‘Avatar’ gets it right on conservation lessons
James Cameron’s latest movie, “Avatar,” is affecting America far more than a nation-wide increase of popcorn sales. There are plenty of reasons why this is the highest grossing film of all time, but I’m raving about the movie because this film promotes the values of human connection to the earth and the importance of caring for people for our planet.
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Critics across the country are praising the film for its sexy blue aliens (the Na’vi), incredible special effects and beauty of the plant-lush planet called Pandora that would make the founders of The Wilderness Society weep with joy. Box office sales prove the futuristic movie has everything to hold the attention of even the busiest of Americans. However, the film’s strong theme of human connection to land jumps out far more than the 3D flying beasts that the protagonist tames.
Sigourney Weaver, one of the many stars in the film, portrays a scientist who is appropriately named Grace. Grace is a curious woman seeking to understand the planet of Pandora and the Na’vi’s connection to it. She argues vehemently with a businessman from the Resource Development Administration, the not-so-subtly named Selfridge. Selfridge sees the value of the Pandora only for its rare element “unobtanium,” that is located beneath the Na’vi people’s tree home. A blatant reference for fossil fuel, unobtanium is the main source of energy for the human race in the year 2154.
Grace goes to great lengths to get through Selfridge’s corporate skull how important the connection the Na’vi people have with their land, and how it is not worth destroying their habitat in order to obtain unobtanium.
“There’s some kind of electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees. Like the synapses between neurons,” Grace explains to Selfridge. “That’s more connections than the human brain. You get it? It’s a network — a global network. And the Na’vi can access it!”
“What the hell have you people been smoking out there? They’re just (expletive) trees,” Our greedy antagonist Selfridge responds.
In these brief interactions, the dialogue between these two characters has surpassed fantasy jargon and instead presented what I believe are two completely different schools of thought on current conservation issues.
It is my hope that people don’t watch “Avatar” merely for visual stimulation from the super-high-tech graphics. Grace’s passion for connecting to the earth can’t be overlooked. Just watching the fantasy parts of the film gave me a deep desire to travel to the eastern forests of the Carolinas where I come from. I don’t know if the connection I feel is a scientifically proven electrochemical communication, but I relate to the Na’vi people in the film anyway. I recognize that when I have soil at my feet and trees above me, I feel a sense of understanding, connectedness, and spirituality. My friends at The Wilderness Society recognize this connectedness as well, and we know it’s our job to ensure others identify with this feeling too.
I hope every person who watches “Avatar” to discover the conservation values the film instills. Recognizing our connection with the earth is the first and most important step towards taking better care of it in the future.
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Sacred Earth
You are absolutely right. The earth healing message of Avatar has been far more significant than dollar signs and special effects, yet the industry glosses over it - for a reason. Trust me, I work in the entertainment industry (and just happen to be working on a film called "Sacred Earth", by the way). There are reasons that life-affirming, healing, transforming entertainment is shut out of mainstream entertainment. The top reason of course is dollar signs - but there's something even more insidious going on. For the most part, studios, networks and broadcasters are just a bunch of Selfridges. They don't care. And the general consensus in the biz is this: "If we make everyone feel great by connecting them to the beauty and wisdom of nature, they won't buy the load of crap we and our sponsors are trying to sell them."
Think about it. First of all, why would the most powerful distributor of manipulators to our emotions, behaviors, attitudes, thoughts and decisions (i.e., the entertainment industry) want us to discover the profound healing that nature provides? The only way they could make money from that, would be to charge an admission to every green space on the planet. And they wouldn't do that, because how could they sell you a drug, if you felt great? How could they tell you you are too fat, too poor or too old if you have discovered through nature's truth that you are whole, complete and perfect just as you are? How could they get you to buy into war and hatred if you, like the Na'vi looked to your fellow human being and say, "I see you"?
Seriously. The entertainment industry is nothing but a sick bunch of greedy slimeballs with few exceptions, and they are shaking in their boots over the success of Avatar. Not only did it raise the bar waaaaay up with respect to production quality, special effects and story-telling, but the last thing they want is to support the power of filmmakers like Cameron to heal us or bring us a sense of peace. They have spent billions of dollars researching every nuance of every move they can possibly make to keep us in fear and weakness and in need of what their selling. It's called market research and after decades of scientific studies (by their teams of "market researchers"), they know how and what sounds, colors, images and words affect us - and they use it against us.
It's a riot! Millions of people are yearning for a connection to something real that affirms their lives and makes them feel better about our world and the very people who can make it happen on a massive scale (the entertainment industry) are too afraid we'll stop falling for their B.S. if they make us feel better. And don't get me started on the religious entities that don't want us to find the divine in nature or heck... what about the logging, drilling, mining and other earth raping businesses? That's a whole other rant!
Thanks for bring this subject to the forefront and thanks for letting me share my thoughts here. In the end, we are what we watch. Films like Avatar and Sacred Earth have the power to change the world. Now the only trick will be to convince the Selfridges. We are what we watch. If you want to see change, change what you see.
yes you are absolutly right
yes you are absolutly right having watched the film i come out of the cinema feeling down ,as i related the films story to real life an unbelievable film wow hopefully the worlds goverments watch this film and relise that oil and money is not as important as the earth and people who inhabit it native tribes need to come first before big oil we need to heal the planet now and everyone should put the pressure on them to find in their hearts the will to take action
2010 massive year, game changer( in the way we think and act more responsibly to each otherand the environment)