I tend to be a bit behind the times. It’s a purposeful lateness that I can’t quite explain. I just know that I am immediately skeptical about all things on the bestseller list or that receive major media attention. Usually, I let the furor die down before I cautiously approach to see what all the hype was about. And so it was no surprise that I came to be seated in the TASOK Cultural Arts Center (CAC) watching Avatar late one evening in March long after most of my friends in the US had already seen it. The movie was being shown as a fundraiser for the boys soccer team (entrance to the movie was free of course; they sold popcorn to raise the actual money.)
As with most viewers, I was taken in immediately by the special effects. The blues were richer and the greens were deeper than anything I had seen recently. The movie had really only just begun when I began to wonder why no one had told me it was about the Congo. It seemed so clear to me I actually looked around to see if there was anyone close by who could confer. It began to feel more and more eerie. I was living in the Congo after all; why hadn’t anyone mentioned to me that this movie receiving all the hype was about the very country I had come to call home for the past two years?
I was accompanied by my boys, who really haven’t reached the intellectual maturity I was looking for to confirm my ideas. In fact, by the time Jake was being chased by the creatures Mohamed had decided maybe he wasn’t old enough for the movie after all and we should go home. We stuck it out a bit longer, but I did miss the ending. And I missed the ending for another few months before I finally had the chance to see the movie in its entirety. I asked around…. “How did it end?” And I got the same reply, “It was ok.” This from the same people who never told me the movie was practically a living replica of the present day DRC. I should have known “ok” meant something else completely.
There were so many moments of ‘coincidence’ that I actually took notes while Mohamed watched a second time (I guess he grew up a bit in those few months.)
Here is the proof positive that Pandora is easily an equal to modern day Congo:
There is, of course, the jungle vast in its mysteries and stunning in its beauty. It is the home to many animals and referred to as the source of life. I found it especially poignant when Grace was trying to explain the ‘global network’ that the trees represented to a disbelieving Parker. This is exactly what is happening to our rainforest areas today. Their role in replenishing our atmosphere with oxygen and cleaning the carbon dioxide pollutants is completely undervalued. As humans, we seem to completely be ignoring our need and dependence on the rainforest in sustaining the balance of our environment as we know it and currently survive in. We seem to be like Parker, who is in a state of refusal that the trees could hold any biologic value worth more than the precious rock he is seeking to convert into dollars.
Parker is willing to destroy an entire race of people and possibly alter the ecological balance of the planet in search of this rock. There is a clear correlation here to the current marauding of Congo. The rock in the movie seems to stand for every resource that has ever been plundered from Congolese soil- rubber, tin, diamonds, and coltan. With every Western invention that makes life quicker, smoother and richer, Congo is the source of the material. From automobiles to airplanes, from computers to cell phones and from our throw away lifestyles (think aluminum soda cans) to pure entertainment (video games, race cars, cameras) the materials needed to create these pleasures comes from the earth of Congo. Life for most Congolese does not include owning a computer, flying across the country, investing in gold or receiving top quality medical care. These things Westerners take for granted as part of normal life come at the cost of Congolese lives. The majority of people don’t even know it. Men, women and children are dying- have been dying and are continuing to be killed-in order to ensure that the supply of resources continues.
In turn, this is similar to when Neytiri tells Jake he is like a child. Western society desires to have its demands for easy lives, instant pleasure and constant entertainment met, regardless of cost or effect. Jake, at least, is open to learning and wants to be taught how to see. “You can’t be taught to see,” comes the response. It is a moment to wonder if some societies will ever grow up, wake up, accept responsibility for the consequences of their lives and take action to make a real and solid change.
I’m still hoping for more than a Hollywood ending as the movie continues to shock me with message after message. Trying to incite war into the hearts and minds of his compatriots, the Colonel says “We’ll blast a crater so deep in their racial memory they won’t come within 1,000 meters of this place ever again.” I am stunned. Because ‘blasting a crater in their racial memories’ is a perfect metaphor to describe the era of King Leopold in Congo. After becoming somewhat educated about this particularly brutal period in history, I can see a similarity in the idea of crushing a people so completely they live in a fear so intense that future generations for decades suffer a development of culture, confidence and ego at the most basic level. It gave me chills to hear that line spoken with such voice and emotional hatred. Not just a movie, but a representation of the revulsion and disregard one people has held for another in our not so distant past.
There are many other, smaller references that continued to shout out “Africa” and more specifically, “Congo” to me as I viewed the film. The constant references to the ancestors and the power, magic and guidance that can be found there is clearly an African belief (if only we could all accept looking to our past to find wisdom for our future.) The idea of referring to the natives as ‘hostiles’ when the violent acts were initiated (and in some cases choreographed right down to training and placement of weapons) by the foreigners seems to mirror exactly Western notions of ‘tribal wars’ and ‘angry Africans fighting amongst themselves.’
I found a few things personally relevant and haunting such as Jake’s video blog when he states that ‘everything seems backwards now….like in here is the true world and out there is the dream.’ After living in Africa for 2 years, I can say I feel the same way. This is the true reality- where there are problems to be solved, people to feed and wars to be stopped- as opposed the harsh bright lights of America that will have you believe there are things to be bought, entertainment to be pursued, and people and problems to be ignored.
Finally, I found the idea of the Avatar itself to be pretty convincing. It can be exhausting being white in Africa and I often find myself wishing for an Avatar to disguise me. Most often I forget to notice what color I am----I spend so much time staring out from behind my eyes at deep browns, smooth chocolates and rich tans that I forget my white skin stands out, marking me as different. But on those moments when it is brought to my attention (usually in the face of some injustice) I am outraged, exasperated and wishing to blend in—hide behind the eyes of an Avatar, imagine something different in the way Jake was able to experience a different perspective. The ultimate in walking a mile in someone else’s shoes. But that was not entirely the intention. The Avatar was meant to provide inside information that could be used to destroy the people of Pandora. Similarly, many African leaders today are living breathing shells filled with ideaology, greed, and military training of the West. These leaders are then returned to their countries, posing as people who stand for and support independence and justice, when in truth, behind their facade is an American business, government or family pulling strings and reaping millions in rewards while the civilians continue to be, not just cast aside, but trampled upon and torn apart, crushed and incinerated like long forgotten refuge.
While the Avatar solution may have provided a creative way for some earthlings to experience life on Pandora, the ending to this movie seemed to employ no creativity at all. “It’s ok.” That’s what people told me. It ends with a war. That's what they didn't say. Typical. Historical. Disappointing. There are no winners with war, only destruction and devastation. It's not "o.k." at all. If we can’t imagine an alternate ending in art, how will we ever arrive at one in real life? It’s time we begin to imagine a new solution, rehearse it in our movies and stories, suggest it in our paintings and photographs. Use art not just to mirror reality, but to change it.
