I was very excited when I learned we would be watching avatar clips and analyzing them for Cultural Studies, as I have watched the movie many times and see a lot of merit in the message it portrays. Everything about the delivery of the ‘message’ helps the argument the movie seems to make, and the visual effects make it pleasing to watch and helps to get the message to those who may otherwise ignore the movie.
The scene I chose was the one in which Jake makes the bond with his banshee on the top of a mountain. He has one chance to bond with one of the creatures and then they are bonded for life. When Neytiri explains this bond, she talks about how your thoughts belong to each other, that the creature choses you and you chose it, a symbiotic relationship. The way to know that a banshee has chosen you is if it tries to kill you before the bond is made.
Jake approaches many of these creatures and most hiss at him but then fly away when confronted; the last one squares itself in his path and they proceed to struggle with each other. After a struggle and hard time making the bond, Jake falls off the cliff and hangs on for dear life on the side. He then gets back on the surface and makes the bond (signifier) with the animal that almost succeeded in killing him and says “that’s right, you’re mine.” (signified). This part made me feel completely differently about the whole scene, and definitely contributed to my post avatar depression (effect).
This scene says to me that humans are still not at all ready to come to terms with the effect they have on the environment. The Navii have a complete understanding of the world around them and all the creatures that live in it, evident in Neytiri’s explanation of the bond. The way I understood the bond that Neytiri was describing was that the rider and the creature were one in the same, and had an equal relationship based on their respective abilities (humans have purpose and direction, banshees have flight and power). But once Jake makes this bond (and at this point he seems to be almost fully integrated into their tribe and way of life), he acts as if he has mastered this beast and is now in full control of it; It belongs to him. This reflects the way that we, as humans, believe that the earth is ours to utilize, colonize and shape to suit our desires.
I really liked your interpretation of the scene! Especially your analysis on how Jake acts towards the Banshee. I think you made an excellent point in your last paragraph, where the rider and the creature are supposed to be equal, but Jake appears to have superiority. It really does reflect how humans think. What was also interesting was that Jake was made out to be sort of a hero in this scene, which I thought was a bit odd because this is the first time that we see him being accepted by his Navi equals and yet he's being depicted as superior.
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