Ethics in Avatar

James Cameron's 'Avatar' compares the ethics of the Na'vi people to the people of the United States and other countries throughout the world. Femininity and masculinity are great examples of the comparisons. Although there were no real leaders in the movie, the two characters who showed to be, what the majority of society considers, masculine, were both male characters: Jake Sully and Eytukan. They were presented stronger than the other Na'vi people and in the end joined forces to lead all the living beings on Pandora in a fight against the American army. The females in the movie were given strength as well, but were still created to fit a beautiful being. However, in Pandora, the made up world in 'Avatar', patriarchy does not exist. The Na'vi who seemed to know the most was a woman. Also, "Our great mother does not take sides" was quoted in the movie talking about the tree. -Neytiri. In the society we live in, or atleast until recently, man had all the power. Pandora is set up to be a perfect world; with linking postulates, eqaulity, and a general care for nature, Pandora makes the myth we live in seem like a shallow hole with little intent to change it's ways.

Val Plumwood wrote a book called "The Ultimate Journey"(pg.1), and it was about surviving a crocodile attack. Plumwood said "we remake the world in that way as our own". The is being said because of the realization that Plumwood never understood that people can be prey as well as any other living creatures. Humanity creates the world in our image as being on the top, but in the crocodiles world, they consider themselves superior. The book relates to the movie 'Avatar' because the basic story is that humans, U.S. citizens in general, are trying to take what is not theirs. They do this by force when they bring the army into Pandora. The colonel was like Plumwood; he was in a territory that was he was not welcomed into by the residing creatures. Although Plumwood wasn't in the river channel trying to steal what did not belong, she was in a setting in which she should not have been. James Cameron portrayed the movie that the U.S. was the master narrative and could do what ever it was that they pleased. And until Plumwood had her experience, she basically had the same narrative. The master narrative was based on anthropocentrism, and both Plumwood and the colonel realized there are other things out there that live their self narrative and do not have to give in to the American people.

Dualism in 'Avatar' and the nature view in the U.S. complete opposite. In the movie, the Na'vi people live with the earth; in fact, Neytiri was upset that she had to kill the beastly animal to save Jake. The majority of U.S. citizens do not care about the enviroment nor do they care to make a change. People liter everyday without even thinking of future consequences. And because of this, the army in 'Avatar' didn't care to think about what effect destroying the Mother-tree would have on the native people. The consequences didn't effect them, so why care? That is a paradigm that we are stuck with living in.

Due to Val Plumwood's expirience she was able to see the world in the same view as the Na'vi people: humans are not at the top of the chain, intrusion has it's consequences, and men and women can play equal roles throughout their enviroment.