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Few people don’t know that James Cameron is breaking new technological ground in Avatar, but in terms of the film’s subject matter, Cameron says he was trying to incorporate themes dear to his heart.
“I’m very focused on issues of the environment and energy,” he says. “It started with my need to be involved in ocean stewardship and ocean exploration, and using my film-making as a way to work with the science community. What I learned is that we need to appreciate nature and understand it scientifically before we destroy it.
“I felt that, while it’s fine to go and make documentaries, I could also incorporate these themes into a movie and still keep the movie entertaining,” he continues. “I don’t want to make a film that lectures or belittles the audience. I wanted to make a film that would be a great ride, a great adventure that was a strong visual and emotional experience. But I also wanted to give people the opportunity to think about their entertainment.”
So Cameron’s story follows a human colony on a distant planet called Pandora in the year 2154. The humans, driven by dwindling energy sources and environmental catastrophe on Earth, plan to mine the mineral resources of Pandora and will devastate the native populations and forests if they must.
“I think another thing philosophically in the film is the idea of understanding and accepting people who are different from you,” he muses. “What I’m concerned about is us getting along with each other and having that compassion for other people, looking at the world through their eyes. The film begins and ends with the main character’s eyes opening but it has a different significance in both places.”
Similarly the indigenous population of Pandora, the Na’vi, greet each other by saying, in their language, “I see you”. “They don’t literally mean I see you, they mean I see who you are, I see into you, I see things from your perspective,” says Cameron. “That’s a theme that runs through the movie.
“It’s a very simple theme, but one which we could all stand to take to heart. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having themes in a movie that are both constructive and critical. That has always been the role of science fiction.”
Mike Goodridge
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