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Avatar – Attempting to Replace the Bible?

I’ve already mentioned how Cameron uses the born-again concept in the religious culture of Pandora. He almost directly quotes the Old Testament when Jake says the Pandorans say that “Eywa will provide.” Even the name Eywa is close to Yahweh. Then, there’s the Pandoran worship services that are performed around the Tree of Souls; they look like a Charismatic/voodoo service. The process, passing through the eye of Eywa, attempted upon the Dr. (Grace) – unsuccessfully, but successful upon Jake, is basically the death – resurrection process of the bible. To give the benefit of the doubt to Cameron, he perhaps used symbols and principles to which we can relate in order to draw us into the story and relate sympathetically to the Pandorans. However, a not-so-subtle attempt to suck the viewer into a sympathetic view of environmentalist, anti-capitalist, nature worship cannot be ruled out either.

Then, after uniting the clans, Jake prays to Eywa. He sounds like Elijah praying humbly to Jehovah. His prayer is a contrast to the swaying, chanting, shaking worship of the Pandorans. It’s as if Jake is praying to Eywa as if Eywa is Jehovah. Not only does Jake mix the true worship of Jehovah with Eywa, speaking to her as if she’s Jehovah, but he even adds modern science. He tells Eywa that the Dr. is with Eywa. Eywa is omniscient, for she can see earth and how humans have destroyed all the trees – “There’s nothing green there,” according to Jake. This scene indicates that Cameron, if his beliefs are somehow reflected truly in the movie, believes that all beliefs can be combined into the truth. Such a perspective calls forth the judgment of God, which distinguishes, which divides, the true from the false and rewards the righteous and condemns the wicked. Otherwise, how would the God of the bible be distinguished from Eywa, or Allah, or any other false god.