Avatar (2009)Joey Ku

Essay Introduction This assignment will look at Romanticism and how this is

conveyed and depicted in James Cameron’s Avatar (2009). The essay will also be looking at Escapism, the war of Manmade versus nature and its relevance to the Cold War.

Sources includes Jesse Bryant Wilder’s Defining Romanticism in the Arts, Christopher and Mark Rothko’s The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art, Michael Marien’s Future Survey Annual 1991: Volume 10, William Woodsworth’s poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortality and lastly Robert Genter’s Modernism: Art, Culture, and Politics in Cold War America .

Key Ideas Romanticism and how it is seen in Avatar

The idea of being close to nature, ie ““It (romanticism) means being a staunch individualist, believing in the rights of other individuals, and expressing deep, intense, and often uplifting emotions — like Beethoven (whose Fifth Symphony marked the beginning of the Romantic era in music). Often it means having a deep, spiritual relationship with nature. "Nature never did betray the heart that loved her," wrote the British Romantic poet William Wordsworth in Tintern Abbey” (Wilder, Unknown)

The idea of Escapism and how it is depicted in Avatar▪ “It is impossible to see how man can continue to live and not make some sort of working relationship

with his environment One can even go further and point to the fact that man is incapable of a single act which is not the result of the effect of environment upon his personality.” (Rothko, 2006: 111)

The war between Manmade machines versus natural resources “The techno sphere has become sufficiently large and intense to alter the natural process that Govern

the ecosphere. In turn the altered ecosphere threatens to flood our cities, dry up our farms, contaminate our foods and water, and poison our bodies; the human attack on the ecosphere has instigated and ecological counter attack.” (Marien, 1991: 55)

How the war can be understood through Woodsworth’s poem “Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make

 Our noisy years seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake,            To perish never: Which neither listlessness, nor mad Endeavour,

              Nor Man nor Boy, Nor all that is at enmity with joy, Can utterly abolish or destroy!” (Woodsworth, 1849: 343)

How the Cold war can be seen as a refelction to the Human versus Nature war “We live in an age of transition, an age of overlap, in which the old modern of yesterday no longer acts

effectively but still provides means of expression, standards of expectations and tools of ordering.” (Genter, 2010: 28)

Cultural Context

Romanticism:

An art and literature movement originating in Europe around the 18th century

Characterized by the interests of nature, emotional expressions and imagination.

Movement was seen as a reaction against the Age of Enlightenment.

Mostly used in arts, music and literature.

Key Individuals

James Cameron, Director Avatar (2009) for the making of the film and its influences

Sam Worthington- Jake Sully(Human Na’vi hybrid)

Stephen Lang-Colonel Miles Quaritch

Portrayals between mechanical vs. nature and status of valuing things

Zoe Saldana-Neytiri (Na’vi)

Historical Examples- Romanticism

Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog by Caspar David Friedrich

(unknown)

The Voyage of Life by Thomas Cole (1842)

Contemporary Examples

Avatar (2009) Film poster

World of Pandora (left)

Jake Sully and his Na’vi avatar behind him (below)

Conclusion The use of romanticism in the film is a mere reflection

of the modern world’s society where nature is at risk of being dominated by machinery.

The fact that Pandora’s inhabitants are more closely respected to nature going as far as to worship it.

The idea of having a different world can be suggested as another way of escaping from reality and into the fantasy as well as losing something and regaining them and becoming a different identity.

The fight between Na’vi and humans over resources is symbolically referenced to the nature versus manmade war.

The manmade versus nature war seen in the film is quite similar to The Cold War where it is a war against different countries, therefore in Avatar, it is war of species.

List of IllustrationsCultural Context: Cole, T (1842) The Voyage of Life (online):

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/thomas-cole/the-voyage-of-life-youth-1842-1

Key Individuals: Lopez, M (2011) James Cameron confirms “Avatar” 2 and 3 (online):

http://blogamole.tr3s.com/2011/01/27/james-cameron-confirms-avatar-2-and-3/ Noholidaynolife (2010) In the world of Avatar filming (online):

http://www.noholidaynolife.com/2010/04/15/in-the-world-of-avatar-filming/ Enormousrat (2009) Avatar Pandora Xbox (online):

http://gaming.wikia.com/wiki/File:Avatar_Pandora_Xbox_360.jpg

Historical Examples- Romanticism Cole, T (1842) The Voyage of Life (online):

http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/thomas-cole/the-voyage-of-life-youth-1842-1 Burgess, D (2006) Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog (online):

http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Romanticism

Contemporary Examples: Uknown (2009) Avatar (2009) (online): http://www.impawards.com/2009/avatar.html Donna (2009) Avatar…Amazing! (online): http://movieblogbydonna.com/?paged=2 Olson, J (2009) Movie Review: James Cameron’s Avatar (online): http

://fanboyz.net/2009/12/21/movie-review-james-camerons-avatar/

Bibliography Bryant Wilder, J (unknown) Defining Romanticism in the

Arts (online): http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.html

Rothko, C and M (2006) The Artist’s Reality: Philosophies of Art (unknown, Yale University Press) (online): http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marien, M (1991) Future Survey Annual 1991: Volume 10 (USA, Transaction Publishers) (online): http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Woodsworth, W (1849) Ode: Intimations of Immortality (London, Edward Moxon) (online): http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Genter, R (2010) Late Modernism: Art, Culture, and Politics in Cold War America (USA, University of Pennsylvania Press) (online): http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=false