Biocultural Conservation and Avatar

An analysis of the movie Avatar, by James Cameron, offers several examples of biocultural conservation. In the film, humanity has ravaged Earth’s resources and succumbed to the extinction of experience, causing them to seek a solution to their new energy problems. On a distant moon called Pandora lives a native population called the Na’vi, who unknowingly harbor a rare mineral called unobtanium, which could solve humanities problems. In an attempt to befriend the Na’vi and obtain the unobtanium, the humans created a living vessel, called an avatar, that a human can link to and control. To negotiate with the Na’vi for the minerals, a marine named Jake Sully was chosen to control the main avatar which had originally been created for his brother, who was killed. During Jake’s first time in the avatar he gets separated from the group and is saved by one the female Na’vi, Neytiri. After the Na’vi decide not to kill Jake they agree to show him their way of life. Once he’s spent a few days learning with them the marine colonel, in an attempt to learn the best way to strike at the Na’vi, asks Jake to provide him with information that he would later use against the natives. Eventually Jake regrets providing him with information that can hurt the Na’vi. Jake starts to understand that the Na’vi are biologically connected with the planet and develops an attitude of biocultural conservation. When Neytiri is showing Jake their culture is when he begins to realize how connected they are to the environment. After he has learned the ways of the Na’vi , Jake is accepted into their culture and also fell in love with Neytiri. Their love causes unrest with both the Na’vi and the human population and is an indirect driver to Jake’s loyalties later on. This is seen when he switches sides and fights for the Na’vi instead of his own race. At this point Jake attempts to explain to the military why the Na’vi are unwilling to let them destroy their environment for the unobtanium. Jake is unable to cause a paradigm shift by showing what the Na’vi see in their environment versus how humans see the environment. This is when humanity shows their anthropocentristic, selfish views by using military force to try and gain the minerals. Due to their differences Jake essentially switches sides and goes against the usual master narrative, by going against his own race and siding with the Na’vi. This is seen when he smashes the camera on a bulldozer that is destroying the Na’vi’s wilderness and threatening their home. After this display of violence against his own race, Jake is forcefully taken out of his avatar and brought before the director of the operation, Parker. The lead scientist on Pandora, Grace, tries to explain to Parker that the trees they just bulldozed were sacred to the Na’vi tribe. Parker shows how ethnocentric he is by saying they are just trees and that it isn’t a big deal or shouldn’t be a big deal because there are many trees on Pandora. Parker proves Luisa Maffi’s point that people need to

“open up to the kind of intent listening to indigenous and other local peoples that alone can bring about genuine mutual understanding and true collaboration in facing the common threats to the world’s linguistic, cultural, and biological diversity” (Maffi pg 37 para. 1).

After talking to Parker, Jake is given one hour to try and get the Na’vi to vacate the area holding the minerals or else they will be under attack. He fails to convince the Na’vi to leave, again, and hometree is destroyed. This devastates the Na’vi. Jake rallies the Na’vi ,along with the other tribes on Pandora, to wage an all out war on the human population. Anticipating the Na’vi attack, the humans prepare for war and meet the Na’vi force head on. The war between the two reveals the dualism between good versus evil, right versus wrong, and humans versus nature. In the end the Na’vi overcome the humans and force them to leave Pandora. A select few are allowed to stay, with Jake being one of them. The Na’vi perform a ritual which allows Jake to be transferred from his human body to the Na’vi avatar. Jake now begins his new life as a Na’vi and thus creates a new narrative self.