Avatar versus Star Wars
After thinking about Avatar, it strikes me that there are many parallels with the original Star Wars movie, A New Hope. Both movies had phenomenal success and caught the imagination of many movie fans.
James Cameron’s Avatar has definitely broken new ground and has moved 3D pictures ahead. Avatar is a brilliant visual delight and wonderful eye candy and with action to keep you engaged throughout the film.
However, Avatar cannot match the complexity of Star Wars. Star Wars kept you guessing and wondering what was going happen next. Also Star Wars changed the way we viewed movies and the use of special effects. People would return again and again to try to see what they missed and to recapture the excitement.
With Avatar, however, different techniques are needed to present the most mindbending visuals possible. Cameron is known to take very simplistic plots and draw them out over two hours to intensify the emotions and character interactions which often include fear, trust, love, and anger. The amount of time used for the film, brings the audience closer to the characters.
The problem with simple plots is that they are great for emotional drama and excitement but run short on intrigue. If you watch the movie again, you are most likely watching to catch the emotion of the movie, and not so much the intrigue and thrill of it. Star Wars does not run in to this problem because of the complexity of characters which form the clear and overriding theme.
The Essay on Star War Special Effects
People saw the news on the TV, hundreds of Star Wars fans lined up out side of movie ticket box office when Star Wars: Episode I- the Phantom Menace just starts showing in theaters. Star War fans waited hours in the line, just to get the movie tickets so they can watch this latest Sci-fi movie. The sneak previews of the Phantom Menace showed many spectacular computer generated scenes, graphics, ...
Elements of the stories
Good vs evil
Both films have clearly identifiable “good” and “evil” factions, the Na’vi/Rebel Alliance and the RDA/Empire respectfully.
In SW, our faith in the good side is more abstract. It is just inferred that the Rebel Alliance is good, although we don’t truly know who they are or what they stand for, except that they are against tyranny.
In Avatar the good side is better defined than in SW. We get a glimpse of what the world of the “good” side is like by seeing how the Na’vi live. This allows us to sympathise with the Na’vi and their way off life. We see the beauty of Pandora and gain a glimpse of what the Na’vi stand for and wish to protect. In Avatar, the Na’vi are presented in such a way that they are, in a spiritual, philosophical and physical sense, almost faultless. In Avatar we know what the Na’vi are fighting for and that the cause is justified.
The evil side is better defined in SW. In SW, we know that the Empire is evil from the actions and dialogue of Darth Vader and his underlings. In effect, they are evil, they know they are evil and they like it.
In Avatar, the evil is less obvious and potentially made more sinister by the fact that the RDA do not see themselves as evil. Unlike Darth Vader and his stormtroopers, the RDA soldiers are given human faces.
The way the good and evil sides are presented is one area where the two movies diverge. In Star Wars, the good side is effectively defined by what we see of the evil side. In other words the good side is defined as “We are not like the Empire”.
In Avatar, the good side defines itself. We know who the good guys are and exactly what they represent. The evil side is effectively defined by what we see of the Na’vi and Pandora. By immersing us in Pandora and the Na’vi, this is probably the best movie ever for defining the virtues of the good side, rather than simply opposing an abstract evil. We learn to love what is good in Avatar, rather than just oppose what is bad.
I also find parallels between the heros and villains. There are only two real heros of note in Avatar, Jake and Neytiri. Jake appears to be an merging of Han solo and Luke Skywalker, being well-meaning and naïve on one hand, while being a traitor on the other.
The Essay on Bad Things Good Evil Boethius
In book III of The Consolation of Philosophy, Boethius establishes the fact that God is the world's helmsman, the divine reason, the supreme good, the origin of all things. He demonstrates that God is omnipotent and omniscient. Nothing more superior can even be conceived of. Through the concept of unity, through which things basically become good, Boethius shows that God and happiness are one, the ...
Neytiri seems to be an merging of Princess Leia, the courageous warrior Princess who is fighting for good, and Obi-Wan, the wise teacher who instructs the Hero in the ways of the world.
The villains, on the other hand, are not so well defined in Avatar as they are in SW. The villain in Avatar is split between Selfridge and Quaritch. Neither are particularly deep characters, and neither are evil.
One area where SW trumps Avatar is the main villain. Star Wars has probably the most well known and iconic villain ever invented in Darth Vader.
SW can certainly claim to have more iconic characters than Avatar. There are several iconic characters in SW, including Vader, Solo, Leia, Luke, Chewy, Obi-Wan, R2 and C3PO that can appeal to a wide range of people. And that is only the first movie.
In Avatar, there are really only two iconic characters; Neytiri and arguably, the world of Pandora itself. But both are so powerful, they can challenge just about any other fictional character ever created. Some may also argue that Jake is also iconic, although I don’t think he is as iconic as Pandora and Neytiri.
Another parallel is that the main character is not the most important or iconic in the movie.
In SW, I find it ironic that the principal hero in Star Wars, Luke, is the least well known, being less popular than Vader, Solo, Leia, the droids and even the Wookie. In fact Vader is the most important character in SW. Darth Vader is so iconic, that he actually defines the whole Star Wars movie. We basically support the rebel alliance in SW because we know Vader is evil.
Likewise, in Avatar the main character is not the most important or popular. Although, Jake is the main character in the movie, Neytiri is arguably a much more important and iconic figure. The character of Jake is actually quite shallow. Only Jake’s relationship with Neytiri, gives him substance.
The Essay on Barn Burning Abner Snopes Character Analysis
William Faulkners short story Barn Burning describes a typical relationship between wealthy people and poor people during the Civil War. The main character, Abner Snopes, sharecrops to make a living for his family. He despises wealthy people. Out of resentment for wealthy people, he goes and burns their barns to get revenge. Abners character over the course of the story is unchanging in that he is ...
Just like Vader in SW, Neytiri is the figure who defines everything of importance or substance. She symbolizes everything that is good and she is effectively flawlessly good, in the same way that Vader is flawlessly evil (at least in episode IV).
Even when Neytiri shows weakness, such as weeping for the Hometree, or takes negative actions, such as exiling Jake, she does so for good reason and because she has a good heart. In other words, any negative actions and reactions are virtues rather than failings.
Neytiri is the heart and soul of light in Avatar, where Vader is the dark heart of SW.
