Got to see Avatar a couple of weeks ago(thanks Dan!), and I have to admit that it more than lived up to the hype. Visually, it was stunning. The depth of the 3D technology coupled with the unbelievable CG graphics has clearly set a new standard for this sort of storytelling.
Still, it was the story that I found so compelling. No, not the Pocahontas meets Dances with Wolves love story…but rather the deeper spiritual message. Now I should say up front that I am well aware that pretty much everybody who has happened to notice that a lot of people were going to watch this movie has attempted to put their own political spin or grind their own private axe on it. I know that, according to whichever site you prefer, it is a tree-hugging, pantheistic, panentheistic, anti-American, anti-woman, racist, piece of conservative, liberal, and libertarian propaganda. Well, yeah. I also recognize that it is likely flush with reflections of writer/director James Cameron’s own world view, whatever that might be (I do hear that he is anti-cell phone…likes to nail-gun them to the studio wall).
Still, while acknowledging all of the baggage that both creator and viewer bring to this epic; I think that the core message of the movie is much simpler, and much more universally acceptable than most would admit. It is a message that is encapsulated in the phrase that shows up throughout the film; “I see you.” This greeting which the native Pandorans, the Na’vi, exchange is a way of recognizing the value of the other, and also of the bond that connects all living creatures. It also has wider implications in this context in that it is an acknowledgment that there is a “self” that exists beneath any of the visible barriers that we erect for our selves or impose on others (appearance, race, class, ability, etc.)
It is a simple concept that makes an appearance in most world religions in the form of the “golden rule.” Basically, acknowledge that other living things have value and treat them accordingly. In the Hindu tradition, the word Namaste is often used to say that “That which is Divine in me recognizes that which is Divine in you.” This often makes Christians nervous…but what doesn’t these days? In Christianity, where we use the term "body" to describe our interconnectedness, we take this a step farther by answering Christ’s call to love others as He has loved us. This is a kind of love that transcends the justice of the golden rule, and takes us to a place of grace, which requires us to love in a sacrificial way and to see others with different eyes. One of the best cinematic examples of this shows up in the Jim Carey movie Bruce Almighty, when Carey’s character is asked by God what he really wants, and he responds that he wants to see the woman that he loves “the way that you see her.” What a profound request….to want to see someone in that way…to free both them and ourselves from our selfishness.
And that is, I think, what Cameron is getting at in this movie. I think that most of the time when we look at other people, we see them…if we are really honest…as ways to meet our needs. They have what we want…whether it is approval, or companionship, or forgiveness, or something more tangible like money or power. Like the corporation that is seeking to remove the Na’vi from their home, we are just fine letting others live their lives, as long as it doesn’t get in the way of what we want. What if instead we really tried to “see” others, and engage them without an agenda? We wouldn’t need to retreat to our political ghettos and cast stones if we did this…because so many of the battles that we fight are really about getting what WE want and making sure that THEY don’t get one over on us. Really seeing is not easy, nor will it be always possible…but it is a worthy goal.
So whatever the real agenda of this film, I left it having been entertained, but also challenged. Not to wrangle some part of its impact into my team’s arsenal for the culture wars, but rather to intentionally try to “see” each person I meet for what they really are, not what I want or “need” them to be…and to love them accordingly. Namaste-Joe
