Anthropological Themes in Avatar

James Cameron’s AVATAR is an epic science fiction action drama movie. This film, even though it is a fantasy, contains so many scenarios that can apply to modern or past societies. The story revolves around Jake Scully in his journey as an anthropologist/ body guard in the world of Pandora, and how he experiences first hand a lot of the anthropology themes and terms we have discussed in class. The story starts off in 2154 when humans have depleted the Earth from its natural resources. A company called the RDA mines for a valuable mineral that powers equipment and has several other uses found a planet containing a large amount of this mineral. This planet is named Pandora. Pandora is a densely forested planet habited by several creatures, most importantly by the Na'vi, 10-foot tall, blue-skinned, sapient humanoids who live in harmony with nature and worship the planet itself. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the existence of the Na’vi culture and land, and this is what the whole movie is about. The most prevalent anthropological themes and ideas found in the film AVATAR are globalization and spirituality. The most prevalent theme in the film is globalization. This connection between AVATAR and anthropology can be found from the very beginning. The humans in the movie leave earth and travel to Pandora to mine the planet just as the pilgrims and other settlers left Europe to go to the Americas in search of new homes and other matter. Humans bring to Pandora their traditions and values and to them the natives are different and demure. In our somewhat similar history; globalization led European ideals, and later US ideals, to be imposed on the native cultures with little regard for the local people and their customs. You see this in Avatar with the humans trying to force their will on the Na'vi and how they don't care about the existence of a real Mother Nature, the power of their magical forest, and how what they are doing is going to destroy the Na’vi