Political Ecology In Pandora

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc381005692” Introduction PAGEREF _Toc381005692 h 1

HYPERLINK l “_Toc381005693” Political ecology themes PAGEREF _Toc381005693 h 2

HYPERLINK l “_Toc381005694” Consequences of portraying nature PAGEREF _Toc381005694 h 3

IntroductionAvatar tells us that one person cannot save nature but, each individual’s effort in encouraging nature should never be underestimated. Avatar is a metaphor for a relationship existing between human beings and the earth. The film expresses a view that is found within the environmental milieu that involves the grassroots environmentalists along with academicians who seem to be analyzing the centuries-long erosion of the Earth’s biocultural diversity. The film seeks to take a stronger stand in favor of that diversity and for animistic considered to be beneficent by environmentalists. The film Avatar express a threat to peoples’ beliefs as well as depressing many viewers to feel that there are no places left on the earth that will enable them to connect to each other and to nature as the way the Na’vi was doing (Brosius, 1998).

In the film, Avatar outlines steps to be considered in saving nature, Avatar analyses nature as being a commodity that is a natural entity and can be made exchangeable through market. For nature to succeed in environment there has to be privatization and commoditization of all aspects of nature from molecules to mountain scopes, from human tissues to the earth’s atmosphere. Nature can hence be viewed on the basis of a global environmental economic structure that reduces organisms and ecosystems to the fungible components and a monetary price assigned which is calculated in reference to hypothetical markets to the components. The ability to save nature has therefore made nature to survive in the world market (Brosius, 1998).

The film has also introduced nature as being a commodity that can sustain itself. For that reason, nature forms the centre of the whole Avatar film and how it is viewed on different aspects that comes into play when it comes to saving the nature. There are several benefits accrued that come in when people save nature, nature is to economic development globally (Bergthaller, 2012).

Political ecology themesThe film Avatar brings out the theme of politics, environment and property. The exploration of why Avatar has managed to generate positive response to nature is because of the ecological and political themes that seem to be finding the fertile cultural ground. Avatar theorizes explorations of the relationships between biophilia as well as the sacred. The avatar without doubts is called an epic piece of an environmental advocacy that has been captured on celluloid given that the film tries to hit all the significant environmental talking-points that include the virgin forests which happened to be threatened by wanton exploitation and the evil corporate interests that seek to destroy the environment. It could be true that, Pandora was created to be a fictionalized fantasy of what was happening before the film Avatar of saving nature. Most people were afraid that they could go through a lot of pain and heartache if they could have failed to acknowledge their stewardship responsibilities to nature (Bergthaller, 2012).

The film Avatar stages the political ecological themes to be a Manichaean struggle problem pitting the mining Resources Development Administration (RDA) and its mercenaries in opposition to the Na’avi who are alien race of the blue-skinned who ought to have been defending their homeland Pandora against depredations.

The film is humorous in that, the main male character; Jake falls in love with princess Neytiri and goes to the natives where he fulfills the ancient prophecy as he manages in uniting the Na’avi tribe and defeat the RDA. Avatar as a case analysis takes off from the point of convergence between the deep Ecology and environmental justice when there was a permanent transmigration of Jake’s soul into Avatar body (Bergthaller, 2012).

The film places the themes of environmental justice and Indigenous Rights as the questions of the environmental protection in regards to the ecocentric identification. The preservation of political ecology of Pandora is mainly linked with the struggle of Na’avi in holding on to their ancestral land as well as protecting it away from the commercial exploitation by the transnational corporation. The Pandora’s land rests on the mode of an ecocentric identification rather than prior ownership that tries to put a conception of ownership into a question of knowing if the Na’avi is one with their land. This tends to be dissimilar given that the RDA and its employees are representing the alienated modernity (Adams, 2009).

The first scene of the Avatar shows the RDA’s operations that takes place in Pandora, The speech by Colonel tells the people how they are to save nature: ‘Out there, beyond that fence, every living thing that crawls, flies, or squats in the mud wants to kill you and eat your eyes for juju bees’ (Bergthaller, 2012). The interaction of the RDA’s employees with an environment of Pandora is hemmed by an obstacle of both materials as well as conceptual. This is shown to be holed up in the fortified compound in the moon’s lush forest; the Na’avi on the other hand represents the world-view that is based on the profound sensual intimacy with their environment and the respect for nature in entirety. Jake on the other hand gets to know this the first day he arrived into the jungle of Pandora; he could have held the environment that is terrifying as well as entrancingly beautiful (Adams, 2009).

Consequences of portraying naturePandora is put across as another world, and the nature there is portrayed as very beautiful from the breathtaking landscape, wildlife, huge trees, astonishing rain forests, wonderful waterfalls, rivers and cliffs. There are strange yet beautiful creatures of nature. The movie avatar merged science fiction with issues like lack of respect for living things, coporate schemers and private military contractors making attempts to destroy nature for profits and the fact that there is failing diplomacy to address environmentally related problem. The movie has hence portrayed nature as something very valuable and very profitable. It terms nature as something that is prone to destruction by the greedy in the society. The movie shows that the natural resources offered by nature on earth are being depleted and nature is seen to be dying. It considers nature taking precedence over human life as one of the pantheism. The pantheism further denies the reality of a physical world and promotes a belief that the spirit world would represent true reality (McAfee,1998).

A valuable message in Avatar on nature is the value for caring for it, the popularity of this pantheistic message points out a shortcoming of Christianity since there is a call in the book of Genesis to take care of nature and not destroy it but protect it in all possible ways that one can. The movie avatar therefore portrays nature as something that should be well taken care of and no chance should be left for its depletion (Peng, 2009).

From the movie nature is viewed as something that is to be valued and used responsibly and not in a destructive or uncaring manner. It portrays nature as something that should be respected divine, marvelous and magnificent. It also highlights that the technology that is developed should be used in such a way that it will reflect care for nature and not destroy it. The overall message of the movie is one of peace and harmony with nature.

Since nature has been portrayed as something that has to be guarded well and protected then there is a call for this. The movie has shown that the science, technological and machinery accomplishment of man has led to a cruel destruction and hence a pollution of Pandora. It is also a point to note that the technology advancement has made progress to the point that what is termed as the beauty that nature bares has been destroyed thanks to technological advancements. This has led to a loss of the ecology and a disruption of the harmonious atmosphere. Under the scenario of the destruction of nature, capitalism and corporations are shown to be a culprit of the destructions in the environment both in the lovely earth and the sacred world of Pandora. As nature is portrayed as sacred and beautiful then it is seen as heart wrecking as bulldozers knock down trees cruelly and hence an emotional response follows (McAfee,1998).

There are also some scenes that are provocative like dying horses on fire, all these are depicted so that they can act as a pro-environmental message. Even though the movie portrays nature as something lovely and nice, without the mineral required by the movie many people in Pandora and earth would lack serious technology and money and they are things that man cannot live without. The placement of a military and mining base brought out a repulsive feeling since it creates a lifeless place where the only things that are visible are enormous excavators, trucks, steel and chainlike fences huge tractors and heavy armored human operated machines which is in contrast to the magnificent landscape that had been displayed.

The people in Pandora could have realized a number of things before they went ahead to plant down there and hence creating a real problem with the amount of unobtanium found on the planet. The military view nature as a commodity that can be owned and exchanged for money (Chytiri, 2011).

There are some issues that have been neglected in avatar on the environment these include the uncontrolled and irresponsible human intervention in nature that has led to extinction of some species. There is also neglect of factors such as deforestation, global warming and the exploitation and abuse of the natural resources. All these are environmental factors that exist but are not depicted in avatar.

References

Adams, M. (2009). James Cameron’s Avatar delivers a powerful message of connectedness with Mother Nature. Natural health news. Retrieved October 30, 2012, from http://www.naturalnews.com/027810_Avatar_James_Cameron.html

Bergthaller, H. (2012). Academia.edu | A Sense of No-Place. Avatar and the pitfalls of ecocentric identification. | Hannes Bergthaller. Academia.edu – Share research. Retrieved October 30, 2012, from http://www.academia.edu/1880164/A_Sense_of_No-Place._Avatar_and_the_pitfalls_of_ecocentric

Brosius, P. (1998). Green Dots, Pink Hearts: Displacing Politics from the Malaysian Rain Forest. Green Dots, Pink Hearts: Displacing Politics from the Malaysian Rain Forest. Retrieved October 31, 2010

Chytiri, K. (2011).Entering the Avatar World: Nature Revisited. Retrieved October 30, 2012 from HYPERLINK “http://web.mit.edu/cultureshock/sp2011/ca.html” http://web.mit.edu/cultureshock/sp2011/ca.html.

McAfee, K. (1998). Selling nature to save it? Biodiversity and green deveiopmentaiism. Environment and Planning : Society and Space. Retrieved October 31, 2012

Peng,C.H.(2009). Avatar: Unveiling Its Stunning Hidden Messages. Retrieved October 30,2012 from http://cinemaroll.com/science-fiction/avatar-unveiling-its-stunning-hidden-messages/

 Zukeran, P.(2001) Avatar: New Technology, Old Message. Retrieved October 30,2012 from http://www.probe.org/site/c.fdKEIMNsEoG/b.5724311/k.405E/Avatar_New_Technology_Old_Message.htm