In my last post, I placed Cameron’s Avatar in the interpretive framework of eco-political thought and practice. One could approach it in different ways, too, of course, one of which is to look at its interesting configuration of the relation between myth and science, which is also related to what I said before about the relation between art and technology.
Apart from the pejorative meaning of the word “myth” (namely, “false belief”) myths are generally known to be stories or narratives that explain the origins of things ranging from the cosmos to animals and human beings, as well as the way they behave. So, for example, the ancient Greek myth of the titan, Prometheus, who stole fire from the gods to hand it over to humans, is a mythical explanation of the origin of human culture and society, where fire represents reason, inventive ingenuity as well as artefacts which differentiate between culture and nature. And one should not forget that “Pandora” is itself the (ancient Greek) mythical name of the woman who, bearing a box or jar filled with “evils”, was sent to earth by the gods to avenge Prometheus’s theft of fire, and opened it out of curiosity, in this way releasing its evil contents into the world — clearly, Cameron’s film hints at mythical connections in its use of this name.
In its most encompassing form, “myth” is a narrative (or a group of interrelated narratives) which comprises a framework within which people can find answers to their “existential” questions, including moral directives that serve as guardrails to keep one from falling when buffeted by life’s vicissitudes.
Against the backdrop of this understanding of myth, it seems to me pretty clear that the Na’vi of planet Pandora live a life guided by their belief in the mythical unity between themselves, their deceased ancestors and the rest of the creatures on the planet.
This myth-oriented way of life is apparent in several scenes. Think of the one where Neytiri, having killed one of the “wild dogs” in the process of rescuing Jake from them, pays homage to the wild animal before berating Jake about unnecessarily causing her to rob it of its life. The way she addresses the animal is an indication of an underlying (mythical) belief in a fundamental oneness between herself, her race and these animals. In other scenes one learns of the “tree of spirits”, whose “seeds”, descending on Jake like a halo adorning him, represent what Neytiri refers to as a “sign” of sorts (which grants Jake a temporary reprieve in the face of the Na’vi warriors’ hostility). Again, although little information is provided in the scene about the place of this tree in Na’vi culture, it is clear that it occupies a central position in the mythical structure of their cultural beliefs. When Jake successfully mounts the red flying “dragon” (for want of a better term) in an effort to win the Na’vi’s trust, he is tapping into a powerful mythical vein concerning the place of individuals who can master this animal in their history.
One may wonder why these indications of the myth-oriented cultural life of the fictional Na’vi is at all relevant. For one thing, it contrasts starkly with the broadly scientific and technological way of life of the human occupiers of Pandora — although it must be kept in mind that there is more than one sense of the word “science” as far as the humans are concerned.
In one sense, “modern” science manifested itself historically in the work of early scientists who approached nature armed with a mathematical grid for interpretation in the form of measurement. Galileo put it well when he remarked that, if one wanted to understand Mother Nature, one had to “understand her language, which is mathematics”.
It was this kind of science, namely mathematical physics, that enabled scientists to grasp natural phenomena by means of calculable relations, which, in their turn, comprised the basis for technological attempts at controlling natural processes. This kind of science, that paved the way for modern technology (which Heidegger saw as “ordering” or “assaulting” nature), was a mechanistic science in so far as its underlying model of nature was “nature as machine”.
More recently, though, a different conception of science has made its appearance — not only in relativity physics and quantum mechanics (both of which cast doubt on the ideal of “certainty” in classical modern physics), but also, significantly for the film (Avatar), in the life sciences. Both Marilyn French (in Beyond Power) and Fritjof Capra (in The Turning Point and The Web of Life), to mention only two writers who have reflected on the implications of developments in biology, have elaborated on the increasing realisation on the part of (biological and other) scientists, that nature is not like a machine, but rather like a gigantic network or web of interconnected organisms. (It should be mentioned, in passing, that Renaissance artist-scientist Leonardo da Vinci was the historical exception here — his conception of science was not mechanistic, and antedated the currently emerging complexity model of science, which acknowledges the interrelatedness of all things, by centuries.)
Such a vision of nature is essentially ecological, the implications of which are expressed as follows by Joel Kovel (in The Enemy of Nature): “ … we think of nature as the integral of all ecosystems, extending in every direction and beyond the limits of the planet. Talking of integrals means talking in terms of organisms, and of Wholes — in other words, the systematic introduction of an ecological vision commits us to positing reality as an interconnected web whose numberless nodes are integrated into holistic beings of ever-exfoliating wonder … ”
It is this conception of science, which is predicated on the interconnectedness of all things, that one encounters on the part of Dr Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver), the biologist, in Avatar (and, of course, in mythical form on the part of the Na’vi). Side by side with this in the film, however, one still witnesses the kind of technology that Heidegger saw as being inimical to nature as physis — nature as growing, proliferating beings coming and going in an endless cycle of birth and death — and which is not compatible with the new paradigm of science represented by Grace. It is evident in the operations of both the mining equipment and the military apparatus used by the humans, neither of which leaves the soil and the living beings on Pandora in peace.
So — to return to what I said in the beginning about myth and science — how does one bring all of this together regarding Avatar? It is Friedrich Nietzsche’s conception of science and of myth that is helpful here. In a nutshell, in these terms it seems to me that Avatar, as an artwork, “communicates” to audiences the Nietzschean insight (or belief), that a society, or a culture, needs a sustaining mythical ground to survive as a society, and that, while a science that is purely positivistic (in the sense of being no more than an accumulation of facts) would be inimical to the formation of such an encompassing mythical foundation, a different kind of science is conceivable, which would foster the emergence of the latter.
Arguably, in Human, all too Human, Nietzsche’s conception of such a science acknowledges that science cannot be only or exclusively positivistic and analytical, but that it has to be more rigorous than art, and it should yield a “sum of inviolable truths”. In short, oxymoronic as it may seem, Nietzsche was looking for a new mythical foundation for culture in science. (Eventually he abandoned this oxymoronic “faith in science”, and tried to provide the world with a new myth himself, in his masterpiece, Thus spoke Zarathustra, but that is another matter.)
This is where Nietzsche’s thought and the conception of science encountered on the part of Grace (together with the Na’vi cultural myth) in Avatar converge. Just as Nietzsche, at one point in his career, tried to reconcile science and myth, the ecological science represented by Grace in Avatar represents such an attempt — in fact, it may just be reconcilable with the cultural function of myth, in so far as both have an integrative, life- and culture-promoting function.
The question is: can humans reach a point where the science and accompanying technology practised by them is reconcilable with the life-enhancing function of a sustaining myth, as Nietzsche saw it, or are we doomed to be caught in the deadly embrace of a technology which — if one considers the newly emerging paradigm of science — is nothing less than anachronistic?
Considering the important — indispensable, if we believe Einstein’s remark, that “imagination is more important than knowledge” — role of imagination in culture, a film like Avatar, together with recent developments in science, bears witness to the possibility that a new kind of technology, too, is possible — one that is compatible with living ecosystems, instead of being hostile to them. I would wager that there are already signs that such a new kind of technology is in the making.
If I read you right: Myth (and therefore all other beliefs) fill the role of supplying the missing bits of our lifes that science hasn’t got around to explaining with sufficient prove yet? That does sound plausible. Science becomes dangerous to life when it is taught as an absolute. It is an ongoing process, surely? The idea of a planet where all the species live in holistic harmony is surely not so farfetched if one look at cultures (precolonial) like some of the San cultures who does have the habit of thanking their kill while slaughtering it, who never waste or collect more than they can consume, who do have children with an eye on available resources? Perhaps Avatar also asks the question where and when did we civilised ones go wrong. How did we become so divorced from and uncaring of the rest of the species on the planet? How do we fix the situation?
I would say that the movie, Avatar, is the myth here, in that it tells us modern humans a story about the nature of reality. In the movie, the Na’vi’s conception of “the … unity between themselves, their deceased ancestors and the rest of the creatures on the planet” is presented not as a myth, but as verifiable reality.
This is ‘proven’ when Jake ‘tunes in’ to the voices of the ancestors in the tree of spirits, and when he imparts information to the “gaian mind” of the planet to mobilise it against the alien invaders. Dr Augustine confirms this in her research which shows the neural interconnectedness of the trees.
The connectedness of the Na’vi with the entelechy of the planet is their science. The ‘myth’ of the movie points us towards a deep sense in modern humans of the need to experience this self-same connectedness with nature, which our modern, materialistic science and bankrupt modernist religions have deprived us of.
Perhaps we are seeing the emergence of a new paradigm of science, that may one day span the divide between religion – or spirituality – and the cold logic of mathematics. In this way we could “re-enspirit” the world and attach value to the noumenal aspects of our existence on this planet.
To me, Avatar taught of science vs. morality. For decades scientists have promised a Utopian world and although we have seen great technological break-throughs, we still see drought, cancer, pollution, etc. The fact is that science is just a tool – it is neither good nor bad – but too often it is used immorally for financial gain – as was shown in the movie. It always amazes me how billions can be spent on space exploration – which has produced very little to really help people – when we still have so many problems here on earth. Much comes down to pride and greed. Pursue science, but never forget morality. Do to others the same as you want for yourself.
an overly long-winded attempt at intellectualism.
It’s a movie.
A movie with a message. The message is don’t kill the world.
It has great graphics. The message might get lost in the graphics.
Is it going to stop Donald Trump ad his ilk building a block of flats on a wetland? No.
What the intellectuals should be discussing, is why the message won’t be heard by developers…
and it’s mythical Navi culture, not Na’vi cultural myth
One thing you seem to have missed in referring to the myths of the Na’vi; they are not myths.
They may have all the features of primitive myth based belief systems, but the events in the movie end up proving that in the case of the Na’vi all their myths are factual, something that I do not understand how people seem to miss.
Was it a myth that directed the animals to help in the end? Was it a myth that transferred the main character into another body permanently? Was it a myth that retained the consciousness of Dr Grace to understand the danger that was coming?
To my mind that was one of the most unique concepts in the movie, that the ‘primitive myths’ turned out to be real, and I find it hard to believe that so many people don’t ‘get’ it.
it’s one of the most watched movie from Indians and they virtually hate holleywood stuff
With respect to amandzing, I believe it is mistaken to accuse Bert (or anyone else for that matter) of intellectualising if he takes many layers of meaning from this film (or any other artistic endeavour). There is no definitive ‘meaning’ or certainty to anything that I can see (not even 2+2 = 4 for some): the audience decides what meaning to take out of what they see, read or hear. And so they should.
But there is my problem with this film. It is not true that somehow ‘science’ and ‘religion’ – ie feeling, creativity, spirituality, you choose the ‘opposite’- are in conflict, or ever were. The early ‘scientists’ (the word means ‘knowledge’) were simply attempting to understand the wonder of God’s Creation, Nature – which they saw God as having made comprehensible for them – not to set up some argument with it. It is the literati, the writers and thinkers, that created the idea of a ‘science v religion’ conflict, and its offspring – that ‘science’ is inimical to ‘nature’.
Of course, ‘technology’ rips into Mother Earth. Industrialisation appalled the Romantics, who could see what was coming. But ‘technology’ at the same time was working to eliminate smallpox and the child killer, diptheria; make the harvest more abundant; clean up cities; raise standards of living and health, which produced growing populations, living longer. We must be mature about these contradictions, realise there is a downside to everything that touches human affairs and never stop trying to be the masters of our destiny ….
… The film simplifies a centuries old dilemma, and that is entirely forgivable. As amandzing says, at one level the film simply says ‘don’t kill the world’, a good message, certainly, for our times.
But this benevolent message comes clothed, as I argued before, in primitivism. The Na’vi have tails and wear loin cloths, snarl like animals and can do nothing for the dying ‘good human’, the Weaver character, but wring their hands helplessly and commend her soul to Oneness and the Infinite.
For centuries before the ‘birth of science’ that was the answer. Was it ever enough? Is it enough now?
Yes, there are other layers of meaning in the film: Bert has brought them out admirably. But what does a modern audience, simply getting on with their lives, in general terms come away with? That what we all need today – especially in Africa – is more ‘feeling’, less technology – less destructive science?
That would be the most dangerous conclusion imaginable with all the problems we’ve got. In one view (and it is a view as legitimate as any other, is it not?) that cannot be the answer and solutions do not even begin to be as simple as the film makes out for the one world now of the 21st Century.
If its not Nietszche’s mythical grounds, its Derrida’s grand narratives society needs to be sustainable… potato/potato.
The Na’vi live in a pre-Enlightenment Utopia where everything just makes sense. In many respects, it is an anti-intellectual environment. Nobody really has time to question anything (unles you’re Dr Grace with your lab tools!). Science, as we have shaped it over the centuries, works methodically and aims to objectively measure the universe. Anything measurable is open to this game – whether we’re talking about interconnected neural networks in a giant forest or not. Yes, even the uncertainties and dualities of the quantum world fall within that paradigm.
@ Paul. Don’t you think Bert agrees that technology is not one-sidedly destructive? Part of what I get from the piece is that everything humans create, including technology, has an up-side and a down-side, as you point out, too. But the great thing about the film is that, as Bert has said, it raises the possibility of a different kind of technology that is reconcilable with nature, just like Nietzsche once saw the possibility of a science that is reconcilable with myth.
@Maria
Thank you for taking my post seriously.
Yes, I do see Bert agrees technology is not one-sidedly destructive: Bert is balanced, rational and, as important, founded on solid moral ground in all discussions. On the other hand, I have agreed that the film has a benevolent message for many, maybe most, people – let us not destroy our vulnerable planet; let us find new ways to see existence is one and all of us interdependent.
But just as Bert sees other layers of meaning and references in the movie beside the obvious, so do I, and this is where I start to part company with him. Perhaps in the ‘advanced’ US the message is timely and apt as is. On the continent of Africa, including still SA, it comes with serious difficulties.
I do not like to bring politics into the exchanges of ideas, which is partly to miss the point of them. But one must point to the destruction our philosopher king president, Mbeki, was able to wreak over Aids, not because of a surfeit of ‘science’, but rather a deficit of it. In Zim, Mugabe has dragged a modernising society back to feudalism, and been applauded for it. The result of this ‘return to innocence’? The country has to import food that it had in plenty before.
As for artistic statement, didn’t Dances with Wolves carry the same message – but as a most moving and beautiful elegy for lost innocence, accepting it was beyond recapture forever?
Magic is technology that science has not got round to researching or proving yet… Belief is intuitive knowledge of fields not yet explored?
Science is the term we use to describe the process of understanding the world and technology is the exponential product of our own ingenuity. I do not think you can set these up as opposing nature since we all intrinsically are nature. The idea that we are all part of the macro organism that is earth or Gaia as some say is definitely not farfetched. I just wonder of the implications of this since living organisms have certain behaviours that set them apart from seemingly inanimate objects. It is easy to assume that the earth stays “alive” by constantly renewing itself as, for example, our skin does. Does this then mean that no matter the intent of our actions they, benevolent or malicious, are all part of Gaia’s state of renewal or maybe just nature itself. Correct me if I’m wrong but “nature” is a pretty violent place and saying that there was too much violence in the film must surely mean unnecessary violence since violence is definitely part of nature. Given this concept, are we actually even capable of killing “our” planet?
Avatar comes at a time when the audience is most likely to accept it. The Internet has become our network, our connecting fibre that binds us and contains the “knowledge of the elders”. The trend today is the virtual community with facebook, twitter and now buzz. Social networks are taking over and shrinking our world – creating virtual “Pandora”
I agree with Enran in that at the point we are out now we look to science to quantify the everyday. People use religion to redeem themselves so to speak. I am not suggesting that we are in need of a massive religious revolution and become crazed religious fanatics, but what I do believe in is the myth that religion holds, that there is something we can not explain through science but still believe in. I waver to name it for fear of it having a religious connotation, but it is a force that we can not yet comprehend. This I believe to be central to Avatar. There are some things that no matter how much we quantify them, we will not grasp simply because we are not meant to as we are meant to believe in it. I do believe that we will leve more harmoniously with nature and it will be in part thanks to technology but I feel it must partly be a more intuitive move that seeks not to quantify nature but more to feel it. This is where the importance of imagination becomes relevant as only our imagination will be able to conjure up these intuitive thoughts.
“and the stage is set for a showdown between the forces that represent life and those which stand for the exploitation of what is “useful” (read: “profitable”) to humans, with scant regard for living things.”… (extract from the first piece)
I would like to use the character of Jake to illustrate my outlook on this piece which is more orientated to your first article on Avatar. The forces that represent life and those which stand for the exploitation of what is useful (technology) is a major theme in the movie. Jake’s character seemed to suffer a personal battle, on one side was the technology that allowed him the liberty he so desired to experience his dream (I mean that of freedom), a place where he felt loved, free fulfilled and actually believed that he was valued in contrast to his ‘earthly’ life, that of a PARALYSED REPLACEMENT FOR HIS DEAD BROTHER!
Jake’s life was encompassed by technology and yet he felt drawn to a more spiritual life. A point that is unpacked from the movie is that the joining together of these two forces was what allowed him to become a part of the Na’vi tribe, to live this surreal life of a ‘dream walker’, technologically.
Similarities and differences can be drawn from Jake’s character and the human race, as with Jake, the lead character who tasted the fruit of experiencing life as a Na’vi and felt so overcome by its power that he betrayed his
mission and his own people in order to live holistically with the Na’vi, we the human race have done the opposite in some respects. We have tasted the fruit of technology which has heightened our senses, and like a drug has bound us in an addictive state, as we refuse to go back to what we consider ‘cave-man living’.
As with the interconnected Na’vi tribe performing their ritual celebratory dance, intertwining arms, motioning like waves in the sea, the two forces we discuss here need to be joined in a suitable manner fit for 21st century living. This is definitely possible and we seem to know how, but it is as if we are waiting for a ‘halo of seeds from the tree of spirits’ to push us in the right direction of which we already instinctively know the way.
You’ve tapped into a concept which I would like to take along a different journey. Is science creating our myths for us? The increase of role-playing games on the internet where one can inhabit, albeit superficially, the life of another is a huge culture in the contemporary world (can it even be classed as a culture I wonder?) This schizophrenic tendency is something we’ve spoken about in lectures before and Avatar was on my mind throughout these discussions. I think it was hugely significant that the hero of the film, Jake Sully, was a paraplegic. This handicap thickens the plot in the way that we see Jake becoming increasingly fond of his virtual self, who has no physical defects or restraints, to the detriment of his real self (growing his beard and forgetting to eat, etc). This ambiguity of self is brought to a climax at the end of the film where his soul is transferred from his human body to his Na’vi body in the closing minutes. The danger I see here is that science could lead us to a place where the myths we create for ourselves as entertainment will get taken too seriously. Already we can see this in the UK where a group has petitioned to make Jedi (of Star Wars folklore) an officially recognized religion. The World of Warcraft effect has caused many people to abandon the wellbeing of their physical self in pursuit of furthering the cause of their virtual self.
Science has created myths for many to neglect their more immediate concerns in favour of escaping to the virtual world to embody their “Avatars” where life seems more pleasant. You can have online personas, with virtual wealth, virtual possessions, pursuing virtual careers and committing virtual affairs with women who are not real wives. Will the world be too busy enjoying our virtual fantasy land to notice the real world dying around us?
Or is that actually our intention? hmmmm…
I agree with Enran’s comments that we are all inherently part of nature and therefore cannot escape it. It sometimes seems to me that the environmental hysteria that surrounds us today can become our modern day myth. Think about everyone who has told you about the destruction of our planet, the documentories and books, all of them strike a good point (though they are prooved wrong or inacurate almost as soon as released), but do we really know this or are we just listening to “wise men” once again because we do not have that knowledge?
I am not suggesting that our planet is not suffering or we shouldnt care, but lets face it, the people who do protest and freak out about saving trees are mostly an uninformed crowd of extreamists, who blindly follow the preachings of one or two individuals (eg. Al Gore).
Arent we allredy living in this myth? From the different sources that i have explored, global warming seems to still be in debate. things are changing but no one can say foresure why or how it is changing. None the less, most of us (we who call ourselves responsible), are considering our lifestyles and we try to be green, planet friendly creatures. This gives us a certain peace of mind, as a prayer before bed for those captured in the biblical myth.
Perhaps our new myth is already here, it gives us solace and guides us in fear of a greater power..
I believe that nature which is universal constitutes the connection of parts that make this seemingly infinite whole that we dwell in. Science,the knowlege that is based on the facts about this whole that have been and continue to be discovered over time, has allowed us to come up with the tool that is technology(which has evolved probably as long as we have)to “better our way of life”.
Whether we end up doing that is up to us as one of the conscious guardians of the cosmos. Truth is, unless we understand, respect and work according to the rules that govern these connestions between all aspects of “the great cosmos” then, as history has shown us, nature will only do what must be done to correct any imbalances that arise….and we, as usual, will reep either the sufferings(eg as in Avatar the death and expulsion of the ‘savages’ that only brought destruction, from Pandora) or benefits(eg again as in Avatar the acceptance into the Navi tribe and hence Pandora for those who REALISED the need to respect the connection there was on the beautiful planet) of this action.
This new Modern day myth therefore (i believe) has done well to portray that message…..and entertain us in the process as well.
Avatar draws on mythical creatures and events in order to promote and emphasize the idea that humans should live with nature rather than fight it and exploit it for their own benefit. However, in the fictional world of Avatar (I’m not saying that ours is the only inhabited planet out there, but we haven’t found living organisms anywhere else yet) I think ‘myth’ is taken as the absolute truth. This is seen on a number of occasions throughout the movie, some of which you have mentioned, others include the scene where Eywa (the Na’vi deity) transplants Jake’s spirit into his Avatar, and it is also suggested that she can bring life to dying creatures earlier in the film when the Na’vi summon her to heal Dr. Grace, and of course the scene of the final battle, where the entire planet Pandora fights back against the humans. Furthermore, the term Avatar or Avatāra in Hinduism means a deliberate descent of a deity to earth, and has been translated into English as ‘appearance’ or ‘incarnation’. This leads to a suggestion that Jake was the incarnation of Eywa, sent among the people to lead them in time of need…
You mention the link between the names used in the film and mythological creatures. Planet Pandora, for example, when “opened” releases evils in the form of humans fighting humans, exposing our true nature. The instinct of survival, the get-it-at-any-cost capitalist-driven mentality that has been bred into us for generations, thus transforming us into a mechanistic society, unable to live with nature. This brings me to my next point. The ‘nature as machine’ theory which you mention. I personally think it’s complete nonsense and for genius people like Stephen Hawking to be trying to find a theory of everything is a complete waste of time. There are natural events and phenomena that the most complex formulae and computers cannot predict, let alone explain.
Perhaps we should take a step back and look at science as nothing more than means of portraying reality, the same way myths do. I’d even go a step further and suggest that maybe science is a myth itself just like religion is. In this context, I view science as means to achieving the kind of balance that the Earth needs in order for it to carry on existing. Avatar suggests that planet Pandora is a macro organism, comprising all living and non-living things, much like James Lovelock described the Earth in his Gaia hypothesis. To me that is where one should begin his search for understanding the World.
lets just say that myth and belive is one and the same because to belive in something is not to question it all the time. science is exactly that, question and drill to the core of everything that we dont understand…
in the movie it was not a myth, eywa was real so no need for this faith of the belive, but yet sience is still there doing what it does best, dig dig dig.
but what i believe is that we here on earth dont need to connect our hair/usb port into the animal or tree, plant and water to realy apretiate it, ok mabe some people, but generaly the understanding and respect starts come when this pace driven society just slows down, feel it, smell it, touch it…whatever it is, get in the field and just sit and read a book under a tree in the middle of the kalahari, or sit in your landrover with the rifel and wait for the prise kill, i promise that will make you feel much more connected, understanding and respect will be running in your vains, then take the shot and thank whoever you may belive in.
because after a weekend like that you will be questioning science itself…
People in today’s world try to bring myths and sciences together in their own interpretations. Mythical ideas are supported with scientific theories, and vic versa. (Crypto zoologists justify their search for mythical sea creatures through scientific methods, or evangelical Christians who are challenging Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection by arguing that intelligent design is the only possible origin to intelligent life)
It’s fascinating to see how people live in a world of mythical perceptions, whilst still willing to utilize the real results of science to live their daily lives. They do this without thinking to what an extent these two ideas are contradictory to each other.
I think in this way people subconsciously choose to be ignorant to the non-relationship between Myths and Sciences and their role within our existence. This allows individuals to only attach themselves to selected pieces and principles of a reality based on a pre-determined cultural background, or a chaotic real life situation, which they are afraid to challenge or doubt.
Scientific thinking will never eliminate mythical beliefs. Myth adds a touch of magic to reality, which allows individuals an escape from the obvious complexity of life.
Cameron’s Avatar becomes such an attractive narrative, as it allows for one to envy the mythical/magical realm which connect the Na’vi to their existence on planet Pandora. So attractive that it could dominate the underlying battle between man-made sciences and the Na’vis’ idealistic existence.
What I found remarkable in the movie was the concept of transferring identity and consciousness across two bodies – one of which is a genuine human and the other a synthetic Na’vi. This concept of transferring consciousness can also be seen in the movie surrogates- ( where the average human being interacts with the rest of the world behind the veil of robot clones.)The two movies in my opinion are inverts of one another..In Avatar through the character of James, he gets to appreciate and respect the balance and beauty of life whereas in Surrogates, the humans forget what it meant to be human and the beauty of experiencing life.
Whilst watching the movie i could not help to notice that the planet of Pandora was clearly a pre rational world from the rational world that we live in..To some extent the author had painted an unrealistic frame, in the movie the people of Pandora are shown to be living in great harmony and balance with nature of which in reality is the assumption of the native people, but is this the true reality that exists with indigenous people across the world. Yes they understand better the natural environment and its usefulness but it has been also shown that they make aggressive use of land.
Regardless, the movie’s graphical 3D images were absolutely superb, one could easily envision themselves living in that kind of harmonious balanced environment where everything is interconnected.
Science is to measure our everyday commodities and supposedly to measure how up-to-date we are with technology, but more in a sense how advanced a country is measured by science. People tend to forget the most complex science is nature itself. Nature is not just a system of greenery and animals, but including humans to the smallest organism. People are complex beings inhabiting the earth, we are constantly growing in numbers, believing this is the reason why all these disasters and diseases occur, mother nature is taking her role to relieve the pressure imposed on her.
Yet again, without technology we would not know how our actions are affecting the earth, but then the question lies in, by knowing or trying to understand “our” planet too much, are we killing our planet with our knowledge? I believe so and all this knowledge is exploited for money, since society status is measured by money. There should ultimately be a balance, which is probrably most difficult
task, a prominent evidence: communism.
Avatar used a great balance of emotions and technological usage to send a message about ecologically and political conflict.
Another thought would occur that Jake is consumed within the “spiritual world” because things seem to be perfect without the greed and technology. He got consumed by the idea of people caring about each other and living with nature; not just in harmony but how nature works for the tribe without affecting the immediate nature drasitically, another way of life than
the current system we are living in today.
Man used technology to maximise returns from ploughing, transport, constuction e.t.c, but as time went by, we crossed the line.
Capitalisim, greed and competition for dominance by the western world, started to create a great conflict with mother nature.
The African culture has several “myths” of the same belief in deceased ancestors and animals, the same concept of the Na’vi of planet Pandora. Not to sound racist, the invasion of planet Pandora despite being fiction is not new, it actually happened here on planet earth ‘Africa’, and to this day the exploitation of the natural environment, animals and people for economical reasons continues.
Now to answer the question, “is a new type of technology possible?” Can nature and humans be in harmony, i do not think so, the outcome of the G8 summit on environment bears witness to my statement.
Human beings have over the years forgotten that science/technology is only a means to an end; it is a way to understand the world that we live in. A certain scientific concept which suggests that energy is never created nor lost and that it is only transformed from one form to another. This concept attempts to explain another “myth” that I personally believe; and that is “life is an ongoing, never-ending process of recreation of self” and this applies to all inhabitants of this gigantic organism we call the universe. And as clearly expressed in Avatar there is an energy that flows through all organisms, and that is life. I believe that this interconnectedness of the Na’vi people as expressed in a movie is “science” basically explaining the “myth” that human beings are connected to nature and that they are actually parts of nature. Humanity has over the years, with pressures of greed, capitalism and their eternal desire for power over nature; their desire for absolute control over nature (the world) forgotten this myth.
Technology today, propagated mainly by CAPITALISM; is no longer a means to an end but an end in itself. Today, technology dictates life to us. The parameters of possibilities are dictated to us by technology and not nature, we have become slaves to modern day science. With the modern day technology, fuelled by our capitalist mentality; we strive to exploit the planet and enrich ourselves by any means necessary with no regard for the
planet itself. In the movie Avatar, what modern humans do to the planet of Pandora is exactly what these rich corporations do to third world countries, they exploit their resources and sell them back to them unbelievable prices.
If money is the root of all evil then greed is the seed. So a new technology is possible, but only if humanity could overcome their desire for power, this would lead to a much better world, for all its inhabitants.
‘Myth comprises a framework within which people can find answers to their “existential” questions.’
One must have faith to believe in myth. Once myth is questioned it loses it’s power. Already in todays society we see a shift in social value or beliefs and religion. The internet favours the rationalist and people are more likely to question religious groups which will lead to their downfall.
I think what intrigues most of us about this movie is that it is a fantasy and appeals to us because it has that storeytelling element that correlates with myth. In the last 10 years 9 of the top 10 money producing movies have been fantasy including that of avatar. Humans would rather be happy than right, they like to escape to a world of phantasy rather than deal with reality. This is why religion appeals to so many of us.
In the movie ‘Avatar’, Grace the scientist, discovers there is an an underlying magic in nature where all things are interconnected and she sees more value in this than mining unobtanium. Unobtanium also comes with a price, the destruction of nature. This draws parellels with the way we live on our planet earth.
Where are we now? science and myth are beginning to be one and the same. Greeks, who pretty much invented myth came up with this notion of connectedness two and a half thousand years ago.
On a quantum level, everything is made of atoms and everything is the arangement of these atoms. Looking at entanglement theory whereby if you do something to one atom, another one will react in the same way, starts to hint at everything being connected like that of the belief of the Nav’i people. Galileo put forward his belief that the sun was the centre of the universe, in a time when the prevailing belief/myth was that the earth was the centre of the universe and the catholic church persecuted him for this. If myth is rationalised it is no longer myth but science.
When Einstein says, “imagination is more important than knowledge.” He emphasises the need to have an open mind to question existing myths of the time. To see beyond what is put before you. Could it be possible that the prevailing myth of our time is that we are unable to live symbiotically with nature?
On another point entirely, the message that I got from this movie is simple. ‘Connect back to nature’ The first thing I wanted to do after watching this movie was to climb a mountain. We are all part of nature even though due to technology and the effect it has on the way we live today it disconnects us from it. As a result of the alienation of nature from ourselves we have lost the value of nature. The greatest resources we have or seek are not the ones we are mining
such as in the movie ‘unobtanium’ but nature itself. Just by studying the processes of nature we can learn a great deal. Nature does not waste, everything is utilised in a neverending cycle. Imagine if we could harness this technology!
Bert, your praise of narrative is founded.
The complexity that is made sharable through narrative is truly amazing.
Narrative conveys meaning. In some instances meaning can be expressed/interpreted intertextualy; through the play between different narratives. In this case there are multiple narratives and meanings. A sense of the connection between meanings is then experienced.
To experience narrative intertextualy can be a valuable experience. As more meanings are woven together; the initial narrative’s meaning is supplemented with a sense of connection to other meanings. To experience this connection is both wonderful and horrific at the same time.
-Wonderful because experiencing the connection of a number of ideas that one has not seen or even thought possible before feels sublime, like walking into a roadside diner only to be confronted by Casper David Fredrich’s ‘Wonderer above a sea of fog’ (i.e. finding something sacred/beautiful in a pile of rubbish).
-Horrific because your mind cannot experience this connection. Which is why the sublime can never be represented, only pointed to.
When a narrative points beyond its meaning it becomes a myth. Myths do not really have meaning in the same sense that narratives do. The myth is more than its narrative. Narrative is just a story, myth points beyond the story.
In embellishing/focusing on the ‘story’ of Avatar one can easily miss the myth.
The theory that the Earth can (or rather is) functioning as an entity (or body) is entirely possible and I think that this message is quite clear in the film. To me, it is its most important message and which is the underlying point in the various other messages it holds (which I hope to explain below).
The recent high occurrence of natural disasters, disease and weather changes have been termed global warming, called it what one likes the point is Earth is taking caring of itself. Colonies of ants function as an entity with no apparent “science” guiding them, just like the cells in our bodies do. Similarly to this, the idea that Earth is functioning as an entity, “guiding” us as its “cells” is not so farfetched.
Moving on to my next point, it has been pointed out that Jake Sully chooses to rather be his virtual self. I would like to provide a different side to this argument. What if the message is rather that Jake Sully left his humanly limitations behind to achieve a “higher state of consciousness” (to quote Ekhart Tolle although I’m sure he was not the first to say this) or a state of realizing the complete connectedness of Pandora (Earth) and its organisms?
(continued…)
(continued…)
To quote Ekhart Tolle again: “…there is no casual connection between synchronistic events on our surface level of reality. It is an outer manifestation of an underlying intelligence behind the world of appearances and a deeper connectedness that our mind cannot understand.” Only upon Jake releasing his preconceived ideas on how things function and giving himself over to the factual “myths” of the Na’vi (to refer to and agree with an earlier piece) can he save Pandora (insert here: the Earth!)
The message depicted in the movie ‘Avatar’ is one we seem to be hearing more and more frequently, simply put: take action, save our planet.
Early on we learn of the troubles of future Earth; referred to as the ‘dying planet’, and we are made aware of the fact that no-one seems to be doing anything about it.
In the film we find the humans in the process of(whether intentional or not) the eradication a race of creatures (perceived obstacles) and exploiting planet Pandora’s resources for profit (greed). What they should be doing is harvesting knowledge; learning about the Na’vi’s culture and enriching their own understanding of how the planet’s components work together as a singular entity. This information should be seen as far more valuable than any possession could be, but unfortunately is not.
Perhaps grasping the concept of how it functions could give insight as to adopting possible solutions for reviving their own fading planet.
Ultimately the humans are the bad guys and are eventually forced off the planet without having learned anything, with the exception of hero Jake, who came to realize the potential for enlightenment.
We should, like Jake, take a step back, and absorb the world around us. It has been holding secrets for millions of years; waiting for us to tap into them. We’re playing the main part in destroying what we have, when all we need to do to prevent it is to open our eyes.