Thursday 24 December 2009

AVATAR


After watching the movie with my fellow friend in boys brigade after a long exhausting but fruitful youth camp,do some research bout this movie that catch my eyes for almost 3 hours,from wiki(most of my resource alwayscome from here ;-P)..

In Hinduism, Avatar or Avatara (Devanagari अवतार, IAST avatāra, Sanskrit for "descent" viz., from heaven to earth, from the verbal root tṝ "to cross over") refers to a deliberate descent of a deity from heaven to earth(wow, sound like jesus), and is mostly translated into English as "incarnation", though more accurately as "appearance" or "manifestation". It corresponds more closely to the view of Docetism in Christian theology, as distinct from the idea of incarnation in mainstream Christology and its implication of God 'in the flesh'.(see, i thought so..)

The term is most often associated with Vishnu, though it has also come to be associated with other deities. Varying lists of avatars of Vishnu appear in Hindu scriptures, including the ten (daśāvatāra) of the Garuda Purana and the twenty-two avatars in the Bhagavata Purana, though the latter adds that the incarnations of Vishnu are innumerable. The avatars of Vishnu are a primary component of Vaishnavism.
( ok, i not really understand this part)
but,The proliferation of avatar’s second meaning can be traced to Second Life, a multiplayer online virtual world, where players fashion their own online personae called avatars. The popularity of the game has shot the term into the mainstream. Philip Rosedale, the creator of Second Life, defines avatar in the gaming sense as “the representation of your chosen embodied appearance to other people in a virtual world.” Considering that Second Life avatars may assume literally any guise — wings, a dragon’s head, gills and flippers — the key to avatarness, in Rosedale’s view, is user control. And insofar as a Second Life avatar does and is precisely what the player wants, not just a little Mario who can be made to run and jump or a shapely diva gyrating of her own programmed will, it comes far closer to being a full-fledged virtual persona.

Avatar is a 2009 science fiction film written and directed by James Cameron, and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña, Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang. It was produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film begins in the year 2154 and focuses on Pandora, an inhabited Earth-sized moon of Polyphemus, one of the three fictional gas giants orbiting Alpha Centauri A. Humans are engaged in mining Pandora's reserves of a precious mineral, while the na'vi, the sapient race of humanoids indigenous to the moon, resist the colonists' expansion, which threatens the continued existence of the na'vi and the destruction of the Pandoran ecosystem. The film's title refers to the remotely controlled, genetically engineered human-na'vi bodies used by the film's human characters to interact with the natives.[4]

Avatar had been in development since 1994 by Cameron, who wrote a 114-page scriptment for the film. Filming was supposed to take place after the completion of Titanic, and the film would have been released in 1999, but according to Cameron, "technology needed to catch up" with his vision of the film.( In early 2006, Cameron developed the script, the language, and the culture of Pandora.[it is not easy to make out a language and aculture u know]

the story goes like that,
In 2154, a corporation is mining Pandora, the lush, Earthlike moon of the gas giant planet Polyphemus, in the Alpha Centauri system. The humans are exploiting the unobtanium reserves. Parker Selfridge (Giovanni Ribisi), the administrator, employs former marines as mercenaries.

The indigenous are the Na'vi, a paleolithic species of sapient humanoids. Standing several feet taller than a human, with tails, bones reinforced with naturally-occurring carbon fiber, and bioluminescent blue skin, they live in harmony with Nature and worship a mother goddess called Eywa. Humans cannot breathe Pandora's atmosphere, and have created human-na'vi hybrid bodies called Avatars, so they may easily interact with the na'vi. Humans who share genetic material with an avatar can control it while their own body sleeps.

Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a former marine who was paralyzed in combat on Earth, arrives on Pandora. Jake is hired for the Avatar program so he may replace his twin brother, who was killed, as he is compatible with his brother’s avatar. However, Jake is not a trained scientific researcher, much to the disappointment of Dr. Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) and the rest of the science team. Despite their misgivings, the research team lets him into the program.

While Jake is escorting Augustine and a biologist named Norm Spellman (Joel David Moore) in their Avatar forms, the group is attacked by a large predator. Jake becomes separated from the others and tries to survive Pandora’s dangerous wildlife, before he is rescued by Neytiri (Zoë Saldaña), a female na'vi. While Neytiri is at first reluctant to help Jake, after some floating seeds surround him, she sees it as a sign from Eywa and takes him to Hometree, which her clan, the Omaticaya, inhabit. They decide to teach Jake their ways. Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the leader of the mercenaries, hears about Jake's relationship with the Omaticaya and orders him to gain the trust of the na'vi so as to get them to abandon Hometree, which covers a large unobtanium deposit. Jake is given 3 months by Quaritch to complete this mission and is promised new legs in return.

During these 3 months, Jake becomes very close with the Omaticaya and begins to question the morals of the mission. Jake eventually become a hunter and is initiated into the clan. As part of his initiation, Jake tames a flying creature known as a Banshee. Jake and Neytiri choose each other as mates much to the jealousy of Tsu'Tey (Laz Alonso). While they sleep under the Tree of Voices, a bulldozer almost runs them over. The Tree of Voices is destroyed, though Jake manages to save Neytiri by disabling the bulldozer's camera systems. Quaritch witnesses this in the bulldozer's final video feeds. After heated discussion between corporate administrator Parker Selfridge and Augustine, Quaritch reveals a vlog where Jake says the na'vi will never leave, which convinces Selfridge to order the destruction of Hometree.

Jake is given one hour to get the na'vi to leave. When he reveals his mission to the na'vi, Neytiri accuses him of betraying them, which results in Jake and Augustine's temporary imprisonment. Humans arrive to destroy Hometree, killing Eytucan (Wes Studi), Neytiri's father and clan chief. After being forcibly detached from their avatars, Jake and his companions are detained. Trudy Chacon (Michelle Rodriguez), a pilot who is disgusted by the destruction of Hometree, breaks them out but Augustine is mortally wounded by Quaritch during their escape. With Augustine in a critical state, Jake sees no other option than to turn to the Omaticaya for help. Jake remembers that Neytiri told him that only five na'vi had ever tamed the Toruk, an immense flying beast. He tames it, and successfully earns back the na'vi's respect. He pleads with Mo'at (C. C. H. Pounder), the na'vi shaman, to heal Augustine, who is now dying. They attempt to transplant her soul into her avatar at the Tree of Souls, but she dies.

With the assistance of Neytiri and Tsu'Tey, Jake vows defiance against the humans and assembles thousands of na'vi from other tribes. Quaritch, seeing the na'vi's strength, orders a preemptive strike to destroy the Tree of Souls, the center of na'vi religion and culture; its destruction would leave the na'vi too demoralized to continue resisting the humans. Jake prays to Eywa to intercede on behalf of the na'vi in the forthcoming battle.

The na'vi fight with all their power but human technology outweighs na'vi bravery and they suffer heavy casualties, including Tsu'Tey, Trudy, and Norm's avatar. When all hope seems lost, the Pandoran wildlife suddenly launch a mass attack, overwhelming the humans. Neytiri interprets this as Eywa answering Jake's prayer.

Quaritch orders the bombing of the Tree of Souls but Jake destroys the bomber first. Quaritch escapes in an AMP (Amplified Mobility Platform) suit. He finds the Avatar interface field pod and attacks it to kill Jake. He damages it, exposing Jake to Pandora's atmosphere. Neytiri kills Quaritch and saves Jake, seeing his human form for the first time. They reaffirm their love for each other.

The humans are expelled from Pandora, while Jake and his friends remain. Jake is seen wearing the insignia of the Omaticaya clan leader suggesting that he has become the new leader after Tsu'Tey. The film ends with Jake's soul being transplanted into his na'vi avatar.


sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/10/magazine/10wwln-guest-t.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=avatar&st=cse&oref=login
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/avatar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avatar_(2009_film)

well about personal feeling..just wanna say... avatar just make me feel sad..
it kind of remind me bout the political issues in malaysia, why must ppl fight?can we just forget the different and live peacefully together?love can conquer all.. the greed and selfishness, and we come to an understanding that we are actually the same..until we meet those aliens one day.. God bless us and merry christmas..