Readings Week 8: C. Klassen: Avatar, Dark Green Relgion and the Technological Construction of Nature.

By Laura Green

The technologically created "natural" world of Pandora. 

I found Klassen’s article, which examines the spirituality of nature, with particular reference to the theme embedded in the film Avatar, extremely interesting. I believe the spiritual aspect of nature is quite clearly illustrated in many ways; the most significant to me is the connection many people feel to certain places. I grew up in the UK and often feel such a connection with the places of my childhood, when I go back for visits. In particular, the walking trails in the countryside that I remember walking with my parents. Due to this I can understand why some people feel such a strong pull from all forms of nature and want to practice what Klassen calls “dark green religion”, which promotes that humans are part of the natural world and nature is seen as sacred. The need for humans to live in harmony with the natural world and the sacredness of nature was a common belief in many ancient cultures, however, over time some of these cultures began to assert the prominence of the human race over nature and their right to dominate it. This idea has remained prominent in our western culture for centuries. Recently though, with the advent of growing environmental concern, many people are going back to a “dark green” spirituality, and reasserting the sacredness of nature (Carolyn Egri, 1997). 

Many individuals saw Avatar as a promotion of such dark green religion and environmental activism. This idea was not new to me; however, Klassen proposes a different view of the film and I found his argument extremely interesting. He believes that the technologically created natural world of Avatar can negatively affect people’s view of the real natural world. Klassen argues that this is the reason some viewers have plunged into what is referred to as ‘post-pandoran depression’ after watching Avatar. This is where viewers are unable to reconcile their natural world with the technologically mastered world of Pandora, which has made their real natural world seem “second best”. Klassen suggests that in some ways the natural world that is presented in Avatar is actually promoting the complete opposite of dark green religion. He argues that it invites viewers to marvel at technologically created nature over real-world nature.  Hence, this is not a demonstration of seeing the sacredness of nature but of admiring at human technological advancement, which again promotes the prominence of humanity over all else in the world.

References:

Carolyn Egri (1997) “Spiritual Connections with the Natural Environment”, Organisation and Environment 10, no. 4: 407-431

Chris Klassen (2012) “Avatar, Dark Green Religion, and the Technological Construction of Nature”, Cultural Studies Review 18, no. 2: 74-86.

Image: 

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTgwMTg4NDkyNF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwMjc4MTUzNA@@._V1._SX640_SY360_.jpg