Analyzing The Film 'Avatar'

IDEOLOGY AND REPRESENTATION ANALYSIS – AVATAR TRAILER

‘Avatar’ is a sci-fi action feature length film directed by James Cameron. It has been argued that ‘Avatar’ presents the message of the greed of capitalism against the people who want to live in peace and preserve their culture. The blockbuster hit, ‘Avatar’ refers to a major element in American history – the Invasion of America. The science-fiction film has relevant similarities to this historic period; in ‘Avatar’, humans from Earth go to the planet ‘Pandora’ to disrupt the peace for a rare mineral – the unobtanium. It is further suggested that the ‘unobtanium’ could symbolise oil.
In the extract, representation of disability is shown through the fictional character, Jake Sully. The
In these shots - which include medium close ups and medium shots - we see a particular costume that the Na’vi wear. The audience assumes that this is part of their culture. Furthermore, the Na’vi's costume is similar in some respects to the clothing from the Native American culture. This brings us back to the idea that 'Avatar' is loosely based around the Invasion of America. Additionally, the use of bead jewellery further refers to the Native American culture. This could show that the ideology that James Cameron is trying to present is the idea that the Native Americans fought for their rightful country and many were massacred in the process much like the parallels in 'Avatar'. In addition, the Na’vi's costume consists of dreadlocked hair which is a fairly stereotypical portrayal of the black community. The character design of the Na'vi is arguably interesting as they have blue skin. This is particularly intriguing because it has connotations of the coldness, sadness, loyalty and wisdom. Moreover, the colour of their skin ties nicely into the setting and scenery. The scenery is very natural and we see this from the beginning of the extract - we see a possible crane shot of the surrounding nature. The natural environment links to the Na’vi's skin colour as the blue tone could represent the colour of the rivers, skies or seas. Therefore, enhancing their representation of being environmentalists, much different to the perception and representation of the humans. Furthermore, during the extract and particularly in the full length film, we see many scenes where the Na’vi connect to their planet and their wildlife and quite intimately too. This can signify that the Na’vi are represented as highly spiritual people which further links to the idea of them being based on the Native Americans and so forth. In addition to this, their blue skin could be