The Avatar Review: Part 3: "Spiritual-Religious Insightfuls or Mislead Mamipulation?"

One of the more prevalent arguments you will find in Christianized movie going, (er is there such a thing, or am I being too generalized in labeling?) is the influence of the film has on the audience, or specifically the Christians who see the film. The debates can range from, why are they going to see the movie in an atmosphere of a theatre to begin with (as discussed briefly in my “Film Limitations,” post), to how will this film affect me spiritually, if at all?

As we know, Avatar has a lot of themes within it, many of which that have caused a lot of discussions, debates, arguments, acclimations and praises among world renowned critics, politicians, activist groups, and general e-bloggers. And one of the more interesting and somewhat controversial themes that are discussed in it is the religious/spiritual ones. Ironically one of the larger debates that have come up the most I’ve noticed that has come up in these themes, are which themes are the most prevalent in this film. That’s a good question, one of which I will try to pick out…the themes I mean, not so much which are the stronger or more noticeable ones.

Now I’ll admit my opinions on this particular theme(s) aren’t as profound in comparison to my previous ones, so bear with me. As mentioned before, one of most common discussions about the religious themes in the movie are the various types of religious aspects found in the film. From what I have seen in interviews, blogs, critiques and general discussions, some feel the film is more related to more eastern spiritual beliefs such as Hinduism, particularly with how the Na’vi bear a resemblance to Hindu deities (blue skin, face markings etc). Others felt that the movie had comparisons to certain aspects of Christianity. According to some sites and interviews I researched, some of the more prevalent examples of this would include,
· Comparisons of the forest world of Pandora to the Garden of Eden, some even comparing some parts of the film to the book of Genesis (yep you heard right, Genesis).
· The Na’vi representing the more aspiration side of us that wants to be a better person (spiritually) while the humans (the RDA in particular), representing more corruptible side of ourselves.
· The transition from being a disabled human (Jake Sully) to a taller, stronger fully able-bodied being, in an equally unique and vibrant world (see first point) or;
· Relating to that last point, the ability to transcend into that superior body and become a new person, to some also is similar to being “born again”. Almost a reference to Christ’s resurrection perhaps?

These are just a few examples of some of the themes that have been addressed from this film. There are others, but I rather not risk making this blog post any longer than need be…we can post about those other ones and any I haven’t mentioned in comment discussions, which I look forward to.


There is one area of thought in Avatar’s spiritual/religious theme that I would like to address. One that apparently is the larger area of concerns many Christian writers and reviewers have for this movie, and that is the pantheism theme. Some feel that there is an underling message of linking spiritualism to nature worship. As one critic from ‘Vatican Radio put it, “the movie cleverly winks at all those pseudo-doctrines that turn ecology into the religion of the millennium. Nature is no longer a creation to defend, but a divinity to worship”.

Hmm it’s interesting that was brought up, because I remembered a conversation I had with a good friend of mine from my church (this friend btw is planning to check out the blog site later the more the merrier!), after he and his wife got around seeing it. He said really liked the movie a lot, and did like some of the themes in the movie as well (the corporate/colonialism angle in particular). He did however have one complaint about the movie, and that was in regards to the Na’vi’s worship with the ‘tree of souls’ during the unsuccessful body transfer of the injured doctor Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and the more successful one with Jake. He found the whole swaying and chanting “a tad too new age-ish and pagan in general, especially compared to Christianity.”

From my friend’s POV, I can see where he’s coming from, I too found that part of the movie leaning a tad too close to pantheism. Could the whole Na’vi “tree of souls/voices” communicational worship be the under toned message of pantheism? Quite possibly. Is this particular themed message of this film intentionally blurring the line between worshiping nature itself rather than the creator? Some say absolutely yes. Some Christian critics feel that Avatar is one of those manipulative feel good films that can lead you astray without realizing it. David Outten, one of the more well known Christian critics, have made statements pertaining to this argument. He feels that "Cameron has done a masterful job in manipulating the emotions of his audience in Avatar. He created a world where it looks good and noble to live in a tree and hunt for your food daily with a bow and arrow. ... Cameron said, 'Avatar asks us to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth.' This is a clear statement of religious belief. This is pantheism. It is not Christianity”. I wonder when he wrote this, was David referring to a particular part(s) of the film? An example of this would be when the film’s hero Jake, just prior to the big battle, was praying/communicating to (or through) the tree of voices to the Na’vi deity Eywa which supposedly did answer his prayers in the end. What do you all think? A grey area or pretty straight forward example? I’m a bit torn on this, and I hope that’s not a bad sign.

Oddly enough, not all Christians feel this way about this film. A few feel that Avatar is more geared toward panentheism (“the belief that God exists and interpenetrates every part of nature, and timelessly extends beyond as well”) rather than pantheism. In other words, “in pantheism, "God is the whole"; in panentheism, "The whole is in God." In all honestly I find this belief system while slightly more plausible than pantheism (and that’s saying a lot), very suspicious (more like Hinduism beliefs) and not all that acceptable, at least not to me. Like I said before, I am no expert on these, so I am hoping to get some feedback on this.

I think in the end, the spiritual and religious themes of this film can be left to ones interpretation. While some parts of the film are a bit more obvious than others, we still have to be aware of what we watch and access what we see and hear, much like a Jedi, “be mindful of your thoughts.” Hmmm, I wonder if this is what my cousin meant when she was complaining about that War of the Worlds situation about what we see and hear? (check my Film Limitation post for more details). Well In any case I’m curious on what you all think about all of this in this film? I got to admit, this section of the review has been a bit more convoluted than the previous ones. I do hope though, by bringing up some aspects of this theme for this film might invoke some good discussions, because this part of my review has been the most taxing thus far. Hope you all can add your two cents to this one!

Oh and my next part for this film, will be about social themes in the movie, including race and culture. Due to some of the comments discussed in the militaristic post, I feel this too should be touched on before this review is done, so stay tuned!