Examples Of Imperialism In Avatar

Persuasive Essay
Although it is assumed that most movies in social studies classes have no relevance to the content area, the movie “Avatar” is viewed in social studies and displays multiple examples of Imperialism, a content area of social studies. In Avatar, humans are colonizing a foreign planet named Pandora without any regard to the indigenous people, the Na’Vi with the sole intentions of obtaining unobtainium, a resource. This is just like how the British colonized foreign countries for their resources, such as Africa. The notion of colonizing other nations to require resources is a part of Imperialism and the movie portrayed it. Also, Colonel Miles Quaritch from Earth talked about how if the Na’Vi didn’t subdue to Earth or cooperate then war against them

would be necessary.

Colonel Miles idea is the same as how the British would wage war against countries they were attempting to colonize but rebelled back. A part of Imperialism includes attacking the nations that don’t surrender to your motives to exploit their resources and this is also shown in Avatar. A third example of Imperialism in Avatar is that that the Earthlings saw the Na’ Vi as barbaric and savages while the the Na’ Vi felt the same way toward the Earthlings. The British also viewed other undeveloped nations as inferior beings in comparison to themselves. The movie yet again is displaying Imperialism because Imperialism includes negative and biased opinions on differing countries. Multiple examples of Imperialism are shown in Avatar with the Earthlings having no regard for natives, the unwillingness to negotiate and go straight to war if their demands aren’t met and the idea of countries with different beliefs being

savages being just a few examples.