According to Oxford Bibliographies, “ecocriticism is often used as a catchall term for any aspect of the humanities (e.g., media, film, philosophy, and history) addressing ecological issues, but it primarily functions as a literary and cultural theory,” according to Oxford Bibliographies.
The twisted sort of fun in critiquing any form of media through the lens of ecocriticism is that one may quickly come to realize how non-Indigenous cultures repeatedly disregard and desecrate nature, and maybe it causes the anarchist inside each person to come out a bit, or more. It might even cause you to fight for nature.
Avatar is an entire film just about that, disregard and desecration, coupled with some internal strife and classic rebel nature of “the few” who come from the predominant culture yet decide to veer away from said destructive practices.
In Avatar’s case, the so-called rebels are Jake Sully, Dr. Grace Augustine, Trudy Chacon, and Norm Spellman, a misfit crew made up of the protagonist Sully, the doctor, the pilot, and the scientist. Everyone you need to start a revolution. All of these characters, along with the corporation and military who they work for, traveled across the galaxy from Earth to the planet Pandora.
The theme of natural destruction immediately picks up when it is revealed that the intention of the “suits” and military leader is to collect a mineral precious to them for its ability to make them rich. The Native people of Pandora are understandably skeptical of these newcomers and make it more challenging for them to extract the mineral they came for. Sully and others are recruited to mentally control avatars that resemble the Native people so they can fit in and gain their trust, essentially spying for the corporation.
After Sully spends some time with them, he becomes enthralled with their way of life and culture. It immediately becomes apparent that a connection to nature is very important to the Na’vi. They consider all parts of nature to be equal to themselves and embed that respect and connection into their spiritual beliefs. For the colonizers who came to Pandora, nature is a means to increasing their bank account and pieces of nature that don’t serve a purpose to them can be destroyed without a second thought. The idea that everything being connected and in balance is essential to keeping the planet you are on healthy does not seem to cross their minds. It should be noted that “…the first Law of Ecology: Everything is connected to everything else,” William Rueckert said.
I am under the impression that “media…contain a variety of messages that are encoded (made/inserted) by producers and then decoded (understood) by audiences. [T]herefore what we see is simply a ‘re-presentation’ of what producers want us to see,” according to Stuart Hall.
I am under the impression that the writers and director of Avatar intentionally had Pandora be a similar enough mirror to our own planet and traditional Indigenous cultures that it may cause viewers to reflect on the destruction we as humans have been enacting on Earth since industrialization and even somewhat before that.
When the films building climax breaches, the colonizers fired missiles and burned down the Na’vi’s home tree in a fit of rage. The chieftain of the Na’vi is killed by wooden shrapnel from the giant tree as it exploded. That tree was not only the Na’vi’s home but also represents something ancient and nurturing. It provides shelter for the people and animals of the forest and has survived the test of time. Along comes the colonizers who destroy it in one day. It’s something beyond narcissism, it is sociopathic.
The rest of the film can be summed up to a fight for nature to not be exploited, fought valiantly by the Na’vi against the colonizers, until they finally drive them away, but not without the price of losing some of the major cast members who defected from the colonizers to aid the Na’vi. Avatar ends with Sully transferring his consciousness entirely to his avatars body. This can be looked at in a metaphorical sense of completely becoming the environmental steward that you hope to be.
Looking at the world through a myriad of lenses once again shines with importance when one examines the world through the lens of critical race theory (CRT). Race is a form of separation between people with different attributes that was created as a cultural construct. Through CRT it is understood that such categorization is used to “oppress people of color” according to Britannica, and that the laws in the United States were developed with racism engrained into them to further promote inequalities between whites and people of color socially, politically, and economically.
Racism is not only found in the blatant and harsh form. It is also found in much more discrete, yet equally harmful forms. Laws that we consider to be neutral as a society can in fact only provide seemingly equal treatment towards all people yet do not guarantee equal results. To provide examples, even though people of color are legally allowed to apply for the same jobs and loans that white people are they are more likely to be denied. According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, “With respect to housing costs, there is evidence that Black and Hispanic homebuyers have paid more than white homebuyers for similar quality homes.” Beyond that, many people of color “live in impoverished and racially segregated neighborhoods due to zoning restrictions,” according to Britannica. It is arguable that the political who zone these places do this on purpose to marginalize communities. In zones with more people of color, services such as educational and healthcare insitutions are often either not as reliable or sparser. Limited educational opportunities lead to limited job opportunities thus perpetuating the cycle of being stuck in these same areas. Not getting the health care you need can lead to an earlier death.
It has been argued by The Atlantic and Consumer Federation of America that people of color often pay more for automobiles and auto insurance as well. There is a monumental difference in how often people of color are unjustly suspected of criminal behavior and the amount of police brutality received by people of color is monumentally more than white people recieve. This results in a higher incarceration rate for people of color, and they are often imprisoned for longer. Less blatantly, microaggressions play a dangerous part in the discrimination of people of color. Microaggressions speak to a larger issue of pervasive racism even within people who claim to not be racist. They add up and can make a person feel disrespected, alienated, and undermined. Britannica states that “their (microaggressions) cumulative effect on people of color can be psychologically devastating.”
The systems in place in the United States that are imbedded with racism have been met with little effort to remove them as they have adapted to other forms of racism, like the prison system as opposed to slavery. Decreasing blatant racism in this country has always been performed by the government and the wealthy for ulterior motives. For example, Derrick Bell argues that Plessy v. Ferguson decision was overturned in Brown v. Board of Education because of “the need to improve the country’s image abroad.” For example, the image of black people in popular culture has changed throughout the centuries to benefit the motives of white people at the time. They were depicted as people content in subordination to promote the image that their enslavement was justified, and then later depicted as criminal and latent, to excuse the increased killing, incrimination, and imprisoned rates of people of color.
To consider a human being to only be identifiable through one feature, such as their skin color, does a great injustice to the complexity of being a human being. That being said, someone’s skin color is a part of who they are and should be celebrated. The shared experiences of millions of people of color speaks to a larger truth about the institutions in this country of the United States. The idea that one person can “speak on behalf of other members of their group regarding the forms and effects of racism,” according to Britannica, is incredibly powerful because it outlines the process through which individual experiences and ideas of people of color are amalgamated into a larger truth to convey a broader perspective that sheds light on great injustices toward people of color.
Derrick A. Bell said “But history shows with equal clarity, though it is less frequently acknowledged, that indications of black success and thus possible black superiority result in racist outrage. Most of the many race riots in this nation’s history were sparked by white outrage over black success.”
The movie The Hate U Give immediately begins with a father explaining to his young children that if they get pulled over, they have to act a certain way and keep their hands were the police an see them in order to be safe. This alone is enough to show how systemically racist services, such as police officers are, when the same people meant to protect you are deeply feared by innocent children. The father does not hesitate to remind his children that “being black is an honor because you come from greatness.” The limited options and harsh environments that are discussed and analyzed through critical race theory are displayed in The Hate U Give. Trying to “get out” to find a better life is a common theme when you come from a place where low income people live, but to fit in in these other environments, you have to portray yourself as more like the people from there, which usually means to act more white and more “proper,” even if the white people use slang, because as its stated in the movie, “slang makes them look cool. Slang makes me “hood.” People need to be able to be who they are without being categorized and disrespected.
Another important point is quickly touched on when the protagonist of the movie Starr does not want her boyfriend to see where she lives or meet her parents, a common thing that people of color have to deal with because they get discriminated against for things like that if they don’t “stack up” to some, excuse me, bullshit ideals of how your house and family need to look and act to be accepted into mainstream white society. Later in the evening at a house party in he neighborhood, Starr shows up and doesn’t feel like she fits in there either. She came dressed comfy and gets ridiculed for it, and also for not wanting to fight. Some people start arguing and then gun shots go off. This scene definitely perpetuates the idea that black people are violent which mainstream media pushes. People dealing drugs and getting into gunplay comes from a place of wanting a better life and trying to be safe doing it and dealing with what society gives you, but the mess it can turn into makes it not worth it.
Starr’s friend Khalil is killed by a cop who pulls them over after they leave the party that gets shot up. It’s a scene that depicts something that happens too frequently in real life. Cops go around trigger happy unjustly killing people of color. According to Howard Zinn and many other sources, cops began as a group of people tasked with capturing runaway slaves. Their very foundation is built on racism, and their actions up to the present day reflect that abhorrent behavior and mindset. Even after killing an innocent young man the officer in the movie only gets put on paid administrative leave. That right there is a reflection of systemically racist institutions at work doing evil.
Later in the film, Maverick sits down with Starr and talks to her about how “the cycle” goes. People need money because there aren’t better jobs, so they deal drugs that were put in the neighborhood by rich people who aren’t from there and don’t care about the people who live there. The people who get tasked with selling the dope fall into the trap because they think that making money that way is a way out, but then find out it isn’t. Then you get caught up and put in jail “which is another billion-dollar hustle” for the white man.
Every time Starr is asked about the instance where Khalil is shot they just ask about how he was a drug dealer and don’t even care that he got killed, like anything else matters besides that. The cops harass her father for absolutely no reason besides the fact that they are racist POS. There goes on to be many more scenes where critiquing it through critical race theory reflects the basis of the theory that racism is embedded into society and government in the United States. For me, this movie focuses too much on the results of these systemically racist systems of government we live under like the violence toward people of color, rather than the source of these systemic issues like the institutions themselves. Everybody knows about the ghetto, what everybody doesn’t know about is how it came to be like that, why there are even systems that support these hateful ways of being in the first place, and who the people are who are terrorizing these communities like most cops and politicians and many, many white people who refuse to take ownership. I could see this movie being good for white people to watch but it can be triggering to watch for ethnic people who’ve been through stuff that’s depicted in this movie.
In a world where we are constantly surrounded by media, media literacy is not just helpful, but an essential skill. The first step to evaluating media that you are consuming is to investigate its integrity, independence and productivity. Going beyond these initial observations is much more challenging and time consuming, but essential to understanding the sources and intentions of the messages put forth by various platforms. It requires the ability to critically think and have an eye for intricacy.
To judge media in an informed manner, begin by questioning everything you read, see or hear to some extent and follow up on those questions by fact-checking and verifying the sources that are used. Research or evidence incorporated to back information up is most trustworthy when it is peer reviewed or contributed to by multiple perspectives. Be mindful of any biases, sensationalism, or manipulation techniques that might distort the truth, and consider the context and intent of the message. Does it inform, persuade, entertain, or cause a reaction. The target audience and the medium itself should also be considered, as different forms of media have their own unique conventions, intentions and limitations.
Media ownership plays a significant role in shaping the messages we encounter. When a few conglomerates control a most of the media organizations within the United States, it has the potential to limit the diversity of perspectives being taken into consideration and lead to a homogenization of content. “Most journalists in the United States are concerned about the future of press freedoms in the country,” Pew Research said. It is important to be aware of this influence and seek out independent and alternative sources to gain a more balanced understanding of various topics.
Independence is a crucial aspect to examine in media. Investigate the ownership and affiliations of the media outlet or platform presenting the respective content. Consider whether they have any potential conflicts of interest that could influence their reporting or editorial decisions. Independent media outlets are often more likely to provide a wide array of perspectives and unbiased information since they have much less corporate ulterior motives.
How productive a source of media is speaks to its ability to positively contribute to public discourse and society as a whole. Media that encourages critical thinking, fosters empathy, and promotes civic engagement show by their actions they are dedicated to the positive evolution of human beings. Media content that educates, inspires, or sparks meaningful conversations can improve our understanding of facets of existence that may not have been accessible in the past and help us become more active in our communities.
Through such practices we can combat online hate and cultivate a culture of digital connections and empathy. Teaching media literacy in schools from a young age and offering education on the subject within communities can empower individuals to critically assess the messages they are receiving through media and respond to hateful content in a way that is productive and responsible. Highlighting stories of resilience and unity can serve as powerful counter-narratives against online hate.
The role of journalists within the complicated world of media is to produce credible, intentional and useful content. As producers of media, we must be at the forefront of media literacy education. Most people are too busy in this insane world to deal with being bombarded by the tsunami of information and messages that are created and shared every single day. As journalists living in an online multimedia age we must do our best to present the truth and help people to understand and know about information that they would not have had access to before the online world existed.
Not only journalists have the power to increase transparency and integrity within media. This is something that every single person and participate in and contribute to. “We will focus on Truth, Privacy and Power to work towards solutions for a healthy and robust media ecosystem,” Harvard University said. Harvard itself offers resources for better understanding media ownership and the benefits of media literacy, as well as so many other resources. The information to better consume information, as silly as that may sound, is accessible and often well intentioned. Take advantage of such resources so that you are not deceived and let astray by the media organizations that have motives that do not focus on honesty and the betterment of society.
Since media came to be there have been those who use it as a form of activism and as a tool for manipulation. Before media sharing, the sources for finding out information on topics that were not mainstream was quite difficult. If it wasn’t familial knowledge, in a book, or on tv or the radio you weren’t hearing about it. Many movements that could have potentially inspired another or made them feel seen, heard, and represented were lost to anyone who was not near enough to it to come into direct contact.
A vast array of media sources, particularly independent media sources, has allowed the range of information being shared on a global scale to increase by an innumerous amount. In countries that still live in a state of controlled media, social media, in particular, has been a catalyst for organizing when there is something deemed worthy of protesting. Although social media has aided in connecting and broadcasting lesser heard or recognized information, there are also aspects of social media sharing of activism and movements which have the potential to generate dangerous false information that birth unhealthy forms of radicalism and activism.
QAnon, Proud Boys, and Pro-Life, and Anti-Trans, just to name a few, label and market themselves as positive forces of do-gooding, when in fact they are arguably chauvinistic, bigoted, and hateful groups. From what I can tell, the Yes Men are a very much needed aid in having messages that promote unity, equity, and peace. They “support positive change around issues that matter, generally ones that don’t already get the attention they deserve,” Yes Men said. It seems that they do this in a way where the movements they support receive help getting recognized in mainstream media to the same scale that hate groups frequently get.
The Black Lives Matter movement is an excellent example of community coming together across the world to advocate for the just treatment of Black people. In the past, I cannot imagine the countless times that crimes were committed against Black people that went unpunished or even not known about because they happened without ever being brought to the attention to the mass public through media. The crimes against Black people that happen in this day and age get shared on a mass scale and from this sharing people assemble.
They assemble and they demand change, they bombard the social medias of government officials, they call and text them, they are not limited to only sending a letter. Offenders of Black people have been called out and persecuted because of the extent of these demands. The “impact of these platforms for holding powerful people accountable for their actions and giving a voice to underrepresented groups,” Pew Research said, is indispensable. If it was not for the movements grounds and the actions taken through forms of media against the offenders, it is unlikely that any of the police or well-off White people who committed the hateful acts would have received the justice they deserve for their injustices.
Young people growing up in today’s day and age live in a world already saturated with media. They are immersed in it before they ever get the chance to take a class on media literacy. They have parents who are likely just learning about this concept themselves and thus are in grave danger of succumbing to misinformation. It is not taught in public primary and secondary schools, and to take it in college they must choose to do so, as this essential skill is not yet a required course for general education.
The online educational sources for media literacy that could easily be accessed by young people still requires that they proactively choose to consume them. My hope is that young people will hear about the value from media sources they use, from people who have the knowledge and are using media in a positive way to educate others on the saliency of media literacy. Journalists play an essential role in ensuring the information they put out on media is straightforward and true. Journalists get paid by recognition, “but the danger in doing that is the temptation to gravitate toward whatever gets the most clicks which is why news organizations badly need to have leaders who appreciate that what’s popular isn’t always what’s most important,” John Oliver said.
Ruby Cayenne 