Sunday, October 31, 2010

Jake Sully is the white messiah

The scene that I decided to look at was the scene when Jake gathers all of the other Na'vi tribes to help fight against the military from the base. I think that this totally fits into the white messiah archetype. The fact that he is gathering all of the tribes to help fight says a lot. The tribes pretty much blindly follow him and help him. This is probably because he is riding the toruk. Jake riding the toruk means that he is the Toruk Makto. This means that he has a lot of power over the people. They immediately will look up to him and respect him. It also means that they will follow him into a battle that they do not have much of a chance to win alone. Luckily, when the Na'vi has already suffered many deaths, Eywa rallies all of the animals of Pandora to help the Na'vi army defeat the humans. Eywa most likely answers the prayers of the Na'vi because she is there to "preserve the balance of life on Pandora."
I think that this scene epitomizes the white messiah archetype. It is so easy for Jake to gather the tribes of Pandora. I dont think that there would be any way for Jake to have this affect on the Na'vi if he was not the Toruk Makto. In general, the scene argues that Jake is the only one that can save the Na'vi, and in the end, he does. The humans are defeated and they have to leave Pandora. In typical happy ending fashion, the humans all leave, Jake and Norm live on Pandora with the rest of the Na'vi and all is well. Jake will be looked at as the one who saved everyone from the humans and saved their lives. He is the white messiah.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with your argument and I think there is something else that could support it. I think the fact that Jake is not a full/pure part of the Na'vi also supports his white messiah archetype. A messiah appears to be the same as the rest of the people (in this case the Na'vi) but in actuality there is an element that makes him not completely the same (the fact that his avatar is still part human). So not only is Jake the one who saved everyone and saved their lives, perhaps he would not have been capable of doing that if it weren't for his part human aspect, or because he was riding the toruk.

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