“I see you” is an iconic line from Avatar (2009). It is the Na’vi’s way of saying, “I love you.”
At the end of the final battle, when Neytiri saves Jake and sees his human body for the first time, the moment is emotional because they love each other beyond race.
This message is positive but has been seen before. The thing that separates this film is its use of CGI.
The film revolutionized the reason to use CGI. It was previously used primarily to make something pop out of the screen.
This became a predictable gimmick James Cameron pioneered photorealistic CGI.
His goal was to enhance the story with special effects that had never been seen before. Indeed he succeeded, maybe a little too well.
“Thousands of posts appeared on ‘Avatar Forums’ from people who said they were
depressed, despairing, even suicidal–because they could not live in a world of Pandora.” (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 4).
Why did people react this way?
It has to do with Avatar’s parallels to real life.
A tiny portion of the film takes place on a dystopian Earth.
It got to be that way through climate change and other world issues we haven’t yet resolved.
Not only did these people think what they saw was the actual future but also that Pandora was a possible alternate Earth without the problematic legacy of the industrial revolution.
Angry Hippie from YouTube explains, “As someone who’s felt this depression after seeing the movie, I can tell you the depression doesn’t stem from the want to be on Pandora. The depression stems from this Earth is Pandora.” (AVATAR: In-Depth Analysis)
I cannot comment on having such a feeling after seeing the film.
So many critics have written about the unoriginal plot of Native people versus Westernization and conquest.
Sources
The Angry Hippie. (2018, October 22). AVATAR | In-Depth Film Analysis: Neohumanism & Ayahuasca | Humanity vs Alternate Humanity [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4c8avw6qo8
Holtmeier, M., & Parker-Primiano, S. (2020). Ableism in Avatar: The Transhuman, Postcolonial Rapprochement to Bioregionalism. Studies of Humanities, 46(1-2), 3-17. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA673944097&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00393800&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=nysl_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true