'Avatar': The Goddess Is Back (Spoiler Alert)

Jan. 29, 2010 — -- Experiencing "Avatar" for the second time on IMAX 3-D, I found myself pondering how unusual it is to find ourselves rooting for the ETs, when the choice is between life and death, between us and them. In other films such as "ET" and "Close Encounters" it was not an existential choice.

Turns out the enemy is us.

Leaving aside the Gaia Theory so beautifully depicted in "Avatar" -- that of Earth as one sentient, interconnected organism -- when we consider the biological fact that all humans share 99.9 percent of our DNA, what someone said about all war being a civil war takes on literal meaning. Despite such superficial differences as skin pigmentation - -not to mention our beliefs -- we are ONE race. Interestingly, we also share 98.4 percent of our DNA with chimps, and 50 percent with bananas.

The film pits archetypal forces locked in mortal conflict: Nature/The Goddess (Eywa/Gaia) versus the culmination of the patriarchy -- the Military/Industrial Complex -- personified by the Colonel and the Company Guy. We watch in helpless dismay as the Colonel contentedly admires the destruction that he has prematurely ordered at terrible cost to the Indigenous Na'vi, so that he can get back to dinner.

While the military is portrayed as the epitome of worldly power, seemingly unstoppable with its "shock and awe"-inspiring technology, ultimately they are hired hands. Surprise, surprise: It's all about money and these goons answer to investors and the bottom line, for which they kill, destroy, manipulate and deceive, no matter what the consequences. The real enemy is greed and the real power is the Corporation that has hired them to extract an extremely valuable mineral, the largest deposit of which lies underground beneath the Na'vis' home.

A college friend, Michelle, had a gender theory about New York architecture: the Empire State? Feminine -- tall, slender, graceful elegant lines. The World Trade Center? Masculine -- studly, angular lines. The Chrysler? An over-the-top, flamboyant drag queen. Is it not fascinating that it was the bastion of masculinity, the center for trade and commerce, that was attacked -- along with the Pentagon -- by the regime most oppressive of women in the world? In a way, the symbolism of 9/11 was the patriarchy imploding, taking itself out.