The film Avatar directed by James Cameron conveys his main themes to the audience using several different techniques throughout the movie. These themes are all different but powerful and are explored in Avatar and are all relevant to today’s society. The primary themes of the film are: environmental protection, racism and the journey of self-discovery of Jake. These themes are explored throughout the film and are shown by though the use of various film techniques, symbolism, plot, camera techniques, music, special effects, make up, costumes and the setting of the film.
James Cameron explored the idea of a strong environmental message in his film Avatar through the techniques of symbolism of the destruction of Home Tree, the character development of Jake Sully and the symbolism of the Tree of Souls. Due to the powerful use of music and the close up shots of the pilots and people in the control room that are involved in the destruction of Home Tree, James Cameron leads the viewers to feel that this is a terrible crime against the Na’vi people as it shows them screaming and crying as the Home Tree falls down. It is also shown as a pleased Quaritch commends his fleet for its work and commands them back to Hell’s Gate where the science team and people at the control room watch the destruction in horror, as an unsettled Parker Selfridge orders the security team to cut the link to Jake and Grace’s avatar and then later arrests them. Protecting & conserving the environment is also shown before the battle against RDA where Jake is talking to the Tree of Souls, “Look at the world we have come from there’s no green there, they have killed their mother and they’re going to do the same thing here.” Thus James Cameron has effectively conveyed a strong environmental message through these techniques.
Racial Prejudice is another very strong theme in the film Avatar. Racism is shown throughout the film through many techniques, in particular the plot. The first evidence of racial prejudice is shown at the start of the film, where the Na’vi are shown as the undeveloped race of people on Pandora. This is shown when Parker says, “We teach them English, we offer them clothes, medicine, roads, but no, they like mud.” Parkers attitude show’s that the na’vi race is a nuisance to the RDA. This is also shown in Quaritch’s welcoming speech, where he talks about how and difficult it is to kill the
Na’vi People. This shows that Quaritch’s and Parker hate the Na’vi people and Parker actually refer to them as “the blue monkey’s” or “fly bitten savages that live in a tree.” In the beginning, from the debriefing Jake is made to believe what Quaritch’s and Parker said, therefor he agrees to assist in the moving of the Na’vi by collecting information on their home, culture and their lives. Another example of racial prejudice during the war between the humans and Na’vi is the different film techniques shown to show the Na’vi Race and the humans. This is shown in the scene in where the helicopter are taken to the skies to destroy the Tree of Souls the music and film techniques used for the humans are different to the Navi race. There is no music when the helicopter fly through the Halleluiah Mountains, but the sound of the helicopters this shows the importance of mechanical development to the human race. This is different to the scene when Jake and Neytiri ride the Ikrans through the forest. This shows that the Na’vi race are more in touch with the natural world. This scene is also set to music that gives it an element of spirituality. Thus James Cameron has successfully conveyed the important the racial differences between the humans and the Na’vi people and the racial prejudice between them.
Love is another main theme explored in the film Avatar. Love is shown throughout the film by using different film techniques and also through the characters development of Jake and Neytiri. Love is first shown in the film when is when Jake is learning to fly his Ikran, and Neytiri swoops in to Jake and smiles at his reaction. They connect through eye contact and through flirtatious behavior shown through close up shot in a counter shot sequence. This love theme is also shown when they are chased and nearly killed by the Toruk they just laugh and exchange expressions after a near death experience. Another example of love is when Neytiri displays her love for Jake by saving him from the control driven bulldozers, from an enraged Tsu ’Tey. Also we see Neytiri’s love for Jake when she kills the very person trying to kill him, Quaritch by shooting him with her bow and arrow and then saving Jake by placing the oxygen mask on Jakes face when he was suffocating. Thus James Cameron has conveyed the theme of love to the audience though the use of character development and camera techniques
In Conclusion James Cameron has successfully explored the main themes of; Enviromental messages, Love and Racial Prejudice though the movie Avatar. James Cameron’s message from this film was clear, if we don’t do anything about our world now our world will soon become like the one in Avatar, with money and power seeking people running the world.
