James Cameron’s Avatar is an enduring spiritual blockbuster

AT 68 years old, James Cameron shows no indication that he is slowing down. A maverick in every sense of the word, his cinema pushes the boundaries of technology to heights unseen before, regardless of the scale of the productions.

In Terminator 2, traditional models, rear projections, and laser scanning techniques were used to bring many of the action sequences and the movie’s central villain, the T-1000 to life. For Titanic, he ventured to the deepest parts of the ocean. His crown jewel, Avatar, which he has devoted over twenty years of his life to, and is likely to spend the next ten years completing the remaining sequels, is back in cinemas, now in remastered 4K HDR and Dolby Atmos 9.1 surround sound. He is the modern-day George Melies, obsessed with bringing magic to the screen through technology.  

Putting aside the stunning visual effects (for which every frame feels hand stitched) and the global success it has achieved, what struck me the most upon revisit is the ecocentrist ideology that underpins the entire movie. What other billion-dollar movie dares to be so critical of American exceptionalism and its military industry? The equivalent for today’s standard are the Marvel and DC projects, which saps out any authorial voice that it is rendered impotent and becomes indistinguishable from one to the next. 

Beyond glimpses of Earth during its prologue, Avatar unfolds entirely on the planet of Pandora in the Alpha Centauri system, where a mining company along with a regiment of armed forces oversees a campaign to colonise the people of Na’Vi in order to extract rare valuable minerals. Jake Sully, a former Marine and paraplegic wounded in combat is recruited to take the place of his twin brother in the Avatar program. He is embedded with the local indigenous population, to win their favour and learn their secrets, but instead of finding a 'hellish' environment, is awed by this Edenic, pre-Columbian world. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang) and corporate lackey Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) are the central villains. 

The indigenous population of Pandora, the Na’Vi are blue, ten-feet tall beings with a prehensile tail that allows them to connect on an almost genetic level and share information with the world around them. The Na’Vi represent the forces of good, demonstrating a reverential appreciation and living in total equilibrium with the environment. They are models for a self-sufficient community, akin to First Nations people (Native American actor, Wes Studi plays Eytukan, the patriarch and clan leader). In his depiction of humans, Cameron excoriates our modern society that is driven by materialist, exploitative and violent attitudes which has resulted in a barren, wasted Earth. 

In an interview, Cameron says in no uncertain terms, “all life on Earth is connected, in ways which human science is still grappling to understand. But our industrial society is impacting that web of life at a rising rate, which will inevitably lead to a severe degradation of biodiversity and ultimately to a serious blowback effect against humanity. We have taken from nature without giving back, and the time to pay the piper is coming.” 

Sully, after months long apprenticeship with Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and the Omatikaya clan to learn their ways, describes in a voiceover that he sees everything "backwards now.” He barely remembers his old life, having spent more time in the Avatar machine than in his human body. He announces, "I don't know who I am."

When he fails to mediate between the Na’Vi and humans, war erupts. He breaks free of divided loyalties and takes on leadership, uniting the various tribes to battle against humans. In true David versus Goliath fashion, natural wisdom and traditional weaponry is pitted against computers and high-speed machinery. Mountain banshees, dragon-like creatures – described as ikran in native tongue – against helicopters and armoured suits.  

In these respects alone, Avatar feels dated for romanticising indigenous populations and its white-saviour trope. Cameron has acknowledged in interviews that he drew inspiration from Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, Emerald Forest, Lawrence of Arabia, and writers that explored first contact narratives like Edgar Rice Burroughs, Joseph Conrad, Rudyard Kipling, and H. Rider Haggard. He borrows too heavily from these sources and fails to consider the post-colonial criticism that have emerged on these texts over the past few decades.  

The Na’Vi win the war against humans, restoring balance to their damaged planet. “The aliens went back to their dying world,” Sully declares in his new Avatar form which he has assumed permanently. Some thirteen years later, Avatar contains remarkable scenes that evokes feelings of wonder and awe: Woodsprites floating on Jake Sully’s body, his first flights on the Ikran, the destruction of Hometree and Neytiri holding Jake Sully’s human form in her arms, an image that resembles Michelango’s Pieta of a lifeless Jesus on the lap of his mother.  

Given the excitement that people still have over this re-release, Avatar 2: The Way of Water, which premieres on December 16, is bound to be a global success. – The Vibes, October 9, 2022