Avatar Imperialism

Many people have seen the popular film Avatar. Although many people fail to realize the full meaning behind the film. The film, Avatar, is a direct parallel to European imperialism in Africa during the late 19th and early 20th century. Imperialism can be defined as a policy in which a country or government gains political and economical control via direct territorial acquisition. This policy was very prominent among European nations. The policy, however, was extremely bad for the natives in Africa. Way of life was almost always lost due to the cruel treatment by mother European nations. This essay will explore the parallels from the 2009 James Cameron film, Avatar, to what happened in Africa during the age of imperialism. In Avatar the film presents a mother planet imperialistically taking over a weaker planet, and it incorporates how …show more content…
Countries wanted valuable resources from African regions for their economy. In history, European nations would take over various African regions for resources such as: gold, diamonds, rubber, ivory, palm oil, and cotton. A second element includes a tactic that was employed by imperialistic European nations which was the use of their superior military. Many times this is seen in history. The Roman Military used their great organization with their mighty Roman legion to conquer the known world. Even in the New World, Spanish conquistadors conquered almost all of South America for Spain. In more modern day times, in Asia and Africa the superior navies and armies of developed European nations achieved victory over less developed nations in the aforementioned continents. The third key element was the attempted assimilation by missionaries sent to these regions by European nations. While these attempts largely failed, it was still attempted. However, the main purpose of these missions was just a smoke screen to try and cover up the European nations main