I chose the scene where Jake's Na'ri girlfriend turns on the strongest one in the tribe. Jake is unconscious and wakes up in his normal body, where Colonel Miles punches him in the face screaming, "This is where you cross the line." Reading this scene compared to watching it, I saw two totally different things. Either way it made me sad, but in 'cultural studies' terms, Jake has been accepted into the Na'ri tribe when his girlfriend will fend for him out of love and trust. White man has wooed the foreign tribe member and she is starstruck by what good he can do for their lives, in other words, playing the role of the White Messiah. In the classic White Messiah story plot, white man goes from coming in and fixing a broken civilization to turning into the bad guy towards the end of the movie before there is a happily ever after - which is happening in this scene when Colonel Miles is turned into the 'ultimate bad guy' when he decides to take this action. This scene also shows the ultimate difference between fantasy and reality. Jake is not really a blue creature, but he wants to be more than ever and has adapted to their culture in order to fix the broken gap he has been feeling for a long time since losing his brother and his ability to walk. He fixes the Na'ri - and the Na'ri also fix him. It also makes more of an impact for the Colonel to punch Jake in the face in their human bodies rather than in Jake's Na'ri body because it makes it more real for the viewer. It puts you in the perspective of seeing a handicap man get hit by some huge military colonel and if this same scene would have happened with Jake as a Na'ri, it would have not did justice for its purpose. This relates to what a student said in class on Thursday. Avatar is in a different world because it will be easier and less offensive for us to see the sustainability issues and war issues in other foreign bodies, but in this case it is just the other way around. It will be better for us to see this part of the classic White Messiah plot in the human form.
The message this scene conveys is the Na'ri have developed a sense of trust in Jake and have welcomed him as part of their clan. It is very important that Jake's Na'ri girlfriend chooses to defend him over the strongest in the tribe. It goes to show the audience that Jake is ever powerful and he has won the Na'ri tribe over even though he is lying about his identity and which team he is originally on. White man is very persuasive, believable, and can trick you. Although the viewer wants Jake to be welcomed by the Na'ri throughout the movie because it will bring them satisfaction, in the back of their minds they know he is a liar.
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