Avatar - a classic tale of US and THEM

I went to see the movie Avatar in 3D today. It was a fascinating movie full of rich imagery, highly relevant, complex themes and profound insight into the conflicts facing us as humans in our modern world. For one the movie highlighted America's ambivalence regarding the war being fought. On the one hand, the militia and the corporate sector played the villains in very quintessential American stereotypes: the high powered, bottom-line obsessed executive and the trigger happy, crusading, good old boy, westerner/southerner General. Playing our unlikely hero, is Jake, a handicapped, ex-marine with very little going on upstairs. He also classically portrays the run of the mill wide-eyed, adventurous, cocky American who is really just out for himself and yet somehow finds his true nature while out in the bush.

Beyond the obvious symbolism for the current Iraq war, there is also commentary on race relations, the "energy crisis" and humanity.

The Na'vi people of Pandora, the planet on which these humans find themselves in search of "unobtainium" (pun totally intended and we'll come back to that), were almost identical to our earthly Africans in their language, culture and even appearance. The American "colonizers" were plainly Caucasian and so the symbolism was hard to miss. For e.g. in order to convince the natives to part with the substance that existed in abundance under their tree, the Yanks, went the traditional route offering them all sorts of modern luxuries but the Na'vi are content with "mud". Honestly at first I thought they could pass for any indigenous people but once the whole "blue monkey" expression fell it was pretty unavoidable. Appalling and fascinating all at once, the movie betrayed the dichotomous feelings Caucasians are facing in a world where Africans are finally rising from the soot.

Like many other Trinidadians I pride myself on being mixed. Ask any one of us and we will almost always answer the race question with "I'm a Trini". I think it's just our way of distancing ourselves from the atrocities committed against and by our ancestors. However in this case, I must admit that the African in me was disturbed, insulted and proud all at once. I don't want to ruin the film for anyone but even though there was a convergence of worlds and therefore an undercurrent of positivity I was disappointed with oh-so-done John Wayne saves the day resolution. It seemed too convenient, too trite an ending for such a foray into the complexities of the psyche, but I suppose a more open ending might have been construed as too Eastern hemisphere.

But I digress...

The hunt for "unobtanium" speaks to our fear as humans regarding a sustainable life on Earth. Avatar is just the latest in a string of artistic endeavors (e.g. 2012,last of the mohicans, Wall E) bent on portraying the very real pressure on science to deal with the ever impending doom of extinction. It's as if these directors have taken it upon themselves to prepare us for the lengths humans will have to go to if we intend to survive.

This brings me to the also increasingly present concern about our physical limitations. It seems that as a race humans are perpetually trying to create a less destructible version of ourselves that is better equipped to deal with the environment as well as the darker sides of our nature. Think about it. Vampires, Gods, Surrogates, Avatars, robots - they are all decidedly human without the sickening physical frailty. All of these characters can survive indefinitely without food, water, air, shelter and/or sex. The internet has been incremental in us seeing this fantasy realized. Chat rooms, social networking, online education, they all allow us to interact with "thems" from safe distances while not exposing ourselves to potential danger. But as we get closer and closer to individualized lives are forgetting what it means to live?

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Trini word of the day

Sucouya pronounced soo-coo-yah

Afolklore charcter portrayed as an old hag who transforms herself into a ball of fire at night, and sucks the blood of her victims. she returns to her shed skin before daybreak. Legend has it that salt prevents reentry and causes death - Cote' ci Cote' la