A postcolonial Feminist reading of the PREPARED BY

A post-colonial Feminist reading of the PREPARED BY: Karama Nassar 220062431

THE OUTLINE: • A plot summary. • What is Pandora? • A post colonial reading: üThe image of others. üEdward said. üSubaltern.

A PLOT SUMMARY The whole movie goes around the story of Jack sully an ex-marine who lost his legs on a battle. Then, he goes in a mission on the distant planet Pandora instead of his dead brother. On this planet, there live the Na’vi on the richest area of unobtanium that is needed to solve the power crisis in the world. In order , for the humans, to communicate with the Na’vi, they create the avatars. They created it by fusing the DNA of a NA’VI with the DNA of a human. At the beginning jack is sent to spy on the Na’vi and inform his fellow colonizers of their way of living, but then he falls in love with those people and a lady whose name is Nytari. Jack turns to be one of the Na’vi and works hard to help them in defending their land.

WHAT IS PANDORA? The story of Pandora and her box comes from Ancient Greece. In Greek mythology, Pandora (meaning ‘all-giving’) was the first woman on earth; Epimetheus had to create the animals and give them their gifts of courage, swiftness etc. He gave out all the gifts and had none left for Man. So Prometheus decides to make man stand upright, like the gods, and give them fire; Prometheus creates man out of clay and water.

Most agree that Zeus asked Hephaestus to make Pandora (the first woman) also out of earth and water, and he intended her to be a punishment. Then Pandora was given a container. As in many origin myths, man had lived in a world without worry – until this jar / box was opened, which contained ills for mankind. Zeus knew that Pandora’s curiosity would mean that she could not stop herself from opening it, especially when he had told her that she must not do so. In a word, Pandora means the source of evil.

Avatar: a post-colonial reading In order to give a post-colonial reading for any text, a critic should put the following two points in his mind: 1. The image of the colonized. 2. The discourse of the colonizer.

The image of the colonized:

THE IMAGE OF THE COLONIZED: The Na’vi, as you notice from the picture, are described as: Naked savages: most of their bodies is not covered; they are not civilized at all. Blue creatures with tails and yellow eyes: the Na’vi are like animals. Regarding to the connotations of the colors: 1. 2. The blue color: too much of it could dampen spirits. The yellow color: is the color of cowardice and deceit. Enemies who are always ready to kill. Inferior creatures: because they are the others if compared to the Europeans. Insignificant others.

INSIGNIFICANT OTHERS. The image of the other is found in everything; it means the superiority of one party and the inferiority of the other. Emmanuel Levinas, argues that the self cannot exist, cannot have a concept of itself as self, without the other. “I am defined as a subjectivity, as a singular person, as an ‘I’, precisely because I am exposed to the other. The first group The second group The other men women The Women An English man An Arab The Arabic A healthy man A paralyzed man The paralyzed A human A Na'vi The Na'vi

Insignificant Others. Women, in fact, are considered as the insignificant other. This image has its old origins from the time of Aristotle. In Greek society, women's status was very low. A woman's main function was the reproduction of children, especially of sons. Aristotle believes that women are inferior and in significant if compared to men; he claims that : vman rightly takes charge over woman, because he commands superior intelligence. v. The reason why the man dominates in society is his superior intelligence. Only the man is a full human being. “The relationship between the male and the female is by nature such that the male is higher, the female lower, that the male rules and the female is ruled. ”

Insignificant Others. When it comes to the Na’vi, they are inferior because their lives are mainly dominated by females; they rule everything, as follows: v. The whole planet takes its name from a female’s name, that is Pandora. v. The Goddess, clearly, is a female who is Eywa. v. The teacher is a female who is Nytari. v. The spokesperson is a female who is Mo’at, Nytari’s mother. v. The one who decides in the serious situations and The spiritual leader of the Omatacaya people is a female; she is Mo’at. Therefore, one can say that the upper hand on Pandora is a feminine one.

Completing with the image of the colonized q. The Na’vi are depicted as inferior and others because they are easily deceived and are not aware about what Is going around them. For instance, Nytari brings Jack, a white enemy/ a colonizer, to home as she follows the calls of her heart. If you will say that she saw a sign, let it be, but is it logical to believe or follow a flying seed? ! Nytari is presented as a very romantic lady. q. What is more miserable is that the sons of the same land start to fight one another for this stranger’s sake(Nytari vs. Tsoteih).

This idea is very clearly stated in Sartre’s preface to Fanon’s “the wretched of the earth” he states” the different tribes fight themselves since they cannot face the real enemy — and you can count on colonial policy to keep up their rivalries” q The Na’vi are savages as they did choose an inferior a human other to be one of them. To clarify, Jack is considered as an other among his group since he is paralyzed and not wanted among them.

According to the colonizers, not any one can adapt himself with others; such inferior people need insignificant ones to deal with. For more emphasis, Dr. Grace expresses her astonishment saying “I can find no reasons how the Omatakaia have chosen you? ”. Actually, she does not expect Jack to succeed in any single task. q. Finally, the Na’vi are too naïve and slow-witted as they do not believe their savior, Jack. When he warns him to leave the place as they will be attacked, they did not listen to him and decided to encounter the colonizers.

One can say that Avatar is the fifth waste land in the English literature. Pandora turns to be waste as a result of the Na’vi’s rejection to their savior and their not cooperation with the civilized colonizers. The discourse of the colonizer: The superior spirit of the colonizer is very clear in Avatar as you can notice from the following quotations: üFrom the first scene of the movie, Jack comments saying "I saw marines fighting for freedom”. His fellow marines are the colonizers, but still he consider them fighting for freedom. üThe colonel says, in the first meeting” behind this fence, every living thing wants to kill you and eat your eyes”. Clearly, he plants the seeds of revenge and hatred in their hearts.

üThe colonel completes "there is indigenous population called the Na’vi; there weapon is poisoned arrows and they have bones that are covered of carbon vipers”. He tries to emphasize the idea that the Na’vi were born to fight are very hard to kill. üThe colonel adds "if you get soft, Pandora will shoot you with zero warning”.

üParker Sefridge says "we are supposed to win the hearts and the minds of the natives”. Here, parker tries to show the peaceful ways that the colonizer goes through before using violence with the others. üHe adds "we build them schools, teach them English , tried to give them medicine, education, but they want only mud ” he tries to say that the Na’vi people are illiterate, sick, hostile savages.

ü“find out what the blue monkeys want” Parker to Jack. The image of the colonized as a monkey was also used by Sartre in his preface to Fanon’s “the wretched of the earth” as follows: “”the order is given to reduce the inhabitants of the annexed country to the level of superior monkeys in order to justify the settler’s treatment of them as beasts of burden””. üthe colonel says "this is the way you scare the roaches“. He means by using machine guns; he considers them as inferior insects. Parker orders Dr. Grace “you are supposed to be finding a diplomatic solution”. The colonizer, here, seems to be very easy with the colonized. He claims that violence is the last alternative that the colonizer uses.

Edward Said üThe colonel orders Jack “I want you learn these savages from the inside, I want you gain their trust… such a marine would provide me with the tells I need right on the ground” This quote, in fact, goes a line with Edward Said’s view about knowledge as follows: “For the colonial regime to have knowledge about a colonized people is to dominate it, to have authority over it”. Said’s Orientalism

Said also believes “Those in the West saw themselves not just as different, but as superior in comparison to all non. European peoples and cultures. That became hegemonic (dominant and accepted by consent as conventional wisdom or common sense) in Europe”. Actually, this image is sunshine clear in Avatar; the Europeans are depicted to be masters and superior. In contrast, the Na’vi are represented as roaches, monkeys, savages, and beasts.

The Na’vi: the subalterns Who are the subalterns? They are a group of people who are socially, politically, and geographically outside of the hegemonic power structure. Some thinkers use it in a general sense to refer to marginalized groups and the lower classes. Others, such as Spivak use it in a more specific sense. She argues that subaltern is not just a classy word for oppressed, for Other, for somebody who's not getting a piece of the pie. . In postcolonial terms, everything that has limited or no access to the cultural imperialism is subaltern.

Spivak argues that the subaltern can never express their own reasoning, forms of knowledge or logic, they must instead form their knowledge to Western ways of knowing. Furthermore, Edward Said’s work on Orientalism is related to the idea of the subaltern in that it explains the way in which Orientalism produced the foundation and the justification for the domination of the “other” through colonialism. Europeans, Said argues, created an imagined geography of the Orient before European exploration through predefined images of savage places that lay outside of the known world.

v. This stereotyped image about the colonized is greatly applicable to Avatar as their colonizers did judge them as savages and enemies before even trying to talk to them. To prove, just consider the colonel’s speeches about the Na’vi. v. On the other hand, the Na’vi , beyond the end of the movie, proved that they are marginalized no more as they can speak and send their colonizer a message “the sky people have sent us a message; they think that they can take whatever they want and no one could stop them. Now, we will send them a message that this is our land”. In a word, this is a great evidence that the subaltern can speak.

“you have always to wake up” “I will never come to this place” “I do not want to be late in my party; it is my birthday party , after all” These three quotations by Jack Sully prove: • Although , Jack assimilates himself to the Na’vi, still he belongs to his white tribe. He considers what he have did is a dream that he should always wake up from it. • Based on the Na’vi beliefs, a person is born twice: the second one is when you gain the others’ confidence. In other words, he considers the end of his mission as a new birth for him. Maybe, he regrets his deeds with the Na’vi against his white fellows. Or, he feels that he was mistaken in taking that way, and, now, he realizes the truth and is born again.

Karama Nassar