Reading Between Pandora

Warning: This blogpost contains spoilers to the movie Avatar. Read this post only at your discretion.

So, yesterday, after a much awaited wait, I managed to get hold of a ticket to watch Avatar in 3-D. All those of you who have watched it in 2-D, seriously need to go out there and watch it all over again, the third dimensional way.

Okay, so it was brilliant, regardless of what anyone says.

Where on the one hand my mind wondered how James Cameron thought of it all, the other couldn't help contemplating the underlying meaning he had given to the movie.

So let's run by the plot fairly quickly, shall we. The United States has found a rich oil-producing region (surprise, surprise!) and obviously want to seize it, which wouldn't have been so much of a problem had the location not been housing a civilisation of blue monkeys (the Navis, I think) on a moon called Pandora in outer space.

In order to succeed in their purpose, the United States sends out spies (the Avatar) who would learn the Navi way of living, and then in return for a promising future, help relocate them somewhere else. Of course, the Navi resist this colonial expansion, and have to face attacks at the hands of the United States Army.

From this rather nutshell-of-a-blurb, one can immediately notice an aura of imperialism given to the film. Almost as if the movie were a true story. And in my opinion, it was actually an analogy of the present global domination scenario led by the United States.

The mission to eradicate terrorism and dictatorship from country after country, resulting in an expansion of the superpower into territories boasting of abundant black gold deposits. The motive in every case of course, that is, first in Afghanistan and now in Iraq, to sustain development and improve prospects for the nation. See the resemblance?

This trespass was replied to with an attack on the United States Army, following which, the forces penetrated the region to calm the situation and rid it of those hindering the nation's path to absolute democracy.

Avatar also had to it, the feel of the British Empire rule of over four centuries; greed at the expense of the lives of the innocent who were too naive to understand the potential of the mineral buried deep beneath their feet.

I just sat there mesmerised at the exhilarating war sequences, thinking to myself, this movie is not a coincidence; yes, James Cameron had to delay its making because the world lacked that specific technology required to make it a reality, but perhaps, he also wanted to time its release with the set of events that have shook the world over.

And, for this very reason, I just loved the three hour spectacle in that cinema, last night.

Five stars to James Cameron; simply outstanding! And to think, I couldn't quite come to grips with the fuss that Titanic created in its wake.

P.S: Many would think I am reading way too much into the film, and that I am very sad. Sigh.