High across the tree line of a lushes, green world is the start of a new beginning for a crippled war veteran and former marine, Jake Sully. Jake is on his way to Pandora, a lush Earth-like moon orbiting a blueish Jupiter-like planet. Jake was presented with a unique opportunity. His mission is to take the place of his deceased twin brother, Tom, a scientist who was in part of a highest level program overseen by corporate and military strategists. The idea of wilderness and the meaning of wilderness that Cronon refers to his literature, “The Trouble with Wilderness” are reflected throughout this film, Avatar. We as humans question the master narrative, the crisis of how we see the world also known as the crisis of perception and throughout Avatar “I see you” has a double meaning. What does wilderness even mean? For Cronon wilderness stands as the last remaining place where civilization has not been impacted by the human disease, the human race is Earths own personal cancer. The human present in nature fails because humans cannot live in nature nor live without because everything we do we cause harm to nature. The trouble with nature is our own perception; nature is a manmade perception, a social construction that we have been telling ourselves for generations. Nature is not just the forest but it is also the trees in our backyards and in our front yards, the grass that grows between the cracks of the sidewalk. We have set nature as a privilege sublime; we hold nature to be as beautiful as the Rainforest and the National park. This is not the only thing we set to a high standard, many women held beauty to a high standard. Not only is the wilderness “natural or wild” it is beautiful.
Jake attempts to thank Neytiri for helping him fight off the dog-like attackers. Neytiri meets his thanks with scorn, tells him all this is his fault, that they did not need to die, and that he should “go back” to where he came from. Jake asks if she felt that way, why she helped him, “you have a strong heart, no fear” she explains “but stupid.” Jake attempts to follow Neytiri up into the trees, asks for her help, and says he want to learn. She tells him to go back and that the sky people can’t be taught. Just then the seeds of Eywa reappear and start to land on Jake. Neytiri explains they are “very pure spirits.” The idea of Romanticism is that nature is above civilization; Muir was a Romanticist, who believed in ecocentrism, the view that recognizes the ecosphere rather than the biosphere as central of importance and attempts to readdress the imbalance created by anthropocentrism. The Na’vi people do not find themselves higher than nature they see themselves as equal, as part of nature. Muir explains that nature involves the experience of the beauty that holds nature so powerful. Nature has a religious element that Muir explains it is an encounter with God viewing wilderness as a grand cathedral.
Jake is presented to Neytiri parents, Eytukan and Mo’at, Jakes tells them that he is a warrior, “dreamwalker” and his intention is to learn from them. Mo’at tastes Jake’s blood and announcement it is the will of Eywa for him to live with the Omaticaya and for Neytiri to teach their ways of life and customs. Wilderness to the Na’vi people is how they see wilderness as an experience. The wilderness is no small problem, how we see wilderness is the result of the lost of natural resources, our national identity and our masculinity. Masculinity is represented in Avatar through the characters of the Colonel and Parker. The operation is due to the fact that Hometree sits atop of massive deposit of unobtainium and Jake appears to be their best shot to convince the Omaticaya to move or advise the Colonel how he can force them to do so. Parker believes the “wealth of the world is in the ground all around [them]”. The only thing in their way is the “fly bitten savages that live in [Hometree]”. The “savages are threatening their own operation, and they must fight terror with terror for the sake of the base’s survival.” Savages have characteristics of animals, fierce, violent, and uncontrolled. The Na’vi people show none of these characteristics but because they are different from the humans in the film they must be savages because they are not human.
“The immeasurable height Of woods decaying, never to be decayed, The stationary blasts of waterfalls, And in the narrow rent at every turn Winds thwarting winds, bewildered and forlorn, The torrent shooting from the clear blue sky, The rocks that muttered close upon our ears, Black drizzling crags that spake by the way-side As if a voice were in them, the sick sight And giddy prospect of the raving stream, The unfettered clouds and region of the Heavens, Tumult and peace, the darkness and the light- Were all like workings of one mind , the features Of the same face, blossoms upon one tree; Characters of the great Apocalypse, The types and symbols of Eternity, Of first, and last, and midst, and without end.” -Cronon p.11
This quote perfectly explains the idea that wilderness is all around us, no matter where you turn wilderness is everywhere we cannot run from wilderness we must learn to live and accept. Wilderness has not disappeared into the abyss we as humans are fixed on the wilderness. The wilderness tells our story, our national identity. Also the feeling that you are one with nature instead of knowing is one of the lessons Neytiri tries to explain to Jake. The bond with Jake’s direhorse is very important to the Na’vi. There is a Na’vi-forest connection. Neytiri explains to Jake that all energy is borrowed and one day we have to give it back. Jake seems to comprehend this and as he says a prayer for an animal he hunted and just killed, Neytiri says he is ready for an important rite of passage, to bond with and ride a Declan, a flying mountain teradactal. Jake’s lack of fear and successful bond with his Declan earns him respect of the Na’vi warriors even, Tsu’Tey. Jake makes the bond and as he ride the Declan, remarks that he’s not much of a horseman but he was “born to do this.” Even though Jake has no feeling in his legs as a human, in his Na’vi body he can do about anything. And with this new body he is seeing the world in a different perception even though he is not in his body, his mind is connected and the Na’vi people basically reborn Jake. When he returns to his human body he brings that perception with him. Jake distinguishes himself as one of the Na’vi people; he feels this opportunity is for him to start over. He feels very connected to the Na’vi people and to the forest. When he is back in reality he is called a dreamer and a betrayer of his own race. The Colonial and Parker do not see what Jake can see, they feel that the Na’vi people can just pick another tree and move. Jake asks Eywa to look into Grace’s memories and stresses that humankind killed their mother, earth, the entity that protects the balance of life. Jake does not want to destroy the Na’vi people’s connection to the forest. The Tree of Souls is the most sacred place to the Na’vi. This is where the Na’vi people can communicate with their ancestors, and feel what they felt in the past. Also the Tree of Voices the Na’vi people bond with these trees they are also bonding with nature. The Na’vi people believe that have an interconnection with Eywa such that they cannot exist independently as a whole, or they cannot be understood as a whole without the reference to Eywa. The Na’vi people have an organic worldview that regards Eywa as greater than them.
Toward the end of the film Jake is now outcast from both sides, his human and his Na’vi. Jake was in the place where the eye does not see. The Na’vi people did not understand that Jake was reborn he understood to connect with the forest he fell in love with the forest and he couldn’t live with himself if he was a part of the operation to completely destroy the forest for the desire of unobtainium which has no value to him. He dreamt of peace but sooner or later Jake needed to wake up and fight terror with terror. Earth was dead and Jake was not going to let humans kill the Na’vi people’s Eywa. Jake felt the connection he had with the Na’vi people and he was not going to let his second chance slip away.
Avatar is a film full of dualism; we have the military vs. scientist. The military desires power, greed, and will do anything to obtain these desires. But the scientists they desire understanding and the compassion for wilderness. They see more to wilderness than the military because the military is more masculine, they feel that the wilderness is for the men to build up experience get their hands dirty to become a better man. Also the dualism between Human vs. Nature, the humans must survive on Pandora, this unfamiliar wilderness must be explore and tame so that humans can feel powerful. When really nature was there first and humans must adapt to the wilderness. Avatar also tells a repeating story of a white American male that at first wants to tame the wilderness for the good of the humans but then with many challenges and struggles he realize that is not the way and he wins the heart of the natives so that he can teach the humans that wilderness is more powerful than they really think. This story is played in many movies, books and in even reality. The story belongs to white landowning Christian American males because they are viewed as the most powerful race of any other race.
A connection can be made between "The Trouble with Wilderness" and Plumwood in the sense that "The Trouble with Wilderness" discusses the "crisis of perception" or how we as humans percieve the world. Plumwood has a similar crisis. Up until the time where Plumwood is actually being attacked by the crocodile, she shes herself as a superior being compared to the crocodile. She had the wrong perception of her place in the world. She believed that because she was human she was superior, and therefore was not threatened by the crocodile, even though the crocodile was capable of doing an outstanding amount of damage to her. If you analyze the phrase "I see you" as commonly said in Avatar, and compare it to Plumwood then you could say that Plumwood finally "sees" the crocodile after she realizes that she is vulnerable. Plumwood sees the crocodile in the sense that she recognizes the importance of the crocodile and acknowledges its presence.
ReplyDelete