Blog 6

In the movie Avatar, the dichotomizing of gender is shown in the way that Jake is portrayed. Traditional characteristics attributed to males are “aggressive, independent, unemotional, objective, dominant, active, competitive, logical, adventurous and direct” (Rosenblum and Travis). Jake displayed most of these attributes throughout the entire film. Some notable examples are 1) His portrayal as a strong military guy 2) his carefree attitude towards his avatar body. By taking extreme risks when learning the Navi ways, particularly when he learned how to fly the Navi dragon he showed his competitive, dominant and adventurous side. On the other hand the dichotomizing of the female gender was also portrayed in the film. As her Navi self, Grace was portrayed as a kind, gentle and caring woman. She was nurturing and cared deeply for the Navi people. All of these characteristics have been traditionally attributed to the female gender.

Cheung states that the personal homepage “is a self-defined ‘stage’, upon which we can decide what aspects of our selves we would like to present” (p. 275). Jake uses his avatar as a stage where he creates a new identity and a new life on Pandora. Jake was a bitter and angry person as a human. He was resentful of the fact that he could not afford to get his spine fixed after serving his country in the military. However, he was able to create a whole new identity with his avatar. He was a carefree person able to walk, run, and learn about a new world and their inhabitants. At first, the Navi people saw Jake as a jerk that did not belong with them, but eventually Jake gained their respect. In the end Jake was seen as a hero by the Navi people because, he was able to ride a Navi dragon that had not been ridden in hundreds of years. This turn of events changed Jake’s identity again. He went from a fallen veteran, to a curious and adventurous newcomer, to a Navi hero.

One way avatars can be seen as personal web pages in the movie is the sheer fact that the avatars were created by using the user’s DNA. The avatars had both the DNA of the Navi people and the DNA of the human controller. The avatars looked a lot like the Navi people, but their facial features clearly displayed a lot of the facial characteristics of the human user. Another important fact was that not anyone could use any avatar. Only the human who’s DNA was used to create the avatar could link and control said avatar.

Works Cited:
Avatar. Dir. James Cameron. Perf. Sam Worthington and Zoe Zaldana. 2009.

Bell, David, and Barbara M. Kennedy, eds. The Cyberculture's Reader. 2nd edition. New York: Routledge, 2007, 275. Print.