Misha Khorramshahi

Nov/11/12

Comparison of Avatar and the Indigenous People

In many ways, the movie Avatar has been made into a clear analogy of the lives of the Indigenous tribes of North and South America. As the movie progresses, realizations and comparisons can be made as the film reflects the historical experiences of the American Indians. The first point noted in the film Avatar, that reflected the historical experiences of the American Indians, was the need for resources. Christopher Columbus came across the Arawak Natives, where he ordered the people to collect gold for him. If the Natives were to refuse to collect the gold, then there would be a possibility that their heads/hands would get cut off. They are unable to fight back because they are at a disadvantage, for Columbus had brought high tech weaponry such as armour, muskets, swords and horses, where as the Natives used bows and arrows, which can only get you so far in a battle. Similarly, in the movie Avatar, the humans have consumed much of the Earths natural resources. However, in Pandora the humans had found a valuable mineral called Unobtanium that could be mined and used as a natural resource. An on-going fight for minerals is a similarity in both cases. The humans then came to collect resources in Pandora, however their attempts were put to a stop, for their bulldozers threatened to destroy a sacred NaVi site. The stop had aggravated the humans, which had led them to destroying Hometree, thus damaging the biological neural network, native to the people of Pandora. Very similar to the Arawak natives, the people of Pandora were helpless against the weapons and advanced technology of the humans. As a result of such tragic events, in both cases many people died and were left helpless. Another specific example that was noted in the movie, which reflected the historical experiences of the American Indians, was the loss of land. In the movie Avatar, the humans had attacked the Indigenous peoples territory. They had burned their Hometree to ashes and their whole environment to which they cherished. The humans had taken away their inhabited land, and burned its civilization down, in hopes of destroying it completely. This situation is very similar to the American Indians. The natives have had inhabited land for many years, way before the Europeans had arrived there. There were about 250 tribes inhabiting the lands of America. However, the Europeans who had come to their territory believed that the indigenous people had no legal ownership of land. Eventually, in both situations, the indigenous people had lost their territory to the opposing force that attempted to destroy their way of life.

Additionally a similarity found between the Navi people and the historical experiences of the American Indians, was the appreciation and respect for animals and nature. The Navi people worship Eywa and believe that all living things are connected to it, in some sort of network. They acknowledge other living beings with respect and they honour their importance in Pandora. They also believe that all energy is just borrowed and must one day be returned". This means that a balance needs to be made with nature. The people of Pandora have a strong relationship with animals such as the direhorse. These magnificent flying beasts can be tamed by physically connecting their neural networks to each other. Another example of the importance of animals to the people of Pandora would be presented in a scene in the movie where Neytiri, (daughter of the leader of the NaVi Clan), had to kill the Viper Wolf, whom Jake had aggravated, in order to save Jakes life. She believed that it was unnecessary to kill the innocent creature. This represents Neytiri and the Navi peoples relationship with the animals. At this point she valued the Viper Wolfs life more than she valued Jakes life. Following the kill of an animal, the Navi people say a prayer as a sign of respect and parting. Very similar to the Navi people, the Sioux People strongly value animals as well, specifically the Buffalo. They use every part of a Buffalo that they can, and recite prayers after the kill, just like the Navi people do. The Buffalo is also spiritually significant to the Sioux People and is used for spiritual ceremonies. Both tribes value the life of animals and the serenity of nature resulting in this similarity. A final comparison made between the movie and the experiences of the American Indians was the dehumanization applied to the Indigenous people. In the 1800s, most European settlers thought of the Native people as savages and less than human. They believed that the Indigenous peoples way of life was wrong, and they tried to promote white societys values and tried civilizing the Native Americans. They did this by forced conversions, and forcing many young natives to go to residential schools, where the native children would lose their culture and adapt to what the Europeans thought was civil. As well as in the movie Avatar, the humans did not think of the indigenous people as human either, although the people of Pandora do have very similar characteristics and attributes as human beings such as feelings and expressions. In both situations, there is an us vs. them mentality, where there are two groups identified to be different, although in reality they are very much alike. There are multiple analogies, similarities and comparisons that can be made between the people of Pandora in the movie Avatar, and the Indigenous tribes of America. In both cases the treatment by the colonizing powers towards the indigenous tribes were cruel and harsh and the natives were no match for the powerful weaponry and knowledge used by the Europeans/humans. After watching this film I do believe that there is a strong connection to the historical significances of the American Indians, and the analogies made in the movie are

clearly made to represent and support the idea that a genocide between two groups of people was happening, and like many genocides, it ended in a tremendous battle and many casualties.