So I trucked off this morning (shaving $4 off the evening ticket price, thankyouverymuch) with a couple of friends to my local IMAX, donned some 3-D glasses, and immersed myself into the world of Pandora for over two and a half hours. Here are some succinct, if not quite finished, observations about the film:
4. Spirituality: The Na'vi bear striking resemblances to Native Americans of yore, from their dress to ceremonial garb, from their tribal arrangements to their war paint and weapons of choice. Perhaps most significant real-world correlation in the film is the continued return to the Na'vi's spiritual core, the goddess Eywa, or the Great Mother. Although it is of course not specifically named, pantheism is a theme revisited time and time again. Energy fills Pandora and connects the Na'vi to the forest and the animals and Eywa herself, who makes herself known through the Tree of Souls. A human scientist rationalizes this as a bio-genetic link, but the Na'vi know better. At times, they lose themselves in Eywa, swaying and chanting to the beat of her song. They can even hear the voices of their dead ancestors as they connect once again to the Great Mother.
1. Graphics: Visually, the film is unbelievably stunning, and Cameron has created a world in which colors explode off the screen. In the first half of the film, Jake Sully the avatar explores this new world and it's clear that Cameron wants the viewer to feel, or at least come close to feeling, the awe and wonder that Jake feels with each step, leap, and flight. And Cameron succeeds. Each and every carefully crafted shot utilized to show off this rainforest-like world is breathtaking. And at night, his world of Pandora is literally aglow. He has no doubt raised the bar for film making, much like the Wachowski brothers did ten years ago with a little red pill.
2. Plot: Although the film takes its audience to new and soaring visual heights, the same can't be said of the plot, which works its way around a combination of tired plots we've all seen before, from hints of Pocahontas and Fern Gully to much less subtle throwbacks to Dances with Wolves (side note: one message board strain called the film "Dances with Smurfs." Heh.). If you've seen the trailer, you can probably predict the high points of the movie without much stress. That said, with all of its groundbreaking graphics, perhaps an innovative plot isn't all that needed for those who will be content with high-powered action sequences tossed deftly throughout.
3. Conservative backlash: The very fact that some on the far right have cried out against this film is the reason some hate us conservatives so much. I was told of a radio program where conservatives called in, lambasting the film as a cut against the American military. One woman on the program even claimed to have walked out of the film because she was so offended. This fellow finds the film "anti-military" and "anti-American" because the "bad guys in the movie are the United States Marines." First and foremost, let's clear up some plot inaccuracies - the bad guys are NOT U.S. Marines. The film makes that explicitly clear at the beginning when Jake the narrator indicates that the military-like folk on Pandora are former military brass and thus rendered as nothing more than thuggish mercenaries, hired out to a corporation looking for a very valuable mineral that just so conveniently happens (see #2) to be found under the home of the indigent population, the Na'vi.
Now, the mercenaries are wicked and relentless, with their leader's hatred and rage toward the Na'vi backed by a very obvious corporate greed, a concept all too familiar these days. Enron, anyone? Wall Street? Bernie Madoff? I digress.... But rather than striking me as a blow to the military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, the complete destruction rained upon the Na'vi as they are forced by an utterly violent attack from their homes reminded me most tragically of the Trail of Tears as the Cherokee were forced to move West in the first half of the 1800s. Not to mention the peoples that were displaced in the 1600s and on as Europeans moved west to colonize "savage" nations...
I wouldn't be surprised if Cameron had politically left leanings, though. One phrase that struck me as particularly odd came out of the mercenary leader's mouth nearer to the final battle of the film - "We must fight terror with terror." I'm surprised Cameron left that bit of dialogue in the film, as it did not make any sense whatsoever within context. The Na'vi could not be considered "terrorists" in the modern sense of the word as they had not committed any acts of "terror" against the humans on Pandora. If anything, it seems that Cameron is commenting more about the environment and imperialism as a whole than specifically American policy overseas, especially when he discusses it.
4. Spirituality: The Na'vi bear striking resemblances to Native Americans of yore, from their dress to ceremonial garb, from their tribal arrangements to their war paint and weapons of choice. Perhaps most significant real-world correlation in the film is the continued return to the Na'vi's spiritual core, the goddess Eywa, or the Great Mother. Although it is of course not specifically named, pantheism is a theme revisited time and time again. Energy fills Pandora and connects the Na'vi to the forest and the animals and Eywa herself, who makes herself known through the Tree of Souls. A human scientist rationalizes this as a bio-genetic link, but the Na'vi know better. At times, they lose themselves in Eywa, swaying and chanting to the beat of her song. They can even hear the voices of their dead ancestors as they connect once again to the Great Mother.I do give Cameron credit for creatively finding a way to manifest this connection of all things to each other. The Na'vi can use special tips at the end of their long braid to physically become one with the animals of Pandora, Pandora's memories, and even Eywa herself.
That said, this type of religion (and make no mistake; pantheism is a religion for some), which can be commonly found in today's New Age mantra, is an ersatz faith. Of course, it works in fluid conjunction with the environmental message also found in the film, and pantheism is
probably the least offensive religion to give to movie characters in our tolerance-is-king society. After all, if I want to be a god, who is to tell me my experience is invalid? However, it was G.K. Chesterton who said that when "Jones shall worship the 'god within him,' [it] turns out ultimately to mean that Jones shall worship Jones." And boy, isn't he right. Pantheism leads to nothing more than full-on self-worship.
In addition, Alister McGrath highlights the worldview's "irrationality" and its tendency to allow "no means of entry for criticism or evaluation."* McGrath is also right to note that a philosophical discourse alone will not be enough to dissuade the New Ager, but rather a proclamation of Christ. I'm reminded of Colossians 2:8, which says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ."
I asked in the first paragraph if there was anything to lose by seeing Avatar. If one is clear-minded and aware throughout the film, then I don't think there is anything at all to lose. Enjoy your 2.5+ hours of escapist fare. I did. James Cameron certainly has a tendency for making films that become ingrained in our pop culture (re: Terminator, Alien, that one about the boat...), and if anything, I hope that Avatar will bring about chances to discuss the hollow philosophies found within and use that as an opportunity to share the gospel and to thus give a reason to anyone who asks for the hope within me (I Peter 3:15).
*McGrath, Alister. Intellectuals Don't Need God and Other Modern Myths. Grand Rapids: Michigan, 1993. pg. 184.
