Avatar

The legend motion picture, Avatar directed by James Cameron broke all time box office records in December 2009. Ultimately taking over a decade for the whole project to come together, the film depicts new technologies from the future (mid 22nd century) in a way that opens a viewer’s eyes to the ethical concerns raised by these hypothetical future technologies. The film targets a wide variety of ethical concerns with the technologies that the humans possess, including aliens, cloning a hybrid human-alien and a colonial corporate military that will stop at nothing to come into possession with the precious mineral unobtainium, which is valued at 20 million a kilo. Different ethical theories are seen in the film and brought into question with the unforeseen consequences of technology and it’s impact on Pandora and all those involved.
One scene that stuck out to me was the scene where the head of security, Colonel Quaritch promises Sully that the company would pay for him to be able to walk again if he gathered inside intelligence about the Na’vi. Sully agrees to do so, but it does not take long for him to fall in love with the Na’vi people and the forest of Pandora. The ethical theory of duty ethics is seen in the motion picture when Sully felt a variety of feelings when deciding which side to turn on which pulled him in both ways; one in which he would get his legs back and the other for the better maxim of good of helping the Na’vi tribe. He thought his actions through according to his duty; to protect the people of Na’vi because he was seeking what was right to act with right moral.
This scene made me feel unsure about Jake Sully’s character at first. It seemed as though he was being selfish and insensitive. I suppose he hadn’t had much time with the avatars on Pandora to understand the entire situation. I don’t think Jake realized all the moral implications yet in this scene but it made me as a viewer a bit sick to my stomach to see how selfish human beings could be to other living life forms because they saw themselves as better than the avatars. Also the viewer of the film already knew more and saw the selfishness and bad intentions more so than Jake Sully had, which helped to lead why the viewer would feel that way during that scene; Jake was less knowledgeable on the situation where as the audience already realizes the ethical implications. It was an interesting point that James Cameron was making; as it was Americans who went to Pandora and who wanted to invade the avatar’s home for resources. Perhaps inferring that we as Americans meddle in other countries’ business when it is unethical?
I think that the overall point of Avatar that I gathered was that it was a warning to us to be cautious on how we are using the new technology that is presented to us on an individual, social and cultural level Fundamentally it becomes our job to use technology in safe and ethical ways and be aware of the precautions of the future. Jake Sully from the scene where he was first approached by the Colonel grew a lot and made me as a viewer feel good about his decisions by the end of the motion picture. James Cameron did an excellent job of getting the viewer to feel an attachment to the characters by the end of the film. This is because he did a good job of parasocial interaction; audiences tend to treat media personalities and characters as if they were real people with whom they have face-to-face contact because of biological and medium reasons.