Avatar Essay - 1585 Words

Myths are supernatural or religious tales with cultural and historical backgrounds, often containing moral lessons that are valued by the culture they originated from. The movie Avatar is a modern myth, its popularity stemming from the inspiration it draws from familiar and widespread themes found in classical myths. Avatar reuses and refreshes these themes for current audiences. Ancient stories such as those of Icarus, Prometheus, Gilgamesh, and Hercules, as well as contemporary issues, represent many of the same themes that are revealed in Avatar. Avatar is the story of Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine that is sent to the world Pandora to take the place of his dead-brothers job as a Na’vi avatar pilot. The humans on Pandora use these†¦show more content†¦In the ancient Greek story of Icarus, Daedalus constructs a pair of wings made out of wax and feathers for himself and his son Icarus to escape the Labyrinth in Crete. In their attempt to overcome their human limitations, Icarus fails to obey his fathers only rule: do not fly too close to the sun. He reaches too far and the wax on his wings melts, causing him to plummet to his death. This is often thought to illustrate the consequences humans must face when overreaching and trying too hard to do what they are not meant to do. Icarus’s failure to listen to common sense is synonymous with the failure of the humans to listen to Jake Sully in Avatar. The humans cause the â€Å"death† of any relationship with the Na’vi due to their own negligence . Another myth of a cautionary tale concerns Prometheus, a Titan, who chose to go against the gods by stealing the secret of fire in order to help humans build society and live as gods. Yet in the end, the humans suffer as Pandora is sent to earth with a box filled with terrible things with which to punish the mortals who dared to take one of the things that separated gods from humans: fire. The world of Pandora in Avatar is like the Pandora of myth. The humans had to figuratively and literally dig deep into the world of Pandora to uncover the good and bad, just as Pandora had to open a box to unleash hope and evil. Jake himself metaphorically opens Pandora’s Box by accepting the offer to be theShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Avatar s Avatar 1112 Words   |  5 PagesAvatar was one of the best movies I have seen in my life thus far. When I first watched this movie, I was struck by many conflicting emotions. There were so many ethical and intercultural topics in the film that it ma de me think on morality of the character within the film. I will give a summary of the movie, and analyze the factions within the film that showed many concepts of intercultural communication. Avatar begins with the main character, Jake Sully, arriving on the moon of Pandora. 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