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| Avatar Poster |
Avatar directed by James Cameron follows the three act structure in telling the story of how the protagonist Jake Sully goes on the Hero's Journey. Jake leaves the mundane human world and travels to Pandora showing the obstacles he faces along with the final resolution.
"The 3-act structure is an old principle widely adhered to in storytelling today. It can be found in plays, poetry, novels, comic books, short stories, video games, and the movies. It was present in the novels of Conan Doyle, the plays of Shakespeare, the fables of Aesop, the poetry of Aristotle, and the films of Hitchcock. It’s older than Greek dramaturgy. Hollywood and Broadway use it well. It’s irrefutable and bullet-proof" (Moura, G 2014)
Jake is introduced to the story as a veteran who is a paraplegic. His twin brothers Avatar was created which is a duplicate of the Blue skinned Alien like hunters gatherers called the Na'vi that roam Pandora. Jake travels to Pandora and soon starts to feel one with the Na'vi as he is seen as one of their own and is treated as such, gaining their loyalty and learning the lay of the lay of the land
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| The Na'vi |
The second act showing the obstacles that Jake faces are when he starts to feel more comfortable in the Pandora universe rather than earth as he is loyal to the Na'vi the military that he is supposed to be working for are out to destroy the Pandora universe and all the creatures, plants and life that resides in the technicolour world. The whole objective of the military is to take a precious source of energy that is abundant in pandora.
War is the conflict that Jake now faces as the antagonist Colonel Miles Quaritch is violent and aggressive and sends flying however crafts equipped with missiles to bomb the dreamlike world as he cannot fathom getting the source of energy without killing everything in his path.
"Now we’ve been thrust into Act II (film-speak for Parts 2 and 3 of the equivalent novelistic storytelling model, comprising the middle 50% of the total length), where the story is no longer in set-up mode, it’s in response mode. The context of everything Jake does until the Mid-Point will be his reaction to his new quest in the face of the obstacles placed before him." (Storyfix.com, 2017)
The third act sees the resolution and climax to the obstacles that Jake has had to face. Many of Jakes friends who were in the military decided to fight along side him as they repelled the barbaric brutality that Quaritch has put in place against Pandora and many of them have paid with their lives. The ending sees Jake almost dying but manages to win the battle against the military and Quaritch who is killed. Jake's human body is laid at the tree of souls where his life form is permanently transformed into his Avatar so that he can truly be one with the Na'vi and Pandora.
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| Final Scene |
Bibliography
Storyfix.com. (2017). Deconstructing Avatar: Act II (The First Half Up to the Mid-Point) - Storyfix.com. [online]
Available at: http://storyfix.com/deconstructing-avatar-act-ii-the-first-half-up-to-the-mid-point [Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].
Moura, G. (2014). The Three-Act Structure. [online] Elementsofcinema.com.
Available at: http://www.elementsofcinema.com/screenwriting/three-act-structure/
[Accessed 16 Oct. 2017].
Illustration List
[image] "Avatar Poster" Available at: https://www.europosters.eu/posters/avatar-limited-ed-one-sheet-sun-v13494.
[Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].
Anon, (2017). "Final Scene" [image] Available at: http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/File:Jake_stays_on_Pandora_forever.jpg
[Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].
Anon, (2017)."The Na'vi" [image] Available at: https://moviepilot.com/posts/3755046
[Accessed 22 Oct. 2017].
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