James Cameron's 2 will need to take a more nuanced and sophisticated stance. When the original Avatar launched, many viewers and critics were wowed by the stunning visual effects, the 3D format, and the film's very unambiguous eco-conscious message. Eleven years later, many feel that while Avatar's environmentalist rhetoric carries the best of intentions, it comes off as preachy and simplistic.
In the original Avatar, Cameron casts the lush jungle-world of Pandora as an unspoiled garden worshiped by the Na'vi and governed by a mystical deity. The film depicts Pandora as a kind of Eden — a perfectly balanced, harmonious system, where all instances of strife and conflict signify an endless cycle of renewal. Such a sentimental depiction of nature betrays the fact that quite often, the natural world is chaotic and inhospitable. Further, because Cameron's Na'vi are essentially an extension of their falsely idyllic environment, these characters lose complexity as a result, being relegated to ive conduits of Pandora's "balance" while the villainous humans are framed as two-dimensional threats to it.
These thematic issues help explain why Avatar's reputation has become divisive since its release. In order for Avatar 2 to succeed, Cameron must sophisticate the film's stance on environmentalism by dialing down the sentimentality; by complicating his characters — especially the Na'vi — Cameron can more accurately represent what environmentalism requires in the 21st century.
Why Avatar's Environmentalism Hasn't Aged Well
The original Avatar paints an unrealistically pristine portrait of Pandora. The film's visuals are nothing short of stunning, and Avatar 2 will likely be more stunning and awe-inspiring than the first. Viewers can't help but be captivated by scenes featuring bioluminescent forests and exotic, six-legged predators. The problem is that Avatar spends too much effort casting Pandora as an Eden wherein all activity is predicated on order and harmony, and in doing so, falls into the trappings of the "Noble Savage" trope. When Neytiri (Zoe Saldana) and Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) grow thirsty, they drink pure rainwater from plants that resemble earth's elephant ear leaves. When they grow hungry, they kill a goat-like animal in the forest and tell it, "Your spirit goes with Eywa. Your body stays behind to become part of The People.” The gesture is meant to be consolatory, and its intentions are positive. The problem that Cameron seems to forget is that for the slain animal, these words are meaningless.
By implying that the Pandoran animals are all aware of Eywa and the cycle of life, the film commits the crucial error of imposing distinctly human values on a very complex and non-human ecosystem. On the surface, Avatar may demonstrate a high valuation of the natural world, but in order to do so, it runs nature through the filter of human ideals. In reality, not all animal deaths in the natural world are put to a valid use; nature is sometimes chaotic and wasteful — rather than innately perfect — and a sophisticated environmentalist stance must for these complexities.
The issue of sentimentality also informs Avatar's reliance on Eywa, a forest deity analogous to the popular concept of "Mother Nature." When the Omaticaya face the loss of their habitat at the hands of Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi) and the RDA (a strip-mining operation whose will likely return in Avatar 2), they invoke Eywa to save them. Eywa answers by sending a salvo of charging animals to disrupt the RDA's efforts. Although this moment of deus ex machina may feel reassuring for viewers, it's also potentially misleading; by placing Eywa in charge of correcting the RDA's wrongs, the film implies that environmental issues can be solved by some mystical, non-human agency, thus absolving the film's humans and Na'vi characters from full responsibility. This reasoning is potentially dangerous, as it implies that, should human encroachment ever go "too far," their transgressions will be corrected by some exterior, non-human agency. Cameron's brand of environmentalism is both sentimental and inaccurate. In reality, Mother Nature cannot deploy galloping beasts to disrupt strip-mining, or excessive pollution, or deforestation. In reality, the natural world can't actively defend itself against the threat of human encroachment.
How Avatar 2 Can Fix Avatar's Problems
Although the original Avatar sometimes falls flat in its efforts to construct a realistic stance on environmentalism, Cameron has ample opportunities to address these issues in Avatar 2 as well as Disney's future sci-fi entries. There's evidence that Avatar 2 will feature extensive underwater scenes. Assuming that's the case, then Cameron has an entirely new ecosystem to depict. Perhaps the seas of Pandora could exist as a true wilderness, where nature is sometimes harsh and unsentimental. Even simple touches like underwater volcanoes might help viewers that nature can also be violent and unpredictable.
Most importantly, whether it takes place mostly in the sea or in the thick Pandoran jungles, Avatar 2 should deemphasize Eywa's presence. Cameron would do well to demonstrate human and Na'vi characters seeking their own solutions to ecological issues rather than calling on mystical protectors; otherwise, the film's environmentalism risks coming off as disingenuous. Avatar 2 could raise the stakes by allowing the film's human and Na'vi characters to work together toward some ecological goal instead of relying on Eywa. For example, there's evidence that Avatar's violent Colonel Quaritch will return in Avatar 2; his new character arc could be one of redemption, allowing him a new perspective on Pandora that appreciates the natural world without collapsing into sentimentality.
By adjusting its brand of environmentalism, Avatar 2 can also complicate its Na'vi characters. If, as has been suggested, Avatar 2, then Cameron has an excellent chance to complicate both the original film's sentimental take on nature, and the Omaticaya themselves, who often come off as simplistic and overdetermined in their nature worship. Cameron would be wise to allow Jake and Neytiri's children a more complicated and surprising engagement with the wilds of Pandora. For instance, one of the children can have a fearful encounter in the forest that can't be explained by any consolatory rhetoric about "harmony." Or, one of the children could move beyond Omaticayan territory and make with another Na'vi clan who have a different, less sentimental relationship with their environment. Such an encounter could open up valuable opportunities for competing environmentalist theories among the Na'vi.
The original Avatar is enormous in narrative scope, and now that The Abyss. Hopefully, he'll prove it again with Avatar 2.
