Ethnocentrism in Avatar by James Cameron
One of the major themes of the film Avatar is colonialism. Colonialism is the establishment of economic and political control over an area (Lundberg, 2015). In the film, Avatar, colonialism could be seen by the humans trying to take over Pandora for its resources, also known as “unobtainium”. Jake Sully, the main lead acts as a handicap ex-marine, task to infiltrate the place in his given avatar suit, to assist the military in blending into Pandora. This helps the military to gain an upper hand in colonising Pandora. However, Jake Sully unknowingly fall in love with one of the Na’vis, the natives of Pandora. In this essay, the Avatar film shows ethnocentrism and romanticism being displayed.
According
to Lundberg(2015), ethnocentrism is the belief of one’s culture is prevalent than the other. In Avatar, the head administrator of RDA, Parker Selfridge, blatantly shows no admiration to the native of Pandora. He addresses the Na’vi as “blue monkeys” and “savages”. In additional, Eytukan the patriarch of the Na’vi, upon meeting Jake Sully for the first time, comments that “his alien smell fills my nose” (Cameron & Landau, 2009). The censorious terms use to describe one another's culture, therefore shows how ethnocentrism is present within. It is about how the two different races, regard their own culture as the most sensible and the best and how other cultures are abnormal and inferior to theirs (Lundberg, 2015). In one of the concepts of ethnocentrism, romanticism is portrayed in the film. Romanticism is where traditional people being seen as presenting a better past when humans were at one with nature (Lundberg, 2015). One of the scenes where romanticism is clearly uncovered when Neytiri (Na'vi princess) teaching Juke Sully the most proficient method to ride on the direhorse, the prerequisite for it is for him to be one with the direhorse. To be one with a direhorse, Jake Sully must mount on it and connect his neural queue found at the end of his hair braid and the horse's neural queue found at the end of the horse’s antenna. Once both neural queue touches, the optic-fiber like wires found in both ends of neural queue automatically intertwines (Cameron & Landau, 2009). This signifies the connection between the horse and Jake sully as essential and sacred. Through this connection, he is able to communicate with the direhorse or to even share their history or memories (Tucker, 2014). This scene demonstrates the unification as one, between the Na'vi and nature to be hallowed and as an essential part of each other's life. On the contrary, the humans esteem those essentials of nature as hindrances and resources for colonising for their own helpful use (Cameron & Landau, 2009). ETHNOCENTRISM IN AVATAR BY JAMES CAMERON Conclusion In conclusion, the concept of ethnocentrism and romanticism is all around depicted in the film. Ethnocentrism in the film portrays how the humans and the Na'vi see their own particular culture/race as more prevalent than the other. Those that don't fit in with their way of culture/race are seen to be abnormal, unnatural and inferior. Romanticism is portrayed by Jake Sully and the Na'vi attempting to unify and be one with nature by bonding; the humans only deem nature as something to be remove and resources for survival.
There are countless similarities as well as differences between chapter 12 of “Creating America: A History of the United States” by McDougal Littell and the movie “Avatar”. Among the topics of “Avatar” and chapter 12 that share similarities and differences is why the whites wanted the Native American’s land, and why the humans wanted the land of the Na’vi people. Also, how the Natives tried to adjust. Furthermore, how the natives resisted. These are just a few examples of many that show both how different and at the same time how similar “Avatar” is to chapter 12.
Throughout time, many people feel as if they have lost their connection to their cultural from outside influences and numerous disruptions. Disruptions to one’s cultural can be seen in the Picture book The Rabbits by john Marsden and Shaun tan which is an an allegory of the invasion of Australia. Another example is the film avatar by James Cameron. The creators of these works are expressing the effect of man on nature and disruption it brings upon the cultural of the indigenous people who are the traditional owners of the land.
Post-colonialism is a discourse draped in history. In one point in time or another, European colonialism dominated most non-European lands since the end of the Renaissance. Naturally, colonialists depicted the cultures of non-Europeans incorrectly and inferior. Traditionally, the canon has misappropriated and misrepresented these cultures, but also the Western academia has yet to teach us the valuable and basic lessons that allow true representations to develop. Partly in response, Post-colonialism arose. Though this term is a broad one, Post-colonialists generally agree on certain key principles. They understand that colonialism exploits the dominated people or country in one way or another, evoking inequalities. Examples of past inequalities include “genocide, economic exploitation, cultural decimation and political exclusion…” (Loomba 9-10). They abhor traditional colonialism but also believe that every people, through the context of their own cultures, have something to contribute to our understanding of human nature (Loomba 1-20). This is the theme that Lewis prescribes in his, self described, “satirical fantasy”, Out of the Silent Planet (Of Other 77).
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
Whether it be the primal or indigenous beliefs of the na’vi or the the violent, mechanical, and greedy nature of the mining company a lot of the element of the movie reflect element of religious stereotypes of the time. First, we can look at the similarities between the na’vi people and the cultures
...heir superiority. Achebe embraces the beauty of humanity while simultaneously addressing its flaws. With his ability to contemplate conflicting perspectives, Achebe illustrates the benefits of cultural relativity. Achebe does not target religion or even the colonizers; he addresses people universally, encouraging global consideration and individual reflection. To accentuate the forcefulness of the colonizers, Achebe contrasts it with his own temperateness—he portrays his characters without generalization, he presents his opinions with a carefully restrained perspective, and remains calm in his writing, never resorting to hatred. Instead of passively resenting his village’s colonization, Achebe productively channels his specified anger into global compassion, showing his readers the value in considering different cultures with objective and thoughtful rationality.
Anthropology is the study of the development of humankind within their different cultures. When one looks inside a culture, they can see the true aspects and meanings behind a societies behavior and traits. By following the principle that is cultural relativism, one can also determine that no culture truly surpasses another culture, and that each society has key differences that are important to its culture and location. This is a method that can also be seen in many intriguing films from this semester, one in particular being The Emerald Forest. Throughout this essay, this film will be analyzed around one character who greatly represents what it means to truly immerse oneself into a different culture to gain a new perspective, and many key terms in anthropology will be explored through 4 different films from the semester.
In “Avatar”, the concept of cultural relativism is explored in numerous ways. The main character, Jake Sully, is a prime example of cultural relativism. As Jake submerges himself among the Na’vi and their culture, he begins to realize the culture, viewing it from the Na’vi perspective. After falling in love with a native, Neytiri, Jake realizes the innocence of the Na’vi and how they are simply trying to protect their homeland. He begins to understand the value in scared places to the Na’vi, most notably the Tree of Souls. Only after living with Na’vi and seeing the destruction of the military does Jake truly understand the value within the Na’vi people. Another prevalent film that conveys the theme of cultural relativism is “The Emerald Forest”. The son of Bill Markham, Tommy, is kidnapped at the start of the movie, spending the rest of his
... native that falls for the so called “savages” or the native people of the land. In The Searchers, the young girl that is taken as a captive basically falls for the Native Americans and calls them her people. Ethan does not like how that happens and almost shoots Debbie. In Avatar the Na’vi woman falls for Jake Sulley and Jake falls for her. The general of the mission finds out and tries to destroy all the Na’vi people and their land. So, both of these movies have the same concept.
Set on the planet Pandora, Avatar is a science-fiction story of a money-hungry corporation’s attempt to conquer and excavate the land of humanoids known as Na’Vi. Jake Sully is a paraplegic, who is sent to space to complete his deceased brother’s mission because they share the same genome, which is necessary to navigate the expensive avatar that had already been cloned. We learn that the avatar is basically a mind-transporter used to be a part of and learn about the Na’Vi community. During his first expedition in the land of the Na’Vi, Jake gets lost and encounters one of the main female members of the tribe who ends up taking him under her wing and teaches him the ways of a Omaticaya. From here, the movie continues to tell the story of Jake’s dilemma between the mission he started with his people and the allegiance he slowly pledged to the Omaticaya clan. After watching Avatar the day it came out in theaters, I easily decided that it was one of the most extraordinary movies I had ever seen. My opinion may seem invalid coming from an uncultured fourteen-year-old, but even after having recently re-watched the film, I feel this movie and its social commentary are remarkable. There were many aspects to this movie, some controversial, that made the movie exceptional: its new-aged cinematography, disputable portrayal of the indigenous peoples, oddly familiar plotline, and mostly its critique on colonization and civilization. After having watched Avatar for the sixth time, I have come to the conclusion that this film much more intricate than its critics and supporters acknowledge. There are multiple parallels between imperialism and...
The song lyrics above are from the soundtrack of the film Menace II Society and correspond directly to the hardships that people are given when growing up in the ghetto and when surrounded by a life of violence. Because they know nothing other than this aggressive and brutal way of life, they continue this violent cycle and rarely break away to begin a new way of life.
In the short story “Blackness” by Jamaica Kincaid, the narrator’s consciousness develops through a process of realization that she does not have to fully embrace the ideology imposed on her by the colonizers nor fully deny her authentic heritage. First, the narrator utilizes the metaphor, “blackness,” representing the colonization of her country that simultaneously envelops her own being. Her consciousness then is unaware of her own nature; she is in isolation and “all purpose… as if [she] were the single survivor of [her] species” (472). This annihilation of her ancient culture shows how “blackness” replaced her own culture with the ideology of the colonizers. Then, the narrator’s understanding shifts along with the influence of the colonizers
Chinua Achebe was an influential Nigerian author during the 1900’s who was credited with his three essays which have been fused together into the book “Home and Exile”. In his stories he discusses things such as his own Igbo people, the problems with colonialization, the strength that stories can have and many more topics. A big part of his essays are on his thoughts of colonialism, the impact it has had on his home of Nigeria, and how stories written by others either helped justify colonialism or rejected it. Chinua argues that stories have their own power to fight, and while stories themselves do not have the ability to directly fight colonialism; they do, however with their power of words, stories can motivate and encourage people to stand up against colonialism. In proving this thesis to be a true statement, I will be providing evidence of the how, why and the extent to which stories can fight colonialism.
The definition of the cultural imperialism in the Cambridge dictionary is simply as one “culture of a large and powerful country, organization, etc. having a great influence on another less powerful country." Yet to get the real and important meaning of cultural imperialism, we have to know more than its basic dictionary definition.
Today colonialism is still active, known as Neocolonialism, which has devastating effects on global cultural groups. To begin, the term colonialism is defined in the dictionary as “control by one country over another and its people”. Throughout history colonialism has confounded and damaged numerous cultures and people. Indigenous people have undergone a series of massive modifications to their culture as well as spiritual beliefs and morals and obligations they’ve held since before the first coming of Western cultures. In regards to this, there are many concerns of loss of culture among several different groups.