James Cameron's Avatar

In the far future, year 2154, paraplegic marine Jake Sully takes the place of his fallen brother for a military operation on the planet Pandora. The mission involves driving the natives, known as the “Na’vi”, off the land they wish to exploit for personal greed. Jake takes up the opportunity of infiltrating the Na’vi for intelligence by using an Avatar, a human-na’vi hybrid, in exchange for a surgery that will enable him to walk again after the assignment. However, Jake begins to questions himself, and the motives behind the military, as he not only begins to bond with the native tribe, but also falls in love with a Na’vi of the name Neytiri. As the military moves forward with extermination of the Na’vi in their gluttony filled conquest, the

That would, in turn, mean that the sentient natives on Pandora, the Na’vi, would represent Native Americans. The antagonists’ want to expand onto

Pandora was justified by riches, which quite undoubtedly resembles not only Manifest Destiny justifications, but also that of the California Gold Rush. Just as we had pushed natives of their land for greed and power, just as much had happened on Pandora, in James Cameron’s Avatar.

To start, we have to see how the Na’vi are often characterized as savages, and depicted as an unruly evil.

Similar to when we had expanded westward, reasons are often spread through word of mouth in a way one would find misinforming. Colonel Miles Quaritch, the main antagonist, does not allude a disdain for the natives, he blatantly and proudly wears it as he calls them “bastards”, and “savages”; meanwhile he tries to scare others into sharing his beliefs through fear of them eventually, one day, attacking, and in “great numbers”. He mocks their evident differences in culture to help rally people behind him, such as by acknowledging how they feel safe behind a deity. They are degraded by this word of mouth so others

The prime example, as mentioned before, is heavily akin to the California Gold Rush. The reasons humans are wanting the Na’vi to vacate the lands is because of a precious mineral under their land. In the California Gold Rush, thousands of people flocked to

California to mine a precious mineral, too: Gold. Gold and “unobtainium” are both extremely valuable minerals that humans, real-world or not, have wanted. If something were in the way of the greed, then they could easily be disposed of.

Then, finally, the motives and way the situation was handled as a whole bears a striking resemblance. We see that, in the movie, the whole driving force is just power and greed. At some point, it also appears to have just become bloodlust, too, and with getting everything as soon as possible. There had become a blatant disregard for the lives and cultures of the natives whenever it hindered their progress. As the movie progressed, Colonel Miles Quaritch, and people similar to him, became increasing agitated with how slow the project had been being handled. Throughout the movie, there were several points when he was