Themes in Avatar

This article is about the themes in the James Cameron film. For the themes in the unrelated animated series, see Avatar: The Last Airbender § Themes.
James Cameron, writer and director of Avatar, at the 2016 San Diego Comic-Con

The 2009 American science fiction film Avatar has provoked vigorous discussion of a wide variety of cultural, social, political, and religious themes identified by critics and commentators, and the film's writer and director James Cameron has responded that he hoped to create an emotional reaction and to provoke public conversation about these topics.[1] The broad range of Avatar's intentional or perceived themes has prompted some reviewers to call it "an all-purpose allegory"[2][3] and "the season's ideological Rorschach blot".[4] One reporter even suggested that the politically charged punditry has been "misplaced": reviewers should have seized on the opportunity to take "a break from their usual fodder of public policy and foreign relations" rather than making an ideological battlefield of this "popcorn epic".[5]

Discussion has centered on such themes as the conflict between modern human and nature, and the film's treatment of imperialism, racism, militarism and patriotism, corporate greed, property rights, spirituality and religion. Commentators have debated whether the film's treatment of the human aggression against the native Na'vi is a message of support for indigenous peoples today,[6] or is, instead, a tired retelling of the racist myth of the noble savage.[7][8] Right-wing critics accused Cameron of pushing an anti-American message in the film's depiction of a private military contractor that used ex-Marines to attack the natives, while Cameron and others argued that it is pro-American to question the propriety of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The visual similarity between the destruction of the World Trade Center and the felling of Home Tree in the film caused some filmgoers to further identify with the Na'vi and to identify the human military contractors as terrorists. Critics asked whether this comparison was intended to encourage audiences to empathize with the position of Muslims under military occupation today.[9][10]

Much discussion has concerned the film's treatment of environmental protection and the parallels to, for example, the destruction of rainforests, mountaintop removal for mining and evictions from homes for development. The title of the film and various visual and story elements provoked discussion of the film's use of Hindu iconography, which Cameron confirmed had inspired him.[11][12] Some Christians, including the Vatican, worried that the film promotes pantheism over Christian beliefs, while others instead thought that it sympathetically explores biblical concepts. Other critics either praised the film's spiritual elements or found them hackneyed.[13]

  1. ^ "James Cameron, Director". charlierose.com. February 17, 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-08-06. Retrieved March 5, 2010.
  2. ^ Keating, Joshua (January 17, 2010). "Avatar: an all-purpose allegory". Foreign Policy. Retrieved January 19, 2010.
  3. ^ Simpson, Jake (January 26, 2010). "Colonialism, Capitalism, Racism: 6 Avatar 'Isms'". The Atlantic Wire. Archived from the original on May 6, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
  4. ^ Phillips, Michael (January 10, 2010). "Why is 'Avatar' a film of 'Titanic' proportions?". Chicago Tribune. Archived from the original on January 9, 2010. Retrieved January 10, 2009.
  5. ^ Boehm, Mike (February 23, 2010). "The politics of 'Avatar:'The moral question James Cameron missed". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2010. Retrieved February 27, 2010.
  6. ^ Holtz-Giménez, Eric (2017). A Foodie's Guide To Capitalism. Oakland,Ca,USA: Food First Books. pp. 204–209. ISBN 978-1-58367-659-2.
  7. ^ Ordoña, Michael (December 14, 2009). "Eye-popping 'Avatar' pioneers new technology". San Francisco Gate. Retrieved December 14, 2009.
  8. ^ Itzkoff, Dave (January 20, 2010). "You saw what in 'Avatar'? Pass those glasses!". New York Times. Retrieved January 21, 2010.
  9. ^ Huascar Vega Ledo (January 7, 2010). "Jesus Christ and the movie Avatar". BolPress via translation by worldmeets.us. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
  10. ^ Desjardins, Pierre (January 28, 2010). "Avatar: Nothing but a 'stupid justification for war!'". Le Monde via translation by worldmeets.us. Retrieved February 18, 2010.
  11. ^ Svetkey, Benjamin (January 15, 2010). "'Avatar:' 11 burning questions". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 16, 2010.
  12. ^ Jamkhandikar, Shilpa (March 15, 2010). ""Avatar" may be subconsciously linked to India – Cameron". Reuters India. Archived from the original on March 23, 2010. Retrieved March 15, 2010.
  13. ^ Douthat, Ross (December 21, 2009). "Heaven and Nature". New York Times. Retrieved December 21, 2009.