Philosophy of Avatar

Mozart1986

Do you agree with/condone/believe in the underlying philosophical message of James Cameron epic new movie, Avatar?

This might sound like a simple question to somebody of a philosophical mindset. Basically, its a film about morality and the machine. Its about our personal culpability when our governments and the corporations we sustain and are invested in destroy other more "primitive" cultures for the sake of profits & economic growth. There is an obvious green message in there also. But what of the deism? I am in no way religious, or more accurately, given the ambiguity of that word, my moral code is not determined by religious institutions or institutional deism. But I am intrigued by the deism of this movie, and I am trying to form some coherent and consistent views on the subject. I don't think I agree with the deism in Avatar, but I believe that this is the fundamental philosophical message, and not the obvious voice against technocratic society or the green message. It somehow revolves around language, but the roots of the trees being analogous to the synopses of the brain is interesting.

Anybody want to discuss this subject?

The Volt

I think that the deism is there simply for the narrative and the happy ending's purpose. Without the higher being, the forest would have succombed to the enemy. Of course it is open to interpretation.

It's a classic tale we've seen in plenty of films, it's almost like the old westerns. The red indians are like the Omaticaya. 'We're gonna civilize you whether you like it or not' kind of attitude without realizing and respecting the way they live

Mozart1986

Definitely, its an old tale. But the deist aspects of Avatar are not arbitrary. In the old westerns people were religious, but any supernatural being is noticable by its absense. As I said, maybe not in so many words, I'm not religious and I wouldn't try to impose some religiosity on what is basically a cool psi-fi flick. I just think the deism is far too prominent for it to be just a good way to kill the bad-guys.

Oafley Jones

Mozart1986 wrote: »

Do you agree with/condone/believe in the underlying philosophical message of James Cameron epic new movie, Avatar?

This might sound like a simple question to somebody of a philosophical mindset. Basically, its a film about morality and the machine. Its about our personal culpability when our governments and the corporations we sustain and are invested in destroy other more "primitive" cultures for the sake of profits & economic growth. There is an obvious green message in there also. But what of the deism? I am in no way religious, or more accurately, given the ambiguity of that word, my moral code is not determined by religious institutions or institutional deism. But I am intrigued by the deism of this movie, and I am trying to form some coherent and consistent views on the subject. I don't think I agree with the deism in Avatar, but I believe that this is the fundamental philosophical message, and not the obvious voice against technocratic society or the green message. It somehow revolves around language, but the roots of the trees being analogous to the synopses of the brain is interesting.

Anybody want to discuss this subject?

Avatar's morality/overall subtext is two dimensions less than the presentation. As for Deism, Cameron - as is his nature - explicitly gives a scientific explanation for Navi's notion of Gaia. If anything Cameron's message is the less than PC "Soft Primitivism/Noble Savage" coupled with lashing of White Mans Guilt.

Devin Faraci on Chud.com has a fascinating comparison of the scriptment vs the finished product which you might find interesting as it explores his less than subtle Green message.
http://chud.com/articles/articles/21969/1/PROJECT-880-THE-AVATAR-THAT-ALMOST-WAS/Page1.html

silverharp

A libertarian writer liked it. Havnt seen the movie myself


http://www.stephankinsella.com/2009/12/21/avatar-is-great-and-libertarian/

And at its core it was very libertarian: it was about a group of people (the Na’vi) defending their property rights on the world Pandora from aggressors (the human invaders), and about one of the humans (a soldier named Jake Sully) deciding to join and help the right side. Sure, the movie has some stilted dialogue in parts, and a few cliched scenes (I liked how the evil military commander referred to their outrageous assaults on the Na’vi as “shock and awe,” but his telling the troops that they would “fight terror with terror”–when the Na’vi had not really been shown to have done anything characterizable as terrorism–was a bit of a stretch in its attempt to dig at the current American “war on terror”), but overall it was great and fun, and libertarian. And the passion and vision and craft that has gone into this movie is amazing to behold. Cameron is to be commended for this great work of art.

Ignore the cynics–such as Peter Suderman on Reason’s Hit & Run blog who accuses Avatar of “anti-corporate clichés and quasi-mystical eco-nonsense”. Nonsense. Libertarians are not anti-environmentalism, for one; property rights are the only way to protect the environment. As for “quasi-mystical”–I can’t say much without spoiling, but the various beliefs of the Na’vi are perfectly grounded in reason and reality, as the movie shows. As for anti-corporate–nonsense.

And the “corporation” here is basically a mini-state, or an arm of a state–it has an army going around killing and destroying (Lester Hunt makes this point here). In fact, in the review of the leftish Mark Kermode of the BBC, he just calls the bad guys the military; even he is not taken in by the corporate facade. And the libertarian hosts of Free Talk Live (12/19/09 episode) get it right too: the plot is about property rights. In particular, the property rights of the Na’vi, in an established tree-city that they have clearly homesteaded. The Na’vi are not just some uncivilized savages as some curmudgeonly reviewers imply; they live they way they do because of the wondrous bounty of their strange world and some unique features it has–which, again, I can say little of without spoiling, but suffice to say it’s grounded in reality and extrapolative science fiction, not some quasi-mystical nonsense. They even have a sophisticated homesteading technique worked out for ownership of the wild, pterodactyl-like creatures known as Banshee or ikran. In addition, the main Na’vi character, Neytiri, although she is betrothed to another Na’vi, is permitted to change her mind and choose someone else–respect for individual choice and autonomy.