James Cameron’s Avatar: Communication Methods

1383 Words6 Pages
James Cameron’s Avatar: Communication Methods Introduction to Communication Jamestown College Department of Communication Mark Lybeck May 2016 Jamestown, North Dakota Introduction and Literature Review The definition of Haptics is the nonverbal communication involving physical touch. In the movie “Avatar” there is an alien nation, the Na’vi, who lives on Pandora. The plot of the movie is that humans come and want a resource called Unobtainium. Jake Sully, who is the main character, is made the “Avatar” in order to become one of the natives, the Na’vi. Instead of convincing the Na’vi to give up their world he tries to understand the connection that these people have with each other and the forest that covers their planet. My research is based on the use of haptics by the Na’vi. Through their version of haptics the Na’vi are much more deeply connected with each other on an interpersonal level than their human counterparts. Haptics are important because touch can be used to communicate affection, familiarity, and sympathy. The Na’vi understand these emotions through a special form of interpersonal communication they call “Tsaheylu” or “the bond.” There have been studies done on Avatar on various cross-cultural issues. These studies have included topics like white supremacy. This study stressed that whites think that they can take whatever they want without thinking about how it will hurt other cultures and races. The purpose of this study is to learn about the Na’vi culture and to show that the Na’vi’s use of “the bond” is a form of haptics that is exemplified as superior to our preferred use of haptics as humans. The ways in which I will conduct my research is through the methods of textual analysis. I will explain what “Tsaheylu” is, and through textual analysis I will show how the Na’vi us “Tsaheylu” as a form of haptics. Then I will talk

More about James Cameron’s Avatar: Communication Methods

Open Document