Sociology Theories in the Movie Avatar - Essay Example

In this paper, an attempt shall be made to address some of the theories of sociology in order to gain a better understanding of the movie. One of the most visible sociological theories in this movie is that of social conflict, and this is because human beings have gone to an alien planet, Pandora, with the intention of attaining precious metal (Fulford 55). While, in the process of doing so, they are exposed to the natives of this planet whose lives are disrupted by the activities of human beings.

Some of the largest deposits of this highly coveted metal can only be found in places where the Navi have settled and in order to attain it, the human beings are prepared to use force where necessary. This inevitably leads to conflict because the Navi are not even consulted or given the option to move. Human beings move in with force destroying everything in their path so that they can attain their goal. Therefore, the Navi are forced to fight back, and this is despite the fact that they are technologically inferior to the humans (Clover 6).

This is an example of the weak and oppressed rising up against their oppressors, as has been seen throughout human history. The rise of the Navi can be compared to the actions taken by the people of various Arab countries to overthrow regimes that have oppressed them for decades. Avatar provides a perfect example of racism as seen when humans look upon and treat the Navi as an inferior race to theirs. The Navi can be compare to the Native Americans, who were brought under European dominance due to the belief that they were culturally and technologically inferior to their European counterparts.

Avatar is a retelling of this story from another perspective as the Navi are also faced by the same situation that faced the Native Americans. Throughout the movie, one will notice that the Navi are at risk of losing everything they hold dear just because they are deemed different (Boaz). The human leaders on the planet Pandora do not even care to consult them before taking any action on their planet. All humans do is issue them with ultimatums, which if not met, results in death and destruction.

The Navi are looked upon by humans as being no better than animals and are in fact, treated as such. Very few, if any of the human leadership takes any interest to study the culture of these people and better understand their way of life before making conclusions about them; instead, they are treated as being inferior just because they do not have the technology that humans do. In this movie, it can be said that there is resistance to the domination of human beings on Pandora. This can be seen when a number of humans realize the wrong which is happening to the Navi and choose to side with them in their resistance to the profiteering humans.

This action brings about the rise of a resistance movement that unites all the Navi on the planet against the humans. If the Navi did not have a leader to direct their resistance, then it is possible that they would have been destroyed because they were not united against the common enemy, the humans. However, the timely arrival of a leader unites them and in the end, they are victorious (Mckosato). This can be considered to have been the mistake that was made by many of the Native