← Back to Directory
Capturing Avatar
Movie

Capturing Avatar

2010 • Unknown

Woke Score
7
out of 10

Plot

Capturing Avatar is a feature length behind-the-scenes documentary about the making of Avatar. It uses footage from the film's development, as well as stock footage from as far back as the production of Titanic in 1995. Also included are numerous interviews with cast, artists, and other crew members. The documentary was released as a bonus feature on the extended collector's edition of Avatar.

Overall Series Review

Capturing Avatar is a feature-length making-of documentary that meticulously details the decade-long production process of the film Avatar, covering everything from the development of the script and language to the groundbreaking performance capture technology. The documentary features extensive interviews with director James Cameron, the cast, and various department heads. However, because the film's narrative is an explicit political and ecological allegory, the documentary spends significant time framing the movie's themes as a direct critique of colonial history, Western-style industrialism, and human entitlement towards nature. Cameron and the production team discuss the narrative's intention to critique militarism and corporate greed, drawing parallels between the fictional Na'vi and real-world indigenous peoples. The documentary's focus on the deep spiritual connection of the Na'vi and the villainy of the Earth-based forces positions the narrative as a clear-cut moral fable where advanced civilization is the antagonist. The work celebrates the creation of strong, assertive female characters within the production's framework, while the themes are devoid of any focus on non-traditional sexualities.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics9/10

The narrative of the film that the documentary covers is an allegory of exploitation and a direct critique of colonial adventure. The story explicitly depicts corporate and military 'whiteness' as the antagonist, driven by greed and a sense of entitlement, that seeks to destroy a non-white coded indigenous people. The protagonist's arc focuses on his total rejection of his own human identity in favor of joining the persecuted group, which exemplifies the rejection of one's immutable characteristics.

Oikophobia10/10

The documentary's interviews frame the film's message as a satire on human entitlement, suggesting that Western society's attitude toward indigenous people is the same entitlement that allows for the destruction of nature. The film's main conflict is explicitly a deconstruction of Western heritage and its perceived predatory capitalism and military actions. The alien culture (Na'vi) is depicted as spiritually and morally superior, living in a perfect ecological harmony with the planet, representing the Noble Savage trope.

Feminism7/10

The documentary celebrates the film’s creation of strong female characters like Neytiri and Dr. Grace Augustine, portraying them as competent, powerful, and central to the plot. Dr. Augustine, as the lead scientist, is shown to confront male counterparts in the military with assertiveness and authority. The Na'vi culture itself is structured with distinct yet complementary gender roles, featuring female spiritual leaders (Tsahik) who hold immense power and male military/political leaders (Olo'eyktan).

LGBTQ+1/10

The documentary is a production breakdown that does not incorporate or lecture on alternative sexualities or gender ideology. The Na'vi culture, as presented and discussed by the filmmakers, revolves around a traditional male-female pairing and a heterosexual clan-based family structure.

Anti-Theism8/10

The film's core theme, which is discussed extensively in the documentary, centers on the Na'vi's transcendent, collective spiritual connection to the planet's life-force, Eywa. This pantheistic belief system is framed as a source of strength and morality, directly contrasting with the amoral, materialist, and purely scientific/military motives of the human villains. The film positions the Na'vi's spiritual faith as the superior moral law, implicitly rejecting the moral framework of the materialist human invaders.