(What Is the Best Movie You Have Seen This Year?)

EN110: Week 05 – Assignment: (What is the best movie you have seen this year?)
September 27, 2010



A box office hit, Avatar became the largest net grossing film ever released in theatres. Despite rave reviews regarding the films animation, my attention was drawn to the film’s vivid representation of tribal values, and western ideas and beliefs about tribal groups. Symbolism through the use of special effects and animation, the movie Avatar captured key cultural values shared by various tribal groups across the world and the Western world.
Historically, the Western world saw indigenous groups as uncivilized people. Their beliefs, life style, practices, and so forth were incomprehensible to the western world. They were continuously placed on the bottom of social classes in the Western world, and to some they weren’t even considered people. To distinguish this western belief, the people of Avatar are animated to be blue and have the physical characteristics of both humans and animal. Although the movie’s setting was fictional, I could relate the Avatar people to the tribal nations of the America’s and the Amazon. The plot of the movie historically represented the continuous fight between indigenous groups and the western world over land and natural resources. Also clearly shown in the movie Avatar was the western world’s ability to befriend and understand indigenous groups to gain the knowledge they needed to breakdown their communities. Their home’s and life revolved around the Earth. Their lives are supported by the provisions provided to them by the land. Life, to the Avatar was taken very seriously. The Avatar’s respect for the life was clearly dictated by use of customary prayers after killings to say sorry for taking a life, but thanking the Earth for providing food to the Avatar people.
Among many tribal nations, everything on Earth holds a spirit. Earthly creations hold the spirits of a community’s ancestor. Traditionally, there is a pre-dominate...