Is AVATAR a remake of POCAHONTAS?

Last day I was watching this absolutely mind-blowing movie Avatar by James Cameron . And am sure, most of you have watched and enjoyed it.

As for myself, I did not like the movie as much as I had thought I would after watching the trailer. I should mention here that I am an ardent lover of the idiot box and a movie buff. As is obvious, trailers are montage of the best scenes of the movie- a great marketing strategy. However if you don’t like the best things about the movie, you normally aren’t interested in the rest of it either. Especially if you are on an ‘only one movie’ diet, with ten movies premiering every month!

None the less due to an overwhelming amount of suggestions, I finally watched it. And ever since, I have watched it many times until it suddenly hit me that “oh my god, it’s so much like Pocahontas!!!” And I was absolutely blown away by the fact. Pocahontas is a movie I watched often when I was young.  

Long ago, just when the movie Avatar had released, my sister and I were discussing the movie during one of our precious phone calls; precious because they’re infrequent and the only way of feeling each other’s presence since we live at the two opposite ends of world. While sharing her opinion of the movie she said “I felt that it was very similar to how the colonial rule was established in countries like Africa and India. THE colonial rulers were alien to the way of life, language and beliefs of the natives.”  Back then, I couldn't really appreciate her point of view, but now she seems to be so absolutely correct!

In the story of ‘Pocahontas’, some white voyagers come to land on an island while searching for gold. Among them was a man who left behind his party and started to wander about the island. He accidentally comes across a beautiful Red Indian girl Pocahontas, who is daughter of the tribe chief. When the tribe comes to know that he is not a threat, he is familiarised with the customs, rituals, ways of life and the speaking ‘grandmother willow’ who guided people who went to her seeking help. He is accepted as one of their own. He gradually falls in love with Pocahontas but she had been already engaged to a warrior of their tribe. Eventually Pocahontas also starts to feel the same way for him and goes to the tree to seek advice. When she was coming to confess this, the voyagers discover the two lovers and considering her a savage, shot at her. Trouble was already brewing between the tribe members and the voyagers over the ownership of the gold and this incident heralded a war between them.  Seeing the brutality of his own kind that was using guns against the natives’ bows and arrows, the man sided with the natives and drove his own kind off the land. The tribe, led by the out-lander won and the lovers continued to live happily in the wilderness.

 Now tell me you found no similarities between the two stories! A few minor changes and lots of detailing is all that made it a new movie altogether. Even that is a remarkable achievement though. 

  

Few days ago, in a ‘about the movie’ shown during the breaks of the movie, I read “the Na’vi people were made blue inspired by the Hindu god of destruction Shiva.” Well, that’s no travesty of truth. India is a tropical country which is very close to the equator, so the colour of the inhabitants’ skin is generally brown and its darker shades. But gods are superior being; so when they are imagined, they are imagined in a more mystical, somewhat a more superior shade, blue. But plainly put, Shiva has dark skin so do the Africans and Aboriginals. However, the mythological reason of Shiva being blue is very different. In The Puranas, we find that during ‘Samudra Manthan’ Shiva drank the poison that emerged along with Amrita, to save the other mortal & immortal beings from getting poisoned. This poison got stored in his throat, turning it blue. This myth has been used by artists to portray Shiva as the blue skinned one, instead of just ‘Neel Kantha’ or the blue necked.

It can be also said that, Avatar is the version of Pocahontas where the male lead narrates the story. However, that could not conceal the similarities like going to an unknown land and trying to procure something very valuable from there, he destruction of Ewya which is the spiritual core of the people much like the old willow from Pocahontas and the use of machine guns against bows and arrows ; almost the same story, is it not?

Most of the movie has been shot in the woods with overgrown trees and the animated sculpting of them was outstanding. In one particular scene, one of the actors comment “we gave them schools and roads but no they want to run bare feet in the mud”, doesn’t the statement evoke images from movies where Christian missionaries try to make roads into ‘Pagan’ communities? The packaging may change, but the story narrates the very basic and repetitive theme of the west trying to conquer the east, the apparently more civilized trying to tame the savage. The Next time you watch the movie, be sure to observe, and tell me if you differ in your opinion.

If you agree and want to add anything more, do leave your opinion in the comment box. Keep an open heart and an alert mind and the spirit of TEENAGE flowing FOREVER!

Thank you for reading my blog, hope you’ve enjoyed it. Leave a comment letting me know your thoughts, See you later... till then, have an awesome time at the theatres. ;)