“Everything now begins to change its aspects,” Rousseau said from the second discourse excerpts. He is talking about the way of life and how men portrayed it from the past and how things changed in the present. He says “Men, who have up to now been roving in the woods, by taking to a more settled manner of life, come gradually together, form separate bodies, and at length in every country arises a distinct nation, united in character and manners, not by regulations or laws, but by uniformity of life and food, and the common influence of climate.” (Pg. 7, paragraph 2). This passage relates to Avatar, in the aspect that Jake changed from his human ways to becoming an Avatar. He took on a new way of life, one he portrayed as a better life. From being two separate things, a simple regular human guy to becoming an avatar a 10 foot big blue person, Jake came gradually together with the other Avatars. He adapted to a new way of life, not by any laws or regulations but by choice, and he also decided to follow their customs and rules. Like Rousseau was saying two distinct nations gradually coming together, from separate bodies into one. They had common influences and the uniformity of life was the key thing which brought them together. He also said “Men began now to take the difference between objects into account, and to make comparisons; they acquired imperceptibly the ideas of beauty and merit, which soon gave rise to feelings of preference.” Again relating this to Avatar you can see that Jake took the difference of being a human and being avatar into account and compared them. In which he liked being avatar because it gave him that freedom and ability to do things he was unable to before because of his disability. Therefore Jake, seen the beauty in being an avatar and had stronger feelings as to why he preferred to stay an avatar.
This is very true, and I've always wondered, would Jake have had such strong feelings for the Na'vi and been as willing to give up his human form if he had had the ability to walk when he arrived on Pandora? I think this played a major part (at least in the beginning of the movie, before he started developing feelings for the Na'vi culture) in his decision to become an Avatar.
ReplyDeleteI wonder the exact same thing, I have no clue if he would still choose to become an Avatar or stay a Human? It's a interesting thing to think about, especially because if he didnt have his disability would he have like the human life better or would he have still favored the like as an Avatar. Its hard to say but quite interesting to think about.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your post. I think you did a great job incorporating what Rousseau was saying about the two bodies coming as one to Avatar. Jake Sully choosing to be an Avatar is the perfect example. From the movie you can really infer how it was he choice to become an Avatar because he loved it so much. Because you would think yeah of course he would want to be an Avatar because he can use his legs there.. but it was more than that, he fell in love with the people not just the abilities he had because the coronal offered to get his legs fixed in human form
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