Liked it
Avatar – Symbolism Beyond Words
A small look at the movie Avatar from an amateur filmmaker’s perspective.
“Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream”
James Cameron’s epic movie Avatar reveals a deeper message than humans just living on an alien planet. It’s a narrative that has underlying themes that bring out issues of environmental destruction, corporate corruption, genocide, and even the innate need for humans to believe in a higher being.
I’ll focus on a few things that were, in my interpretation, symbolic and tried to make a point.
1. The planet called “Pandora”
I actually think this was a strategic inconsistency. The name “Pandora” is most famously known from the Greek myth about “Pandora’s box“. In that myth, the Greek goddess Pandora, out of curiosity, opened up a box which contained disease, death, sorrow (and other bad things). Therefore, all of that was unleashed to humankind.
I think that the director tries to trick the viewer into thinking that this planet will contain the sorrow and horrible nature that is associated with Pandora’s box, but the viewer is pleasantly surprised as their original thoughts are disproved by the beauty and spirit of the planet and its people.
2. Weak & Dumb vs. Strong & Loved
The main character, Jake Sully, is an old military man that’s paralyzed in his legs. He uses a wheelchair to get around the spaceship (or wherever their base is). Also, as soon as he’s put into the program, he’s viewed as dumb and not as qualified as his deceased twin brother (who’d studied for years to learn about the planet and the program). So, he’s weak and viewed as a dumb guy (in the midst of scientists and phD’s). The goal of having all the people (researchers, high-end scientists, degree-holding nerds, labcoats and the whole mess of them) was to try to communicate with and gain the trust of the people of Pandora (with an underlying goal of getting the resources from their planet, but that’s a different point). So, all those braniacs tried and tried. However, it was Jake, the handicapped-dummy, that was chosen to be trained to be one of the people of Pandora, he was the one that would gain their trust. The reason: A good heart is what made him successful.
3. Eywa and the Balance of Nature
The people of Pandora had their goddess, Eywa, who would take care of keeping the balance in their nature and lives. She was their “Mother Earth”. In a way, this has some elements of pantheism and the worship of nature (sacred trees and plants, etc.). Though, it portrays religion as something of primitive nature, where the naive people only think that there’s a God. However, when the final battle ensues, Jake seeks the help of Eywa, but is reminded that her job is only to keep the balance of nature (not to take sides). Though, when the battle comes, she sends animals to help the people of Pandora, and the humans that made a mockery of their religion (Let’em pray to their Eywa, and we’ll stay here with our guns…) saw the true reality.
4. The True Reality
Okay, I’m going to go off on a bit of a more religious perspective here, so bear with me.
As Jake begins keeps going back and forth between his human body and his Avatar self, he begins to lose his concept of reality. Even though everything that was happening was real, he says a very bold statement (mentioned at the beginning of this article):
“Everything is backwards now, like out there is the true world and in here is the dream”
He means that he feels like his Avatar body and life (with the natives) is more real than the space cell that he eats and sleeps in. (By the way, he has to, kind of, sit in a sort-of tanning bed, and then he’s uplinked mentally to his avatar body, and can move and walk with that instead). He thinks that his life is now backwards.
What I interpret this as, is that he has reached the correct and true vision. Though this may not be what the director intended, the space cell he’s living in (with his regular body) is the Dunya (the Islamic word for “this world, this life, the hustle and bustle of everyday life), and his time in the planet of Pandora is the Akhirah (the Islamic word for the next life, after death, which entails heaven or hell).
He realizes that the Dunya, this life, doesn’t truly matter. What true reality is lies in the Akhirah, the next life.
You see, he may not have been seen as successful in his regular body (crippled in his legs) or with his intellect (probably only finished high school or basic college degree). However, what he had was a good heart. That’s what made him successful in his Akhirah of Pandora.
So, a final word on the movie. As my brother said, it’s like “a mix of Pocahontas and the Matrix”. What a combination of movies.
So, what do you think about this? Did you see any other form of symbolism in the movie? I’m sure there’s a whole lot more to be seen beyond the surface?
Leave a comment if you wish so we can know what you’re thinking.
Other Thoughts on Movies:
»»The Blind Side–We Really Are Blind
»I Just Entered the Wonderland
»“Evolution” of Today’s Film Technology
»Films-A Smart Man’s Tool to Show Reality
›››Click here for more articles by this author. And here’s his personal blog.
17 Comments
i totally agree with you. I just saw it today. Amazing. I think it is more of a FernGully/matrix-esque likeness rather than Pocahontas, though. Just my opinion. Good job on all the connections.
Yeah, I’d forgotten about FernGully…true. Thanks for the feedback!
I found some of the language interestingly symbolic – Eywa –Ywyh – the Jewish word for the one that cannot be named. The “shock and awe” and “terrorism” allegory was obvious, but, more importantly, the subtle descriptions throughout of the idea that indigenous traditions are so much more advanced than the “enlightened”, mechanized, “developed” world as depicted in the Navi’is relationships with the animal kingdom, the spiritual world and each other telepathically. The “tree of life” allegory was brilliant, as well as the “cocooning” as life was passed from one body to the next at death. Lots of messages here – I hope the younger crowd gets it.
Your analysis falls very short, although there is actually very little symbolism in the film to begin with. The primary basis of the film is aesthetics–nothing more, nothing less. The “deeper meaning” of this film, albeit rather shallow, just gives the movie just a little bit more *umph* to ride on.
By using coined Bush terms such as “preemptive strike” and “terrorists”, especially in a key scene before the final battle is waged on Pandora, Cameron may be chiming in his opinion to the War on Terrorism. If so, the direct translation of this portrayal is highly questionable. What may be more likely is that Cameron used these words because they are familiar to the audience because of the ubiquitous war we are currently in.
Oh, and the naming of the ore, “unobtanium”, serves to show that its actual use/essence/force is something that cannot be materially obtained. That’s James Cameron hitting the audience over the head with blunt obvious-ness.
I felt that the movie was beautifully made and full of symbolism. Not only the very obvious ones, but some much more subtle. For instance, when the tree fell, I had the immediate memory of 9/11. Very powerful.
Great article. I really enjoyed it. I’ve just seen the movie and my friends and I are stunned
Great job on this article.
Best regards,
Anders W. H.
Well what can I say? It’s darn well thought through, I like your way of thinking which I by that mean that is the way I see it, truely beutifull sybolising you are dealing with there, YOU ARE ON TO SOMETHING.
Best regards
Peter N.
Thank you all for the comments!
@melanie yes, I do think you see deeper into it than aestheic, and I have confidence that the younger generation was able to grasp the symbolism on at least a surface level (hey, I’m 15 and in high school..)
@Ashi
I don’t know if I agree. There’s no movie that’s ever made just for effects and aesthetic. That would take away the purpose of movies altogether. Coming from an upcoming filmmaker’s perspective (me, hehehe), a movie is nothing but a story to tell. Effects and visuals, while tempting to get lost in, are only there to further the overall story.
Speaking about the use of words like “terrorist” and “preemptive strikes” and such, that proves that SOMETHING was at least intentional. A movie of this length and hype had to have some type of symbolism or at least a message within it. Only a few times will someone ever make a movie without a message in their minds, and then the audience will look for and easily find messages.
The intention HAD to be there.
@Cathy
Yep, it does provoke a lot of emotion that represent what we’ve felt in the past.
@A.W.H.
) But I’m always glad for feedback.
Well, it seems after you’ve thought about the movie, you didn’t really like it (I read your article
@Peter N.
Thanks for agreeing with me, hope you were able to benefit from the article’s ideas.
just something to think about….Cathy commented above that she thought of 911 when the tree fell — I think it was intentionally shown in a way to suggest this with the ash and falling leaves — and let\’s not forget that Jake Sully told them how to bring the tree down by attacking the outer columns and inner columns (hmmm, just exactly how the WTC was constructed, by the way)….as for the movie references; I thought this was Dances with Wolves meets the New World (The John Smith/Pocahontas Movie starring Colin Farrell) meets Jurassic Park.
Fun movie, lots of stuff thrown into the mix.
Oh – one more referenced movie I forgotr to add into the mix…Aliens with the corporate greed angle (and the robot handler too) — and just for good measure, Sigourney Weaver to boot.
@Jeff
true, true…maybe it was intentional…I haven’t seen all the movies u referenced but they may fit well…
I see much more things of Islam in this movie. I’m an Avatar fan as a muslim, but i never needed to be a Na’vi, because i am something more than Na’vi. My religion has all these beautiful values of Na’vi and more.
Maybe we can mention about “vahdet-i vucud”, unity of existance, it’s a mainstream of Islamic sufism. Because it’s exactly what Avatar fans are falling in love, to have a connection with all, but I already have it in my belief.
Plus, Islam is a very environmentalist religion, because like Na’vi, when we look at a tree, an animal, we see what is beyond the corpus, we see that this is a creature of God with so many beauties in it, so we never harm them, unless it’s really necessary.
Also, our Prophet encouraged to be athletic, healty, even archery to keep our body in best shape, which is an escrow from God to us.
Monogamy or marriage, which i think the movie also exalted is another common value. We’re also mated for life, it’s not a joke for us.
@Ayten
Assalamu ‘Alaikum!
I, too, saw many similarities with Islam and the Na’vi people.