Colonial Power and Native Resistance: A Cinematic Study of James Cameron’s Avatar

Abstract

Colonial powers have the history of destroying native civilizations to suit their own ends. They do it either by psychological persuasion or by military force. They often come, pretending as messiah but later becomes a curse for the nations and cultures. This multidimensional exploitation also leads to strong resistance from the native people, often living their Utopian dream and believing in their culture, they have courage and conviction but not the resources to match their adversaries. Colonial powers seek methods to learn and observe the native way of living thereafter they manipulate the minds of natives to gain supremacy of several kinds.  Cinema is known to have always mirrored, the truth, no matter how much uncomfortable it may look to some people. The great movie ‘Avatar’ by James Cameron is allegory of such colonial oppression. The present paper analysis how effectively Cinema has brought the native resistance and struggle of the colored people against the colonial oppression to the fore and has given voice and platform to the speechless subalterns.