Eurocentrism in Avatar
Avatar: Eurocentrism and the Colonization of Pandora
Initial Thoughts and Findings:
Within the fictional universe of James Camerons' Mind, the audience find themselves awaking in the year 2154 to a tragic tale of humanity succumbing to hubris: economic greed, and lust for power (political, economic, and social). Avatar sparks a rather interesting ethical debate, centralizing its' respective focus on the narrow lens for humanities survival through the colonization and resource extraction of celestial bodies within the Milky Way Galaxy. Although James Cameron does little to develop the current state of the Earth's political, economic, and social spheres, one can infer from the analysis of the film that Earth itself does not sit in the best position. James Cameron leaves subtle hints of: a Totalitarian Earth Alliance of Nations; Earth and its respective solar system devoid of resources; the re-emergence of Eurocentrism and a 15th Century Mercantile driven Economy; and the invisible domination of corporate power temporarily alligned with similar political interests (i.e. the harvesting of new resources to stimulate economic growth/for private gain).
With regard to the above, James Cameron created Pandora, a satellite (moon) orbiting a large celestial mass in a solar system located 4.4 light years from earth. This distance respectively places the Solar System of Pandora well within the confines of our homey slice of the galaxy, specifically within the home of the Alpha Centauri Solar System (note the orbit of two small dwarf stars orbiting a large sun-like star in the film). From this, we can infer that humanity has done two things: colonized our home solar system; and the extreme depletion of resources from said colonies. Knowing this, humanity has to search outside of the our home solar system in attempts to find new resources. Specifically within the fictional realm of Avatar, governments and corporations a like are looking for an element known as
Initial Thoughts and Findings:
Within the fictional universe of James Camerons' Mind, the audience find themselves awaking in the year 2154 to a tragic tale of humanity succumbing to hubris: economic greed, and lust for power (political, economic, and social). Avatar sparks a rather interesting ethical debate, centralizing its' respective focus on the narrow lens for humanities survival through the colonization and resource extraction of celestial bodies within the Milky Way Galaxy. Although James Cameron does little to develop the current state of the Earth's political, economic, and social spheres, one can infer from the analysis of the film that Earth itself does not sit in the best position. James Cameron leaves subtle hints of: a Totalitarian Earth Alliance of Nations; Earth and its respective solar system devoid of resources; the re-emergence of Eurocentrism and a 15th Century Mercantile driven Economy; and the invisible domination of corporate power temporarily alligned with similar political interests (i.e. the harvesting of new resources to stimulate economic growth/for private gain).
With regard to the above, James Cameron created Pandora, a satellite (moon) orbiting a large celestial mass in a solar system located 4.4 light years from earth. This distance respectively places the Solar System of Pandora well within the confines of our homey slice of the galaxy, specifically within the home of the Alpha Centauri Solar System (note the orbit of two small dwarf stars orbiting a large sun-like star in the film). From this, we can infer that humanity has done two things: colonized our home solar system; and the extreme depletion of resources from said colonies. Knowing this, humanity has to search outside of the our home solar system in attempts to find new resources. Specifically within the fictional realm of Avatar, governments and corporations a like are looking for an element known as