The Celluloid Maiden and Avatar

As I read Marubbio's Killing the Indian Maiden, I could not help but think of Avatar as a recent example of the representation of what the author calls a "celluloid maiden". For those who have not seen the film, the basic story is of an American outpost on a distant world called Pandora, where the US military is working in conjunction with corporations to extract a valuable ore from the planet, creatively called unobtainium. In addition to the military and corporate interests, there are a team of scientists/anthropologists studying the natives, or Na'vi. The scientists use avatars, which are living bodies created through the combination of human and na'avi dna, and controlled remotely. This allows the scientists to inhabit the Na'vi world as an insider, though the natives are still aware that the scientists are not truly native. To make a long story a little shorter, the army wants to move in on an area of land that is most sacred to the natives, but also rich in unobtainium. This would mean the distruction of the na'avi and their culture. Jake Sully, a paraplegic marine, working with the scientists, has "gone native" as Marubbio would say, and completely immersed himself in the culture of the Na'vi. He must choose between his country and his mission and the Na'vi who he has become attached to.

The character of Neytiri is clearly the "celluloid maiden" of the film. She becomes Jake's love interest and, like Marubbio describes, Neytiri embodies, "the woman's power to sway the hero from civilization by framing her as a Princess figure and a mother, and white society as corrupt, racist, hypocritical, and violent. As a result, the interracial couple's union and the hero's crossover into Native culture appear as stabilizing and positive choices for the hero" (168). As Jake grows closer to Neytiri, he moves further from his own, white, culture.

In contrast to the examples Marubbio provides in her text, Avatar does seem to offer a slight shift or revision to the template of the "American Adam" and his relationship to the "Celluloid Maiden". Marubbio emphasizes the death of the maiden as a central moment in this myth and this moment allows for the "American Adam" to return to his Anglo culture....

(SPOILER ALERT)

In Avatar, Jake does not return to his Anglo culture, and Neytiri does not die. He helps the Na'vi defeat the US army, which leads to their decision to extract their forces from Pandora. Jake is able to completely "go native", through a transformative ceremony led by Neytiri and her mother, where his spirit is moved from his dying human body into his Na'vi body. So in the end, the virtues of the native society, the wilderness, the priveledging of nature, are exalted, and the imperialist US interests are defeated. While the ease with which Jake is able to join the Na'vi is certainly problematic, this does seem to be a different type of "celluloid maiden" story than those described by Marubbio. Perhaps by setting the story on a mythic planet, and truly making the natives "palimpsests", Avatar is able to reimagine the end of manifest destiny that would not have been possible in a story that was trying to represent Native Americans in a more historical context.

I also found it interesting that the one "celluloid maiden" film that Avatar has been most compared to, Dances With Wolves, was barely mentioned by Marubbio. I don't recall exactly how that film ended, but I wonder if it did not support her argument well enough to be included.