Avatar, By James Cameron

It goes without saying that The Hero's Journey is an intriguing path for a story to follow. The Hero's Journey is a narrative pattern created by Joseph Campbell. James Cameron’s Avatar is a story about Jake Sully. Jake's brother was killed and because the two share the same DNA, Jake must take his place as an Avatar. Throughout this movie, friendships are formed, enemies are made and many lives are lost. In this essay, the path of The Hero's Journey will be looked at. Specifically, the Ordinary World, Meeting the Mentor, Tests, Allies and Enemies and the Ordeal. Avatar perfectly captures The Hero's Journey throughout the movie. From the Ordinary World to the Returning with the

In the year 2009, James Cameron wrote and directed one of the most remarkable films I have ever seen ‘Avatar’. This science-fiction saga has a story line that is engaging and captivating for its audience. Avatar took place on a moon called Pandora. Humans discovered very valuable natural resources on Pandora and did whatever it took to obtain what they needed from Pandora. The people of Pandora are Na’vi’s, a 10 foot tall, blue-skinned humanoid alien group that lived in the rainforest or Pandora. The Humans found a way to interact with the Na’vi’s by artificial yet organic avatars that were controlled with a human mind and conscience. Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine who was given the task to manipulate the Na’vi’s into leaving their home. Sully entered

This theme shows in a multitude of ways that the author utilizes throughout the story, but perhaps most significant is the central conflict

The movie Avatar is about how the human race invades a planet called Pandora to mine a certain kind of resource and fights with the Na’vi, the race of creatures that live on Pandora. The main character Jake Sulley decides to take his brothers

“2001: A space Odyssey” opens in the African Rift Valley, where a tribe of hominids encounter a stone monument which has obstructed on their domain. This stone monument transmits radio waves that end up expanding their IQ 's, teaching them weaponry and other tool uses to help them live, as they proceed to defeat a rival tribe. Four million years later, we see the luxurious space travel that the vintage science fiction of the 1960’s, with space stations for air terminals and such. Dr. Heywood Floyd is heading to Clavius Base, a United States lunar station. Along the way, he finds out about gossipy tidbits about an unidentifiable disease going around on the Clavius Base and his responsibility to study a four-million-year-old structure. Floyd

Avatar uses a variety of film genres and styles. One of the styles is the Cowboys versus Indians theme. It is clear that Avatar is a product of post-colonialism: it shows the Na'vi as the relatively harmless yet environmentally respectful and spiritually in tuned indigenous population, while the humans are a corporate military whose only goal is mine the resources of Pandora. The film presents an anti-military narrative. The soldiers are portrayed as cruel, violent, and brainless brutes, with only mercenary intentions. They are the stereotype of the ultimate warrior. They perpetuate the “might is right” myth. All of them are males, except for a female helicopter pilot, who ultimately defects to the

Storytelling, in many ways, allows one to express their imagination through fanciful adventures and tales; thus, serving a purpose in terms of allowing an individual to cope with their tragedies, but also to entertain one another. In Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, and in Tim Burton’s Big Fish, the audience comes to realize that the conflict between fact and truth, combined with storytelling, are the central themes; it becomes clearer that facts have to be proven, whereas the truth is usually straightforward. These stories focus around the protagonists’ views, teaching the value, truth, and purpose of storytelling; in which, it is the pieces that collectively form the importance of storytelling. Storytelling allows the protagonists of both stories to cope with their struggles, and assists them in overcoming their adversities. It partly influences their decisions, and ideas; ultimately, changing their own perspectives in their struggles. Both show that stories can be incredibly meaningful and take on significant roles for the characters, which can be used to answer important questions about the truth.

Avatar is a blockbuster film from 2009 and one of my most favorite Sci-fi films of all time. The film was directed by James Cameron, who is known for directing films like Titanic (1997), Aliens (1986), and the Terminator (1984), all of which helped shape the film industry into what it is today. Although at the time, there was a recession and people were trying to save money, this movie became the highest grossing film in at the time. The movie provided stunning 3D technology unlike any other movie and this was one of the reasons that made people want to go watch the film. From visual effects to the camera angles, James Cameron directed this movie to make the audience feel like they are in the movie. Although the film looked amazing, there were messages and themes inside the film that made it such a success. The film provoked discussions about various messages and themes embedded inside the film, such as terrorism, Imperialism, religious connections, and connections to current world. Such messages can be clearly seen throughout the plot of the movie.

In the movie ‘Avatar’ ethics is compared to the Na’vi people and other people all over the world. The category of femininity and masculinity are great examples. In the movie we see that there are no real leaders, but the two men who most of the community sees as masculine were both male characters and their names were Jake Sully and Eytukan. In the beginning of the movie they did not like each other, but in the end came together and joined forces with all the people in Pandora to fight the US Army from destroying their home.

Although psychology class is most likely not the first thing to come to mind when watching a Disney movie, many psychological concepts can be drawn from them. In Andrew Stanton’s 2003 animated film, Finding Nemo, various psychological concepts are exemplified. Finding Nemo tells the story of an overly cautious clownfish named Marlin who losses his son, Nemo, to a pair of divers. He meets a fish named Dory who together seek to find Marlin’s son. Throughout their journey they encounter a storm of jelly fish, surfing sea-turtles, sharks participating in a “Fish are Friends, Not Food (Graham, 2003)” support group, and numerous other conflicts. Hidden between the lines of their comic misfortunes, Marlin suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, many characters fall to acts of conformity, and altruism is a theme that defines the movie.

In brief, this study discusses about the representation of orientalism idea which is portrayed in the film Avatar. The film tells about the conflict between human and native people in Planet Pandora, where human exploits the land and oppresses the native. This study explores in what way the idea of orientalism is represented and how both narrative and non-narrative aspects of the film helped in delivering that representation.

While analyzing Avatar, it’s safe to say that there isn’t one main theme, but plenty. One main theme of Avatar is the flow of energy and the beauty of nature. “She said all energy is only borrowed, and one day you have to give it back,” (Cameron, 2009). Another huge theme in Avatar is the battle between Mother Nature and humans. “Our Great Mother does not take sides. She protects only the balance of life,” (Cameron, 2009). This quote is said by the Na’vi character Neytiri when Jake tries to ask Mother Nature to help him in his battle against the humans. In the end, Mother Nature does end up taking a stand and fighting for the preservation of life. Issues like corporations destroying nature for profit, the lack of respect for living creatures, and the failed policies of "military diplomacy" that the USA continues to pursue are just a few of the other themes behind Avatar. It would be ridiculous to say that the deep, meaningful themes from Avatar are just a copy of the weak, childish message from Pocahontas.

Khaled Hosseini once said: “there are a lot of children in Afghanistan, but little childhood.” Rape in Afghanistan is said to be an “epidemic,” but according to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of the term is “a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.” Rape in this country is viewed as something that is inevitable and cannot be stopped. Usually, rape also involves domestic violence, hence the reason they’re paired together. Contrary to common misconception, men are raped as well as women, especially children of both genders. In the Kite Runner, rape is a topic that is prevalent in and throughout the book. Bacha Bazi is even a part of the Kite Runner.

Another myth of a cautionary tale concerns Prometheus, a Titan, who chose to go against the gods by stealing the secret of fire in order to help humans build society and live as gods. Yet in the end, the humans suffer as Pandora is sent to earth with a box filled with terrible things with which to punish the mortals who dared to take one of the things that separated gods from humans: fire. The world of Pandora in Avatar is like the Pandora of myth. The humans had to figuratively and literally dig deep into the world of Pandora to uncover the good and bad, just as Pandora had to open a box to unleash hope and evil. Jake himself metaphorically opens Pandora’s Box by accepting the offer to be the

‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (Wes Anderson, 2014) combines a perfect mix of nostalgia and history. The film explores the themes of war as it recreates history through mise-en-scene. Anderson also incorporates other themes such as racism and elitism during pre-war Europe. The film widely explores Europe from many viewpoints, one of which is of Mr Moustafa. His nostalgia is seen through flashbacks of when he was a lobby boy that went by the name of Zero. As an audience the depth of his nostalgia is seen through mise-en-scene. With the help of cinematography and props we see can see the time and place that Moustafa acknowledges. Anderson shows how history is reimagined through ones nostalgia. Mr Moustafa recalls events, which he was not present in yet he explains them as if he were there. This also shows how one reimagines history from another due to emotions and personal attachment. Despite the outcome being the same there are many viewpoints it can be seen from.