Avatar in the Amazon
February 2, 2010 by Johnperkins
Filed under Recent Posts
“Avatar” hit home for many of us, but perhaps nowhere was it more poignant than among indigenous people in the Amazon
John Perkins.
Avatar in the Amazon
Credit: The World by Melaina Spitzer
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If there were ever a place that came close to the magical world of Pandora in James Cameron’s new film Avatar, it would probably be the Amazon. There may not be butterflies that look like flying squid, but in the Amazon can you eat giant worms and lemon flavored ants for dinner in a forest that is home to both the jaguar and the pink dolphin. Reporter Melaina Spitzer joined a group of indigenous leaders from the Amazon in Ecuador’s capital Quito, to see Avatar on the big screen in 3D.
Thank You Dan for your great comment. Each of us are on this journey together and I know it will be successful.
Mr. Perkins,
I just read your book “Confessions of an Economic Hit Man” and I have to say it has affected me profoundly. I am a retired U.S. Navy submarine sailor and right now I’m not sure how I feel about that service. Up until a year ago, I was a staunch Republican conservative but after hearing an interview on POTUS with you, I decided to read your book. I am no longer affiliated with any political party or ideology. I am struggling to grasp my place in the world and the role I played in expanding the empire.
In 1999 I visited Ecuador and many other South American countries and I was struck by the poverty all around me. I am now looking back on those memories with very different eyes. My pride has been removed from my vision and been replaced with humility and an overwhelming sense of resposibility. My life and my attitude will be forever changed. Once I get over the guilt, I’m sure this will be an improvement for me personally.
I want to get involved to make things better, to make them right, as much as I can. I will be reading other parts of your website and more of your books for some ideas on how or what to do. I’m also starting a massive reteaching of world history to myself. I want to understand what others are going through and what their ancestors went through at the expense of Empire. I want to truly understand why Muslims were dancing in the streets on 9/11.
This won’t be an easy journey and I’m sure I will question it every step of the way, but I’m certain that in the end, I want to see things with eyes unclouded by corporate PR or political propaganda or the deception that rules our society.
Thank you for waking me up and making me face the realities of my life. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to adjust myself so that I may become a better person. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help others.
Thank you for your comment Bryan.
The tragic effects of corporate greed now appear almost everywhere– from the lush Amazon to the Gulf of Mexico, and even the fictitious Pandora. To John’s thesis that the corporatocracy orchestrates the events and manipulates our perception of the events, must be added the fact that corporations have been granted the same rights as individuals and therefore wield power far beyond their ability to act morally and responsibly. Corporations are not people, and do not have moral compass’ despite their PR departments’ moralizing. Strip corporations of their individual rights and watch the planet begin to heal itself.
It is easy to think that Avatar is a great movie that reflects the world´s reality. Nevertheless there is a hiden purpose: the solution to Pandora´s problems did not came from pandora´s natives. In fact, the solutions came from the humans (meaning the same people that was affecting pandora). Is the last message that pandoras natives have to trust again in those that are part of the problem?…..is it the message that, once again, the citizens of the empire are the “ones” that will rescue, once again, the world?.(read it as World bank, etc..)…..think about it……Note: Im sorry about my writing…I´m not english speaker…
Well, I bought the movie and now have seen it twice.
The central theme is the environment, or nature, and its potential value, including that of life giving and life sustaining (the god tree is killed and ‘the people’ die, no matter how sofisticated their muscles and bone structure became for survival).
The other main point is the use of technology for human improvement, including the genetic manipulation and therefore potential for immortality. Through the mind, I mean. The utility of that type of evolution.
Yes or no? Mr Perkins.
And I think the two lesser points ‘driven home’ are that of the corporationS, private and public. The movie dwells on their limitations and problematic goals, yet on having limitless power. So far. And this same point seems to have been stuck in time, not changed, but rather evolved in parallel with Pandora like societies in different planets, including earth.
The yellow eyes…. why?
Sir, I have just read your ‘confession of an economic hit man’ in my language ‘Tamil’[INDIA].And I have already seen movie AVATAR.Yes, I have felt that is not story of only Amazon.Our world is sucking ,our nature is destroying.Before 35 years I was drinking my river water and was playing on the river bed but now I am pushing to drink bottle water I am seeing river bed but without sand.
Avatar is a movie but it is asking me often and often that You have to decide where you are.Your book little bit clear me where I have to stand.
Thank you sir.
By M.R.JAWAHAR,
TAMIL NADU,
INDIA.
The entity collective known as a “Corporation” absolves and displaces any BLAME and legal liablity awayfrom the evil headed humans operating these abominations. If WE ALL DISALLOW this form of establishment, then maybe individuals will behave a bit wiser because they will be known as the liable person.
I agree with John about these large corporations.They are greedy beyond compare.In this supposededly free democracy(yeah right), it is the corporations that rule.They are also bound by the CEO’s greed about profitmaking, those who make more money than God and what do they do with all this money.It’s really not about that anymore, it’s all about power.People need to be aware of this situation and wake up.
Thank you Beth for the comment.
I loved the movie and totally made the connection with John’s books about the degradation in other countries by corporations and the powerlessness of indigenous tribes to stop it. I liked the last woman’s perspective in the video above about why wasn’t there dialog? Why did war have to be the solution? A very female sentiment we need to pay more attention to.
Avatar es una pelicula que refleja con veracidad la realidad oculta detrás de las empresas petroleras y mineras. Por sobre el conocimiento ancestral y el valor mismo de la vida humana y de todo lo que compone el ambiente, está el dinero y los intereses mezquinos de los accionistas de las empresas.
Es hora de darnos cuenta hacia donde estamos llevando nuestro mundo y hacia donde estamos caminando nosotros, cada dia somos mas inútiles, cada vez nos parecemos más a máquinas y estamos dejando de ser seres humanos, es hora de estrechar las manos y vivir.
Regresar la vista a lo que eramos y dejar los egoismos a un lado, saber que somos parte de este mundo y que de el dependemos, talvés ayude a comprender lo importante que resulta dejar de contaminarlo.
I see a very dangerous message in Avatar. A privately owned mining company is in possession of sophisticated weaponry and is the employer of a highly trained military force. There is no challenge to this notion in the story. I feel the movie wants the audience to accept as normal the fact that a company has powers customarily reserved for governments. Traditionally a company pays off a government to fight their battles for them. I think we are at a point where a company is unwilling to concede this power to government. Suppose a government cannot be bought. Suppose a government is not willing to act in a company’s interest. A person has the right to use deadly force to protect their property. Why should the personhood of a company be any less? It will not surprise me to see a company granted the right to use deadly force when it encounters resistance. The movie has spent a lot of money to prepare us for it.
I agree with John about these large corporations.They are greedy beyond compare.In this supposededly free democracy(yeah right), it is the corporations that rule.They are also bound by the CEO’s greed about profitmaking, those who make more money than God and what do they do with all this money.It’s really not about that anymore, it’s all about power.People need to be aware of this situation and wake up.
I think the potential message of Avatar goes way beyond corporate propaganda. If it is, what is it promoting? Video games in which we take on other bodies, with expanded capabilities? Those are already popular. One can be completely cynical about the world and look only at the negative, or one can look at this amazing work of art (which showcases the amazing creativity of hundreds of people) and see a hopeful message. At least the Gaia concept of the world as an organism is hitting the mainstream. The main problem that I see with this film is that the battle is won by military means, which is totally unrealistic. The modern world’s military power can’t be fought with bows and arrows. Only by a change in consciousness is a true turnaround going to happen. It would be great if movie-makers could envision and portray this. We all have to work toward this kind of change.
Avatar is certainly a macho picture, but it has a strong environmental message. Survival International has reminded us of real-life struggles about the Pandoras on planet Earth (“Avatar is not a fantasy”). And International Rivers’ avatar reports that the movie’s sequel may be about damming Pandora’s rivers, with obvious parallels to the struggles on planet Earth (see http://www.internationalrivers.org/en/node/5031).
Avatar was a bunch of corporate propaganda. Cameron has admitted such.