Avatarand weird human impulses

I’m really late to the “explaining the meaning of James Cameron’s Avatar” game–I saw it over winter break, then got absorbed in other “fun winter break things,” then got absorbed in the re-start of grad school. But here it goes: First, yes, Avatar is indeed pretty, so much so that I disagree with the people who say it’s not fun until the big action sequences at the end. I think it’s pretty enough to be fun even when nothing is happening. If you haven’t seen it yet, you won’t feel about yourself for picking it up on DVD or Netflix someday. At least I think you won’t–I thought Lord of the Rings was pretty cool when it came out, but when I re-watched it last night the flaws annoyed me a lot more.

What I thought was really interesting about the movie, though, was that it was a nice illustration of some odd human impulses that you run into quite a bit in studying religion. Here’s the set up: human corporation with a big mercenary army goes to an alien planet to mine Unobtanium, (yes, they actually call it that) but sentient natives called the Navi are in the way. The Navi are technologically primitive, but they have the advantage of being ten feet tall and we are told at the beginning of the movie that their unusual biology makes them extra hard to kill. Their size and strength makes them able to use bows powerful enough to shatter the glass on smaller military vehicles, and they also have access to suitably large mounts, both land and flying, which they can neurologically bond with though their hair braids. The flying mounts are big enough to be able to take out small aircraft through dive bombing.

The strategy gaming nerd in me really liked the setup: the humans had a strong overall advantage, but the Navi had some advantages the humans didn’t. Should have made an interesting fight, but when the inevitable fight happens, though, the Navi’s performance is a bit disappointing. They get the dive bombing with the big birds thing right, but for people who spend lots of time riding around with carrying bows, they do a really lousy job of riding and shooting at the same time, which made the whole thing rather pointless. Also, given that the Navi seem vaguely based off of native Americans, it’s disappointing to see that they have no concept of stealth. The good guys win in the end, though, because it turns out the planet is quasi-sentient and decides to send a few packs of large animals after the human army.

The weird thing is that we are presented with a vague implication that there is something more noble and even spiritual about a quasi-sentient planet saving the day, as opposed to winning by properly making use of your advantages. Because quasi-sentient plants, like wise aliens, are a religious concept, even though they bare little resemblance to traditional religious concepts. But the fact that the thought is weird doesn’t mean sentiments like this are rare: Susan Blackmore has talked about how she used to find it profoundly emotionally satisfying to think that telepathy exists. I’ve been aware of this for years, but I still am not sure what to make of it when I encounter it.

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