Avatar: A Cinematic Convergence of Science, Technology and Art

ABSTRACT Avatar by James Cameron is a visual narration of an ambitious journey of man to the planet Pandora to obtain a rare mineral, “unobtainium.” The mission cannot be accomplished until the indigenous are displaced and “Tree-of-Life,” the residence of the people, grown on the land of the mine is felled. U.S. Troops on the mission are accompanied by a scientific team led by Dr. Grace Augustine. They try to send Jake Sully, the paraplegic solider, into the aborigines’ community via an artificial body made out of human and Na’vi DNAs, called “Avatar” to study aborigines and possibly convince them to surrender peacefully. Yet, this never happens as Colonel Miles Quaritch, the military commander, chooses to accomplish the mission by force. The war between intruders and inhabitants brings about a huge amount of environmental damage and oppression of resisting people, especially the women. At the heart of war, Cameron projects the love story of Jake and Neytiri from Pandora leading to Jake’s disillusionment with reality of life in Pandora. Avatar, rich in theme and subject matter reconstructs the history of discovery and colonisation of Australia and brings to the fore concerns of contemporary man including the consumption of natural resources, eco-devastation, and man-woman relationship which is cast into the framework of science fiction. In this sense, a virtual image-body that represents individuals in computer-generated terrains provides a reference to the future of virtual technology and an implication to the rise of new political powers from Asia.