Blog Prompt #3: Avatar

After you have watched James Cameron’s Avatar, watch the following videos, read my essay, and then write a post in response to the Blog Prompt below:

The Big Picture: Instructional Videos

NOTE: This time you DO have to write specifically about my videos and my essay, indicating along the way your familiarity with the movie.

• Hartley on Avatar and Imperialism (blackboard link to Panopto—15 minutes)
• Hartley on Avatar: Science vs. Voodoo (blackboard link to Panopto—22 minutes)
• Hartley on Avatar and Unobtanium (blackboard link to Panopto—30 minutes)
• Hartley essay entitled “Esoteric Avatar: From White Savior Anti-Imperialism to Planetary Gnosis” (see our Blackboard module—34 PAGES)

Prompt for Avatar Instructional Videos Blog Post

Then in your blog post consider the following points (you don’t necessarily need to address these questions separately):

• How do my videos and essay help you understand the underlying structure of Avatar?
• How does Cameron critique colonial exploitation in the film?
• How does Cameron point to the colonial complicity of seemingly neutral social activities such as teaching and scientific exploration?
• What larger perspectives regarding our relationship to each other and to our planet does Cameron suggest in Avatar?