Analysis of the movie Avatar
Introduction
The movie Avatar is good illustration for how far an individual may go into exhibiting the various social psychological process. The movie contains many psychological processes, which comes by analyzing the traits of the various characters in the movie. Analyzing the social psychological processes presented in the movie will occur through analyzing the various factors that affects the way the characters behave. The behavior of the characters depends on various factors such as conditions, presence of others. Some of the themes coming out in the movie includes social influences, prejudice and discrimination, attitudes and stereotypes.
Prejudice and discrimination forms the basis for the plot of the movie since the movie gives a comprehensive idea about the relationship between the various characters. The movie illustrates on various scenes which involves one character prejudicating or discriminating another character (Augoustinos, 159). Jack Sully decides to replace his brother who had died as an operator in Dr. Grace’ Avatar program. However, he does not get to live his dream since the head of the team (Avatar) did not consider him as an adequate replacement for his brother. This shows the extent to which an individual can face prejudice in their work places. Sully does not get to secure his brother’s job because the head looked down upon him in addition to considering that he had little effort which could not match his brother’s. Instead, the head considers assigning him as a bodyguard, a position which does not always require skill. This furthers the prejudice that the head of the program exhibited towards Sully. The head exhibits a wrong attitude towards Jack because of the preformed perception that the latter had not accumulated enough experience to replace his brother. The act of discrimination also comes out in the scene where Jake’s Avatar had faced attack by a thanator. This forces him to fly to the forest where he Neytiri rescue him. At this point there is expectation that the Na’vi will easily accept Jake into their community since he is also a human . However, this does not happen as Jake has to go for initiation in order for the Na’vi to accept him as one of their members. otherwise, Jake would have faced negative actions, from the Na’vi because of the belief that he is from another clan. The clan had to order for the initiation because of the discrimination they had for those who are not members of their communities.
Group process is also a significant aspect of social psychological process, which comes out in the movie. There is violence between the existing groups with the action of each individual being influenced by the group, which he or she originates. When Neytiri gets to rescue Jake she exhibit the influence of the groups process. She is forced to comply initiate Jake into the way of the society because of the belief that failure of that will lead to the clan disowning her and Jake. This implies that her life in the clan was a subject to the group process as every choice she makes must be in line with the clans’ process. Another instance of the influence of group process occurs when Jake and Grace are to convince the clan into evacuating. This shows that the group, in which Jake resides, controls his actions. Jake is also in the process of making the society accept him fully as he cannot operate at the individual process. He comes to change his allegiance through his attempts of destructing a bulldozer, which is against the clan. This bulldozer threatens to dismantle one of the sacred site belong to the Na’vi clan. Because of the group (in this case Na’vi), Jake have to destroy the bulldozer without even considering, the view of the bulldozer in destroying the sacred sites.
Further, group process also comes to prevent Jake from fully cooperating with the Quatrich. Because of the group process, Jake does not come to operate as a spy on the gathering place of the clan. Further, Jake had to do everything in the effort to regain the trust of the group; otherwise, the group would have to disown him. He sees that the being accepted in the clan again is the only way he could get to heal Grace. Quatrich also fires at Jake and Grace, because of the belief that the two had betrayed their group. The Quatrich exhibits brutality because of the influence of their groups, which they felt had been betrayed. The Quatrich men also gets to killing father to Neytiri because of the belief that the latter was a betrayal to their group. The betrayal of Neytiri’s father comes because he had welcomed Jake into their family. The fight between the Quatrich men and the Na’vi clan has its basis on the group process. Every individual in both clans has to battle for their own group to ensure that they win. Even though the Na’vi clan suffers casualities, the individuals still witness unceasing efforts towards ensuring that their groups does not fail. Every individual in the two communities combine their efforts towards ensuring that they do not fail their groups. Consequently, the film Avatar is a good illustration on the extent of influence that group process may have on the life of an individual.
The various scenes in the movie also have illustration on how individual can exhibit self-concept in their lives. Self-concept refers to the view that an individual has about himself. In the movie, Jake Sully feels that he has the necessary experience to replace his twin brother as one of the operators. This makes him to approach Dr. Augustine, who acts as the head of the program on the need to replace his brother. However, Dr. Augustine comes to deny him the chance because of the belief that Jake had inadequate experience of replacing one of the operators. In this scene, Dr. Augustine also believes in himself that is why he does not even have to test Jake before making the conclusion on his capabilities. Dr. Augustine perceives himself as being able to evaluate the job seekers and be able to make appropriate choice on the operation of the Avatar program. Further, Jake also comes to realize that he has come to abandon his team, as the result of the thanator attack. He has to fly into the forest and accept to face initiation into the Na’vi clan. He perceives himself as having no option, but to remain as the member of Na’vi clan. Jake is also aware that he is a spy but continues living within the Na’vi clan. This makes him to be suspicious of his existence in the clan since revealing this would cause danger to the family that he is living with. The perception that he should be a keeper of his society (Na’vi) makes him to avoid his intentions of helping the Quatrich men to destroy the Na’vi clan. He perceive himself as bein
The scenes in the movie also illustrates on the way stereotypes may come to affect the society. The presentation of various groups of people who fight into maintaining their originality makes the movie a good illustrations of stereotypes (Augoustinos, 159). The origin of the violence between the Quatrich men and the Na’vi clan is because of stereotypes existing between the two. The Quatrich men believe that the action of Jake towards destroying the bulldozer is an implication that the whole Na’vi clan was against them. The Quatrich men come to make conclusion on the attitude of Na’vi’s clan by consideration of the individual’s action. They do not take the step of consulting the destruction of the bulldozer. The stereotypes forms basis of this wars because the two warring sides use this as a form of response to situation. In this case, the Quatrich men used stereotypes to act against their perceived enemies because of the feeling that they had the same experience with one of the clan members. Failure of acting against the Na’vi clan would have the implication that the Quatrich men are risking as they have no knowledge about the potential of the Na’vi towards them. The Quatrich go on to destruct the Na’vi community because of the fixed belief they had attached to the community through Jakes actions.
Apart from the violence between the two groups, act of stereotypes also arises when the spiritual leader of the Na’vi clan forces Neytiri to initiate Jake into the ways of the community. This shows that the spiritual leader exhibits a formed opinion about the outsider who were coming into the community for their first time. She has the belief that every outsider, without the initiation, is an enemy of the community. This scene also depicts the community as relying on stereotypes to protect themselves from enemies. The communities always have the belief that it is rare for the enemies to accept initiation into the ways of the community and therefore this served as one of the test for the enemies. Dr. Grace also witness acts of stereotypes when she consider Jake as having inadequate experience to allow him (Jake) replace his brother. Grace has the fixed belief that individuals who have no exhibited experience about a certain job will not have the capability of operating successfully in the same. This makes her to categorize Jake in the same group without the consideration that Jake might be having the potential to adapt to the given post. She goes on to deny Jake the chance but takes him to the bodyguard post where she believed he could fit. Consequently, she therefore uses her fixed belief in judging Jake’s ability.
Attitude as an aspect of psychological process also comes out in the plot of the movie. Most of the decision made by the characters in the movie depends on the attitude held (Hogg & Tindale, 259). Dr. Grace has personal feelings that Jake does not fit to replace his brother in the operation of the Avatar program. She believes that Jake will not tackle the various activities, during the operation, like his twin brother. Further, Grace also believes that Jake is only suitable for the job of being a bodyguard. The feelings are what forms the basis for the choices that Grace makes. The Quatrich men also have the attitude that Jake could act as the best person to use as the spy over the activities of their perceived enemies. They believe that Jake would not disappoint when acting as a spy. Further, the Na’vi clan also believes that Jake could not betray them especially after initiating him in the ways of the society. This makes Jake be in dilemma of which side he should side with. However, the attitude he has towards the two communities is what leads to his ultimate solution about the dilemma. He has a strong feeling for the love of Na’vi clan making him to declare that the Quatrich had been using him as a spy.
Conclusion
The movies has several aspects which have direct relation to the social psychological processes. It presents a plot, which has relevance to the real life situation as it harbor many of the social psychological process witnessed in the modern world. Some of the aspects of psychological processes presented in the movie include prejudice and discrimination, self-concept, group process, stereotypes and attitude. The scenes in the movie also illustrates on the way stereotypes may come to affect the society. The presentation of various groups of people who fight into maintaining their originality makes the movie a good illustrations of stereotypes. Further, the movie Avatar depicts on the extent of influence that group process may have on the life of an individual. Through the character Jake, the movie Avatar has also depicted the extent that the self concept can affect the decision made by an individual. The movie has also harbored the aspect of attitude since most of the decision made by the characters in the movie depends on the attitude they have towards a given concept.
Work cited
Hogg, Michael, and Tindale, Scott. Blackwell Handbook of Social Psychology: Group Processes. Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2007. Internet resource. 259 att
Augoustinos, Martha. Understanding Prejudice, Racism, and Social Conflict. London [u.a.: Sage Publ, 2001. Print. 159
