Broken Aesop: Difference between revisions
→Films -- Live-Action
Line 162:
** The Na'vi are shown as living harmoniously with nature, with the [[Anvilicious|not so subtle]] [[Green Aesop|implication]] that [[Humans Are Bastards|mankind should learn from their example.]] The problem is that humans were not blessed with a biological USB cable that allows you to [[Mega Man Battle Network|jack in]] to a bunch of other lifeforms as well as the hive mind that controls the ''entire planet''. Technology came about due to man's need to defend itself ''from'' nature and now we are coming to the conclusion that we have gone too far. [[Ludd Was Right|When you can make nature work with you from the get go, what do you even need technology]] ''[[Ludd Was Right|for]]''? It gets even worse when you read the tie-in book. In there you learn that the Na'vi are super durable, are resistant to disease, maintain a sustainable population through birth control, easily domesticated/tamed animals, perfect tree shelters, and more, all of which is naturally provided. Humanity had to use technology to gain ''every single one of these things''.
** Also contradicting the aesop is the fact that the Na'vi are a ''warrior culture''. The whole reason they take to Jake is that he, unlike the scientists, is a soldier and they respect that. Despite their status as [[Space Elves]], the Na'vi are shown to be a very xenophobic, very warlike culture where clan wars probably happen a bit more often than the film lets on. The Na'vi are probably [[Not So Different|more like the film's humans than Cameron intended]]. Hell, if you were to lock Col. Quaritch and Eytukan together in a room for a few hours, there's a probably even chance they'd either kill each other or become the best of friends.
*** For supporting details re: "clan war", note that the Na'vi are expert riders of aerial combat beasts and expert swordsman. Neither of those has any use in hunting and not much use in protecting vs. hostile wildlife. There's no need to ride a flying mount to hunt when the ground-level ecology is positively crawling with food, riding uses up far less calories than flying, and you have to feed your mount too. And there's no need to fight against hostile flying animals when you live in thick forest. Air cavalry is only a necessity if you expect to get in fights with other people who have air cavalry. And swords are much less useful as hunting weapons, especially vs. the kind of large nasty beasts in the Pandoran ecology, than spears or bows would be. Swords really only have one use, and that's to fight other people with swords.
** While the movie is meant to be a negative portrayal of Colonialism and a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] warning against the historical mistreatment of natives...but then the movie ends up showing the most straight example of [[Mighty Whitey]] since ''[[The Last Samurai]]'', with an "enlightened" ex-colonial soldier taking over an entire tribe, exploiting their folk law and getting with the chief's daughter. And then there's the scene in the Special Edition where a dying Eytukan explicitly tells Jake that "You must lead us, now."
* ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]'' implies that looting is bad. The hero [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|insists that he's an archaeologist who never loots.]]
| |||