Avatar is little help to indigenous people

The movie, Avatar, can be seen as portraying the victory of an indigenous people who try to maintain their identity amid the threat of so-called civilization, anthropologists who advocate cultural diversity in times of globalization, and to some extent religion over science. It may sound an alarm for policymakers, too, urging them to choose a sustainable development model.

The economic growth of human society, particularly the unquenchable desire for minerals, wood, water and land, poses a threat to the resources on which indigenous people or minority groups make their living and build their identities. In most cases, these physical resources are essentially the source of unique cultures, religions, customs and social relations, developed over hundreds or even thousands of years.

In Avatar, the Na'vi people live on a fictional moon called Pandora, worship trees, treat animals as life-long partners and have their own value system on issues such as death or the relationship between human beings and nature. Unfortunately, a modern person may see all this as uncivilized or underdeveloped and would ardently but wrongly want to liberate them. The film is set in 2154, when humans invade Pandora to mine a rare but very precious mineral that the indigenous people show no signs of exploiting.