I remember back when the first Avatar came out, I didn’t like it. Maybe it was a rebellious reaction to the hype of the movie, or at least it amplified my opinion. I couldn’t understand the hype, because I couldn’t understand the purpose of the movie. Why was it made? Of course, there was that thing, where it was the revolutionized 3D viewing. But honestly, I wasn’t impressed by that 3D. I still never am. And while from other perspectives technological advancement in the process of making movies may certainly be exciting, for me, to show off new gimmicks is not enough reason to create a movie.
As you might have deduced from the theme of this blog, for me its all about the story. A new film, book, whatever, should be worthy of reading or watching because the story gives us something. Now, of course, there are dozens of movies out there that have no such purpose and only meant to grab some cash, abuse our nostalgia or simply to keep a franchise alive.
But that’s the curious thing about Avatar. It was – it is – a project dear to the heart of James Cameron. Yet for me, at first glance, Avatar seemed like a superficial blockbuster movie, overhyped because of a gimmick, with nothing to say.
Colonialism Bad
Its story had a message of course: Colonialism bad. Yeah, that is absolutely true, but we kinda knew that beforehand. There is no real exploration of that statement, no analysis on how it works and what damage it does (besides the direct damage of destroying everything). Granted, there is the structure of colonialism being the birthchild of capitalism, militarism and science weaved into it. But those connections aren’t considered in a nuanced way at all. And while in the film science is depicted as the good guy that is just being bullied by the other two, in real life science through pseudo-science played an integral part in enabling colonialism.
The villains are straight up flat. The business man is greedy. The military commander is ruthless. Although it makes for less compelling storytelling it makes one think that maybe the people driving colonialism were just assholes like that, with not much complexity to them. Lastly, in a story about how bad colonialism is, maybe don’t use a white saviour as a protagonist. (Side note about the structure of the story: And if you do, and give him a low point where he is abandoned by both sides, because he has betrayed them both, then don’t let him get back on his feet easily. The taming of the Toruk should have been an emotional peak. It’s a desperate act, the only way Jake could regain the trust of the Na’vi. We should see an epic fight, where he outsmarts the Toruk with something he learned from the Na’vi – instead we see a cutaway and then simple wish fulfilment.)
Nature Good
I think it was first and foremost this need of focusing on a white saviour character to give the audience someone to identify with that took away from the movie’s purpose. The Way of Water took a step back from that. Again, when I heard that there are more Avatar movies in planning, I was sceptical. But the second movie finally made me realize and appreciate the purpose of the Avatar story. I think the story is not so much about colonialism being bad, since it rightfully takes that as a given, but much more about the exploration of how a world looks like where the population truly is a part of its nature. Of course, we humans are undeniably also part of nature, but rather than in symbiosis we take advantage of it and live under the illusion to have conquered it. At least for me the most interesting parts of the Avatar movies are whenever the connection between the different parts of nature is displayed. For example, the memories of loved ones that are stored in trees, the family bound between Na’vi and the whales. How would culture develop if we wouldn’t pride ourselves in conquering nature but to live side by side with it? What kind of technology would we use? Such questions sparked in my mind, when I watched the movie. Now, don’t get me wrong, even the second movie does not the greatest job in answering these questions. But it focused long enough on getting to know a new clan and thus a new culture on Pandora, that I could at last find an appeal of the story of Avatar. With the promise of exploring more cultures, more aspects of the Na’vi and Pandora in the future movies, I’m now starting to get excited for that series.
Exploration
To wrap my thoughts up, I think Avatar made me realize that a story needs a purpose (besides generating money) to be of relevance. That purpose can’t be found in one note messages, that can be summarized in short statements, such as “colonialism is bad”. No, I think a great story is an exploration. Be it the exploration of the psyche in a character study, or those of socio-economic relations, it doesn’t matter. As long as the story presents facts or a thought experiment, without shoving judgement down your throat, it is a story worth experiencing.