In AVATAR, these beautiful savages are called Na’vi, the lead character being a curious, passionate and caring female named Neytiri, who deeply protects everything on the land of Pandora, where the Na’vi live. She falls in love with former marine Jake Sully, a human who has been sent to Pandora to bring back secrets of how the Na’vi live so the exploiters can move them off their land or destroy them.
The greed and hunger for conquest and ultimately the profit from capturing the rich minerals that land holds, hits you with a strong reminder not just what we have done abroad to innocent cultures and their lands, but to our own environment at home. I’m all for more movies, plays, books and messages that draw our attention to eco-green mistakes and proactive attempts to make money over protecting the beauty around us.
Sure, it plays into stereotypical evil-white-empire/virtuous-native cliches but why not? Given the lifestyle most westerns live, don’t we all need reminding from time to time? The movie is based on an animated children’s film called Ferngully.
Okay, now for my favorite lines – yeah I wrote them down on a napkin in the theatre:
Jake Sully: “All I ever wanted was a single thing worth fighting for.”
Neytiri: “Energy runs through all living networks. All energy is borrowed and one day you have to give it back.”
Jake Sully: He is talking to a tree the night before the bulldozers and guns are due to hit Pandora – “See the world they come from. There’s no green there. They killed their mother.”
Neytiri: Upon seeing Jake talking to the tree, she responds: “She does not take sides, she only protects the balance of life.”
Jake Sully: As he is talking into a video log, he says – “Everything is backward. Out there is the true world. In here is the dream.”
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
