Postmodernism in the Avatar Film

The beginning of the film there is confusion in time with past and present. You have to try and piece together the story line for yourself. No eclipses or technological effects e.g. fading or black and white for past times are used.

The Navi people are made to be very human like. They have genes and are very similar to humans. This makes you be able to sympathise with the Navi people. Normally in the films the opposite side to the human race are made to be evil attacking aliens, where as in Avatar we connect to the Navi peoples emotions and feelings.

Colonel Quaritch, a hardened war veteran is in charge of the military on Pandora. He plays a very tough character; he has resemblance to children’s action army figures. He has characteristics that we would associate to American comedy acts, is it very much over the top his character. He has a scar on the side of his head, to emphasise on this ‘hard man’ act.

Feminism has a major jump in this film. The leading scientist Dr. Grace Augustine is stationed on Pandora in charge of the programme where human DNA and Navi DNA is generated to create an avatar character which allows humans to be in control of their own avatars. She is a very focused and intelligent woman who is not scared to stand up to the military colonel Quaritch. Trucy Chacon is also a strong female character in the film. A former marine like Jake, she is now one of the RDA’s best pilots. Although today we do have female pilots, it is not very common. She is very strong-minded and takes no nonsense from her fellow military colleagues.

The film has many links to previous films, such as the action scene where Jake is being chased by a wild creature. It very much like Jurassic Park when the dinosaurs chase the characters.

Pandora is a very colourful and magical place. ‘Joy’ is used very powerfully, the colours are all very vibrant and bold. Use of colours are maximised to the full extent, every little detail has been carefully planned out. When Jake touches the large flowers and they make a popping noise and close, this is very similar to that of Alice in Wonderland when she does the same.