Avatar, Modern day Transcendentalist

Avatar: The Ultimate Transcendentalists 

                                     

Thesis: Transcendentalism in the movie Avatar, is a perfect example of "modern day" transcendentalism, as it relates to the ideals of self- reliance. 

In the 2009 film Avatar, a planet called Pandora, contains a precious mineral which is very useful to humans, the dilemma is the Na'vi (native people) live on top of the most of that mineral. Jake Sully is sent in to get the Navi to trust him. In one of the first scenes where Jake Sully interacts with one of the Navi, she rejects him first off, but Eywa: their deity sends her seeds to Jake Sully.

Jake is not appreciative of this, for he does not understand what the seeds are, and what they represent. " The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried" ( Emerson, 184). This quote relates to what Jake Sully is doing because he will not understand what this world can bring him without experience, all that he is experiencing is new to him, but eventually it will make sense to him.

When Jake Sully rebels against his own race he is listening to what his heart tells him is right. He and Naytri were in the Tree of Souls together, when they awoke to destruction, he gets a large rock and beats the cameras of the plows off, so those who are destroying cannot continue. When Jake Sully chooses to do this he picks the Na'vi people over his own, because he knows its the right thing to do. " Trust thyself:every heart vibrates to that iron string" (Emerson, 184). In this quote it explains how Jake Sully is listening to what his intuition says, and everyone has that within them, most of the humans in the movie are corrupted by societies ways so they cannot hear that vibration. 

. As the Na'vi people send the humans back to their own world those whom have been selected to stay, and those who have fought for their world feel relieved. They know they can be safe for the time being because of the work they have put in to get there." A man is relieved and gay when he has put his work and done his best" (Emerson, 183). In this quote it relates to Avatar because the people have put in their all, and they have gotten results, that they wanted. 

Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience 
In Henry David Thoreau's " Civil Disobedience" he states that most people sign themselves over to the government, which makes them blind to what the government decides to choose for the people. Thoreau also states that we should listen to our intuition and if something doesn't feel right, we should question it. He encourages us to protest against what we feel is wrong. " Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislature." ( Thoreau, 213).
In this quote Thoreau questions what would make you sign yourself over to someone whom "knows better" than you do.
    "Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty, the obedient must be slaves"(Thoreau,) In this Thoreau points out the fact that most of the people are slaves of the government, without realizing it. Those who are disobedient are truly free with themselves, and free from the government. Those people are not slaves to the government, they see the injustice of some laws, and act against them. Which can also help others see the wrong.
" For I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I , and in many things those whom neither know nor can do so well- is still an impure one: to be strictly just, it must have the sanction and the consent of the governed." ( Thoreau, 216) This quote explains that Thoreau would listen if the government actually knew what they were doing, instead of pretending.
   Today people are working for justice and fairness, like Thoreau did, on a plethora of situations. One of these situations is when gun owners sat outside recruiting offices with large guns. It was not exactly breaking the law, because having your gun unhidden is legal. Although this situation could be considered civil disobedience because after the shooting in Chattanooga, Tennessee the government had not changed any rules about recruiters having guns inside their workspace. Which people didn't agree with and so they started protecting recruiter offices around the country. They were asked to leave and to stop protecting the offices, but they refused to listen, because they believed this was an issue they knew more of.

Thoreau

Thoreau has been know as the student, the practitioner of Emerson's. Throughout his writing it is apparent that he truly learned from Emerson's work. Ralph Waldo Emerson had been out in jail on an account during his life, he was in for not paying his tax, although it had only been a night he learned a variety from it. " I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar." ( Emerson, 214). In this Emerson is behind bars, but he doesn't feel trapped, he does not worry about what is to come because he is not worried. From Thoreau he explains that " Time is but the stream I go a fishing in"( Thoreau, 205). In both of these situations both emerson and thoreau feel free and unconfined.
Another situation when Thoreau had been following what Emerson had written is when he went to the Walden Pond, he got away from society. "The lover of nature is he whose inward and outward senses are still truly adjusted to each other." (Emerson, 180). From this Emerson explains that if you can get away from what society tells you, and you love the nature, when you are back in the " real world" your senses will be full adjusted. " I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach..." (Thoreau, 204). Thoreau followed this, and went to nature, he wanted to adjust his sense and learn morea bout himself as a person.

Emerson

Emerson
Throughout Emerson's " Nature" he uses the big ideas of Individualism, Optimism, self reliance, and intuition to portray his beliefs of Transcendentalism.


Individualism is shown in Emerson's Nature throughout the piece. " To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society." (Emerson, 180) In this quote Emerson is saying that as much as you get away from society, you must get away from your own confinement. With others or even in your own house, you are still surrounded by items that can not let you be 100% yourself, the best place is to be alone in nature.

Throughout Emerson's Nature, he portrays a plethora of optimism, " There I feel that nothing can befall me in life,- no disgrace, no calamity....." ( Emerson,181) In this quote Emerson is speaking of nature, and how away from society and everything that makes him conform into something else, he is truly peaceful. He feels as nothing can ruin that, out in nature nothing will effect him.This relates to the transcendentalism ideals, to be at peace nothing can get in your way.
From Emerson's Self- Reliance he explains that listening to yourself and your heart is key to a Transcendentalist. Self reliance and intuition go hand in hand together, Self reliance is to take what you have and to work with it, not to be dependent on anyone else but yourself. " Trust Thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string"(Emerson,182) In this quote he explains that everyone can feel a certain vibration that helps them know what they are doing, just many do not choose to feel that vibration.


Also in Emerson's Self Reliance he explains that listening to your heart, your own brain is what is right for your  self. Intuition is definitely tied into self reliance, Intuition is listening to that gut feeling you may have. " To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your own private heart, is true for all men."( Emerson 183). To know what is true to your self and showing that understanding inside in out is a main transcendentalist belief.

Transcendentalism

Transcendentalism Overview
What is transcendentalism? Transcendentalism started out as a social movement. It was a new way of thinking, which challenged everything you once thought. You could not be a transcendentalist and believe the same things that society did. The transcendentalist proposed that the world wasn't really how we see it, that reality is a figment of our imagination.  Within the literature of Emerson and Thoreau, they portray these ideals of transcendentalism. They see where they must go mentally and physically to reach the level they want. That level is beyond what everyone else may think. To get to that level the individual must seek spiritual greatness, and understanding. " The rays that come from those heavenly worlds will separate between him and what he touches." ( Emerson, 180) In this quote from Emerson's Nature, he states that the beauty from the stars cannot be contained, it is beyond him but that does not mean he cannot appreciate the beauty. This can relate back to transcendentalism because many have to contain something for it to be meaningful, but the heavens above will still be just as meaningful without that containment.
Thoreau followed these ideas of transcendentalism he was more of a student and practitioner of Emerson's. He had strong belief that the government kept us blind to our own conscience, and as people we signed ourselves over too easily. " Why has every man a conscience then? (Thoreau,213) . He says this because if everyone signs themselves over to the government and will not listen to anything but what they tell them to do, why should they have their own thinking?
Both Emerson and Thoreau believed in thinking for yourself, and they asked questions that provoked something deep inside you, to find your own meaning without hearing it from others. " I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately.." (Thoreau, 204) In this quote from Thoreau's Walden, he went off on his own to learn more about his own conscience. " Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members" ( Emerson, 184) This quote can relate to the one from Thoreau because they both recognize that the world around them is pushing different thoughts onto them, which eventually shapes us into someone we are not.