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The film used the iconography of Hinduism. The Vatican hated this film. They were worried that it promoted pantheism,paganism, and nature worship.

Which is not to say that Avatar is one of the best movies of the decade or anything like that. The story follows all the usual screenwriting rules, and is therefore predictable. The dialogue isn’t annoying, but it isn’t smart either. And there are lots of scientific and tactical absurdities, such as the pointless military decision to deploy ground troops to be picked off by the Na’vi while missile-launching airships do all the work.

But here’s the thing. Avatar is a classic action-adventure movie. Its purpose is not to revolutionize storytelling or mise-en-scene or montage or chronology. Its purpose is to tell an exciting, emotional, moral story that we connect to as humans. And frankly, Avatar does that better than any other film I can think of. For example, let’s consider four elements crucial to the action-adventure genre: pacing, visuals, excitement, and moral message. I think a strong case could be made that Avatar does all of these better than Raiders of the Lost Ark. Better than Star Wars. Better than any similar movie you can think of. Better even than The Matrix. Frankly, as a straight-up action-adventure movie, Avatar might be the best action-adventure of all time.

And I’m probably not alone in thinking so, now that it’s the highest-grossing film of all time (though not when adjusted for inflation, or counted by tickets sold).

Whether or not you enjoy Avatar as much as I do, you may be wondering how I can call it an ‘atheist film‘. After all, the heroes of the movie, the Na’vi, are deeply religious. They practice an earth-based religion (well, Pandora-based religion) and claim to have a spiritual connection to almost every living thing on the planet – even over great distances.

The key to unlocking Avatar‘s atheistic heart is an exchange between Avatar‘s godless scientist hero, Dr. Grace Augustine, and the corporate administrator in charge of stripping Pandora of its natural resources, Parker:



Avatar‘s slam against religion is this: it shows us what religions would be like if they were real.

The point is that human religions are not based on anything real like the religion of the Na’vi is. Human religions are voodoo BS, because there’s nothing real behind them.

The heroes of Avatar are not superstitious primitives. They are a species that lives on a planet with genuine connections they have evolved to participate in. They are smart enough to have given up war with their neighboring tribes, and they are smart enough to respect the interdependency of living things on their planet.

Another point in favor of my interpretation? James Cameron is, of course, an atheist – and one who thinks agnosticism is ‘cowardly atheism.’

@Master_Pedant - I am simply showing what I thought to be similarities between the film and the Hindu religion. Every thread I start ends up turning into a theism vs atheism debate. This is PPR. The "R" means Religion. Yes, that means we are discussing religion... not atheism. If you want to start another theism vs atheism thread, start one. You can seed it using your comment above! But please don't hijack my threads anymore. I think it's really disrespectful to keep doing this. This message goes to all of you PPR regulars that keep doing this.

I also call on all PPR Moderators to please ask those who are constantly hijacking thread topics to stop it. It's not fair.

@Master_Pedant - I am simply showing what I thought to be similarities between the film and the Hindu religion. Every thread I start ends up turning into a theism vs atheism debate. This is PPR. The "R" means Religion. Yes, that means we are discussing religion... not atheism. If you want to start another theism vs atheism thread, start one. You can seed it using your comment above! But please don't hijack my threads anymore. I think it's really disrespectful to keep doing this. This message goes to all of you PPR regulars that keep doing this.

I also call on all PPR Moderators to please ask those who are constantly hijacking thread topics to stop it. It's not fair.

How is it not fair? You don't own this place and you don't own what other people rationally think.

Hi kxmode,

In the mid 1960's, the Jehovah Witnesses attempted to convince me that pantheism and Hinduism (and much else) were simply different forms of atheism. I tried to find the booklet they used then, as so much is on the internet now, but a simple search of books-dot-google for "atheism is pantheism" returns many books with much the same reasonings.

Under other circumstances, in studying the science of human behaviour, I had class lectures warning to separate pseudo-philosophical concepts tainted with quasi-religious notions from the "hard-sciences", as the notion of "Human Nature" has more of a religious basis in philosophy than any of science (I also had religious lectures teaching that the concept of "Human Nature" was Satan trying another door).

The TV commercials for "Mars Bar" candy bars were held as "wrong" also, since Jehovah created life only on his chosen "planet".

See. This is precisely what I'm talking about. This has NOTHING to do with the topic. Stop posting these comments. If you want to ask me stuff like this do it via a private message or start a new thread.

Most of you are intelligent. I KNOW you know when a comment is on topic and when it is off topic. I am simply asking that if you post a comment please keep it on topic. That's all I'm asking... wow. It's like sitting in a lecture hall where the topic of the class changes every 3 minutes.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Avatar has its roots in Hinduism.

Thank you for sharing that Artrat. Can you source those statements? I'd like to read The Vatican's official response.

P.S. As a side note The Vatican is a part of Hinduism as Hinduism is part of paganism. They are all flavors of the same type, all spawned from a single source: Babylonia.

"Not merely Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, but also the Hindus, the Buddhists of China and of Thibet, the Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Druids, Mexicans and Peruvians, the Aborigines of Australia, and even the savages of the South Sea Islands, must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source and a common centre. Everywhere we find the most startling coincidences in rites, ceremonies, customs, traditions, and in the names and relations of their respective gods and goddesses."

See. This is precisely what I'm talking about. This has NOTHING to do with the topic. Stop posting these comments. If you want to ask me stuff like this do it via a private message or start a new thread.

Most of you are intelligent. I KNOW you know when a comment is on topic and when it is off topic. I am simply asking that if you post a comment please keep it on topic. That's all I'm asking... wow. It's like sitting in a lecture hall where the topic of the class changes every 3 minutes.

"Not merely Egyptians, Chaldeans, Phoenicians, Greeks and Romans, but also the Hindus, the Buddhists of China and of Thibet, the Goths, Anglo-Saxons, Druids, Mexicans and Peruvians, the Aborigines of Australia, and even the savages of the South Sea Islands, must have all derived their religious ideas from a common source and a common centre. Everywhere we find the most startling coincidences in rites, ceremonies, customs, traditions, and in the names and relations of their respective gods and goddesses." - The Worship of the Dead, London, 1904, page 3, by John Garnier

The Hindus have 36,000,000 gods. Lots of fun.

ruveyn

Thank you for sharing that Artrat. Can you source those statements? I'd like to read The Vatican's official response.

@Master_Pedant - I am simply showing what I thought to be similarities between the film and the Hindu religion.

Every thread I start ends up turning into a theism vs atheism debate. This is PPR. The "R" means Religion. Yes, that means we are discussing religion... not atheism. If you want to start another theism vs atheism thread, start one. You can seed it using your comment above! But please don't hijack my threads anymore. I think it's really disrespectful to keep doing this. This message goes to all of you PPR regulars that keep doing this.

I also call on all PPR Moderators to please ask those who are constantly hijacking thread topics to stop it. It's not fair.

Thank you for sharing that Artrat. Can you source those statements? I'd like to read The Vatican's official response.

P.S. As a side note The Vatican is a part of Hinduism as Hinduism is part of paganism. They are all flavors of the same type, all spawned from a single source: Babylonia.

How do they know which one to worship? Do they all have one each?

Unjustly accusing people of derailing threads, when it's clear what comment they're responding to, is VERY unfair. Unfair and factually wrong.