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Article Summary by MaryLauren M.
Collins begins her argument by noting the obvious plot structure of good vs. evil present in Avatar. Colonel Miles Quaritch and Parker Selfridge, the heads of the project, embody every negative aspect of immorality on Earth. Motivated by greed, they wish to realize their plan to mine on Pandora, regardless of the obstacles. They regard the native population as inferior and dangerous and Pandora as hell. Collins presents a contrast of this representation with Cameron’s depiction of the Na’Vi, blue graceful creatures, who represent the forces of good. As Collins notes, the Na’Vi seem to parallel an idealized version of Native American tribes because they “live close to the land and demonstrate reverential respect for the natural world in general and all living things in particular” (Collins 106). The lifestyle of the Na’Vi communicates a special interconnectedness with their environment and unity among themselves.
In addition to the typical good vs. evil present in romances, the film ends with an optimistic note of good triumphing over evil. As Collins notes, Jake begins identifying with the Na’Vi more and seeing Pandora as paradise. As he learns more about the Na’Vi, he falls in love with Neytiri, the Na’Vi princess, and eventually marries her at the end of the movie. A war breaks out between the Earthmen and the Na’Vi, who find themselves pitted against the humans’ advanced technological weapons. Jake joins the forces of the Na’Vi who only have bows and arrows and flying mountain banshees, animals that live in Pandora and resemble lions, and helps lead them to an improbable victory. At the end, a ritual takes place at the Tree of the Souls, a tree that contains the closest connection to Pandora’s deity, Eywa; the ritual combines Jake’s soul to his avatar form, thus becoming one of the Na’Vi. The film ends on an optimistic note by showing that Jake has resolved his inner conflict of divided loyalties and finds his true self.
In addition to having the same elements of a romance, Avatar contains ecocentric ideals that qualify it as an ecoromance, according to Collins. Pandora is portrayed as a harmonious, unified ecosystem, almost a realization of the Arcadia, the utopian vision of harmony with nature. The Na’Vi create a sense of community and environmental concern towards issues like pollution and the energy crisis as portrayed in the film. Each Na’Vi’s tail is a specific aspect of the Na’Vi people that serves as a metaphor of the interconnectedness between them and their environment. For example, Jake learns that holding his tail to the antennae of a mountain banshee forms a bond and enables him to fly with the mountain banshee as one. Collins asserts that this instance shows that the Na’Vi and the Pandoran ecosystem “are virtually inseparable” (111).
By achieving victory over the Earthmen, the Na’Vi restore the harmony of their ecosystem that had been threatened by the invaders. Collins notes that the Na’Vi’s connectedness with their ecosystem is idealized and contrasted with man’s disconnection from the world and each other. The Na’Vi’s collectivistic culture fosters a strong sense of community, including their ecosystem. According to Collins, the Na’Vi use the phrase “I see you” in order to “express love, respect, and profound understanding, the ability to see into the heart of all living beings and their environment, and the ability to perceive their interconnectedness” (114-115). Collins notes that Jake’s avatar is able to walk, and his resulting joy is due to his reconnection with nature.
Collins presents Avatar as an ecoromance additionally in the sense of the female principle, which is “the notion that the spirit of the goddess Mother Earth or Mater Magna rules over the magical world presented” (111). The idea of Mother Nature involves the Mother goddess presiding over nature as its source. Gradually, this idea waned as the idea of male gods made an appearance (Collins 112). Collins refers to Lawrence Buell’s The Future of Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination as he discusses how the idea of Mother Nature remained relevant. Buell explains that the scientist James Lovelock claimed that Mother Nature is the parts of Earth’s life, which consists of many organisms. Collins discusses this as the global environmental theory, which she claims is present in Avatar. Pandora’s spirit of place represents the global environmental theory, which shows the film’s ecocentric ideology as well.
As Collins argues, Avatar contains elements of a romance while adding ecocentric ideologies, thus advancing it as an ecoromance. She asserts that the portrayal of the greedy humans’ pursuit of advancement is detrimental not only to Pandora, but also to the real world. The ecosystem of Pandora is central to both the Na’Vi and the story. The underlying point of the film is that we as humans must unite in order to save our planet’s ecosystem, which is threatened by much of what we do. In her argument, Collins notes a passage from Lawrence Buell’s The Future of Environmental Crisis and Literary Imagination, which explains that ecocentrism “defines human identity ‘in terms of its relationship with the physical environment and/or nonhuman life forms…’” (Collins 104). As an ecoromance, Avatar celebrates the value of an interconnected community living in harmony with nature.
Collins, Marsha S. "Echoing Romance: James Cameron’s Avatar as Ecoromance." Mosaic: A Journal for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 47.2 (June 2014): 103-19. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 25 Feb. 2016.
