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  • Essay / Analyzing and Interpreting Avatar

    Set in 2154, the film Avatar explores the mining of precious minerals called "unobtanium" on Pandora. Jake Sully is a sailor whose consciousness is transferred to a genetically engineered hybrid body of Na'vi, a sentient humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. He is ordered to interact and integrate with the Na'vi to gain their trust and ultimately persuade the Na'vi to move and extract the mineral. After the humans fail to compromise with the Na'vi, they decide to take the land by force. During the battle, Jake and the team he led join the indigenous people instead of the humans. Eventually, Jake abandoned his human body and his consciousness was transferred by the Goddess to make him a true Na'vi. This essay explains how the film Avatar represents colonialism, ethnocentrism, and romanticism. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”? Get the original essay Colonialism is the policy or practice of a wealthy or powerful nation of maintaining or expanding its control over other countries, notably by establishing colonies or exploiting resources. (Dictionary of American Heritage, n.d.). In the film, humans kill and supplant the indigenous population of another planet or other location in order to obtain a valuable mineral. From this, parallels can be drawn in that the Na'vi can be seen as a fictionalized version of indigenous populations who also experienced colonization by Europeans. Beneath the surface of this film also lies a deep undertone of ethnocentrism which is the belief in the inherent superiority of one's own ethnic group or culture. (Collins English Dictionary, nd) The humans and Na'vi in ​​the film believe that their culture is superior to each other. This can be seen when humans refer to the Na'vi as "blue monkey", "savage", and "natives", while the Na'vi refer to humans as "smelly aliens", "creatures" and "natives". “demons” (Cameron and Landau). , 2009).Avatar also showed the concept of romanticism which is related to ethnocentrism. Romanticism implies that traditional peoples are seen as presenting a better past when humans were one with nature (Lundberg, 2016). There is a lot of evidence in the film. One of the main characters, Grace Augustine, the biologist in charge of the study of Avatar, criticizes the armed soldiers, who can also be described in another way as people who abuse technology, in the film almost the most of the time. This can be seen in his lines such as "trigger-happy morons" and "idiot with a gun". On top of that, his actions in teaching the Na'vi, caring for them, and still trying to protect them even after losing their trust and love showed his romantic view of the Na'vi. This is made clearer when Grace says she is with the goddess of the Na'vi, Eywa, before she dies. The romance is especially distinct when the Na'vi interact with nature. They pray for the killed animals and feel their sadness. They use their braid to connect with animals and feel their emotions and minds instead of forcing them to obey. There is a scene where Neytiri and Jake are surrounded by the Tree of Souls and listen to the voices of ancestors and native spirits. They feel the spirits of nature and listen to them. The Na'vi treat nature as an inseparable part of themselves, which shows a dramatic difference from humans. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized item now from our..