Imperialism in Avatar Movie Analysis

The movie Avatar shares many similarities with the Age of Imperialism. Imperialism is the policy of extending rule over foreign nations or powers through diplomacy or military force. I find this movie to relate heavily to how the Europeans treated Africa.

The humans came from Earth to Pandora, an alien planet with tons of important and rare resources. They began to take life and destroy the planet without regard for any of the native life. This event is similar to how the Europeans went to Africa and began to take the diamonds and gold. Much like how the white men killed and enslaved Africans, the humans gunned down native life and killed and enslaved the native na’vi people. 

“The wealth of the world isn’t in the ground, it is all around us.” This quote is saying that the wealth is not in the ground, but in the trees, plants, animals, and people. The humans disregarded the na’vi’s beliefs, culture, and religion and began to demolish the planet, destroying their sacred areas and trees. This idea is again similar to when the Europeans went to Africa and instead of learning or respecting their culture, they forced conversion to Christianity and tried to dismantle their religions and traditions. The quote relates to imperialism because the imperialists would take over an area and force conversion on the captured, bringing an end to countless smaller cultures.

“It's hard to fill a cup that’s already full.” This relates in both the humans and Europeans because they refused to even try to understand the natives' culture and instead wanted to destroy it because it differed from what they believed. This is much like imperialism because the imperialists would not try to understand the captured’s culture or values and believed that everything they believed in was the only truth.

“When people are sitting on things you want, you make them your enemy, then you're justified in taking it.” The Europeans went over to Africa because they wanted gold, diamonds, rubber, and timber but the Africans got in the way, so they made them their enemy. The humans wanted unobtanium, but the na’vi didn’t like them destroying their land, flora, and fauna so they attempted to stop them. This led the humans to make the na’vi their enemy. This is a direct example of imperialism since the imperialist Europeans stole resources and killed or enslaved the natives if they got in the way.

Avatar and the Age of Imperialism have many similarities. The indigenous people were treated terribly. They also had their homeland’s resources stolen and were killed or enslaved if they tried to resist. The imperialists were not open to the natives' culture and instead forced them to convert. The Age of Imperialism was a horrible time, and Avatar is a great example of why.