Avatar (2009) is a strongly spiritual and meaningful film. In broad terms, the storyline is a ‘love story’; however there are many underlying spirituals and moral values intertwined throughout the film. Some people watching this film for purely entertainment purposes may not recognise the spiritual and moral significance, as a deeper understanding of these values is required. This textual analysis of the film, Avatar, will describe what it is about and will then go on to develop an argument as to the spiritual significance involved in the film. In this argument, several key concepts will be introduced to explain this spiritual significance.
James Cameron’s Avatar, a massively successful film that has managed to gross almost $3 billion in revenue. Avatar takes place in the virtual world of Pandora, created by Cameron with digital technology and colonized with fantastic creatures and an indigenous race of tall blue aliens called the Na’vi. The film is presented in three-dimensions, a technology that has been around for some time but this was the first time it seems to be used without reference to novelty.
The virtual world within Avatar is closely reminiscent of virtual spaces like second life, in both environments, individuals use avatars to plug into space, roam around, and act in pure virtuality. Cameron’s avatar takes a step further and can fully transfer his consciousness into his secondary being, getting rid of his fragile and disabled body in the last moments of the film. This nexus between body and avatar, real and virtual spaces, is present in Avatar despite the fact avatars and humans, the fantastic and the technological, occupy the same plane of existence.
Avatar adopts and reinterprets a variety of film genres and styles. One of them is the cowboys versus Indian narrative. Avatar is undeniably a product of post-colonialism, it casts the Na’vi as the relatively harmless yet environmentally respectful indigenous population, while the humans are a corporate military who left their dying planet to mine the resources of Pandora. The film presents an anti-militarism narrative, portraying the soldiers as cruel, violent, and brainless brutes, intend in only chasing the company dollar and perpetuating the myth of the resolute warrior. All of them are males, except for a female helicopter pilot, who ultimately defects to the good side after rejecting violent action against the native population.
In a way, the film Avatar turns viewers against their kind the human race as it shows the selfishness and destructiveness of the Americans. They destroy both the living and the non-living things in the natural world to gain financial success. This also mirrors much of what is happening in society in the real world, for example, the new proposal by the New Zealand government to mine natural and untouched areas around New Zealand such as the Coromandel, Great Barrier Island and Paparoa National Park, which is home to wildlife, flora and fauna.
This film is both mythological and ideological as there are components throughout the film which fit into the category of both, however, it is a mainly mythological story. There are elements in Avatar which guide the Na’vi culture at an intense and spiritual level, especially concerning Eywa and the profound relationship they have with it. The mythological form may also involve society shaping myths and a hero or characters journey that exemplifies integrity, virtue and morality. In this case, Jake goes on a journey of self-discovery and decides to change sides after witnessing the Na’vi way of life. Here we see the change in Jake, as he gives up the promised chance to walk again out of his wheelchair, and makes the decision to demonstrate his virtue by choosing to help his newly acquainted friends fight for their land against the Resource Development Administration. To finish off his journey, Jake eventually chooses to transfer his consciousness to his Avatar self.
In a ceremony ritual similar to Grace’s, Jake passes through the eye of Eywa and wakes up as his Avatar self. It is also demonstrated through the story that shows how the values of the Na’vi – their land – are challenged by the antagonists, however, through unity and goodwill, the triumph of the good one. The mythological form uses abundant cinematic processes and a wide range of techniques to make the storylines clearer, more exciting and more entertaining. This is a definite component of the film Avatar, as it was released as both a three dimensional and two-dimensional film. In the three dimensional versions especially, special effects are used to create a sense of closeness and vulnerability for the viewer, as we can see the world from the perspective of the Na’vi and not the humans. The restorative structure of the storyline shows that all issues are able to be resolved eventually. In this sense, we see that the proper moral power in which the Na’vi employ will almost always win out over the greed and selfishness of organisations such as the American Resource Development Administration.
Morality is a part of the film also, as the American Resource Development Administration refuses to believe that they are doing anything wrong by wanting to mine the area in which the Na’vi live, for purely financial gain. There seems to be no sense of moral values or ethics involved with their selfish need for power and money. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) is the chief of security for the Resource Development Administration and has no regard for indigenous life forms. It is the opinion that there are many relations in Avatar to recent US imperialism such as the Iraq war and the attitude of some corporate leaders that they will do anything to take control of land and resources necessary for their profit-making.
In conclusion, the film Avatar is largely spiritual, regardless of whether it has to be searched to find or if it is explicit to one individual. There are many features in the film which points towards this being a spiritual film. For example, the spiritual journey in which Jake Sully undertakes throughout the film inherently related to a deeper spiritual sense. In addition to this, the Na’vi have a strong spiritual and physical connection to the land and all living things. Eywa is also an influential part of the spirituality of the Na’vi as it is known as the guiding force for every living thing on Pandora as everything is connected through Eywa. There are several concepts discussed in lecture which can relate to the plot and underlying spirituality and values throughout the film. For example, mythological and ideological form, morality, values, transcendence and transcendental style and also the idea that spirituality can mean different things to different people.
