Harnessing the 'Avatar Effect': People and Forests on Planet Pandora

The great advertising blitz publicizing last December's launch of a new blockbuster movie somehow passed me by. It was the Mongabay article featured in last month's E-News that persuaded me to go and see what all the fuss was about.

Given the flood of commentary washing through the blogosphere ever since, is there anyone with an internet connection that isn't sure what I'm talking about? Securing nine Oscar nominations, and already breaking records for the highest box office takings of all time, 'Avatar' is a film that has truly caught the public's attention.  

So what exactly IS all the fuss all about? A futuristic tale of cat-like blue humanoids defending their traditional forest lands from greedy and aggressive human invaders? Or should political correctness lead us to dismiss it as another 'modern white man saves primitive tribe' affair? I believe that in the story's very simplicity, we can find something much more subtle, insightful, and profound.

After all, when was the last time many of Avatar's audience had the chance to immerse themselves (thanks to cinematic '3-D') in the true wonder of a bio-diverse, living, breathing, and natural forest ecosystem? Most have probably spent their entire lives growing up in cities. Is dense natural forest something they watch only on television, or flick through its lush images, gracing the pages of National Geographic?

One of the biggest challenges in the development and forestry sectors is how to catch people's attention in a world saturated by information. Once we do, we have only a small window of opportunity to get our message across. In Avatar, does Director James Cameron offer us a powerful multi-million dollar 'teachable moment'? While Avatar is not the first movie to explore the critical relationship of local communities and indigenous people with their forests, it may be the first to make the message so completely mainstream.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the film is surely in the powerful way it captures the value of local and indigenous knowledge handed down over generations. Our bumbling Avatar hero, Jake, takes considerable time to learn to adapt and appreciate the initially hostile environment. As an ex-marine stepping into the unfamiliar skin of a Na'Vi warrior, is this a metaphor for the deep spiritual connection that our modern, urban, over-consuming society has lost with the natural environment? Do we need to re-learn the value of the symbiosis that local communities and indigenous people can have with their forests, the key role they play in maintaining and improving their health, and in ensuring their very survival?

If we look beyond the special effects, and the supernatural story, I believe the characters do speak to us of a starkly simple, moral and enduring truth. We don't need to attempt intergalactic travel to see the damage natural resource conflict causes to local communities and their forests. Such struggles are all too common right here on Earth. They are equally destructive to local livelihoods, often severing deep ties with the land and stirring up strong emotions. In this respect Avatar is hardly a fantasy. Have we the courage to look in the mirror? And if so, what do we see?

Are we the ignorant corporation, driven by greed, aggression and short-term consumption? Or are we the Na'Vi people, potentially the 'good guys' in the tale, who waste time bickering and blaming the messenger, rather than heeding the warning of the peril that they, and we, are facing?

There is often a temptation for experts and enthusiasts to speak to each other, not always seeing the need to reach out and engage a wider group of people. We must understand the critical role that we all need to play in securing the future of our forests. In this we need to appeal as much to the heart, as to the mind. Now is the time for us to reach out to a new media-aware generation, and to harness the educative potential of the Avatar effect.

***Disclaimer***
These Viewpoints represent the opinions of the writers and do not necessarily reflect opinions of RECOFTC.

(By Susan Mackay*, RECOFTC, Jan/2010)
susan@recoftc.org
*Strategic Communications Manager