Biocultural Conservation & Avatar

The 2009 science fiction film Avatar is a mind-blowing explosion of fluorescent colors and lights with fearsome creatures that cannot be found anywhere but Pandora, a moon that the Na’vi inhabit which contains a valuable mineral called unobtanium, the main interest of the company that finances the Avatar Project. The unique culture of the Omaticaya could be considered the main focus of the film as well a looking glass for what the world could be like if humans were to create a symbiotic relationship with nature as the Na’vi have.

Parker employs two different kinds of imperialism in order to achieve his means: diplomacy and military force. From one end of the spectrum, one sees Parker and the Colonel who both have an incredibly ethnocentric point of view towards the Na’vi. They see no reason why these “blue monkeys” would reject modern medicine and education, a process of assimilation, according to Maffi, that could be potentially devastating to their culture thus resulting in extinction of experience through “language shift” (Maffi, 5). The duo consider them to be unintelligent and stubborn “savages", and they would like nothing more than to simply slaughter the Omaticaya in order to get their hands on “all of that cheddar”. But the massacre of an entire indigenous people would not be looked too kindly upon by the media. So, he tries both ways: diplomacy through Grace and the Avatar Project accompanied by the presence of a sizable military force led by the Colonel, one mean brute.

Jake Sully, a paraplegic jarhead is given the opportunity to learn of the Na’vi culture. To the Colonel and Parker, he explains that he is attempting to assimilate in order to learn first hand how they can be coerced. However, in the process of becoming one of the Omaticaya, Jake discovers the true wealth of Pandora: the harmony of the people and the land. Every creature and every plant, all living things on this moon, are connected by a network similar to the “synapses in neurons”. They are able to become one with the endemic to Pandora through the mind and heart just by connecting telepathically as part of the "Worldmind".

Tied together - the language and culture of the Na’vi and Pandora itself - represent true bicultural conservation. Maffi says, “we do not have the key that holds the web of life together” (Maffi, 4), but the Na’vi do. Norm Spellman in Avatar describes this perfectly when he says, “All energy is borrowed, and one day you have to give it back.” (Conservation of mass anyone?) All life is connected, and if one silken string breaks, the entire web is disrupted and tension is placed on all other parts. There are several examples of bicultural conservation at play in the film such as the scene when Neytiri rescues Jake from the mini hound creatures, and after he attempts to congratulate her kills she snaps, “You do not thank for this. This is sad.” Despite the fact that it was a matter of self defense, the death of these animals greatly pains Neytiri, suggesting that their lives meant significantly more to the Na’vi than any animal would to a human on Earth. Perhaps Neytiri shares the same ideas represented in Plumwood: Jake did not belong in the hounds territory, and the consequences of his invasion is that he is now considered prey and must be treated as such. “This is your fault. They did not have to die,” Neytiri says. I also noticed that when she said the prayer after ending the viperwolf's misery, all the flora illuminated, and the forest became this dazzling spectrum of light. Was it because a balance was struck - give life and take life?



At the end of the movie, the military force destroys home tree and is the direct driver that wreaks havoc on the ecosystem of Pandora. To Parker and the Colonel, it is simply an oversized tree in their way, but to the Na’vi it is their home and a significant symbol of their beliefs. “Both the intergenerational transmission and the contexts of use of knowledge in the native languages begin to erode” (Maffi, 7). How can one possibly describe the gargantuan home tree, such power represented of the Na’vi simply by the sheer magnitude of their abode. Generations post-felling of the home tree will never truly know, and as time goes by the magic in the true master narrative of life before the invasion will be lost. When pleaded by Jake, Eywa takes part in the war by sending all living creatures to the Na’vi’s aid, a unique and powerful act considering their deity has never before gotten involved. Perhaps the reason why she intervened this time is because she recognized the significance of the loss of the unobtanium, the meddling of the money hungry, and the assimilation of the Na’vi on the wellbeing of Pandora as a whole, suggesting a connection unlike any other.

“I see you,” they say. I do not see you standing there before me with your bright eyes and malevolent grin. I see into you; I see the depths of your soul. I see you gestalt, and I will take it all. This sweet way of saying your soul is of more importance to me than the trivial (different race, the fact that Jake is in a "demon body") is maybe my favorite part about the whole movie, not including how unbelievably beautiful Pandora is especially at night. Epic movie, kudos.