Avatar, marketed as James Cameron’s Avatar, is a 2009 American epic science fiction film directed, written, produced, and co-edited by James Cameron, and stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sigourney Weaver.

The film is set in the mid-22nd century, when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system, in order to mine the mineral unobtanium, a room-temperature superconductor. The expansion of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na’vi—a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora.

The film’s title refers to a genetically engineered Na’vi body with the mind of a remotely located human that is used to interact with the natives of Pandora.

February 6-15, 2019

Our activities in this Avatar unit will be organized as follows (in this order):

Wednesday, February 6

A. Watch the movie Avatar.

Friday, February 8

B. Watch the following instructional videos (see Panopto links in our Blackboard Avatar Module):

• Avatar and Imperialism (15 minutes)
  
• Avatar: Science vs. Voodoo (22 minutes)
  

Monday, February 11

C. Watch my Avatar and Unobtanium video (30 minutes—Panopto link in our Blackboard Avatar Module).

D. Read my essay entitled “Esoteric Avatar: From White Savior Anti-Imperialism to Planetary Gnosis” (see our Blackboard module—34 PAGES)

Wednesday, February 13

E. Post your BLOG entry on what my videos and essay say about the movie. Prompt Link: http://ou.groovdigit.com/blog-prompt-3-avatar/

Friday, February 15

F. Comment on your groupmates’ blog entries.

NEXT UNIT: Begin reading the Black Panther graphic novel A Nation Under Our Feet volume 1.

CLASS LINKS

• Stages in the Hero’s Journey (class website)

EXTERNAL LINKS

• Stages in the Hero’s Journey (class website)