Christian Coplen

Mr. Thompson
English 1301.27
November 11, 2016
Is God Blue?
Is God real? Is there more than one God? How many Gods are there? Which God is the
real God? We do not know. We do not know which god is the god. We do not know which
religion is the religion. We do not know which holy book is most accurate, and we do not know
which prayers are actually being heard. The reality is that we do not know the answers to any of
these questions. All we know is that religion exists. James Cameron acknowledges this reality
when using religion in his film, Avatar, and instead of focusing on one specific religion, he
decides to create his own. In doing so, he uses many elements from different existing religions,
including elements from Pantheism, Hinduism, and Christianity.
The first religious exposure we get from the film are Pantheistic elements. In Pantheism,
it is believed that everything is God. Pantheists do not believe in God as a specific being with a
story to be told, rather they simply acknowledge the existence of an imminent god and accept
that this god is reality itself and reality itself is God. This is expressed in Avatar throughout the
entire film. The Navi acknowledge the existence of a higher power and refer to it as Eywa.
Eywa is found in everything. It is in every plant, animal, and Navi person. The Omaticaya clan
believes that Eywa flows through every single thing on Pandora, making Eywa the center of life.
Eywa is their god and ultimately, Eywa is their life. To the Omaticaya, Eywa is life itself. This
idea is extremely similar to Pantheists acknowledging their god as life itself. In addition to this,
the Navi also display several Native American qualities, whether it be their clothing, tribal way
of living, hunting and gathering, long dark hair, or riding horse-like creatures, there is definitely
no denying that James Cameron was heavily influenced by the Native Americans when creating
the Navi. Subsequently, this influence resulted in Cameron producing more Pantheistic elements

in the film, considering many early Native American religions were Pantheistic. Following the
release of this movie, author Ross Douthat also found that Pantheistic elements were used in this
production. In addition to this discovery, he commented on James Camerons decision to use
Pantheism saying [Pantheism is] Hollywoods religion of choice for a generation now
(Douthat). As strange as it may sound, Doughat could not be more correct. Pantheism shares
many elements with many other religions, thus appealing to todays generation, who tends to
pick and choose what rules they want to follow.
One of the religions that shares elements with Pantheism is Christianity, which is also
displayed throughout the movie. We are first exposed to these Christian elements when Neytiri is
about to shoot Jake Sulley with her bow and arrow, when all of a sudden an atokirina appears.
Atokirina are small, floating, glowing creatures that are sent by Eywa to show when something
good is happening to the Navi people or to prevent sin. This is very similar to the use of
angels in the Christian religion, assuming that Eywa is God, which is also an element of
Christianity. Christians not only believe in a single god, but they believe in an almighty Messiah
being sent to earth to save the people from evil. According to the Bible, this Messiah dies and is
resurrected three days later. In the movie, every time Jake completes the transition from his
human body to his avatar body, he practically dies and is resurrected. The Omaticaya do not see
Jake as the Messiah and do not acknowledge his resurrection as Messiah-like until the end of the
film. However, this does not make the Christian elements any less present. The Omaticaya
people also put majority of their faith into three specific trees (Tree of Souls, Tree of Voices, and
Home Tree), each one displaying aspects of their god, Eywa. In Christianity, especially
Catholicism, the faith is also split three ways. However, rather than trees, Christians put their
faith into three specific aspects of their God: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. Prayer is
another important part of Christianity. During the film Jake prays to Eywa, and it is similar to

Christian prayer because of the informality of it. In many other religions, such as Islam, Judaism,
and Buddhism, prayer is very formal, but most Christians tend to pray and talk to God in a very
casual way, which is exactly what Jake does. As you can see, both Christianity and Pantheism
share many qualities and are both used by James Cameron in the religious aspect of the movie,
but he does not stop there.
Cameron also uses elements of Hinduism when creating his own Navi religion. As
everyone that has seen the movie knows, blue is obviously a pretty important color in the
production. This was not done by accident. Hinduism has very many attachments to the color
blue, including attributes such as bravery, reliability, manliness, loyalty, and a stable mind. In
addition to these attributes that describe the Omaticayan people almost perfectly, many Hindu
warrior gods are portrayed to have blue skin, such as Rama and Krishna. In fact, Rama is
almost never seen without a sacred bow and arrow; another element used by Cameron. Members
of the Hindu religion also believe in a concept known as parakaya pravesham, or just parakaya
for short. Parakaya is the concept of an immortal deity being transferred over into a mortal body.
Jake Sulleys conscious, which is potentially immortal, is transferred in the mortal body of his
avatar each and every time he makes the transition. Cameron also uses a bit of wordplay here
when creating the name Omaticaya, in which the spelling and pronunciation is very similar to
the word parakaya. Another Hindu element expressed in the film is the idea of all nature being
connected to everything. Members of the Hindu faith are very certain of the idea that energy is
transferred throughout every living thing. The religion of the Omaticaya are also extremely
convinced of this concept. We see this in their fascination with their three holy trees, and their
belief in the concept shahaylu. Shahaylu is the belief that everything on planet Pandora is
connected through a bond of constantly flowing energy. We learn this in the film during one of
Jakes video logs where he is talking about his experiences with the Navi people and he

explains, Its hard to put in words the deep connection they have with the forest. They see a
network of energy that flows through all living things (Jake, Avatar). Lastly, James Cameron
uses elements of Hinduism in the traditional greeting of the Omaticayan people. When they great
each other, they look each other in the eyes and say, I see you. The meaning of this greeting is
almost completely identical to the Hindu phrase Namaste, which is defined as acknowledging
the divinity and energy within each other.
We still have no idea whether God is real or not. We still do not know how many gods
there are or which religion is the religion. We do not even know what religion James Cameron
himself believes in but we do know that he is very equipped with knowledge about several
religions and he uses this as a tool when putting the religious aspect into his movie. Religion
plays a huge role in this film, for without it the Navi people would have nothing to be fighting
for other than a place to sleep at night. But the Navi feel a religious connection to Pandora and
the protagonist himself experiences this connection in many important, spiritual moments
throughout the film. Cameron does an amazing job at creating a belief system intense and
interesting enough to capture the audience. He produces his own religion using elements from
Pantheism, Christianity, and Hinduism, drawing in audiences of all different faiths and
backgrounds. Camerons religion is neither bias nor forceful. It is intriguing and welcoming and
allows the audience to gain an emotional connection with the Omaticayan people and contributes
heavily to the success of the film. James Cameron really hit home with this production and
should feel very grateful for the ideas that were put into his head, whether they were put in there
by Eywa, Jesus Christ, or the fern in the corner of his office.

Works Cited
Cherry, Kendra. "How Does the Color Blue Make You Feel?" Verywell. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Nov.
2016. <https://www.verywell.com/the-color-psychology-of-blue-2795815>.
Sanskriti. "Meaning of Different Colours in Hinduism." Sanskriti Indian Culture. N.p., 11 June
2015. Web. 16 Nov. 2016. <http://www.sanskritimagazine.com/indianreligions/hinduism/meaning-of-different-colours-in-hinduism/>.
"Pantheism - By Branch / Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy." Pantheism - By Branch /
Doctrine - The Basics of Philosophy. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_pantheism.html>.
By, Written, James Cameron, All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2007 Twentieth Century Fox
Film, and Corporation. No Portion Of This Script May Be Performed, Published,. (n.d.):
n. pag. Web. 11 Nov. 2016.