Something Real, Something Measurable: Eurocentric Science, Religion and Nature in Avatar
摘要
Avatar, directed by James Cameron, was one of the most financially successful movies ever made. It was praised for its visuals and environmental message, but also criticized for reaffirming Eurocentric standpoints. This chapter argues that the film incorporates three interconnecting themes, science, religion, and nature, which together support a Eurocentric narrative in spite of the creators’ claims of the film being anti-colonial. Avatar appropriates the Na’vi’s religion in order to justify a Judeo-Christian saviour narrative, uses the Na’vi’s ties to nature to support the myths of the Noble Savage and the Ecological Indian, and presents a Eurocentric and anthropocentric view of the Na’vi’s religious beliefs and their idealized spiritual relationship with nature.