Cultural Analysis: Avatar

Cultural Analysis: Avatar

Anthony Allen
ATH 111
Dr. Boyd Johnson

Cultural Analysis: Avatar

The movie I selected to analysis is Avatar, though it was a controversial
movie when it was
released, I believe the movie exposes our strengths and weakness as humans. The
basis of my analysis
will be discussed is our interaction with a completely different type human that is
alien to us, the
importance of memories, human/Navi behavior when it comes to war(effects), and
human invasion for
exploitation of its mineral resources.
Memories makes us who we are, some memories remind us of a simple time,
they also remind us of where weve been. If we couldn't remember the who, what,
where, and when of our everyday lives, we will never manage understand
ourselves. How we learn is essential to understand how we think. Our intelligence is
a memory-based practice and the learning means we start to understand how think
the way we do (The Importance of Memory, 2015). In the movie, the Navi tribe
rely on the memories of their ancestors for guidance and choices. Every member is
important to the tribe and all their experiences is vital for their evolution as a
people. The spirit of the people, trees, and animals are all interconnected, so one
cant function without the other. Many tribes throughout history are similar in the
ways of memories, they also depend on their ancestors to keep their legacy alive.
Another area to be covered is the interaction between human and Navi when
it comes to war. Our world history is littered with disputes between countries, tribes,
or with each other. Human nature says that war is a conflict carried on by force of
arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land,
sea, or air (War, 2016). Recently our country was involved in a conflict with
Afghanistan, most of think it was about terrorism, but it was mostly about resources.

Cultural Analysis: Avatar

The conflict in the movie was over a valuable element, Unobtainium, and the
humans evaluated the tribes and decided the Navi were a primitive race and the
humans felt they were superior. The reason the humans were willing to go to war for
the financial benefit, the Navi only went to war to protect their land. This sounds
familiar, the fact the humans attempted to conduct this diplomatically was
surprising; it was an afterthought for ethical reasons. The Navi are similar to our
American Indians, they both were primitive, but peaceful until someone or
something threatened them or their land. The effects of war are usually death and
destruction, and in the movie the effects brought the tribes together on top of the of
life. War not only effects the physical psyche of a person; it effects the spiritual.
Vietnam, Gulf war, and Global War on Terrorism veterans and widows might have to
deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, illness contracted while abroad, Stockholm
syndrome (if they were a POW). Any country involved will have to rebuild not only
the physical structures, but also the mental. The Navi will have to rebuild after the
destruction of the homeland and future generations will be reminded of what
happened and how they stood and fought their oppressor. The movie showed as
the alien invading someones world, overpowering them, and taking a vital resource
for personal gain, this sounds like every invasion movie clich.
Exploiting countries for resources is an everyday occurrence on earth,
countries fight over the smallest things and in the end they both lose. A study
published by American National Academy of Science concludes that wealthy nations
do efficiently use their resources within their own territories, but exploit the
resources of the world by using raw materials to make the products they import.
Countries had been reporting their consumption of their raw materials, and not
reporting all the resources taken from poorer undeveloped countries. The study also

Cultural Analysis: Avatar

concludes within 40 years our worlds population will reach 9 billion and we will
need over 250 billion tons of raw materials (Rinat, 2013) (Science, 2016). This
goes back the reasons why in the movie the whole world agreed to send a
spacecraft an inhabited planet full of raw materials with no consideration for the
inhabitants living there. This also reminds of what happened to the American
Indians, they claimed these land decades before Columbus, and ended up being
raped and slaughtered for their lands.
The Navi live in what we would describe as the stone age, and it works for
them. Even though they were not as evolved as we were in the movie, its not
ethical to invade another planet and killing them for a precious metal, isnt life
worth more than that. I guess the Geneva Convention laws dont apply when it
comes to an alien planet.

References
Rinat, Z. (2013, Sep 12). Food for Thought: How Rich Countries Exploit the
Resources of Poorer Ones - and Get Away With It . Retrieved from
www.haaretz.com: http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/1.546450
The Importance of Memory. (2015). Retrieved from Engines 4 Education:
http://www.engines4ed.org/hyperbook/nodes/NODE-2-pg.html
War. (2016). Retrieved from Dictionary.com: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/war