Avatar: Science Fiction Movie Analysis

Avatar

Avatar is a science fiction movie and takes place in the year 2154 where technology is so advanced that it allows a humans mind to be transported to anywhere in the world and to be transformed into different body figures. In the movie, a paraplegic man named “Sully” is offered to travel for six years to discover the ways of the “Na’vi’ which are human like creatures that live on the planet “Pandora.” In return, Sully would be awarded with a medical surgery to fix his legs and allow him to walk again.

As for the end of the movie, humans and the creatures of Pandora break out into a war and Sully is left to choose between being a human on Earth or life on the planet Pandora. Avatar was first written by James Cameron in 1994 but seized because of technological concerns, during this time James then finished filming the movie “Titanic.” James put a hold on the Avatar film because he felt that the technology that was available at the time was not advanced enough to fulfill his ideas for the film.

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After waiting until 2006, James Cameron then begun filming the move with the new and advanced technology. The film making process cost approximately two hundred and thirty seven million dollars to complete and was released in 2009 (Avatar 1).

In the background of the poster, there are floating islands with water falls that stop before the end of the island which resemble futuristic landscape. These islands are floating over top of mountains in the background and a dense tree area that is similar to a rain forest.

There are also flying dragon like creatures that appear to have some kind of creature with a long tail riding on the back of them. There are two faces at the top of the poster one is of a man, the other is of a blue sci-fi creature with glowing white dots spread out across the face. The creature also has large bright green eyes, pointed elf like ears, and both have similar facial features. The characteristics of the creature is a clear demonstration that the movie is science fiction and also catches attention because it is not normal looking and this will intrigue an audience.

Logos, also known as appeal to logic, is used to persuade an audience to believe or connect something with the use of logic and reasoning. In the movie “Avatar”, James Cameron uses appeal to logic with the tagline “Enter the World of Avatar.” Using the appeal to logic and reasoning, we can make an assumption that this will be a science fiction film. We can make the connection that the phrase “Enter the World of Avatar” signifies that the movie will not be taking place on the world that we live in. Looking at the movie poster, we can also see where logos is shown by the use of imagery. Using the appeal to logic, we can connect that the floating islands and the dragon like creatures are all in the category of science fiction. With the blue human like creature that is presented on the poster, we can also figure out that that this represents the genre of the movie, science fiction.

Ethos is the ethical appeal, it is used to show an audience the author’s credibility and represents the quality of the film (Ethos 1). The use of ethos is clearly presented because the words “From the Director of Titanic” are at the top of the movie poster. The movie “Titanic” is a world famous film that grossed over two billion dollars after it was released in 1997. James Cameron is the director and writer of this billion dollar film and has written and directed other various movies that are also popular (Box 1).The tactic of displaying his name is to lure an audience in with his background of outstanding film making and directing. James Cameron’s has directed thirteen movies and out of the thirteen, ten are science fiction. The use of his name represents the quality in which this movie will have because he has written and directed so many other popular science fiction films. A lot of film makers do not display their name on their movie posters because they want the main focus of the poster to be the actual movie (IMDb). In this case, James Cameron made a smart choice by adding his name to the poster because he is a well-known director for creating amazing movies that are particularly science fiction.

Pathos is used to appeal to ones emotions by the use of colour, text, and descriptions. Avatar’s move poster background is orange and blue, these two colours are popular in movie posters because they appeal to people by representing the mood and genre of a movie (Pathos 1.) The colour blue, as well as green, has represented science fiction movies for years, it automatically makes us think of sci-fi related subjects. Most science fiction movies are about aliens, fictional creatures, space, and the unknown. For example, when we think of the subject aliens in space, the colours blue and green come to mind because we assume that sci-fi creatures are green coloured and their supernatural technology are vibrant shades of blue. The text that the word “Avatar” is written with on the poster represents a tribal scribe looking font, the use of this font hints that there may be some type of tribal occurrences.

While these forms of logos, ethos, and pathos are all good examples of how the poster appeals to an audience, it is not appealing to everyone. Personally, I am interested in science fiction and a poster like this would catch my eye and make me want to see the film. Something about mythical creatures, different worlds, and other sci-fi gadgets appeal to me. Others may not have any desire to want to see science fiction because the genre simply bores them. Most sci-fi movies deal with aliens, creatures, and different worlds, because of this, people tend to get bored with the idea of it. They are bored with the science fiction genre because frankly the majority of them share the same basic concept, mythical or scientific. I have always been interested in the unknown, which is why science fiction movies do not bore me. If someone thinks of science fiction as overrated then it is understandable because they all do deal with the same category, the unknown.

The use of logos, ethos, and pathos are all well represented in this movie poster. Logos is shown with hinting what the movie will deal with by using unrealistic landscapes and unknown creatures. It is also shown by using phrases such as “Enter the World of Avatar” to catch people’s attention and make them wonder about what will happen within the movie. Ethos is used by making the bold and smart decision of including the name of the well-known film maker and director, James Cameron. Pathos covered the color role of the poster by using colors that represent and hint the genre of the movie. It draws attention to the use of mythical creatures and naturally draws our attention by the use of popular colors. The designer of the poster assessed different ways to appeal to someone’s emotions and preference. All of these tactics were thoroughly executed in the movie poster and that is what makes it a great represented poster.