Avatar Film Review

Contrary to the assertion of most film reviewers though the film Avatar follows the plot of the film Dances With Wolves, I believe that it operates on a far deeper level than most people have realised.

Whether James Cameron did this consciously, or unconsciously I do not know.

The first sign in the film that triggered this realisation were the horses in the film.

These were obviously modeled on the horse of Odin Sleipnir ;









Then we see that the story concerns the destruction of the World Tree of Pandora, which links it with the destruction of Yggdrasil during Ragnarok ;





Then we have the blue indigenous people of Pandora.

The blue skin of the people could relate to either the Indo-European god Krishna or the Picts of Scotland who were called the blue people after painting themselves with woad.



Another blue god is the god Odin, who wears a blue cape to represent the sky ;





Then we have the dragons, which in the old myths refer to man conquering his animal nature and in the film relates to a youth becoming a warrior ;




This relates to Sigurd the dragon slayer ;






The story of Avatar is that of Ragnarok - in that the forces of Loki and Surt ( the corporation and soldiers in the film ) attack the gods, destroy the world tree and after a massive battle a new world is reborn from the ashes.

Then the gods are reborn, as Jake Sully was in the film.


What James Cameron has done is meld myth, history and symbolism in a way that was guaranteed to appeal predominantly to a white audience in the same way that the Lord of the Rings appealed predominantly to a white audience.


As for the film - I give it 8 out of 10.

10 out of 10 for the visuals ( I saw it in 3D and so should you, it was superb).

6 out of 10 for the story as it was derivative of Dances for Wolves and Dune.

Watch it in 3D and you will be amazed at the experience.

My bum was hurting after watching it as it was so long and my eyes were sore.

As for the 3D - I foresee that the future for 3D lays primarily in video gaming as opposed to film making.

Imagine playing Modern Warfare 2 in 3D.

I would hope that the next generation of video games would merge the Wii and 3D gaming visuals.

Imagine playing a video game like Modern Warfare 2 where you are carrying a replica machine gun as opposed to having a hand console and you are playing the game in 3D on a large screen in 3D HD whilst you track through the game in front of you in a real time 3D game.

Thats where I see 3D being most interesting