James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water was a hit in movie theaters since day one. The long-awaited sequel to the world of Pandora took its time to see the light but finally made it to the silver screen with astonishing results. With the first movie up in the streaming counts and the second one receiving massive crowds in cinemas, the director has done it again, creating a blockbuster film with an immersive universe and beautiful imagery.
Avatar, the initial entry in the series from 2009, introduced the world to the Na’vi, the inhabitants of the amazing land of Pandora. These human-like creatures live in peace with the nature that surrounds them. While the story of both movies follows Jack Sully’s (Sam Worthington) life and his family, the environment plays a big role in the series. In particular, the narrative of The Way of Water seems like a departure from Cameron’s past work. Not only it expands on the flora, fauna, and indigenous tribes of Pandora but also finds a new way of telling their story, very much like a documentary but with its personal touch.
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What Cinematic Storytelling Learned From Documentaries
20th Century Studios
If you browse through nature documentaries from your favorite streaming service, you will probably notice the narrative touch in many of them. Usually, these features show a flock of a particular species living their lives in their habitats. Documentary writers have chosen to name those animals in hopes of drawing ideas from more traditional storytelling. Audiences are only so used to the narrative structure, where a character is introduced, goes through one or a series of conflicts, and resolves it. The familiarity of this makes the documentary more approachable and memorable, showing how much documentaries learned from movies.
James Cameron seems to have reflected on this when creating The Way of Water. Yet, the director inverted the question: what can movies learn from documentaries? If we associate storytelling with cinematography, the description of complex environments in nature might as well belong to the documentary genre.
The Way of Water lasts longer than three hours. Though action-filled and driven by Jack Sully’s family’s exile from the Omaticaya, they seek asylum with the Metkayina, an indigenous population that lives in harmony with sea creatures. From different perspectives, the movie spends most of its time explaining the ways of these creatures, how they mate, how they relate to other species, and even how humanity hunts them violently for its invaluable resources. The main plot keeps developing, but it jumps to the background while the environmental description shines. This, of course, is enhanced by its visually-stunning imagery, a very unique asset in Cameron’s film.
In a sense, the main character of The Way of Water is Pandora itself. We get to see the planet’s marine life, the way it works, and how the ecosystems are altered by the intrusion of men. These elements pretty much summarize most of the documentaries we are used to seeing on National Geographic, a joint venture between the non-profit scientific organization National Geographic Society and Walt Disney Studios. James Cameron is still narrating an action story, but he chooses to drive it through the presentation of the ecosystem.
Other Applications of the Ecosystem-Driven Films
20th Century Fox
Disney’s 20th Century Studios owns distribution rights to Avatar as well as making commercial decisions for National Geographic. One of the many conveniences of Walt’s company is owning complex franchises and universes, such as Marvel, which Cameron has criticized, or Star Wars.
The latter, in particular, though more centered on technology, does have a beautiful intergalactic environment that could use Cameron’s style to showcase the amazing world that surrounds the galaxy far, far away. Recent entries in the franchise such as The Book of Boba Fett, The Mandalorian, and Andor have given the audience a glimpse of different new species as well as indigenous populations (which Cameron could stand to learn from). Yet, they haven’t exploited Cameron’s documentary storytelling to further demonstrate how rich and appealing these can be. In Marvel’s universe, Wakandians, The Quantum Realm, or even Asgard have a certain potential for the same reason, but the stories are still more driven by the heroes rather than their setting.
It’s about time for the complex settings in Disney movies to be the stars of their very own shows. Taking a note or two from Cameron’s unique approach to environmental narrative can give many Disney universes a much-deserved expansion. It’s not only a matter of reimagining marvelous worlds but also a way to send a powerful message about the preservation of endangered species. Let’s not forget that, though fictional, Avatar’s many wildlife specimens resonate in real life, teaching valuable lessons on conservationism and the dangers of altering ecosystems.
These kinds of strong messages are better conveyed through entertainment, where audiences are eager for action-packed movies that also provide ideas to reflect upon. Cameron’s collegiate approach to films made a genre of this kind of documentary storytelling, finding the right balance between description, narrative, reality, and fiction. Let’s hope important studios pick up the slack and start doing the same with other not-so-fictional realms.
