No, there is nothing Jewish about James Cameron's film Avatar.
This blogger just saw the film in IMAX 3D at Garden State Plaza at 9 AM. It left us speechless. All we could say on exiting the theater was, WOW! We just cannot recall any film that comes close to equaling this one in its creativity and drama. It is movie entertainment at its most extravagant, elegant and artistic. WOW! is really all that needs to be said.
Now some may argue that calling the indigenous people in the film, the Navi, hearkens back to the biblical prophets (Navi is Hebrew for prophet). But that's not a credible point. The Navi in the film are pagans in the purest sense. Their religious activity and prayer in the film is clearly pagan, as is their attachment to their planet.
Others may argue that the mother tree at the center of the story recalls the trees in the biblical Garden of Eden narrative in Genesis. It didn't do that for us. Sometimes a tree is just a pagan Hollywood tree.
The clear symbolic theme in the film is of the struggle of industrial greed and military might against human society and the purity of nature. Cameron does get epic but he does not get apocalyptic in his portrayal of this battle.
Books will be written about this film. PhD's will be earned just analyzing strands and elements of its brilliance.
It is a masterpiece of story, of animation and of 3D. WOW!
6 comments:
also, their god is eywa. rearrange the letters. yawe. yahweh.
what about the spiritual leader which they call Tsahik...change one letter and it's Tsadik.
it was very Jewish because:
1. The name of their god being eywa sounds like yu hay vav hey
2. Name of their leader is Tashik similar to tzadik
3. The concept of everything being connected
4. The idea of praying in nature (breslov chassidism)
5. To walk with no fear (Rebbe Nachman)
6. The Navi - prophets
7. The wild beasts at the end (10 plagues)
8. The concept of a saviour who unites the tribes - King David/Mashiach
9. People die yet their soul lives on
10. The western world (secular) thinks it knows it all but they dont really
11. Home Tree was like the Beit Hamikdash
I've been making a lot of spiritual connections with the movie. I really agree with this article. While some point out that it is not even close to a "Christian" movie, I for one see a lot of Christian themes or other spiritual connections. Good comments to from those above.
The tree was not the Beit Ha Mikdash. The tree was the tree of knowledge that connects us to our ancestors, i.e., the Torah.
Okay well Avatar may not be Jewish... But is James Cameron himself Jewish? Yes or no?
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