Film ‘Avatar’ (Analysis, Themes)

In this exuberant alien planet called Pandora remained the Na’vi tribes who have evolved tremendously. Due to the poisonous atmosphere, the humans also known as avatars must empty their brain to enter this world to roam. Jake Sully, a paralyzed Marine, becomes able to walk again in the Pandora falls in love with a Na’vian woman, and as their bond began to grow more powerful they fall in love, Jake will help fight for the Pandora. Avatar directed by James Cameron and released on December 18, 2009. There are many developing themes in this film such as the environmental demolition because of the greediness and the superiority of men, one’s individual power due to the development of one’s self throughout the film, and falling in love no matter the cost. The themes expressed through the use of camera angles particularly low and high, the imagery of the entire film with the contrast between dark and light colors, and the deep meaning in the dialogue that brings out one’s true worth. James Cameron is a Canadian filmmaker and famous for Avatar, Titanic, and Terminator as well. He specializes in the genre of science fiction and uses special effects that create a magical image in our minds that will help us be creative. This helps brings life to the film and also to the audience as well to capture a big picture. Going through these themes and we will see how James Cameron develop the film to bring it to life and to create depth and meaning to the film as a whole.

In the film Avatar from the mere beginning and building up to the end many men were trying to destroy the environment to create more of an industrialized society. Throughout the film, you notice the domination of men over the Na'vi tribe through the use of many cameras angles particularly high and low. For instance, from the beginning on in the film when the Resources Development Administration are introduced and their reappearances the filmmaker uses low camera angles to make them appear intimidating and superior to others. Toward the end of the film when the Na’vi people were looking up to the gunships in despair as they came to destroy the Hometree truly showed the RDA had the power to achieve what they wanted and would kill whoever was in their path. On the flipside, looking down at the Na’vi tribes they looked feeble and incapable in comparison to the humans who looked preeminent and robust. Using this high camera angle has the effect of making the Na’vi people look weak with just their bow and arrows and also this creates a mood and emotion to have pity for this tribe.

Another low angle shot was when the Hometree buckled in the result of the bombing by the human race. During this scene, this shot created depth and provoked emotion because the Na’vi people’s whole life and their past were all in this one tree. It symbolized the passing away of someone you truly love and adore and it came with the heartache of losing them when you least expected it. When Jake and Grace were in the mechanical contraption that they had to use to enter into the Pandora there were many occasions where they showed them at peace. They had a peaceful ambiance and you could see their eyes rapidly moving as you would see in your REM sleep cycle. This showed the vulnerability of their physical state when they enter this foreign planet. This is also when the RDA can come and destroy any scientific information that is beneficial to the experimental process.

James Cameron’s ideas are relevant to today's society in the fact that greed and dominance have its ramifications for the Na’vi tribe and the human race as well. The humans did not know the true value in the tree, and all they focused on was the resources in the soil that were worth a lot of money. Their ultimate goal was to make money by using money that was used to help keep the program going. This connects to mankind today and the way we act towards inferior races. Cameron’s ideas shown through the various shot can depict the conflict between America and Iraq. The low angle shots representing the Iraq people and the high angle shots representing the American people. Dominance helped create a more relatable and more relevant effect to the movie so that the audience could connect to it.

Knowing one’s individual self worth was a very important factor the affected the movie tremendously through the dialogue. Near the beginning of this film Jake was compliant to the RDA and Colonel Quaritch because they began to threaten him and the experiment.This made Jake look like he is small and he has no power in this experimental trial program.    

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