because of their different cultures.

The movie Avatar shows a lot of evidence of ethnocentrism.  The Sky People think they are better and are just there to get the resources.  White Man’s Burden is another example of ethnocentrism.  The Europeans thought that they needed to take care of the First Nations.  One way they did this was by having residential schools for natives.  They also did this in Avatar.  The Sky People think they are helping the Na’vi by doing this but really they aren’t. 

The Na’vi have already colonized Pandora but in a different way then we are used to hearing about.  When we think about colonization you think that you have to build houses and try to get any resources possible.  The Na’vi live in a tree and the Sky People think this is weird because they are used to houses and having all your necessities whereas the Na’vi hunt for all their food.  If the Sky People succeed in colonizing Pandora I think the results will involve mercantilism, because the products would be sent back to Earth to be developed and used.  As the Sky People try to get the minerals they marginalize the Na’vi for their own benefit.  This is a lot like what happened in North America when the Europeans came.  They wanted the resources but the natives were in the way.  When the Sky People push the home tree over they are marginalizing the Na’vi and hoping to push them away so they have access to the resources they want.

The movie Avatar represented different aspects of globalization that we have learned about this year.  These aspects include cultural contact, ethnocentrism, colonialism, and marginalization.  This topic is important because it relates too many of the things that have happened in our past.  The way the Europeans treated the First Nations when they first arrived in North America was wrong but it shaped the way our world is today.  If they had treated the First Nations differently North America would be a different place today.

Finished Essay!

Social 10-1 Avatar Essay

Brandon Kent

Throughout history, people have believed that to be successful or important, they have to take over other people or countries or try to take something that’s not theirs. If you compare the Award winning Avatar to the settling of North America, the events are very similar. In both Avatar and the settling of North America, Ethnocentrism, Acculturation, Cultural Contact, Marginalization, Colonialism all took place.

Nobody can say whether the things that took place in avatar or even in our history were good or bad because it depends on who’s side you’re looking at. In avatar if you’re looking at the side of the NA’VI people, the things that happened to them in the beginning and near the end were horrible. In the end, the NA’VI beat the humans and sent them back to earth. The First Nations life was pretty good before the Europeans came over. When the Europeans came over they slaughtered and took everything from the First Nations. Nearly the same exact happenings happened to the NA’VI and the First Nations, like people coming and taking and destroying their lands and taking their resources. The Europeans and the humans (sky people from avatar) are very similar because they both went to a different place to get resources.

Ethnocentrism means that one ethnic group or culture thinks they are superior to others. Ethnocentrism and White Man's Burden are very similar because the White Man's Burden is when they think they have to fix every different culture and race. The white people actually thought that they were helping the other cultures and races by changing them into 'white' people. In the movie Avatar, they mentioned White Man's Burden but they never actually show it. The 'sky people' build schools to get the NA'VI to learn English and to learn how the 'sky people' live. There is also Ethnocentrism because the 'sky people' think they are better than the NA'VI and that the humans can take the NA'VI's resources.

Acculturation, Cultural Contact, and Colonialism are all very similar. Without Cultural Contact we cannot have Acculturation. In the movie Avatar and in history all three of these things have happened. In the movie they don't show when the 'Sky people' come to Pandora and make a colony but it does show the colony after they have built it. The 'Sky People' set up schools and hospitals to try and get the NA'VI to learn how the 'Sky People' speak and heal themselves. When the Europeans came to North America they discovered a new culture (First Natives), the Europeans set up colonies and learned the Natives secrets. They began trading the Natives pots and other useful items for beaver pelts. As time went on the Europeans forced the Natives to give up their culture and become European. The present time is very different, cultures get together and share ideas and practice their beliefs without being marginalized and ‘put down’.

            In history there has been many cultures the have been marginalized. If we look at early history you see a trend. Every culture thought they were superior to every other culture, and if you weren’t part of a certain culture you were considered ‘Evil’ and you had to be punished. In the movie Avatar the ‘Sky People’ pushed the NA’VI aside by destroying their home and slaughtering lots of them in order of obtaining a mineral called unobtanium which is worth millions of dollars.

In the history of our world we have encountered many hardships and we are guaranteed to have more in the future. If you compare our worlds past, present, and future to the movie Avatar, you notice a lot of similarities. I have seen the movie Avatar a couple times, but the time I watched it in class I noticed a lot more similarities and messages that that I didn’t see before.

Final Copy!

Social 10-1 Position Paper _ Avatar
By: Ronni Burrows

             The greatest challenge we face today is ensuring that globalization becomes a positive force among all the people in the world, but what might happen years from now? The movie Avatar; created by James Cameron, shows a comparable attribute between our historical globalization, where we are now, and what has yet to come. This movie has rooted a large amount of messages and hidden judgments of what our world has been doing to past civilizations. As well, what we might continue to do if we don’t grasp into each others diversities and try to work with what we have. I’ll be contrasting Avatar to historical moments in time, including cultural contact, ethnocentrism and the thoughts of “White Man’s Burden”, according to Rudyard Kipling, and how it all relates to the aspects of globalization.

Clashes between cultures and civilizations have taken place throughout time in our humanity. In the movie, Avatar, humans and unfamiliar species are forced together by venture. Set on the planet of Pandora, Sky People are sent out to threaten the existence of the local tribe, Na’vi and take what they call unobtanium, a valuable mineral that would give the Sky People a quantity of money. How does this relate to our world?  In our North American history, Europeans were dispersed out to settle land, and during that time the Europeans discovered what they referred to as, “savages.” Like portrayed in the movie, Sky People also referred the Na’vi as ‘savages’ and they were known for their relationship to the land just like the First Nations. In our past, Europeans take over First Nations’ land and found a place in their civilization without the approval of the First Nations people. They took what resources the “savages’” had and traded them for Europeans’ wants. The Europeans made up written treaties to try to make agreements with the First Nations people, as well, the Sky People in the film tried to get the Na'vi to overlook their true intentions and listen to their offer of agreements. In neither situation did it turn out good in all aspects of civilization.

In today’s society we can see cultural contact a bit differently. Cultures merge and unite to create a society where people of different ethnicity can share and people can be their own individual or collective identity, in most countries at least. What we can call creating a mix of 2 different cultures crafting a new one; hybridization, was shown during Avatar when the bodies of Jake and a few other trained individuals are made into a combination of their previous human body and a mix of an Avatars structure. The term, “I see you,” a meaning spoken by the Avatars, expressing I see into your soul, your heart, and we are one. "I see you," is a phrase with a deeper meaning along the lines of "I understand who you are." This film represents the idea that we are all connected to each other as human beings. However, when Avatars and Sky People acculturated and adapted to one anothers traditions I noticed a sudden depopulation after such previous events such as the war. In the end, only a few Sky People were chosen to stay since not all were willing to accommodate. Which brings me to my next point, ethnocentrism.

While many people recognize the problem, they may not know that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and every day in our civilization. We all are born into a human culture, and it is the culture that shapes our self-awareness and understanding of other individuals. Ethnocentrism is a key reason for the division amongst groups in our societies today and in our past. Long ago, Europeans oversaw other races and marginalized them to a lesser importance.  Traces of this sense of European ethnocentrism are still evident today. In the film, Na’vi fought heavily armed machines with bows and arrows, which displays the difference in their tradition and also displays how much more powerful the Sky People felt they were compared to the Na’vi. Today, we all are ethnocentric when we use our cultural standards to make generalizations about other peoples' cultures and customs. For example, as stated by Southern Nazarene University, most Canadians and Americans often talk about British drivers driving "on the wrong side" of the road. Why not just say "opposite side" or even "left hand side"? With most current events such as the ongoing war and terror, it is difficult for some members of our civilization to think of the “less civilized” nations as anything but oversimplified labels. What I believe Avatar becomes about is the intention to show that the western world’s society should advance itself into learning more about those who it looks down upon, because like the movie showed, the Na'vi may of been able to teach the Sky People invaluable lessons about things they did not yet know anything about. We can’t all be considered the best ethnicity, and some people won’t ever be able to accept that.

“If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it,” a quote that the public use all the time in our civilization. Humans’ appear to give the urge to improve things that aren’t in need of improvement. White Mans’ Burden, a term spoken by Rudyard Kipling, a meaning implying that an ethnicity feels they have the responsibility or duty to take care of another race. In the film Avatar, the Sky People believe that it was their obligation to give the Na’vi people schools and teach them English. That somehow the Na’vi weren’t adequate enough before the Sky People showed up. It is also portrayed in the motion picture that they are in need of someone else to save them in the end, someone that isn’t one of their own ethnicity. But why didn’t the film portray the message as the Avatars saving themselves? In our past, a lot of what has happened to our world has been because of a “White Man’s Burden.” One’s own ethnicity believes it’s okay to assimilate another culture, and that marginalizing another race was of their best interest. Being a part of a European background, I’ve learned lots about colonialism and looking at my own educational knowledge, I can relate back to when the Europeans decided the First Nations needed to drop their own identities and learn European ways. Europeans didn't give the First Nations the option of choosing to receive education or the option to practice their own traditions and make their own identity.

Our world has suffered many implications in its existence. Comparing the award-winning movie Avatar to our past, present, and future civilizations, you really do notice a lot of positions taking place. Not only does the film hold many hidden communications but our world also has countless hidden messages we still need to discover and release.  After discussing these aspects of globalization, cultural contact, ethnocentrism, and white mans burden with you, I leave you with these questions. Who are the savages, the uncivillized, and who's nation is really the best?

The complete Avatar essay

Avatar essay

Adam

Avatar is one of the most elevated action movies that actually show many morals and a resemblance to our world today. The movie Avatar is a popular movie about the Na’vi people and the sky people who live on 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 plays a huge part in the movie Avatar. It relates to our past by 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 themselves 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 and full of excitement. It is a fantastic example of all three cultural contact, ethnocentrism, and the White Mans burden.

"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, but the general had a different plan as Jake started to learn the ways and gain the trust of the Na’vi, and then the general decided it was taking too long. He sent in trucks to push down some of the trees and plants. Jake is quite upset and he goes berserk to destroy the cameras on their trucks. Then 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 they had done; there for the cultural contact between these two cultures became extremely bad really fast. The interaction between these two cultures turned out very badly.

The next example I found that is presented in the movie is ethnocentrism. Ethnocentrism is the belief that your culture is superior to all others. The humans in this case are the example with the belief that they are above the 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 every 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 and desperately attempt to push the Na’vi out for good.

The final main modern relation to the movie Avatar 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 is similar 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. In relation to the movie the Europeans built residential schools for the first Nations people. Just like in this motion picture the Europeans believed that the First Nations should be assimilated and taught the religion and language of the Europeans. The Na’vi could have easily been left alone but the greed of the sky people became a distinct factor in the tragedy and disappointment of 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, cultural contact, ethnocentrism, and The White Man’s Burden. In the movie we see that the Na’vi people are over looked also 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 in our past. The reactions and way we interacted and treated the first nations an the way the sky people treated the Na’vi was unreasonable way of treating and dealing with the Na’vi and Natives. The discrimination of the Na’vi, and the force the sky people used to push them out just for the resources, 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.

Final Copy- Mackenzie Berry

Avatar Essay
By Mackenzie Berry


       They say history finds a way to repeat itself, and in this case it might not be for the best. Relying on friendly communication between all peoples the story has been past on from generation to generation, sometimes varying depending on who you talk to.  The message is always clear though, the Europeans pushed natives off their land for their benefits and well-being. If you have seen the movie avatar you will know that, the movie is set in the future but shows a great representation of our history. Throughout the movie you will realize that there was a great deal of ethnocentrism, Marginazlition and Apathy on the humans part where as the Na’vi welcomed them with open arms tried to accommodate, acculturate and Integrate the Humans into their culture. Unfortunately we will find this happening for ages and still we will find the situation is different with many of the attributes similar.



     When two different cultures come into contact they call it cultural contact. When two different cultures come into contact and join together to make one new and different culture with both attributes from either civilization, this is hybridization. Very few humans posses the talent of hybridization. The group of people who went to Pandora are part of the many, lacking in ability to adapt, the human’s push out all offers to reason with Na’vi. Jake Sully is one of the few humans on Pandora who can integrate. When Jakes Avatar gets lost in the natural maze of Pandora on the very first day he finds himself being rescued by Netyri, a young women from the Na’vi tribe. The Original peoples take him into the Colony as one of them. He learns their ways and how they live day-to-day life in the wild electric atmosphere. Soon he realizes how precious everything on this land is to them, now his agreement with the Colonel, Miles Quaritch isn’t for the best and it will send their world upside down. The whole plant is treasured and respected, every part of life they see as sacred. 


       The Na’vi opened their world to the humans with friendship and belief that they might adapt well and fit in with the Natives, together they could live as one  They offered their land to use and work, play and resided on. To the Na’vi tribes everything is connected and all ties back to the planet they reside on and one day you have to give all the energy borrowed back to the world. Showing zero empathy and taking advantage of the kindness exhibited the humans took out one of the most scared and cherished places to the Na’vi. 


         For years the White or Europeans have believed that they will conquer all land for ages to come. When the actual time comes they do just that, without remorse or apathy for what land, culture or scared items they disturb or end up destroying. What we don’t realize yet is that we affect everything we set our foot on, if we find something in our path and we have to find a way to minimize that. In Avatar, the humans offered schools and education, just like when the Europeans came to Canada. Slowly the Na'vi started to get pushed to the side, being de-prioritized and ignored. Their needs were no longer important and unobtainium became the main focus. The tribes “system” was irrelevant and could easily be replaced, they could move, they could find new-scared places and they could start over, it wasn’t a big deal. The resources, the mission and to get the Navi out of their way became the reality for the sky people, what they wanted they got.

       We as a society carry “white mans burden” anywhere we go, believing that we should dominate and take “care” of other cultures so they can become more like us because we are the “best ‘ society, this end up depopulating tradional people and their beliefs. Rejecting many different forms of branching out when outsiders have reached into our ethnocentrism filled world and offered to accept us  and grow together helping one another on the way. Going along with the idea for a while until we realize and get a grasp on the concept, we would soon turn around and use everything to our advantage. Marginalizing other cultures and taking special resources ‘s, not realizing we would be leaving behind a legacy that future generations will not be proud of wrong we have committed. Maybe its time to start realizing what we are about to do before we end up regretting our decision. Make the future peoples proud of what we have done instead of remorse and wondering what if we turned out different.

Finished Essay ((Brianna))

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If you think about it the movie Avatar somewhat reflects our history relatively well. The Na’vi tribe and the first nations peoples of Canada were both somewhat related to each other from how they were taken advantage of by other people of different ethnicities. Some people may not think about how they relate when they watch the movie just because they want to see it or just for entertainment. But a couple of the ways that the First Nations of Canada and the Na’vi People in the movie Avatar, as well as the Sky People and the Europeans relate are through cultural contact, ethnocentrism, and marginalization.

Cultural contact is the contact between two or more cultures and colonialism is when someone puts a settlement or colony on another land other than your own. In Avatar, the Na’vi tribe comes into cultural contact with the Sky People when they came to their planet to take the resources underneath the land where the Na’vi have created a home. The Sky People went onto Pandora as avatars to interact with the Na’vi and learn their ways and to try to teach them the human ways and they go in as almost a way of colonialism. Later Jake goes in as an avatar and he learns the way of the Na’vi and they accept him into the people and he changes the way he thinks about them and adopts a new respect for how they relate to the land. The way the Sky People and the Na’vi tribe come into contact is almost the same way that the First Nations and the Europeans came into contact in our past. The Europeans came into Canada and interacted along with the First Nations trying to trade and settled into the First Nations people’s land the same way that the Sky People sent some of their people onto Pandora with the Na’vi. The European’s came into Canada to harvest fish, such as salmon, seals, and bird as well as other natural resources that the Beothuk used to live on. The European’s had an advantage over the Beothuk because of the technology they had. The same thing happened with the Na’vi except they were going onto Pandora to harvest a precious metal called Unobtanium. But the cultural contacts with the Na’vi and the First Nations aren’t the only way that they are similar.

Marginalization is the placing of someone or a group of people into lesser power, or pushing someone out of their own power. The Na’vi tribe in the movie Avatar were pushed away from their home by the Sky People and gave them no power to fight back against them to stay on their land. The Sky People marginalized the Na’vi almost the same way that the Europeans marginalized the First Nations when they came into Canada. The only different was that the Europeans gave them almost no power for themselves at all. They were pushed out of their land as well as the fact that they were also forced to live in a reserve with everyone else and they couldn’t just restart in a new area like the Na’vi. “White Man’s Burden” is shown in both Avatar and in historical globalization. In Avatar the humans, or the Sky People believe that they have to teach the Na’vi how to speak fluent English and get them to leave their traditions and ways and adopt the way that they humans live. Basically the same thing happened to the First Nations people. They went to residential schools and were forced into learning the religion and ways besides their own. So both the Na’vi and the First Nations were on the other side of groups of people thinking that they are better than everyone else and that their ways are the best, right, or only way. That is just a way of explaining ethnocentrism.

Ethnocentrism is when someone or a group of people believe that their ethnicity is better than everyone else’s. The sky people thought that they were better than the Na’vi so they thought they had to send people in to teach the people the way that they lived and expected them to adopt the way they lived because they believed that the way they lived was the right way and that everyone else should live the way they do and when they didn’t adopt their ways the Sky People thought that they could just take everything away from them the same way the Europeans thought about the First Nations. Both the Sky People and the Europeans took away the land and nature away from others, and the Na’vi and the First Nations both had extremely close relations to the land. The Na’vi and the First nations were both extremely exposed to Ethnocentrism because the people that were taking everything away from them both believed that they could do anything that they wanted to other people of other ethnicities and that their way was always right.

The First Nations and the Na’vi, along with the Sky People and the Europeans were alike in ways but people may not notice that at first thought. Some people have to look harder at the ways that ethnocentrism, cultural contact, and marginalization relate to our history and also to the movie Avatar. But you have to remember that what happened to the Na’vi people also happened to the First Nations people of Canada in our history.

Final essay

Avatar Essay

Shayla Derr

 

            Our historical globalization is important to how our society and culture is formed and shaped to this day. The movie Avatar, directed by James Cameron, has strong connections to our historical globalization. It represents our past, but the movie is set in the future. The “Sky People” tried to develop cultural contact and colonialism with the Na’vi people of Pandora. Avatar ties to our historical globalization through conflicts of ethnocentrism, marginalization and apathy. It shows the past, repeating itself.

           The“Sky People” (people from Earth, given the name Sky People by the Na’vi), expressed ethnocentrism on a wide scale, throughout Avatar. All the Sky People were after a precious metal, called Unobtainium, which is located under the surface of Pandora and mainly under the Hometree. But the Hometree was basically a home to the Na'vi. And the only way to get to the Unobtainium was to destroy it. Jake Sully, a main character in Avatar, took on the identity of a Na'vi, to gain access to the tree. Also to develop cultural contact with the Na'vi. But no matter what the Sky People offered, the Na'vi were not interested. Soon the Unobtainium was top priority and the rights, beliefs, land and culture of the Na'vi, didn't mean a thing to the Sky People. The Sky People thought their rights over weighed the rights of the Na'vi. "White Man's Burden" ties into ethnocentrism as it is: the duty to take care of people of a different race. It ties into ethnocentrism because the Sky People felt they had to get the Na'vi to like them, so they could dominate and be "the best". The ethnocentrism levels that were distributed by the Sky People put the Na'vi into a lesser place of power.

           “So what? They can move to another tree!” quoted from Avatar’s Parker Selfridge. The Sky People didn’t see the importance of the Hometree or the Na’vi’s relationship with the land and nature. They marginalized the Na’vi’s rights and went ahead and took over the land. They showed little empathy for the Na’vi and how the Na’vi lived off the land. This relates to when the Europeans forced the First Nations onto reserves and set the First Nations below them in class and society. But the Sky People are not the only ones at fault for pushing away a different culture. The Na’vi didn’t want anything to do with the Sky People.“Your fault! You are like a baby; making noise, don't know what to do. You should not come here, all of you! You only come and make problems. Only.”Avatar’s Neytiri snaps at Jake Sully when she has killed the wolves to save him. Neytiri here shows the Na’vi’s hatred for the Sky People and the Sky People’s carelessness for the Na’vi’s land. Although it is not a sign of marginalization because the Na'vi are not putting the Sky People into a position of lesser power.

            The Sky People set up colonies on Pandora, on the Na’vi’s land, caring little about what they were affecting. This made the cultural contact between the two cultures strained and unpleasant. The Sky People thought of the Na’vi as dumb savages, and didn’t care about their connections the nature and land. This outraged the Na'vi, and they took a stand. Jake Sully integration with the Na'vi and discovered how precious everything was and what his own people were destroying. He too rose up and fought for what he now believed.

           The actions that were made in the movie Avatar by the Sky People, relate to the actions of the Europeans when they came to North America. The Europeans thought their rights overpowered the rights of the First Nations, much like the Sky People with the Na’vi. They pushed the First Nations rights, religions and culture aside and marginalized the First Nations, which also relates to Avatar. And lastly, they made little effort at cultural contact with the First Nations to try and learn and empathy their religion and ways of life. Instead, the Europeans set up colonies and forced them onto reserves. Putting them into lower class and society. The movie Avatar has a strong connection to our past. Even though our history is in the past, Avatar is set in the future. It is history repeating itself. And I think it is important that we remember what happened and never let it happen again.

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                                           Avatar essay                                                                                                                 By   Randy Giles

Don’t let the military control you or you can be the one being colonized. In this essay I will be covering the aspects of cultural contact, marginalization and the role of ethnocentrism in the movie avatar and our natives of 1900’s. Like when the navi where moved and had fought back to control the planet again from the humans. Almost like when our natives had fought Europeans to regain the control of their land. I intend to convince you that our military needs to stop trying to move natives and other cultures out of their land.

Cultural contact is when 2 or more cultures come in contact with each other. When the navi and the humans came into contact the humans have offered them an education and a different place to stay for them to move out of their home tree. Over time the navi had had found a different culture the horse people to fight the humans off. Our natives had done the same thing when the Europeans had started to invade them they didn’t offer the natives an education the Europeans pushed them into the school. The natives had come in contact with other clans to fight them off.

Marginalization is when one culture merges with another culture. The navi where pushed aside when the humans had found that a rich mineral deposit was under the navi tree. When the Europeans found that there was a lot of beavers on the natives land the Europeans had pushed the natives aside to get to the beavers. Both the navi and the natives didn’t stand for that so they fought back and both of them were victors in winning their land back. Now the navi and the natives had been ready to fight for their land again.

Ethnocentrism is when you think that your religion is the best in the world. When the humans arrived on Pandora they thought their religion was the best and the navi were savage beasts. The navi had thought that their religion was the best. Our natives had thought that there was only one religion and it was theirs until the Europeans had came to their land. When the Europeans had came to the natives land they had thought they were savages and had no religion and they thought that the Christian religion was the only proper religion to have.

I hope I had convinced you that the navi and our natives should be left alone and not colonized and changed. If not changed then we can have more cultures and can have our native cultures can go on till time ends. You may ask yourself that why I would try to convince you but I am trying to show you what you as a society and a race that we need to stop our actions and think if they are actually necessary and if we absolutely need to do it. So take that into consideration next you root for native colonization.

completed essay (dont be jealous)

                                        Avatar Position Paper

                                             By Denver T.  McComish  

         “They’re fly-bitten savages that live in a tree!” This quote from the movie shows that the humans believe that they are superior and demonstrates ethnocentrism. This movie is not just future-fiction events, many of the themes in this movie have happened in the past. The Na’vi would be comparable to the North American first nations and the sky people to the Europeans. The Europeans took the first nations land and used it for resources and riches. This essay is going to analyze the development of cultural contact, colonialism, ethnocentrism and marginalization that was presented in the movie.

         When Europeans first came to Canada they came in contact with the First nations. They learned each other’s language, traditions, and hunting strategies. In Avatar the Na’vi teach Jake to be a warrior and to hunt in a politically correct way.  They teach him how to “see” nature and the forest. He learns the “savages” ways, so one day he could bring them the message that they are going to have to leave so the sky people can take there land and harvest the resources. You probably just got a flash of deja vu because that is exactly what we did to some of the First Nations of North America after we colonized the land.

         The Sky people built a colony on Pandora. They ship supplies and people to the planet. The people settle the land and gather resources like the Europeans did in North America. The sky people mine the unobtainium and ship it home to Earth. On Earth they manufacture it into products that are valuable. This is very similar to what happened to the fur traders and the beaver pelts, except the beavers were not worth 20 million a kilogram. All that money made the ski people pretty high on themselves, ethnocentric even. 

Almost everything in this movie has to do with ethnocentrism.  The humans think that it is there job to teach the Na’vi how to speak English, but most of the humans don’t have the ambition to learn the Na’vi’s language. This is almost a carbon copy of what happened in Canada with the residential schools. The humans take the Na’vi’s land, pollute and destroy the environment. They do not care about the Na’vi in anyway, they take they’re religious grounds for self-benefit. By doing this they marginalize the natives.

As you can see it is clear that James Cameron did not look to the future to write this movie, but in fact he looked to the past. This ethnocentrism, marginalization and colonization are not a figment of his imagination, but fragments of history, our history. Its almost a movie about how we settled the west by unsettling and marginalizing the Native tribes of our country. Now it is safe to say that this movie has been analyzed, critiqued and compared.

Final Essay!!

Social 10-1 Position Paper

By: Morgan Van Dusen

What did screenwriter, film director and editor, James Cameron, have in mind when coming up with the action filled plot line for the award winning movie “Avatar”? Did he simply have entertainment in mind, or was there something more? Comparing the major events in Avatar to our past, most specifically the colonization of North America, you will find there are numerous similarities between the two. Similarities such as the burden the humans felt in the movie, as they believed that it was their right to take over the Na’vi’s Hometree, and to marginalize them and to take away what was below the Hometree. This was much like how the Europeans felt that their culture was superior to the First Nations, and that it was the Europeans duty to civilize the ‘savages’, as the Europeans had a very ethnocentric attitude. Avatar and our past have connections through many parts of our past such as marginalization, ethnocentrism, but beginning with globalization.

A type of globalization occurred in both the interaction of the Na’vi and the humans, or Sky People, who contacted the Na’vi though Avatars, and the interaction of the Europeans and the First Nations in North America. The humans had discovered Pandora, a planet in the star systems that were populated by the Na'vi, and through cultural contact, the Sky People decided that they were an unfit society, and not up to the standards that the Sky People’s society was at. In the minds of the Sky People, the Na’vi’s were savages and needed to learn new and more proper ways or living. “Look, Sully, I want you to learn this savages from the inside, I want you to gain their trust. I need to know how to force their cooperation or hammer them hard if they won't.” said Colonel Miles Quartich, who was willing to destroy anything in his path to push aside the Na’vi and get to the unobtanium. The exact same event occurred with the Europeans. The Europeans had left their continent to escape religious persecution and discovered North America. The Europeans discovered indigent peoples, and decided that they needed to civilize them, so they laid out the land how they wanted it, similar to how Europe was before. They mapped the land they discovered, and gave new names to all of their discoveries. They began to colonize. The Europeans first started colonizing North America in the 16th and 17th centuries; they integrated themselves into society forcefully, changing everything as they pleased. They felt it was their duty and their right to change the First Nations into something they were not.

            Since the Sky People felt it was their right to take away the home of the Na’vi to destroy the Hometree, civilize them, and to take the precious unobtanium, it became very stressful and almost a burden. This played right into the term ‘White Man’s Burden.’ The Europeans also felt a very strong responsibility and felt that it was their obligation to take over the land that the First Nations had clearly been occupying. Both societies, the Sky People and Europeans, had a very strong attitude that both of their ethnicity was the best, so both had a very ethnocentric outlook over the Na’vi and First Nations. The Sky People had no empathy whatsoever if they tore apart families in the demolition of the Na’vi’s Hometree just to retrieve the mineral, unobtanium. The Europeans as well had no interest in preserving the First Nations culture, since the Europeans felt their culture wasn’t politically correct anyways, the Europeans decided to assimilated the First Nations. They pushed them aside, ignored them completely, and marginalized every First Nations person. 

           

With the Sky People and Europeans taking no notice of the Na’vi or First Nations presence or ownership of the land, the Sky People and Europeans simply either marginalized them, or if that was not possible because the Na’vi and First Nations would rebel, they would assimilate them. The Sky People had no sympathy what so ever towards the Na’vi, they did not care if they totally demolished all of what the Na’vi had that made up their cultural identity, as long as they got the unobtanium. But to the Europeans, land was wealth. If you had tons of land, you were royalty. If you did not, you were a peasant. And the First Nations had a lot of land that the Europeans felt was not being used properly, so they took it upon themselves to depopulate the First Nations, and to integrate the First Nations into the European culture and way of life. This was an attempt to completely strip them of their identity, and turn the First Nations into something they were not, and did not want to be. The Europeans could have accepted the First Nations culture and through acculturation and accommodation, lived peacefully together on the same land and possibly intermixed and to combine each other’s culture to create a hybridized society. The Sky People could have done the same thing and made peace with the Na’vi and possibly make a deal with the Na’vi to share the mineral. But both the Sky People and Europeans decided to use their advanced technology to take over the Na’vi and First Nations. Destroying the Na’vi and First Nations home land and Hometree, and using it for worse purposes.

With the comparison of the plot line of the movie Avatar, to our past colonization in North America, the similarities are quite noticeable. Both the Sky People and Europeans simply marginalized the Na’vi and First Nations because they though it was their right and duty, and because they thought their culture was better, and assimilated the ‘savages’ to take over the land and use it for their purposes. They events that occurred during the colonization of North America are reflected in the movie Avatar. Still today there are disagreements on the rights that our First Nations receive and if some of our actions infringe on their territory, and that all stems back to the Europeans ethnocentric attitudes and actions. We’re all human. We all make mistakes. But treating people the way you want to be treated could have definitely been a good lesson to have taught the Europeans.