Avatar shares the same plot as such movies as: Pocahauntus, and Dances with Wolves. The themes of these movies focus on a dominant male character who shifts from the role of an antagonistic oppressionist that follows the master narrative of society through oppression to a protagonistic hero through the world travelling idea presented by Greta Gaard. Jake, a white marine with no education besides how to pull a trigger, begins by taking the place of his brother as a researcher to occupy an anatomic machine disguised as member of the indigenous tribe that occupy the planet Pandora. Grace, the leader of research, is a strong female character who struggles to overcome the oppression of the Colonel, an anthropocentric white male,who is only concerned about the colonization of this planet for use of it's rare and valuable "Unobtantium". The mission for colonization is headed by Parker, another white male, who carries himself as successful and is oblivious to anything besides his narrative self, which is him and his goal to obtain what cannot be obtained.
Avatar is a perfect example of dualisms including: man versus nature, and man versus women (Parker/the Colonel versus Grace). The dualistic idea of man versus nature is blatantly clear when the Colonel and his army follow the orders issued by Parker to destroy home tree. The notion that this is someone's home does not matter.What matters is that there are valuable resources under the tree and their home is an acceptable loss.At 1 hour and 35 minutes into the movie the Colonel acknowledges his awareness of home tree being the Na'Vi home and at the same time his lack of care."Alright people, let's get this done. I want every gas round you got right in the front door." With no hesitation he destroys this massive tree and follows with "first rounds on me", insinuating his victory which should be followed with celebration.
In many ways this movie follows along with what Greta Gaard points with the Makah tribe. The Na'Vi are like the Makah, and the Tree of Souls is their version of the gray whale. White man comes in and tries to take what is not theirs and in doing so, they crush what is spiritual to the tribe. Grace can be labeled as a feminist border crosser as she follows what Gaard is pointing out by learning the language of the Na'Vi. "The arguments on both sides of the Makah whale hunting issue articulate the logic of different moral voices, stemming from different cultural contexts." (Gaard) To prevent the breakdown in cross cultural languages, Grace makes her researchers learn the the indigenous language. Gaard supports her point with an excerpt from an essay written by Maria Lugones and Elizabeth Spelman: "We do not talk the same language. When we talk to you we use your language, the language of your experience and of your theories." One must realize, however that in Avatar, a part of the colonization is the implementation of schools to teach American language and American tradition. This is an example of racial oppression. Some might argue that these are simply made up tribes of made up beliefs from the head of James Cameron. Although, they are blue, they are also not white. Avatar can be rationalized as just a simple movie with a good plot and nothing else, however the similarities are there. Are the Na'Vi really any different than the Native Americans from so long ago that nobody remembers?
The master narrative of our society accepts and hails such movies like Avatar because it portrays white man dominating nature and becomes a reigning hero. Realistically, humans do not act like what is shown by Jake's character. Ideally, however, nobody wants to see the reality of white man's oppression, so we candy coat it with movies of heroic ethic that ignore the truncative narrative and go for glory. Nobody cares about female oppression, so, in the end, we focus on Jake (man) being the hero rather than Grace (woman) having her research used as a tool that led to the inevitable deforestation (nature) of Pandora. In order to break free from the oppression of females and possibly the oppression of whatever else man deems himself worthy of dominating, we must step outside of what Tony Porter calls the "man box."
Written by: Justin W. Drummond
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