The Sad Reality of Avatar 2 | Way of Water
James Cameron's new film Avatar 2, broke all records. Over the last year, no Bollywood film earned this much revenue worldwide, as Avatar 2 earned in India alone. In India, the collection of this film has already crossed ₹3.6 Billion. There's no doubt that people are enjoying this film very much. The most appreciated part is the visual effects in the film. The animation used in it is so great that everything looks real. As if it's a real-world come to life. But how would you react if I told you that this is indeed an actual world? Not in the sense that Pandora
is an actual planet that exists, But in the sense that the world built by James Cameron to show Pandora, is a reflection of our real world.
Of our Earth. If you pay attention to this film,
you'll notice that even the smallest details shown in this film are a reflection of an issue on Earth. The overall theme in both Avatar films isn't very difficult to grasp. This film shows Imperialism and Crony Capitalism. Colonizers move into a new place. And the native tribals living there are forcefully displaced, or brutally killed. We witnessed this happening all over the world during the 1500s to the 1800s. East India Company is a major example of this. As I told you in the British versus Mughals video, how East India Company was a company with the primary purpose of making profits.
And by colonizing various countries, they chased after profits.
By exploiting the natural resources there, they made a lot of money. The differentiating factor from present-day companies is that EIC had its private army. In the film Avatar, if you noticed, the same thing is shown. There's a mega-corporation, RDA, in the Avatar universe, it's said to be the largest single non-governmental organization. This company works in the field of space and wields more power than governments on Earth have. Like EIC had its private army, RDA has a private army too.
In the first Avatar film, the RDA used the resources of Pandora to start a war. The movie's world depicts that the RDA has a monopoly on all products that are shipped, derived, or developed in Pandora or any place outside Earth. This setup is similar to the East India Company, which had a monopoly over all products manufactured in the areas it colonized, including crops.
Apart from these obvious details, there are several small details that people may miss out on. If you pay attention to these details, you will see how each set of the film reflects the real world.
James Cameron, the director of the film, is a known environmentalist. He once considered giving up film direction during the 13-year gap between Avatar 1 and Avatar 2. However, he was motivated by the possibility of the Avatar universe reaching a lot of people with a persistent message, and the audience's reaction could encourage them to fight for and protect the environment.
Since he is so passionate about the environment, Cameron built the world of Pandora, taking inspiration from Earth's wildlife and plant life. For instance, the floating rocks visible in Pandora are similar to the hills in China. It is a reflection of Cameron's love for the environment and an attempt to raise awareness about environmental protection.
But that's not all. Take a look at this wisteria tree located in Japan, which is more than 150 years old. During the spring season, when it blooms, its pink and purple hues are truly beautiful. While most wisteria trees look the same, this one is huge and stands out. Interestingly, it looks a lot like the Tree of Souls from the movie Avatar. The resemblance is striking, especially when you consider the bioluminescent properties of the living organisms in Pandora. However, bioluminescence is not unique to Pandora. For example, in Jamaica, there are bioluminescent lagoons where microorganisms in the water light up in a blue color when you move in the water. There are four such lagoons on Earth, located in Indonesia, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, and Jamaica. In New Zealand, there are also caves lit up by glowworms, while in Delhi, you can see fireflies displaying bioluminescence. Another example of glowing lights is the Northern Lights, which can be seen in Nordic countries like Finland and Iceland. This phenomenon occurs when energetic particles emitted by the Sun interact with the magnetic field around the Earth. The resulting display is breathtaking and features a range of colors, including red, green, and purple.
In the second movie of Avatar, we are introduced to a new tribe of aliens in Pandora, the Metkayina Reef People. These people look different from the Na'vi, with a more greenish skin tone and larger, fin-like structures on their forearms and legs. Their tails are more broadened and paddle-like, while Na'vi's tails have hair at the end. This difference in appearance is due to the evolution of the Metkayina people. If you're interested in seeing more about these fascinating phenomena, check out the vlog I made, which you can find by clicking on the link in the description.
The people in the film are different from the Na'vi people. They have adapted to living near the water, while the Na'vi adapted to living in the forest. But James Cameron drew inspiration from things found on Earth, as he revealed in an interview for National Geographic. The islands shown in the second film are inspired by the Pacific Islands, such as Micronesia and Polynesia. The Metkayina people are inspired by the Sama-Bajau tribal folk found on some islands of Indonesia and the Philippines, known as Sea Gypsies or Sea Nomads. These people have evolved better to survive near water and have an amazing ability of freediving. They spend a lot of time underwater and their spleen is 50% larger than normal people, which helps them to hold their breaths longer. Genetically, they can see better underwater. The Metkayina people on Pandora have a third eyelid, known as the nictitating membrane, which is found in numerous animals for protecting the eye while swimming and for better visibility. In the film, big RDA ships hover over the water and are used by humans for transportation.
It may seem like futuristic technology that you wish existed in real life. However, I have some exciting news for you - such technology does exist! This technology was inspired by the Ekranoplan, a vessel developed by the Soviet Union in the 1960s. Ekranoplans are unique in that they hover over the water, appear similar to planes, and offer the advantage of being undetectable by radars and sonar. This is due to their lower altitude and lack of contact with the water, greatly reducing friction and allowing them to move quickly. The largest of these vessels, the KM, was built by the Soviet Union with 10 jet engines at the front. The footage currently playing is from when it was being tested. However, the technology had many flaws. For instance, Ekranoplans required a large turning radius, the sea water corroded the engine, and operating them was highly complicated. By the 1980s, the Soviet government realized that the funds being spent on this technology would be better used elsewhere and abandoned its development.
Another example of such technology is shown in the first Avatar film - a large mining machine used by humans to extract Unobtanium from Pandora. This rare mineral has a high value, and the RDA, a large corporation, is seen in the film using a bucket wheel excavator known as the Bagger 293, which is the largest construction machine made by humans to date. It can be found in a coal mine in Germany and is almost one-third the height of the Eiffel Tower at 96 meters tall.
There is a massive mining machine that is movable and can mine as much as 200,000 tonnes of soil in a day. It is 225 meters long and weighs 14,000 tonnes. Climbing on top of it requires a walk of 1 km because of its huge size. It can be moved from one place to another, but it can only move at a speed of 0.1 km per hour. Since it is very heavy, moving it is a great challenge as any road may crumble under its weight. Recently, people in Germany protested against the use of this machine for coal mining.
2. The animals on Pandora are inspired by the animals on Earth. For instance, Ilu, a creature shown in the movie, looks like a Pokémon but has the same features as Plesiosaur, an ancient marine reptile that lived on Earth around 200 million years ago. Another creature, Tulkun, is similar to the whales present on Earth and is highly intelligent. Whales and dolphins have huge brains, which are bigger than dogs. Their brains have spindle neurons, which help them recognize things, remember them, reason, and communicate. Their limbic system is more complex than humans, making them more emotional.
To measure the intelligence of an animal, a mirror test is often used. The mirror is placed in front of the animal to see whether it can identify its reflection. Bottlenose dolphins, chimpanzees, elephants, and magpies can pass the mirror test, and dolphin calves can pass it at around 7 months old. Some species of dolphins can identify various members by their names and they have created signature whistles for other dolphins. Young dolphins learn their names from their mothers and carry them throughout their lives.
Dolphins and whales are born with the ability to mimic and mirror whatever their mother does, which is how they learn to survive. The importance of these creatures is depicted in James Cameron's film, Avatar 2. Interestingly, Cameron had previously made a documentary for National Geographic called Secrets of the Whales, which shows that he was intentionally highlighting the importance of whales in Avatar 2.
In the film, there is an interesting scene inspired by a real-life photo of a whale, emphasizing the need to protect these creatures. However, commercial whaling of these animals was popularized in the 1600s by the British and the Dutch. Humans hunted whales for their oil, which had a high demand in the 18th and 19th centuries as a lubricant in factories and to illuminate homes.
Whale oil was replaced by petroleum in 1879, but the demand for whaling increased again when fat supplies for making soaps were running low. In the early 1900s, 2,000-20,000 whales were hunted by humans each year. Norway played a significant role in whaling, with Svenn Foyn inventing the first steam-powered whale catcher ship and patenting the harpoon canon on the ship.
After World War II, whale oil became essential to Europe, and whale meat was in high demand in Japan and Russia. British and Norwegian countries controlled more than 80% of the trade, which attracted more countries to whale hunting, such as the Netherlands, Soviet Union, and Japan. However, by 1946, humans realized that if such whale hunting continued, the whales would go extinct.
In 1963, humpback whales were protected, while blue whales were protected in 1965, and commercial whaling was banned by the International Whaling Commission in 1982. Some whale species have recovered tremendously as a result of the ban, such as the humpback whales. Unfortunately, the same did not happen to all whale species, as blue whales are still endangered, and sperm whales are still vulnerable.
Despite the commercial whaling ban, three countries – Iceland, Norway, and Japan – refuse to accept it. Iceland poses the least concern, as it is set to ban commercial whaling starting next year. Norway supports the hunting of Minke Whales for their meat, while Japan allows commercial whaling for "Scientific Purposes." Between 2010 to 2020, Japanese ships encroached on Antarctica's conservation zone for hunting whales, which was highlighted in the show Whale Wars on Discovery Channel. The environment conservation group, Sea Shepherd, sent their ships to stop the whaling ships and physically block them, even placing their ship in front of the other ship to stop it and protect the whales.
In a recent revelation, the founder of an organization disclosed that Japan has considered getting within a 500m radius of their whaling ships an act of terrorism. This changed in 2018, when Japan withdrew from the International Whaling Commission and resumed commercial whaling in July 2019. The excuse of whaling for scientific purposes was debunked, leading to Japan being labeled a Pirate Whaling Country by the IWC, for violating international law. Japan argues that the IWC didn't do enough to promote sustainable commercial whaling and believes whales can be hunted within reasonable limits. Interestingly, the film Avatar has a connection to this issue. The RDA ships that hunt Tulkuns with harpoons on Pandora have the name of the Harpoon company written in Japanese, with colors of the Japanese flag used. James Cameron, the director of Avatar, is an ocean enthusiast and the first person to go alone to the deepest part of the ocean- the Mariana Trench. He emphasizes the message of saving the Earth and its biodiversity in his films.