Avatar: Recasting the Veil with Special Effects

By Jason Smith

Graduate Student, Sociology

George Mason University

I found myself perplexed as I left the theatre on the opening night of the new super-smash hit blockbuster film Avatar. As a graduate student studying sociology, and focusing specifically on issues of race and popular culture, I found it hard to say that I enjoyed the special-effects laden sci-fi epic that lasted an equally epic 160 minutes. Leaving the film I was surrounded by audience members going over their favorite parts and which scenes really “wow’d” them. In my head though, all I was thinking about was the blatant use of “orientalism ” discourse that plagues a large portion of the culture we live in. The lackluster plot that recycled notions of the “white savior” and the “noble savage” really irked me, as Sally Raskoff recently blogged about.

Here’s a brief plot summary of this film for those who have yet to see it. In the future, where space travel and planet colonization is a reality, the moon Pandora holds a valuable mineral called unobtainium and is thus the site for a project by corporate and military interests to create an artificial body (an Avatar) of the native people, called the Na'vi, to infiltrate their ranks and convince them to leave their settlement; this would grant access to large amounts of unobtainium. Jake Sully is a crippled soldier who takes control of his deceased brother’s Avatar and is ordered to get the Na’vi to leave. After going native and learning the Na’vi ways, as well as falling in love with the tribal chief’s daughter, Jake turncoats and abandons his mission to rally the Na’vi people to oppose their own colonization.

About five weeks from when this film opened it still is making ridiculous amounts of money – it has been the top box office earner for all five of those weeks. The film has surpassed its huge production budget with revenue already totaling more than $1 billion worldwide. The Golden Globes (the pre-Oscar awards) has even recognized the film with two of their major awards – “Best Film-Drama” and “Best Director.”

As more of my friends and peers see this film, they go on and on about how great it was. When I bring up the issues I have with the film I receive, for the most part, a roll of the eyes and a backward head nod – these actions occur simultaneously by the way, adding to the “oh gawd” effect of being burdened by the information I bring up. No one seems to want to hear about a plot that helps assuage white guilt as the audience roots for the hero to help the native tribes on Pandora. When I bring this up to my friends I get a line that sounds similar to this paraphrase, “You’re being a sociologist.” This actually translates to meaning that I’m thinking too much, and…how dare I.

Now I don’t deny that director James Cameron has made a visually stunning and well-made film. Throw in the special effects and this is by definition a recipe for “good filmmaking.” And it is often the rebuttal I’m faced with when critiquing the film with others, an argument that the special effects “were soooo good.” A lot of media buzz has centered on the use of technology in the production process; James Cameron even helped invent a new camera for filming his 3-D scenes. Many reviews have also forgiven the weak plot and instead applaud the technology used in the film. One article from Popular Science even mentions that Cameron and the production company, 20^th Century Fox, “better hope those same audiences don’t think too much on the way out of the theater lest bad word of mouth does more damage to Pandora than the corporate marines.”

My own experiences and the success that this film is enjoying suggest that the spectacle of technology is overshadowing the more important and detrimental aspects of this film. To be fair to Cameron, there is an effort to show the value of saving natural resources over the lust for profitable business enterprises. However, the depiction of the native tribes follows typical orientalist themes in which the white westerner is accepted and is able to help the natives achieve what couldn’t be achieved without him.

Obscuring this theme is the audience’s obsession with the technology used to make this film.. Technology is one of many pieces of our racialized society in which a veil is placed over whites to shield them from the effects of racial inequality and burdens of privilege. W.E.B. Du Bois originated the concept of the veil to describe the situation of African Americans in the early parts of the 20^th century, working in a fashion that allows it to interpret and be changed by the forces surrounding it – at both the individual and institutional levels. Howard Winant has noted that the veil has shifted in the new century to apply to whites, as they create their own brand of double-consciousness in which desiring aspects of the other allow them to confirm their own non-racist tendencies. The technological prowess of this film seems to act as the buffer that obscures the film’s orientalist discourse; where the veil is ever present to hide the costs of race, so the technology in the film hides the plot’s racial undertones.

As I recall my own discomfort with the film and ponder over the reasons that my peers fail to see these discomforts , I wonder how technology can blind a worldwide audience to the depictions of people who fall outside the western norm. A movie of this size, along with the profits that it’s seeing, raises alarming questions about film production. In a land of blockbuster profits and copy-cat products, does the success of Avatar have the potential to lead to more backward depictions of racialized groups? Looking more deeply into why this film is such a success we might also start to wonder who is making these types of films, why films like this continue to be made, and what power and resources allow these individuals/groups to make them.

Comments

[Joshua Bardwell]

we might also start to wonder who is making these types of films,

Start with, "People who don't 'think too much'."

[Sarah]

I wish you'd gone into a bit more detail about how you think this film displays Orientalism. I think that conversation is worth having, but this blog post spent more time talking about the defensive reaction to your critique than the critique itself!

FWIW, I think this film's plot differed from the standard "Dances With Wolves" white savior/dumb noble savages narrative in a few key ways:

1. The Na'vi have just as much interest in studying Jake Sully as the humans have in studying them. This is subtle, but it puts the Na'vi on equal intellectual footing with the humans and makes them subject as well as object. They view the humans as Other just as much as the humans view them this way.

2. All the stuff about energy and the interconnectedness of Na'vi life - both spiritually and physically *could* be seen as making the Na'vi seem fuzzy and sub-rational. Except that it was actually, verifiably true. They were right and the humans were wrong - not in a morally, but factually.

[Lyndon]

Thanks Sarah, that was a good response.

I found myself agreeing with Jason's article and with Sally Raskoff's article, but I also new there was some other viewpoints missing.

Still, I think there is good reason to be cautious of anything that becomes so mainstream in this country, and question if it is really portraying (and getting across) an important message. In other words, you may be right, there may be a good message in the movie, but I certainly doubt it is getting across with any regularity. The 3-D really was pretty cool.

On your points:

1. Very interesting. The problem may be though that the humans were analyzing the Navi in order to control and dominate them, where as the Navi were trying to understand and protect themselves. Lastly the only way the Navi would be able to protect themselves in the long run is to either appropriate the technology of the humans or persuade the "human culture" to let the Navi live their lives undisturbed and to alter their ways under their own (illusory) autonomy.

2. I agree, I was trying to put my foot on that point. It seems though that the actions that the humans were taking should be condemned whether the Navi beliefs were factual or not. Our views of a people probably should not hinge on whether their religious beliefs are factual or not (on my account that pretty much goes against all religions and would condemn many peoples.) The fact that their world was interconnected justifies in our eyes their protection of every aspect of it. Hopefully, we cannot make the opposite claim and say that since our world is not factually interconnected in the Navi way it is okay to destroy without impugn certain environments, including the environments of other people. Not that that is what you were saying, just my thoughts on those problems.

Jason's point about other people's refusal to listen to his critique is important in its own right. The inability to think more deeply about culture and its reproduction, including the messages that are portrayed even in more relaxing moments, shows the closing off of our society to rationality and exposes our inability to control our own autonomy and agency in interaction with the culture that we are "forced" to be party to.

[Bob the Builder]

Ah, grad students...

Here's hoping you finish your thesis sometime soon and rejoin the real world.

So this is "thinking deeply" about your culture? Cut and paste charges of "racism" to everything that exists? Right.

[Yafit]

It makes you wonder what other hidden messages there are in movies. Directors do a good job at using technology to fool and hypnotize the public and at using emotions to sway the political message.

[Kaitlyn]

This post has made me realize how technology can really blind us. Technology has always had a big effect on the society in both a negative way and positive way. You, the author of this post, was obviously not blinded by technology and really saw through the movie. Your friends however, did not and that was the reaction you received. People these days have grown to ignore the important aspects in life and "get blinded by technology". They have changed their norms because of the advancement in technology. Technology has changed our society, and with this post, you have proven that it has changed it in a negative way.

[Cal]

I really liked what you had to say about the film. I was wondering, however, if your impression of the movie be the same if the main character was black (or any other racial minority)? The theme of the "civilized" savior would still be present, but I was wondering how you would perceive the film's racial implications?

To Bob the Builder above: you are reading a sociology blog. Unless you aren't familiar with the principles of sociology, what did you expect? Race is very important in sociology, and is not a topic that is arbitrarily thrown around like you implied.

[Joya]

Some folks just want their eyes and ears tickled. Seemingly, regular deep, reflective, comtemplative thinking is not a desirable choice of entertainment. "They" just feed us (Americans) whatever has been statistically tracked as titilating and profitable: Formula (in all its consummable shapes and sizes).

It takes discernment, discipline and action to say no to the pull of the inanity.

[Amanda]

So, I've never seen the movie Avatar but Jason Smith makes such an interesting point. Who would have thought that underlying all the technological advances in moviemaking could be racial inequality. Smith is more than convincing when he describes how viewers of the movie will only take note of the unbelievable technology and 3-D scenes and totally miss the message of the storyline. I loved that he quoted Popular Science as saying "'better hope those same audiences don’t think too much on the way out of the theater lest bad word of mouth does more damage to Pandora than the corporate marines.' " It seems to me that the director thought that we would be too thick-headed to see through the high tech visuals and recognize the racism. Maybe now I need to see the movie.

[Anthony]

Avatar has definitely received a lot of positive feed back for its special effects. But when your judging a movie, its important to judge the story as a whole rather then just the special effects of that movie; the special effects used in Avatar have clearly blinded viewers from understanding the story as a whole. In today's world, more and more people are becoming satisfied with special effects rather then a good plot. For example, have you realized that most of the movies that have been coming out are in 3D? A brief list of these movies include: A Christmas Carol, The Final Destination, Up, and Alice in Wonderland. That's not to mention that even classic movies such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Toy Story have been resurrected in theaters with a new 3D twist. This obviously says something about how movies in today's world are taking a new lead in trying to use as much technology as possible which, in turn, is causing directors to put less time in coming up with a solid plot or story.

[Bryan Neal]

Blue Avatars. Ever heard of hinduism. Lord Krishna. There is the extent of your Orientalism. I think your veil analogy is ridiculous in reference to your critique of the film.

[carolina]

I like the media movies because it has a big advantage each day. Moreover, the movies have the fantastic effects where most people like to pen more attention. However, most of the people sometimes do not know the problems that it has. In addition, "Avatar was a great movie, and it has the best "film-drama", but I did not know because I did not see that movie. I think "Avatar" has something positive and negative points. Moreover, the positive thing was when Jake was doing his work, he had to help his friends, but unfortunate he felt in love with Neytiri and he forgets his mission. Finally, the Navi understood that Jake wanted to help them. The negative point was when it has to cut the three because human wanted to take for their self and they never think about the Navi that they also had to use this for suvivor. However, the most important part how the audience understood the behavior in the Avatar scenes.

[Tom Pregon]

I couldn't agree more about what Yafit said about how technology is a major factor in determining our reactions to so many things. It's funny how technology can act as a double-edged sword.

[perry]

Avatar was a recreation of what powewr does to everyone when you have resource need by the elite, and the insiders who see the wrong and what to change from the norm, and help the victim.

[refinance mortgage]

Jason I am glad that I am not the only one a bit disturbed by avatar. I thought the film did not really have much of a story line that is better than bollywood movies. A better effects and 3D to show for large finance available.

[Evolve Media]

My own experiences and the success that this film is enjoying suggest that the spectacle of technology is overshadowing the more important and detrimental aspects of this film.