Avatar: The Trouble With Nature

Avatar Blog (Cronon)

For many years, members of our society have perceived nature to be a romanticized entity, disregarding the inevitable dangers that it entails. One film that captures this theme effectively is James Cameron’s Avatar. The main character, Jake Sully, fights against the master narrative that his country has instilled in him by his country. The master narrative that Jake initially follows refers to his country commanding him to colonize at Pandora, a foreign planet, in order to mine for a rare mineral, unobtainium. Jake’s military until plans on expanding its frontier and utilizes “avatars”, engineered na’vi-human bodies, in order to deceive the native people and convince them to allow mining of the valuable commodity. Eventually, Jake develops his own self-narrative, independent of the intentions of his country, when he decides to fight for the existence of the native tribe of Pandora.

The central themes presented in Avatar correspond with those included in William Cronon's highly renowned book The Trouble With Wilderness. Cronon expands further on this issue, saying, “The romantic sublime was not the only cultural movement that helped transform wilderness into a sacred American icon during the nineteenth century. No less important was the powerful romantic attraction of primitivism, dating back at least to Rousseau—the belief that the best antidote to the ills of an overly refined and civilized modern world was a return to simpler, more primitive living(Cronon 13).” In this excerpt, Cronon recognizes the dualistic nature of common human perception versus the true nature of the wild.

Cronon’s observations in The Trouble With Wilderness are exemplified in Avatar when Jake Sully wonders into the depths of the jungles of Pandora. As he travels further into the wilderness, he is attacked by various creatures whom are inhabitants of the Pandorian jungle, showing that he lacks the survival skills to cope with the dangers that surround him. Eventually, when Jake’s life is in serious danger, he is saved by Neytiri, a woman who is a native of Pandora. Once Jake is safe, Neytiri explains that the situation was “all his fault” because he was being “loud and stupid”. Clearly, Jake is not adapted to such an environment. It becomes apparent that Na’vi maintain an organic worldview, having a clear understanding of their place in nature and recognizing themselves and their planet as an interconnected whole.

Conclusively, the human outlook on wilderness shown in both Avatar and The Trouble With Wilderness forms a false paradigm in that their romanticized worldview disregards the dangers are ever present. What viewers and readers can take from these works is a message suggesting while nature can be beautiful, as it is portrayed in avatar, or thrilling, as described in The Trouble With Wilderness, there are many natural limitations for humans interacting with nature that can not be avoided. The same dangers that have existed since the beginning of time still exist today, and should be treated accordingly—with caution.