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An unspoken theme of the “Avatar” films is that Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), who is the worstcould accidentally undermine the Na’Vi from within. Over the course of Cameron’s three “Avatar” films, we saw Sully’s presence among the Na’vi lead to an increase in human attacks and the destruction of several villages. His family with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) has been displaced, and even when they move to Pandora, humans still come looking for him. Jake’s children carry some of his human DNA (avatar bodies, remember, are cloned using human DNA), meaning that several of his children have five fingers on each hand instead of the usual Na’vi four.
In “Avatar: Fire and Ash”, we see human teenager Spider (Jack Champion) bonding with Eywa, the goddess of Pandoraallowing him to be infested by a magic mushroom that allows him to breathe Pandora’s air. At the end of the film, he will also be able to have psychic visions via a newly developed kuru (that little psychic cranial “tail” that Na’vi possesses). For a character who enjoyed the pure, untouched, human-free paradise of Pandora, Jake Sully doesn’t seem to notice that Pandora is becoming more human every day.
Another detail from the “Avatar” films is that the Na’vi, over the course of the three films, also adopted several hand gestures and head movements from Jake and his human compatriots. It’s subtle, but even things like nodding “yes” weren’t originally part of Cameron’s films. The changes were noticed by Cameron in Joe Fordham’s new book “The Making of Avatar: Avatar, Avatar: The Path of Water, Avatar: Fire and Ash.” The “humanization” of the Na’vi, however, was only partially accomplished as cultural commentary. Most changes have been made for practical clarity.
The Na’vi began making human gestures partly for practical reasons.
Cameron’s initial plans for the Na’vi were, it seems, much more thorough. Cameron envisioned alien species as having unique customs and gestures, ensuring that they felt like a fully adult people. It makes sense that nine-foot, blue-skinned, semi-psychic aliens wouldn’t necessarily nod their heads to indicate “yes,” or give a thumbs-up to indicate approval. Cameron wanted to make sure that the Na’vi not only spoke their own language, but also trained other communication mannerisms. As he said in “The Making of Avatar”:
“We had certain rules for the Na’vi. […] They never nodded “Yes”. It is a human and cultural gesture. Some cultures do not nod “yes”; They shake their heads to say “no!” » The assent — meaning “I agree with you” — coming from a Na’vi, makes the head move back with a click of the tongue in the roof of the mouth. Or, if they close their eyes for a second, it’s a solemn agreement, like a contract. Some of these rules were abandoned much later, as the dramatic demands of the scene were ultimately greater. And when an actor was in the moment of a feeling, I didn’t want to intervene too much on that.”
The decision to reduce Na’vi gestures made sense, given that the majority of people watching the “Avatar” films were likely humans. If a dramatic scene happened and a (human) actor forgot the Na’vi manners and just nodded dramatically, Cameron knew it would be read to the audience. JoAnn Jansen and choreographer Lula Washington invented many of the Na’vi gestures and movements, however, so when the actors got it right, we have them to thank.
