Introduction to the blog: Today, I am writing this place from somewhere very foreign. I'm on holidays in Tasmania, Australia. Things arn't too different here, but you could say they were alien to me - or indeed, that I'm an alien in this land. It's led me to reflect on my favourite aliens in film: the Navi from AVATAR (2009).
Do you remember when you first saw this film? You'd have to - at 3 hours in length, it took like six months of your life to get through it! But it was a masterful film.
But - the thing about this film, and why it stands out - is the way it takes politics to the main screen, and it does this by giving us an understanding of humanity - which, ironically, is not represented by the humans in the film, but the alien race.
The film follows typical discourse around colonised people - seeking to marginalise them and to represent them as dangerous. Language is used in the film describing the Navi people as 'savages' - a term coming from Montaigne's 16th Century essay, 'On Cannibals' - which marked the later period of the 'Age of Discovery' (1400-1600).
We even get an understanding of the brutality of the Navi people, before we get to meet them. As Jake Sully, who has been brought to the planet Pandora to become an Avatar - that is, to occupy the body of one of the Navi - walks across the military base, the audience gets a sense of danger - there is a significant need for a military presence, and mining trucks roll past with arrows in their wheels. It is evident that the humans have come under attack. Those savages!
But - the mining equipment also becomes a key to understanding colonial practices in the film. Afterall, we learn that the reason the humans are on the planet, is to seek out the precious ore, 'Unobtainium'. This is the motivating factor for the humans to have traveled through space to an outer galaxy, in order to have access to this resource worth $1,000,000 a kilo. We're told up front in the film, 'The shareholders care about profits, not the Indigenous people'. It is a line which mirrors exactly colonial powers moving into nations around the world, in order to extract resources (including slaves) to better their own country's treasury.
Yet - the cleverness of the film, is not to celebrate the colonial power, but to craft empathy and connection with the native Navi race - such that, we find that we hope for their futures, rather than for the humans who seek to mine the planet regardless of how it impacts the Navi's planet. We even cheer for Jake, who seeks to stay permanently as a Navi - forgoing his own humanness to pursue love - an emotion which the humans lack. Incidentally, the humans also lack spirituality and environmental awareness - two of the strong qualities the film associates with the Navi.
So - when the humans come to destroy the 'Home Tree' - we see the 'aliens' as more humans than us, and who we aspire to be. James Cameron has essentially restored them - giving dignity, purpose and connection to the 'savage'. The 'savagery', then, is the arrival of the humans, who went to destroy the home tree. Non-diegetic music creates a sense of chaos, as does the slow motion anguish on the face of the Navi as the tree is blown apart. The shots in this scene flick to unsettle the responder and the scene is full of reds and dark colours - replacing the vibrant greens and blues we normally associate with the Navi.
By the end of the film, the Navi and the humans go to war with each other - the humans are technologically advanced and they should decimate the Navi - but the thing is, this goes counter-narrative to the colonial period - and the colonised (Navi) overcome to win the battle - and the final scenes in the film showing the humans packing up and leaving the country behind - offering a challenging message to colonial powers and societies, which mirrors an increasing interest in redressing stolen histories and cultures.
This blog was in response to CineTV's Blog Prompt: Get on it! https://twitter.com/CineTv_io/status/1513833835078815750
All images are associated with the film discussed, which is distributed by: Twentieth Century Fox (2009).
