This is a script of the movie Avatar: http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Avatar.html
The scene I summarize in the second paragraph is about 2/3 of the way down the page. If you press Ctrl+F on the page and type in "neurons" into the Find box, it will take you right to the spot.
Avatar is a very powerful, inspiring movie. It makes many arguments, but one that stands out is that people are beginning to love objects with monetary value and lose love for actual human beings and other living things. This argument is shown through the characters' dialogue, actions, and attitudes. Throughout the movie, the antagonist, Selfridge, talks about his reason for being on the planet Pandora: to get the unobtanium in the ground which he can receive a fortune for back on Earth. In order to get this unobtanium, he has to move the Na'vi tribe (or the "blue monkeys" as he calls them) off of their sacred home turf. To do this, avatars are created, which are look-a-likes of the Na'vi tribe. They link the brains of the people they have trained to the brains of their corresponding avatar. The avatars are then sent out to try to talk to the tribe. In doing this, Selfridge hopes they can diplomatically persuade the tribe to move. His problem is, though, that if the idea fails, he is willing to go in with giant bulldozers and machine guns to forcefully drive the people off their land. Through the things he says and his actions, Selfridge is showing that he loves the idea of getting rich from the unobtanium more than the lives of the people, plants, and animals that live on Pandora. His mocking attitude supplements his dialogue and actions to make him one of the primary villains in the film. A marine named Jake Sully is given 3 months to get the Na'vi to trust him and to convince them to leave their home. When Jake fails to do so and instead becomes part of the tribe, Selfridge decides to start up the bulldozers.
The scene that comes in at this point is best at depicting the argument of the movie. This scene happens between the 1 hour 31 minute marker and the 1 hour 35 minute marker in the actual movie which I cannot provide a link to. In an effort to stop Selfridge's irrational and evil decision, a woman named Grace, who understands and sympathizes with the Na'vi tribe, tries to explain to him the amazing features of the sacred land on Pandora. She describes, "What we think we know - is that there's some kind of electrochemical communication between the roots of the trees. Like the synapses between neurons. Each tree has ten to the fourth connections to the trees around it, and there are ten to the twelfth trees on Pandora ... That's more connections than the human brain ... And the Na'vi can access [the network] ... they can upload and download data - memories - at sites like you just destroyed." Selfridge replies mockingly by saying things like, "What the hell have you people been smoking out there? They're just Goddamn trees!" and, "You throw a stick in the air around here it falls on some sacred fern." His love and desire for his potential fortune possess him, and he rejects any love or appreciation for what's stopping him - in this case, the Na'vi tribe and their sacred plants and animals. I believe the writer uses Selfridge as an example of the materialism that is so apparent in people today. The amazing visuals of the fantastical plants, animals, and people on Pandora seem to be a representation of the things we have around us on Earth. There are truly amazing things that people take for granted on Earth, and these vivid, astonishing versions of them on Pandora are actually meant to be what we have here that no one appreciates.
No comments:
Post a Comment