Avatar

Avatar, directed by James Cameron, produced by Jon Landau, and starred by Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and Stephen Lang has become the juggernaut in the movie theatre box offices. The political issues presented in the movie are the issues of the war in Iraq; the Na’ vi are seen as unsophisticated people with no governmental structure similar to the way that the American people see the people of Iraq. In the movie, the humans try pushing their beliefs, language, and form of government on the Na’ vi which is exactly what the Americans are doing with those in Iraq. Also the humans want this large amount of unobtainium to make profit, however, the large source of this metal is stuck underneath the home of a Na’ vi tribe which is very similar to the large amounts of black gold in Iraq; the Americans, like the humans in the Avatar movie, use military force to obtain these natural resources.

The movie is trying to tell the Americans that they have a horrible history of “entitlement;” in the movie, the humans settled themselves into a planet that was not theirs, they felt entitled to natural resources that was not theirs, and they are pushing their language and political beliefs onto the natives.

The movie is enjoyable not only because of the amazing graphics and plot line, but also for the political theme of the movie. I do not support the war in Iraq; I believe that Americans are spending too much time on a pointless battle; they are trying to force their form of government upon others, their language, and all the while destroying the land with their constant battling.

The movie not only had a tie to Iraq, but also with the Colonial period in America; the Indians were the inhabitants of the new land, but the settlers did not care, they just plowed through and took their natural resources back to their homeland. This goes back to the idea of “taking and not giving back.”