Avatar NICS Analysis

Narrative

• Equilibrium: Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine, takes the place of his dead scientist twin, going to Pandora, a tropical planet, to act as a diplomat for the Na’vi, the native species, and secretly a spy by means of artificial Na’vi bodies, Avatars.
• Disruption: Jake meets a Na’vi woman, and falls in love with her.  He is inducted into their tribe, and gains valuable information, and then betrays them to the human military in exchange for an operation to fix his legs.  He later has a change of heart, and helps to defend the natives against the human invasion, eventually repelling them.
• Restoration: Jake’s consciousness is permanently transferred to his Avatar, allowing him to live as a Na’vi for ever, while the hostile humans are exiled back to Earth.

Iconography

•          Avatar Bodies: Represent the duality of the humans and the Na’vi
•          Military uniform and technology are a constant reminder of humanity’s brutality
•          Na’vi ‘clothing’ designed to connote primitiveness
•          Bright, vibrant outdoor lighting and colour, especially greens and blues (Na’vi) – connotes purity, oneness with nature, goodness
•          Dark interiors (Human) – Connotes moral ambiguity, evil
•          Mise-en-scene contrasts highlight the moral alignment of the factions
•          Stunning scenery and locations highlighting Pandora’s purity

Characters

•          Hero – Jake Sully: Paraplegic marine shoehorned into the Avatar project
•          Villain – Colonel Miles Quaritch: Military leader on Pandora, racist and vicious, he will kill anything that gets in his way
•          Princess – Neytiri: Na’vi woman who Jake falls in love with
•              Donor – Dr. Grace Augustine: Leader of the Avatar project, she grudgingly teaches and mentors Jake
•          Helper – Norm Spellman: Fellow member of the Avatar project, he befriends Jake

Settings

• Pandora is a vibrant paradise planet, with enormous trees and floating mountains.  There is a great deal of lush jungle to emphasise the natural untouched beauty of the planet.  The Na’vi colony focused on in the film lives in a tree, showing their closeness to nature.
• Conversely, the majority of the human-inhabited areas are much closer to Earth-like conditions – trees have been cut down, metal buildings erected, and many mining facilities scar the beauty of the land.  The insides of the human bases are entirely metallic, often with low lighting, to emphasise the urban, synthetic, unnatural feel of the human society.

Homework: Genre and Narrative analysis

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Genre:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a Sci-Fi Comedy, and is an adaptation of Douglas Adams’ book of the same name.

Characters:

Hero: Arthur Dent – A clueless middle-aged man drudging through life. He is portrayed as both ineffectual and cowardly on several occasions, and is possibly the epitome of mundanity, having worn a dressing gown and pyjamas for the entirety of the film.

Villain: Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz – As with all Vogons, “Not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous” according to the Hitchhiker’s Guide. He is responsible for the destruction of planet Earth, thus killing every human on it at the time, and intends to kill Arthur and Ford. However, as he is just following orders, the Vogon dogma, it could be interpreted that it is not directly his fault.

The Helper: Zaphod Beeblebrox – President of the Galaxy, and an fool of epic proportions. He is vain, self-centred, and almost perpetually in a state of drunkenness (even if he is not drunk), especially after the detachment of his second head.

The Helper: Ford Prefect – An alien from the planet Betelgeuse, and Arthur’s best friend. He saves them both from the Earth’s destruction, by teleporting aboard a Vogon ship. He is Arthur’s main source of support through-out, as the other characters are often too self-absorbed or hostile to care.

The Helper: Marvin the Paranoid Android – A constantly depressed robot, he hates pretty much everything.

Princess: Trillian (Tricia McMillan) – She and Arthur met at a fancy dress party, but she grew bored of him and instead left with another man, later revealed to be Zaphod. She has since been following him, and appears to be in some sort of relationship with him. This creates tension between her and Arthur, who is still in love with her.

Villain: Humma Kavula – A rival of Zaphod’s, and his almost extreme opposite. While Zaphod is portrayed as stupid, charismatic, and overly gifted in the body parts department, Humma is very intelligent, not particularly charismatic, and has no eyes, nor legs. Humma seeks revenge on Zaphod for becoming President of the Galaxy, “proving that good looks and charm win over brilliance and the ability to govern.”

Villain: Phouchg and Loonquawl – The Magratheans responsible for overseeing the extraction of the Question to the Answer of Life, the Universe, and Everything. They attempt to do so by cutting out Arthur’s brain, in which it resides.

Narrative:

Equilibrium: Arthur Dent lives a mundane existence on Earth, completely unaware of most things around him, such as the fact that his best friend is an alien, his house is scheduled for demolition, and the planet Earth likewise.

Disruption: Thankfully, his alien best friend saves Arthur from suffering the same fate as the rest of planet Earth (demolition), by taking him with on a series of close shaves with death while trying to find the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. The answer turns out to be 42, but more importantly, the question whose answer is 42 is revealed to be inside Arthur’s mind. The Magratheans, Phouchg and Loonquawl, attempt to learn it by removing Arthur’s brain, but he manages to break free and kill them.

Restoration: A backup planet Earth is created, exactly as it was a second before the Vogons destroyed it, but Arthur remains in space with the others, and leave for Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the Universe.