|
|
|
|
|
PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE
Article 64
This is a sample from the current issue of Permaculture Magazine. Other recent articles are listed in articles
Older articles can be found in articles archive
All these articles are strictly copyright and must not be reproduced in any form without written permission. Please contact [email protected] if you have any queries.
|
THE AVATAR EFFECT
Chris Johnstone reviews James Cameron’s epic from a permaculture perspective.
|
|
|
|
A Masterpiece of Permaculture Design?
“Can we take some of this tree–hugging crap out?” asked Fox executives, after reading the script for Avatar the movie. “No”, said James Cameron, the director, “that’s why I’m making the film”. His vision was to take audiences into a different world, to show a different set of possibilities. “Avatar asks us” he said, “to see that everything is connected, all human beings to each other, and us to the Earth.” With its huge budget and groundbreaking 3D effects, this film has already made more money than any other movie in history. Could it also be regarded as a masterpiece of permaculture design?
Synopsis
The story is set in a fictional future on a faraway world. The plot acts like a mirror, reflecting back to us events unfolding on our planet now. Beautiful forests are being torn down to make way for opencast mines; a large
corporation employs its own private army to crush opposition from the local population. The world of Avatar is a large, life-rich moon called Pandora. The indigenous people are the Na’vi: tall, blue-skinned and living with a deep spiritual connection to the forest-world they are part of.
Cameron explains his intention: “the Na’vi represent that sort of aspirational part of ourselves that wants to be better, that wants to respect nature”. They have developed such a richly satisfying life of connectedness that they can’t be bought off; preserving the beauty and vitality of their world is more important to them than anything a materialistic society can offer.
Touching the Heart
Even more striking than its special effects are the film’s emotional effects. When I’ve asked people about their experience of Avatar, many tell me they’ve felt deeply touched. Some report a strengthening of purpose, with a greater willingness to play their part in the protection of life on earth. Others have described loving the film, but feeling a deep sadness afterwards; a brief search on the internet suggests this is not uncommon. There’s even a diagnostic term to describe it: ‘Post Avatar Depression’.
Anna, a young woman who cried for an hour after watching the film, told me about her experience: “The feeling I had was one of mourning: mourning our loss, as a species, of our connection to the basic sustenance of life”. Anna added that she had felt silly at responding to a film in this way. Yet, for her, it was so much more than just a film; it was a profound wake up call to what is happening in our world. Anna described the effect this had: “Avatar has contributed to a growing ecological consideration within me; I am finding it increasingly difficult to assume the position of a lack of personal responsibility by the ‘burying my-head-in-the-sand’ method”.
So what’s this got to do with permaculture?
Purchase Permaculture Magazine 64 and find out
Avatar is available on DVD and Blu-ray from April 26th 2010.
See www.avatar-movie.co.uk
Chris Johnstone edits The Great Turning Times, www.GreatTurningTimes.org and is author of Find Your Power – A Toolkit for Resilience and Positive Change, price £12.95, new, revised and expanded edition due to be published by Permanent Publications on 18th May 2010, available from www.green-shopping.co.uk.
Find out more about Chris Johnstone at: www.ChrisJohnstone.info,
|
|
|
|
|
|
