time machine essay

8/2/2019 Time Machine Essay

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Joey Ku

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The Time Machine Essay:

Investigating Romanticism, Escapism, War of Manmade machines versus Natural

Resources and The Cold War behind the scenes of James CameronsAvatar

(2009)

By Joey Ku

Cg Arts and Animation- Year 1

Monday 23rd

April 2012

2021 words

Time Machine: Chris Hunt and Phil Gomm


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Contents:

Introduction 3

Main Body 4

Conclusion 7

List of Illustrations 8

Bibliography 8


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Introduction:

This assignment seeks to investigate how Romanticism is linked to James CameronsAvatar

(2009). This also includes investigating Escapism and how this is used in the film, along with

ideas of wars between nature versus man and how the war inAvataris heavily referenced to

the Cold war.

Research sources includes Jesse Bryant Wilders Defining Romanticism in the Arts which helps

define what Romanticism means, Christopher and Mark Rothkos The Artists Reality:

Philosophies of Artwhich helps gives an understanding of Escapism, Michael Mariens Future

Survey Annual 1991: Volume 10 which gives an insight of the fight between manmade machines

versus Natural resources. Other books that are helpful towards this assignment would be

William Woodsworths poem, Ode: Intimations of Immortalitywhich is a poem describing the

war between man and nature, and lastly Robert Genters Modernism: Art, Culture, and Politics in

Cold War America which describes how the Cold war is quite similar to the war between man

versus nature.

The essay will begin by defining what Romanticism is before explaining how it is depicted in

Avatar, later the film will look at Escapism and how it too is seen in the film before going to

explain the wars between man versus nature, then how this is interpreted by Woodsworths

poem before lastly explains how the wars mentioned are reflected to the Cold War.


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Main Body:

Avatar (2009) is a sci fi film directed by James Cameron. The film tells the story of how

protagonist, Jake Sully travels to the world called Pandora, inhabited by creatures known as the

Navi and war enrages between humans and Navi as they fight for resources and life. The film

has elements of 18th Century Romanticism. Romanticism was a movement mainly in the arts,literature and intellect. This movement was created in reaction to the political and social of the

Age of the Enlightenment movement. The word romanticism means the focus on an individuals

expression and views. Jesse Bryant Wilder, writer for Defining Romanticism in the arts describes

the definition of Romanticism. She states that, It (romanticism) means being a staunch

individualist, believing in the rights of other individuals, and expressing deep, intense, and often

uplifting emotions like Beethoven (whose Fifth Symphony marked the beginning of the

Romantic era in music). Often it means having a deep, spiritual relationship with nature. "Nature

never did betray the heart that loved her," wrote the British Romantic poet William Wordsworth

in Tintern Abbey.(Wilder, unknown) This means that from what Wilder states, the word

Romanticism is focusing on the expressions and the idea of being close to nature which may

includes bright colours and or the subject in a happy expression. In conclusion, to be with

nature, apart from bright colours and expressions, it may also include human or animal subjects

surrounded by a large greenery environment whilst interacting with each other, or perhaps

being as close to nature that it is required to respect it and worship it, nearly treating nature as

a God and as one. However this can be seen in James CameronsAvatarwhere the environment

as well as the plot is where examples of Romanticism are used.

The world of Pandora is closely linked to Romanticism due to its environments looking quite

similar to the human world, in particular the nature side as well as having human characters

interacting with them, even though its fictional. Figure 1 shows an image still taken from theAvatarfilm from movieblogbydonna.com in 2010. What this image depicts is one of the many

environments from the world of Pandora. This consists of bright vivid colours of plants in many

exotic forms with two Navis are seen roaming around in front of a brightly lit waterfall

backdrop. The similarities to nature such as the plants and the composition of the environment

are similar to native jungles that are seen today along with bright vivid colours to add emphasis.

It could also be perhaps to add emphasis on romanticism in this image could be that Cameron

wanted the environment to appear larger than the central characters so that the audience could

grasp and feel the never before seen environment as well as the idea of the Navi respecting

nature like its their God.With Camerons idea of showing the audience the environment, it

could also be seen as escapism, wanting to leave the human world and into a fictional worldsimilar to the films main character, Jake Sully.


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The idea of Jake Sully leaving from a human world and to venture out into another and the idea

of him having his conscious leave from a human body into a Navis could be perhaps seen as

escapism. Like Mark and Christopher Rothkos The Artists Reality: Philosophies of Art, it states

that in Escapism, It is impossible to see how man can continue to live and not make some sort of

working relationship with his environment One can even go further and point to the fact that

man is incapable of a single act which is not the result of the effect of environment upon his

personality.(Rothko, 2006: 111) This means that from what Rothko says there possibly could

not be an idea where humans continue living and not interact with their environment or

surroundings therefore they cannot possibly imagine them without seeing it first. It is clear that

inAvatarCameron has used the natural environments based on the human world, perhaps into

the tropical, exotic and tribal influences, creating a paradise world where a human being would

want to explore in especially growing close to nature. With the art styles of exotic, tribal and

tropical that creating a world that humans could escape to can be seen in the film of how

Escapism is used.

Elements of Escapism can be

seen in the film, such as the

idea of a conscious mind

leaving a human body and

into a human- Navi hybrid

where the human wakes up as

its host and experience a widerange of senses. Fig 2 shows a

film still of Jake Sully sitting in

front of his soon-to-be

human-Navi hybrid host

which lies behind him in an

Figure 1: The exotic nature of Pandora similar to the human world

Figure 2: Jake Sully sitting in front of his Na'vi avatar as it sleeps in the amnio

tank


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amnio tank , taken from Jeff Olson on his film review of the film fromfanboyz.net. What this

image shows is that with the human character, Jake about to have his mind transferred and

become an avatar as well as the human life that he is about to leave behind in order to regain

the freedom from his legs as a Navi after spending time relying on a wheelchair. The escapism

in this could be seen as leaving something that is lost and regaining them back as something

else. However like the storyline, having a human escape into the Navis world can change the

views and can cause war.

In the film the main character, Jake becomes a Navi and tries to urge the Navi people to leave

on behalf of the human so that the humans can use their natural resources. However this

changes Jakes point of view and a war abrupt between Navi and humans, or similarly a war

between natural resources versus the man made as seen mostly within the film. This is

described by Michael Marien, author for his book, Future Survey Annual 1991: Volume 10, he

describes about the balance between the modern technology world fights with the natural eco

world. He states that,The techno sphere has become sufficiently large and intense to alter the

natural process that Govern the ecosphere. In turn the altered ecosphere threatens to flood ourcities, dry up our farms, contaminate our foods and water, and poison our bodies; the human

attack on the ecosphere has instigated and ecological counter attack.(Marien, 1991: 55) This

means that from what Marien states, the increase in modern technology is beginning to

overpower nature, therefore as a result natural hazards and events are caused such as drought,

tsunamis and volcano eruptions etc. With the humans relying on machinery, nature is beginning

to fail and therefore the natural growth in crops and animals could die out due to natural and or

human causes. The unseen war between natures versus man made machinery can be

understood from looking at William Woodsworths poem.

The fight between manmade machinery versus nature is an ongoing unseen war, the moretechnology rises, the more natural events happen. As William Woodsworth, poet for his poem

Ode: Intimations of Immortality, his poem states,

Uphold us, cherish, and have power to make

Our noisy years seem moments in the being

Of the eternal Silence: truths that wake, 160

To perish never:

Which neither listlessness, nor mad Endeavour,

Nor Man nor Boy,

Nor all that is at enmity with joy,

Can utterly abolish or destroy! (Woodsworth, 1849: 343)


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From what Woodsworths poem says, the man made machines can be depicted as the noise and

the power where as the silence could be seen as nature and the truths is has are the natural

hazard it makes. The balance between the two cannot be destroyed as humans cannot live with

one without the other. This could also mean that the only things that people notice of this

ongoing war are the natural hazards and or the latest technology ever evolved, overpowering

natures action on life. Although with the ongoing war between the two sources and is

symbolically depicted inAvatar, the Cold war can also perhaps seen symbolically within the film.

The war depicted inAvatarcan be seen as a war between men versus nature, however it also

closely relates to The Vietnam war, or known as the Cold war- a war between different

countries. It could also be seen in reflection toAvatar, a war between two different species from

different worlds. Robert Genter, writer for Late Modernism: Art, Culture and Politics in Cold War

America describes about how the Cold War can be seen as a reflection of machine versus nature

war. He states that, We live in an age of transition, an age of overlap, in which the old modern

of yesterday no longer acts effectively but still provides means of expression, standards of

expectations and tools of ordering. (Genter, 2010: 28) This means that from what Genterdescribes is that humans live in a world where things change as time passes. In other words the

natural things that human would use years ago, such as using fire as a light we humans now rely

on something man made, which we would now rely on an electric light source. This could also

mean that because of us humans rely on machinery more, we see nature as a last resort for

tools as well as viewing nature in an artistic way instead. Therefore from what we see inAvatar,

the fight between machinery overpower nature and allow machinery to grow there is very much

closely linked to the Cold War.

Conclusion:

In conclusion is linked a lot to Romanticism, Escapism as well as symbolically referencing to the

wars, mainly the Cold War and the war between man versus nature. Like Romanticism, the

natural side ofAvataris where the inhabitants are much closer to nature than the humans, even

going as far as worshipping and respecting every natural thing the Navi sees, treating each

other as one. Unlike the humans, they take things for granted, not worshipping the Navi gods

and cultures and instead invades to retrieve something that would selfishly benefit for

themselves. With Escapism the idea of Jake having his conscious escape into a Navi avatar and

experience things that he couldnt have experienced before due to his limitations in his human

side of life. As for the wars, the film heavily depicts the war between man versus nature where

in the film humans fight for their resource and invasion against the natural, well respected

Navis, reflecting to the Vietnam or Cold war in which the war is a fight against different

countries.


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List of Illustrations:

Fig 1: Donna (2009)AvatarAmazing! (online):

http://movieblogbydonna.com/?paged=2

Fig 2: Olson, J (2009) Movie Review: James Camerons Avatar(online):

http://fanboyz.net/2009/12/21/movie-review-james-camerons-avatar/

Bibliography:

Bryant Wilder, J (unknown) Defining Romanticism in the Arts (online):

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.html

Rothko, C and M (2006) The Artists Reality: Philosophies of Art(unknown, Yale University Press)

(online):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_sum

mary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

Marien, M (1991) Future Survey Annual 1991: Volume 10(USA, Transaction Publishers)

(online):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=fals

e

Woodsworth, W (1849) Ode: Intimations of Immortality(London, Edward Moxon) (online):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=fals

e

Genter, R (2010) Late Modernism: Art, Culture, and Politics in Cold War America (USA, University

of Pennsylvania Press) (online):

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+col

d+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-

bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=false
http://movieblogbydonna.com/?paged=2http://movieblogbydonna.com/?paged=2http://fanboyz.net/2009/12/21/movie-review-james-camerons-avatar/http://fanboyz.net/2009/12/21/movie-review-james-camerons-avatar/http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.htmlhttp://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.htmlhttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=9bVBj0uM7y0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=genter+2010+cold+war&hl=en&sa=X&ei=J5WUT-bxNOGc0QX82JSIAg&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=genter%202010%20cold%20war&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=l11OAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=JqmPCj8NXaoC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YE1rbTSeGt8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=falsehttp://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/defining-romanticism-in-the-arts.htmlhttp://fanboyz.net/2009/12/21/movie-review-james-camerons-avatar/http://movieblogbydonna.com/?paged=2

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