Whose Avatar Do You See?

A strange bestial head has reared itself between religion and freedom of expression with James Cameron’s next film Avatar.

A strange bestial head has reared itself between religion and freedom of expression. James Cameron’s next film Avatar, a digital 3-D feature, has ruffled Hindu right wing feathers before its release next month. The Universal Society of Hinduism wants Cameron to attach a disclaimer saying the movie and its title have no relationship with Hinduism or its concepts.  In the movie, humans fight the native species of a distant moon called Pandora, two centuries in the future. Pandora’s natives, the Na’vis, are digitally modified blue human forms with bestial features. They wear loincloths, fight with bows and arrows, use winged creatures for transport and the women braid their hair.  No word from Cameron yet. One wonders how much he could add to the standard disclaimers that come with all movies—‘Any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental.’

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Arindam Mukherjee