Describe the transformation that takes place in Jake from the beginning of the movie until the end. What are some of the key turning points that you can identify in his encounter with the Na’vi people?
The movie began with Jake dreaming of flying in a forest. I could say that this is one of the strongest points in the movie since it helped reveal what kind of person Jake is. This part gave the audience a chance to have a peek on what is going on in Jake’s mind and how his subconscious expresses what he truly feels towards his current situation. As a former marine, his condition of being paralyzed from the waist down had him feel like wanting to break out of his own body. People underestimated him due to his condition. He was longing to walk once again; to be able to do something aside from sitting on his wheel chair. In the first part we could say that Jake was desperate to be free and would do anything to make this work.
The death of his twin brother gave him the opportunity to take on an Avatar and be able to redeem himself. At first, he committed to the RDA in exchange for the operation of his legs. It made him feel good to know that people around him no longer see him as a piece of meat on a wheel chair. His task was to gain the trust of the Na’vi people to help the RDA locate the stock of “unobtanium” in their occupied area. However, he didn’t see the importance in learning the ways of life of the Na’vi people—all of it was just a mission for him. After months of living like the Na’vi and understanding their way of thinking, the turn of events made him see Pandora as more than a place inhabited by blue skinned aliens with lethal arrows as weapons. He learned to see the connection of the Na’vi people to their surroundings and how they truly value every living creature in the forest.
Furthermore, his relationship with Neytiri has deepened as well and it is another factor why he loved the place and the Na’vi people even more. He saw that the destruction of the forest would leave the Na’vi people with nothing. Now, being able to see through the eyes of the Na’vi people, Jake knew his stand: protect Pandora from the closed-minded Sky People.
At the end of the movie, Jake chose to take on his Avatar completely and be one of the Na’vi people since it is with them that he was able to find himself. 
From a former marine of being self-absorbed, Jake transformed into a character that sees beyond what the Sky People can’t see. He was able to connect himself with the forest and feel the energy that goes through it.
One interesting paradox in the film is the way in which the alien Na’vi people actually display far more human tendencies than the humans in the story. They appear more highly evolved than the humans in their respect of the life and the energy surrounding them. How do you see evidence of this throughout the film?
Neytiri vs Thanator
The very first scene which showed the human tendency of the Na’vi people would be the moment when Neytiri saved Jake Sully from the attack of the thanator. It was seen that Neytiri tried to ease the pain of the dying thanator by killing it. Along with this, she whispered a few words to the creature which could be assumed to be her way of praying to Eywa to take the soul of the dead creature. Once again this happened when Jake had his first kill; he thanked the creature for sacrificing itself and even considered it as his “brother”. These evidences prove that the Na’vi people have a great respect for life that even the life of the creatures which are considered as predators are given importance to. They regard all living creatures as their brother and sister.
Tsaheylu or bond
In addition, to be able to connect to all creatures, they form a Tsaheylu (bond). This ability made the Na’vi more highly evolved than humans because they are able to interact with the creature they form a Tsaheylu with which is a “neural connection”. Aside from the living creatures, the Na’vi also see the importance of their place since they regard it as sacred (believing that their deity Eywa resides in all living things). They pay their utter respect to their ancestors’ memories and would even find themselves listening to them. When compared to the Na’vi, the Sky People truly are the “Jarhead clan”. Humans in the movie didn’t value life. They view the Na’vi as “blue monkeys” which means they separate the Na’vi people from the humans. An enemy to them is a threat and must be killed–this is what they believe in.
What was your favorite scene in the movie? What would you say is the main point or message of the film?
Jake Sully choosing his ikran
The scene which was absolutely my favorite was when Jake had to choose his ikran. This moment made me understand the significance of tsaheylu. Being humans, we do not have the ability to make a bond with any creature just like Na’vi people. Our way of making a bond with a creature would be by taming it which requires a lot of patience. If a human was asked to choose his own ikran, he would’ve been dead on the spot without even a small amount of chance of surviving for more than a minute. It is just fascinating to me that to be able to tame a deadly creature, tsaheylu is the solution. It is an ability that only the Na’vi people possess which could explain their high regard to all living creatures whether deadly or not.
The movie reveals how man’s point of view can be corrupted by power and greed. Having a great military power with high quality weapons, our usual answer to any conflict would be war. Humans are too closed-minded that they become self-centered and would tend to disregard what the other side thinks towards the conflict. We all want our voices to be heard but it seems that we always forget to listen. The Sky people in the movie represent the majority while the Na’vi would be the minority.
a) Unobtainium b) Hometree
For the Sky people, the richness of Pandora would be its great stock of unobtainium surrounding the Hometree while the Na’vi sees the whole forest as the wealth of the planet. The movie wanted to point out how mother nature is slowly being disregarded by the people. We take advantage of all the resources we can get from the environment and yet we don’t seem to find a way to restore what we have taken.
C'est la vie 
Excellent! 4.0 for this entry.
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