AVATAR; A STRUGGLE REVISITED
NPR December 18, 2009
The year is 2154, and a Marine named Jake Sully (played by the personable Sam Worthington) works for a military-industrial behemoth that's mining Pandora for a rare mineral called — get this — unobtainium. So he can better mingle with the natives, Jake gets his nervous system projected into a remotely controlled Na'vi body, called an avatar, and it's when he goes all tall and blue that the film goes into full-scale CGI mode.
Back in the world of flesh-and-blood actors, a prickly scientist played by Sigourney Weaver — who totally holds her own against the 10-foot-tall blue thingies — wants Jake to study Na'vi rituals. She is funded by the company but has a humanist agenda. But a selfish businessman (Giovanni Ribisi) calls the Na'vi "blue monkeys," and because their sacred land sits over a vast supply of unobtanium, he wants Jake to convince them to decamp.
Jake has to keep a video diary of his life as an avatar, and as he speaks about trying to learn the Na'vi language, Cameron cuts to his lessons with the fiery female warrior Neytiri, who under all the computer imagery is modeled on actress Zoe Saldana. It's obvious that under the spell of this lovely creature and her mystical culture, Jake will soon go native, and that Avatar will become a fantasy-land Dances with Wolves — actually, Dances with Thanators and Banshees and Direhorses and Leonopteryxs.
As the commentary points out, the new movie Avatar is a replay of an old theme: the struggle between the earth friendly native and the technology driven capitalist. Although their distinction provides a fertile ground for inventive fiction, it also points to one important and basic point, one which is easily overlooked: When one is a Self-builder, there are no natives and invaders. Instead, people who want to improve themselves and their environment use technology to serve each other and not to dispossess and exploit. Sometimes, this requires making difficult choices, but that indeed is what makes a story exciting and fulfilling. So enjoy the Avatar and remember to Self-build.
Posted by Farooq Husayn at 12/20/2009 5:45 PM 
Categories: Self-help, Movies
Tags: Quran self-help Sam Worthington Avatar
Categories: Self-help, Movies
Tags: Quran self-help Sam Worthington Avatar
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