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Marissa Caguioa

Storer

ENG 3H Block 5

24 January 2021

Prosperity and its Direct Relation to Destruction

Throughout history, the prosperity of one civilization is often obtained by the destruction

of another – something that happens especially in the case of imperialism. In the 2009 film,

Avatar directed by James Cameron, the Resources Development Administration (RDA), a

powerful non-governmental Earth organization, travels to the exoplanetary moon, Pandora, in

order to mine the highly profitable unobtanium found on this planet. They design avatar bodies

which the humans use as a channel in order to interact with the sapient indigenous humanoid

species, ultimately contributing their plan to exploit the land for profit. The Na’vi people are then

forced to defend their land with the help of RDA rebel, Jake Sully. The movie Avatar parallels

the destructive tendencies of imperialism through the ignorance of nature's significance,

deceptive assimilation tactics, and innocent depictions of the native people.

Similar to imperialism, the RDA in the Avatar Program ignores the true significance of

nature. Upon studying Pandora’s landscape, Parker Selfridge, head administrator of the project,

exclaims, “Their damn village happens to be resting on the richest unobtanium deposit within

200 klicks in any direction. I mean, look at all that cheddar!” (Cameron 50:08-50:12) Parker

Selfridge looks at Pandora’s landscape and immediately sees only the monetary value in the

land. He overlooks the fact that this land is sacred; it is home to the Na’vi people, the Tree of

Souls (the connective medium to Pandora’s deity), and all of the mystical creatures. He ignores

the deeper meaning of the land and only seeks to exploit the resources for profit. Selfridge
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represents the egotistical, greedy, and aggressive large industries that exist within imperial

countries. Big businesses often seek to use land for monetary gain, without regard to the sacred

quality and significance of that land. For example, the Energy Transfer Partners, a company in

North Dakota that is engaged in natural gas transports, is seeking to utilize Native American land

in order to carry out their plans to build the North Dakota Access Pipeline. They dismiss the fact

that this land belongs to the Native Americans and are only focused on the potential profit.

Ultimately the big businesses’ main focus is to exploit the resources of nature without regard to

its significance, reflecting the overall destructive tendencies of imperialism. The movie

additionally portrays this ignorance when Neytiri, the daughter of the Na’vi chief, kills a

viperwolf in order to defend Jake; Jake expresses his relief and gratitude by saying, “I just

wanted to say thanks for killing those things.” Neytiri replies angrily and firmly, “You don’t

thank for this. This is sad” (Cameron 42:34-42:43). Jake is relieved that Neytiri killed the wild

beasts that were attacking him, but Neytiri is angered because it was violent and unjust to the

viperwolf. Jake Sully, the protagonist who displays the most relatable qualities and is thus the

most relatable character, represents the common man. This reflects that it has become normal for

people to devalue the lives of animals which essentially reflects the destructive tendencies of

imperialism. (This destructive quality is exemplified in today’s ranch owners killing endangered,

precious wolves in order to protect their livestock.) Through the RDA’s failure to recognize the

true value of nature, Avatar parallels the destructive tendencies of imperialism.

Avatar additionally demonstrates the deceptive assimilation tactics that are used in

imperialism. After the tribe leader, Olo’eyktan, directs Neytiri to teach Jake about the Na’vi

culture, Jake learns about the Pandora landscape. The scenes of his learning process depict Jake

being genuinely interested and enjoying his time with Neytiri, but the next scene involves him
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informing the RDA about the area in order to contribute to their plan of attack. (Cameron). When

Jake starts to truly learn about the Na’vi people, he gives away information to the RDA. He

abuses the trust of Neytiri and Olo’eyktan by assimilating with the Na’vi culture in order to

improve the methods to overtake the land. Jake’s role in these scenes illustrate the way in which

intermediaries work to assist imperialist agendas. Various countries have assimilated in order to

better understand the people they plan to take over. Learning the language, the history, or even

imposing religion has allowed imperialist countries to gain power over other civilizations. Later,

Jake returns to the main RDA base where Colonel Miles Quaritch tells him, “You give me good,

usable intel. This Tree of Souls place. Yeah, I got them by the balls with that when this turns into

a shit fight which it will” (Cameron 1:19:02-1:19:07). Quaritch praises Jake for giving the RDA

vital information to skillfully attack the native land. In the movie, Quaritch is a tall, muscular,

aggressive military man who represents imperialist greed and aggression. His intentions

demonstrate how imperialists assimilate and take information in order to serve their original

purpose; imperialists assimilate to destroy or damage the people they assimilated with. This

deceptive assimilation tactic in Avatar reflects the destructive tendencies of imperialism.

Lastly, Avatar captures the evils of imperialism by depicting the native people in a

positive light. In the movie, the Na’vi people refer to humans and avatars as demons and aliens

(Cameron). The use of this vocabulary creates the image that the RDA are terrorizing the native

people and do not belong there. Furthermore, it portrays that the native Na’vi people are victims

of invasion and aggression. The director chooses to represent the native people in a positive light

in order to vilify imperialists by highlighting their invasive and violent qualities. This occurs in

the way history is taught today. In United States History classes, students learn about the Native

American perspective of Westward Expansion. Native American writings describe the invasive
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and inhumane characteristics of aggressive American expansionists; this exemplifies the

damaging qualities of imperialism. Ultimately, through the positive depiction of the native Na’vi

people and the negative representation of the RDA, Avatar reflects the destructive tendencies of

imperialism. The Na’vi innocence is additionally displayed when Neytiri trains Jake to make an

honorable killing by teaching him to dedicate the energy of the creature back to Eywa and to kill

the animal without causing it to suffer (Cameron). The Na’vi have a clear concern for nature and

its beings. They are merciful and recognize the its significance. This demonstrates the beauty and

caring that the native people have for their land, depicting them in an innocent light. This

contrasts with the RDA’s exploitation of nature that is seen throughout the movie – exploitation

that is similar to that of imperialists. This contrast of pure care for nature versus the exploitation

of nature highlights the destructive tendencies of imperialism. This value of nature is also

emphasized in Native American culture; their way of life stresses that it is people’s duty to take

care of the Earth. This greatly contrasts the wasteful attitude that imperialist countries have

towards nature and its resources. The teaching of these different ideals in history classes today

similarly highlight the goodness of indigenous cultures and the ruinous qualities of imperialism.

By depicting the native people in a positive light, the movie Avatar displays the damaging

tendencies of imperialism. Ultimately, Avatar parallels the destruction of imperialism in various

ways.

In conclusion, the movie Avatar illustrates that destructive qualities of imperialism. The

movie exhibits this through the RDA’s ignorance of nature’s significance, deceptive assimilation

tactics, and through innocent depictions of the native people. This relationship between

imperialist prosperity and its destructive tendencies has been a common occurrence throughout

history. If these tendencies continue, how much damage could actually be done? How much
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damage could be done to each of these civilizations and what damage has been done already?

What will this damage do to the world overall? Will the resulting prosperity be more beneficial

than damaging? How will this relationship between prosperity and destruction affect the world to

come?
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Works Cited

Cameron, James. “Avatar” Directed and co-edited by James Cameron, Lightstorm

Entertainment, 10 Dec. 2009. Disney Plus, https://www.disneyplus.com/video/52b36beb-a977-

4020-9faf-83aea7ef5121