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.