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Short essay on Avatar
Myths are supernatural or religious tales with cultural and historical backgrounds, often containing moral lessons that are valued by the culture they originated from. The movie Avatar is a modern myth, its popularity stemming from the inspiration it draws from familiar and widespread themes found in classical myths. Avatar reuses and refreshes these themes for current audiences. Ancient stories such as those of Icarus, Prometheus, Gilgamesh, and Hercules, as well as contemporary issues, represent many of the same themes that are revealed in Avatar.
Avatar is the title of the high grossing film produced by James Cameron and released in 2009. the movie stars Sam Worthington, Stephen Lang, Zoe Saldana, Michelle Rodriguez and Sigourney Weaver. It is set in the year 2154 on the moon Pandora found in the Alpha Centauri system. The moon is inhabited by a blue-colored humanoid tribe known as the Na’vi. Humans have discovered a mineral, unobtainium, on Pandora. The mining activities by humans have led to conflicts between then and the native Na’vi tribe. The title of the film is taken from the genetically altered human-Na’vi hybrids created by a team of researchers from earth. The avatars are used by the researchers to help in interacting with the Na’vi.
Though the movie is about the Na’vi-human conflict on Pandora, it is also mainly about the love relationship that develops between the avatar Jake (played by Sam Worthington) and a native Na’vi, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana). The two have to fight off the invading humans, although this puts Jake in danger since he is half Na’vi half Human. In the end, the human invaders are defeated and Jake becomes a full Na’vi, after re-affirming his love for Neytiri.
Cameron started developing the 162-minutes long movie in 1994. With a budget of more than $246 million, he was able to create one of the most innovative

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