Cultural Imperialism In Avatar

Throughout the course, we have discussed how colonialism affects culture, and the UCSD powwow clearly demonstrates the impact that colonialism can have on a group of people. For

The following review will be about a movie named Avatar. Avatar dates back to 2009 and was directed by James Cameron. The greediness of those in power will always results in the suffering of those lacks power. This statement refers to the greediness that was depicted in the movie by the Resources Development Administrators (RDA), which led to a forceful relocation of the Na’Vi people. The following essay will include the discussion of three anthropological themes that were displayed. The first theme is the power of knowledge. Here I will discuss how knowledge was used against the NA’Vi people. The second theme is the notion of imperialism. The colonization of the Pandora will be discussed under imperialism. The third theme is the notion of ethics. Under ethics I will discuss the three main ethical principles that should be followed by every ethnographer.

a kind of mirroring, portraying colonial impact, that non-native people want to accept and is a

Misrepresentation of Natives on screen throughout the 20th century has had an adverse effect on them. Whether it was positive or negative stereotypes, Natives felt the effect of Hollywood and began to lose their self-identity, their honour, and their pride. Reel Injun takes a look at how movies have defined an entire race and also documents the rebirth of the Native identity after decades of destructive Hollywood movies by interviewing notable Native actors, actresses, and activists. By doing so, director Neil Diamond hopes to silence Hollywood stereotypes and get Hollywood to properly represent the Native people.

Money, military, death or subordinance, these are the main elements of imperialism. Imperialism, the practice of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force, is often thought of as negative because of the use of military force. The age of imperialism lasted from 1870-1914. One example of imperialism from this time period is when the countries Britain, France, Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Spain all took control over different parts of Africa. One movie that accurately portrays this ideal negatively is Avatar, a movie directed by James Cameron and released on December 18, 2009. Avatar is about a group of ex-military soldiers that travel to Pandora, an alien life planet, and the elements of imperialism shown

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

Often perceived as a group of tyrannical oppressors, the white people have firmly established their gruesome and discriminatory image through the bloody history of its dictatorship over racial minorities. Although it is true to some extent that White people were biased and unjust to other races, it is obvious that the intransigent mindset of the native Indian people have also contributed to the intense enmity between the two races. Harold Cardinal, once president of the Indian Association of Alberta, had inaccurately accused Caucasian Canadians in “The Mystery of the White Man”. He had described White men as a group of bigoted, corrupted rapists and portrayed the Indians as some guiltless victims of the depraved White society mistreated

The movie Avatar shares many themes with the Age of Imperialism. In the movie, the human protagonist takes the form of a local alien Na'vi in a conflict between humans and the Na'vi. The conflict arises because the humans in the film have arrived at the home of the Na'vi, Pandora, and begun to exploit its resources. At first, they ignored the Na'vi, but their quest for resources is now taking them into direct conflict with the native peoples of Pandora.

Typically referred to as ‘Indians’ in popular culture, Native Americans were traditionally seen in Westerns as the antagonists. The Western genre typically tells the story of the colonisation and discovery of America, which saw the major Hollywood studios revive the interest in the Western. Westerns draw on “historical actuality, a romantic philosophy of nature, and the concept of the […] savage” (Saunders, 2001, p. 3). Westerns often split the “depiction of the Indian, with the cruel and treacherous [Indian] balanced by the faithful [Indian]” (Saunders, 2001, p. 3) which resulted in the portrayals of Native Americans witnessed in films today.

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.

Avatar is a film that illustrates a money hungry corporation searching for unobtanium. Unobtanium is a valuable rock worth over 20 million a kilo. In order to mine this rock the company must push away the population of the Na’vi, the indigenous people of the planet, Pandora. The way the Sky People interact with the Na’vi when they first get to Pandora was similar to the way the Europeans and First Nations interacted. The Sky People are only there to get the resources, so they try to push the Na’vi away. So how does this movie show the concept of imperialism and its effect on the native people?

Woolf portrays how the Europeans view themselves as high and pristine through the stories of the white men because of their preconceived idea of the East . In a hotel smoking room many men discuss the East and their civilization. While arguing about whether or not white men should impose their own beliefs onto the East, a stock jobber brings forth an idea, “Rule’ em, I say, rule ‘em, if you’re going to rule ‘em. Look after ‘em of course: give ‘em schools, if they want education... But let ‘em know you are top dog. That’s the way to run an eastern country. I am a white man, you’re black; I’ll treat you well, give you courts and justice; but I’m the superior race, I’m master here” (Woolf 203). Europeans view themselves as “the superior race” and treat the ruling of an eastern country as pity work.

The word of cultural relativism comes from anthropologists that uses to learn from other culture and belief by exploring new world or new territories. The three films that I explain in the second essay. It shown that all three films are using the cultural relativism, because in the film gods must be crazy when the bottle fell from the airplane, it shows how the culture of the Bushman it falls apart real quick from a bottle that was nothing to the culture. The other one was the emerald forest in this movie was that the culture of the natives they were trying to look for new territories and trying to change the culture for the boy that was lost in the forest. The last one was in the movie Avatar it discuss about the cultural relativism by telling

"Taking care" indicates improvement of their culture until they reach that of the Euro-American standards which makes it clear that “The White man’s Burden” proposes that the phase after exploration is the self-centered education of the colonial population.

Coming back to Cultural Imperialism. We would like to start with the most rudimentary questions. What is culture. Why do we need to talk about it. What does Imperialism have to do with culture. And what is Cultural Imperialism. When Steger talks about the cultural dimension of globalization, he uses the words “symbolic construction, articulation, and dissemination of meaning” (90). Culture can define an individual, a group, a society, a nation or even the globe. Humans are social beings and since pre-historic times humans have been inquisitive and have embarked upon journeys to find new civilization. Today we are looking for life on other planets. When a person interacts with another, the first judgment he makes is about his nature. Similarly when we find ourselves in a new atmosphere, a new culture, the first few things we pick up are the culture not the economic status or the political scenario. It could be as simple as a greeting in the native language, or knowledge about the local cuisine, clothes or traditions. We all know that Vasco Da Gama brought along spices from his visit to India. What intrigues us so much, must be of huge importance. Culture exists in the form of ideas, language, identity, images and everything the human mind can perceive. Cultural is the inherent reactions, the way we behave socially, what we believe in and what makes us stand apart or defines us as a group. An interesting term at the heart of our discussion is ‘cultural products’. According to