In this articles we’ll look at 10 amazing facts about Avatar and explain Avatar’s plot, ending, and all the wonderful different mythologies that are in the movie. So, let’s get started.
Now that the World Of Avatar attractions are being opened in Disney parks, and we are all packing our bags to head out to virtual-Pandora, it seems like the perfect time to explain Avatar.
Avatar is full of spiritual and mythological references. If you really want Avatar explained to you, you’ve got to understand where all the ideas, characters, and creatures come from. And that is precisely what we’ll look at in this article.
So, let’s get into these ten amazing facts about Avatar.
The Top 10 Most Amazing Facts About Avatar, Explained
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We could have Avatar bodies in the future.
One of the most amazing facts about Avatar is that we could soon have Avatar bodies.
A Russian billionaire is working on an avatar project. He plans to upload his brain into a digital body in order to become immortal.
The project, “2045 Initiative”, aims to allow humans to upload their brains into an avatar body. And just as the avatars offer a new lease in life for Jake Sully in Avatar, they may end up doing the same thing for we people on Earth.
In Avatar, Jake Sully is in a wheelchair. When he is given an Avatar body it is as though he has been given a new lease on life. And the 2045 avatars could do the same thing, by giving those with disabilities access to robotic body parts, or even entire bodies, that they can control with their brain.
So scientifically, it seems the Avatar concept is entirely plausible.
The idea of an “Avatar” comes from Hinduism
Another interesting fact about Avatar is that it is heavily based on Hinduism. In fact, to explain Avatar, you really need to understand what an “Avatar” is.
Avatars come from Hinduism.
James Cameron’s movies are often full of spiritual references, and nowhere is that more true than in Avatar.
In Hinduism, an avatar is a god that has taken the form of a human to live on Earth and to restore peace and righteousness. There is a similar concept in Christianity: Docetism. This is the belief that Jesus Christ was not a human but rather adopted human form to live among people and restore righteousness and belief in God.
This helps to explain Avatar.
A Hindu avatar takes the for of a human to lead humans to act per faith. In Avatar, the movie, Jake Sully takes the form of the Navi in order to make the Navi live according to human rules. So, there is an obvious parallel here.
But when Jake Sully meets the Navi he learns that, actually, they are the more enlightened ones. So, if Jake Sully represents the gods, and he learns that, actually, the primitive lifeforms are the enlightened ones, then what does that say about the gods?
So that is the concept of the avatar explained.
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Avatar advocates the worship of nature and pantheism.
As you’ve seen, you really cannot explain Avatar without looking at spirituality.
One aspect of the spirituality in Avatar is nature worship and pantheism. James Cameron himself tell us that he, “tried to make a film that would touch people’s spirituality across the broad spectrum.”
One of the most important spiritual aspects of Avatar is the way it depicts nature. Christianity, of course, states that God created nature. But James Cameron’s Avatar tells a different creation story. It depicts nature as being created by one energy that exists in all of Pandora.
There is a scene in which Grace (Sigourney Weaver) is telling Parker Selfridge (Giovani Ribisi) why Pandora is so important. She explains that all life on Pandora is connected through synapses that pass an energy, like Chi, around the planet. This, and other scenes, advocate the importance of nature and are pantheist (they suggest that all of nature is interconnected and that nature and God are the same thing).
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The life energy in Avatar is based on Chi
One of the best facts about Avatar is that the energy of Pandora is based on Chi.
The idea of “Chi” is one of the oldest beliefs in the world, and may also be backed by science.
Chi is the life energy that flows throughout all life. It is an energy that is vital in numerous belief systems, and especially Taoism.
In Avatar, there is an energy said to flow through all living beings and plant-life on the planet Pandora. When Jake visits Pandora he learns about how this energy connects all beings on the planet.
In Avatar, this energy is explained to be important for health and healing. And in Eastern medicine, Chi is likewise vital to healing. Many exercise and healing systems use Chi, most notable Tai Chi, which is slow and flowing movements that move chi around your body.
So now we’ve got the concept of chi in Avatar explained, what’s next?
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Avatar is against capitalism
One of the very clearly statements that James Cameron makes in Avatar is that he is very much against capitalism.
In Avatar, the humans (and especially Parker Selfridge and Colonel Miles Quaritch) are willing to destroy Pandora for profit. This Is how James Cameron feels about capitalism, that people are willing to destroy the Earth just for profit.
6. The end of Avatar, explained at last
A lot of people have asked to have the ending of Avatar explained. So, let’s do it.
We’ve already discussed how in Hindu mythology Avatars are human bodies that Gods use to enter Earth. This is important in explaining the end of Avatar.
At the end of Avatar Jake Sully’s human boy lies on the ground next to his Avatar body. The Navi stand around Jake performing a ceremony. This ceremony does two things. It directs the energy on the planet into Jake Sully, and it also awakens Eywa, Avatar’s “All-Mother”.
This scene combines many different spiritualities. For starters, the ritual that the Navi perform resembles native American healing practices and is very similar to a Voodoo healing ceremony. It also uses the Norse mythological idea of the “All mother”, which is the life energy that flows through all living things and sustains life. And it uses the tree of souls from Judaism.
James Cameron combines these different spiritual ideas to create one symbolic moment. The ending of Avatar is about leaving ignorance behind (Jake was ignorant before meeting the Navi, he is now enlightened). He awakens into the spiritual world (the world of the Navi). He connects with Eywa, which is essential for him to become a true living part of Pandora. And he is also reincarnated (his human form dies and he is born again).
This is a scene in which very many mythologies and spiritualties come together. But it ultimately means this: When we escape our usual, ignorant, human ways we transcend to a higher plane, become enlightened, and connect to the divine energy of the world.
And that’s is the end scene of Avatar, explained.
But to explain the ending of Avatar further, we must consider the Tree of Souls.
7. The Tree of Souls is based on Judaism
The “Tree of Souls” is a classic term that is used to describe the main belief system of Judaism.
In Avatar, the Tree of Souls contains the life-force of all the Navi who have gone before, and all the knowledge of the Navi. It serves as the central connection between the current Navi and those who have gone before. And it is a key part of their central beliefs. And so it is in Judaism. The Tree of Souls is the book that brings together all the beliefs and teachings of the Judaist belief system.
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The Tree of Souls is also in other sci-fi and fantasy stories
As explained above, the Tree of Souls in Avatar comes from Judaism. But the Tree of Souls is also found in other sci-fi and fantasy movies and novels.
I personally write fantasy novels and often come across reference to the Tree of Souls in my reading. However, the idea of the tree of souls has evolved over the years.
One of the most famous examples of a Tree of Souls is in the Ender series by Orson Scott Card. In the series, there is a tree that is made up of the minds of the dead. The tree is sacred to the native inhabitants who will do anything to protect it.
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Avatar’s Eywa is based on Norse mythology
One of the most important parts of Avatar is Eywa. Eywa is the mother energy that flows through all energy on Pandora. And at the end of Avatar Eywa awakens and saves Jake Sully, Natiri and the Navi from certain death, wiping out Colonel Miles Quaritch and his men).
Eywa in Avatar comes from Norse mythology. In Norse mythology, there is an “All-Mother” deity that is the personification of the Earth. There is a similar belief in Native American religions.
So, that also explains the ending of Avatar.
10. Avatar’s “Unobtainium” refers to a very well-known ter. In the aerospace industry.
“Unobtainium” refers to a material that is perfect for application but, unfortunately, does not actually exist, or is highly volatile and explosive and is thereby unable to be used. This “Unobtainium” also has its own chemical code, “Uo”.
Unobtanium has been used in lots of different sci-fi movies and is a very well known term in the scientific community.
In sci-fi, Unobtainium is usually an item that is desperately needed for the central plot of the movie. In The Core (2003), the vessel that digs down into the centre of the Earth is fueled by Unobtainium. Isn’t that a fascinating Avatar fact?
There you are. Ten amazing facts about Avatar. These Avatar facts show the inspiration behind Avatar, how James Cameron came up with ideas, and all the different mythologies and spiritualities that are in the movie.
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