Imperialism In The Film Avatar Essay Sample

The idea of imperialism is an important idea that appears prominently in the futuristic science fiction film Avatar directed by James Cameron. 

Avatar is the narrative of the inhabitants of Earth named the Sky People discovering a resource called Unobtanium on a distant world, Pandora. This resource will increase the wealth of the sky people and contribute to their economic growth as a society. However, Pandora’s indigenous race must fight the Sky People for their land. 

This masterpiece by James Cameron demonstrates the impact that this idea has on individuals and our environment. This is demonstrated via verbal and visual techniques, such as dialogue, camera shots, lighting, costume and music. These techniques emphasise the idea of imperialism. 

Imperialism is an important idea in Avatar, directed by James Cameron. The splot of Avatar follows paraplegic Jake Sully as he travels to a faraway planet where humans have found a rare resource called Unobtanium which will further the Sky Peoples economic growth.

This is the reason that the Sky People arrived on Pandora. As a result, their greed and selfishness led them to commit atrocities to Pandora and its inhabitants. They didn’t care what lengths they went to as long as they achieved their goal. 

A certain scene at the beginning of Avatar depicts this idea as we see Parker Selfridge, the head administrator of the RDA, peering greedily at a miniature piece of Unobtainium.

Not only did Cameron use these characterizations to show this, but also low camera angles showing the Na’vi in a dehumanizing light.

Jake Sully sees nothing wrong with how the Na’vi are treated by the Sky People, it was only after he had been immersed in the Na'vi culture, and had heard their experiences. He was on the side of the imperialists but realized that they were wrong. 

This important idea relates to our world today and reminds us of how imperialism and ethnocentrism has affected so many cultures around the world. 

The Sky People are able to exploit the Na’vi over and over again by utlising their military might. 

The Sky People consider themselves more civilized as they are more technologically advanced; this can be seen when scenes show the Sky People in blue futuristic light and during the battle, the Sky People have their tanks and guns, whereas the Na’vi only have spears.

Colonel Miles is the RDA security operations advisor and is portrayed to be conceited, and extremely close-minded. A scene in the middle of Avatar shows how Colonel Miles refers to the Na’vi people as “savages” and “hostiles.” This is a blatant example of Ethnocentrism. 

As well as this Colonel Miles also is seen drinking coffee when the Sky People are destroying the Na’vi’s planet, exhibiting his arrogance. 

James Cameron has shown us the impact of imperialism through Avatar. He lets us understand the idea behind the imperialists’ access and their desire for more.

We are shown this when we see the Sky People destroy the Home Tree, which symbolizes the unbreakable bond between the Na’vi and the Land, as well as their bonds with each other. After the battle between the Sky People and the Na’vi, which results in disastrous effects for the Na’vi, as the Na’vi look down at their fallen people solemn music plays in the background, demonstrating to us how tragic this scene is, this can be compared to how New Zealand used to be covered in a forest before it was decimated by the colonizers for farmland.