By Jake Harvey

Warning: Spoilers

Jeremiah 12:10-11 — “Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard; they have trampled down my portion; they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness. They have made it a desolation; desolate, it mourns to me. The whole land is made desolate but no man lays it to heart.”

Being the Wheaton alumnus that I am, I was reading a piece from N.T. Wright recently called Paul and Caesar: A New Reading of Romans, and he provided helpful vocabulary to describe a beautiful and curious theme that resounds throughout the Bible. In reference to Paul’s exposition on the covenantal narrative, Wright says this:

“…God’s solution is not to destroy and start from scratch, but to redeem through the new exodus, which has been accomplished in the death and resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Spirit.” 

The idea that the God of Israel is the great “Recycler” is not a new one. In the first pages of Genesis, God promises redemption to a fallen humanity in the Garden of Eden. Not long after, God’s response to human evil is not one of all-out destruction but one of new beginnings through Noah and his family. Later on in the Old Testament, remnants of exiled Israel and Judah remain. Generations later, Paul himself is redeemed for a new purpose. Reimaginations of covenant law and images of God’s justice as a refining fire only add to the list. At the core of the entire biblical story arc is this repeating pattern:

1. God creates something beautiful – most famously, an ordered world with humanity alongside Him as bearers of His own image and co-caretakers over creation.

2. God is betrayed by His own people, to their own defilement (which then extends to creation) and to the dismay of God Himself.

3. God responds graciously, orchestrating means of forgiveness, redemption, and renewal rather than destruction.

With the above in mind, it’s movies like this one that remind me just how incredible this pattern is. Instead of destroying us and starting over (think of Thanos or of today’s many utilitarian villains/anti-heroes!), God chooses to redeem a humanity that has continually turned its face from him – a wretched, proud, and destructive people. A people who defile His good creation, who seek to determine good and evil on their own terms, and who would rather die pursuing these ends than submit to His caring design in which, with tragic irony, we already rule alongside Him. Just think about that! God experiences more betrayal, more grief, more despair than we could ever imagine because of the choices we make against Him, and yet the resounding pattern of Scripture is His steadfast desire to join His fallen people and creation back to Himself, an act which carries with it far more pain for God than does simply starting over and forsaking the creation that has so unabashedly forsaken Him. 

This idea brings us to James Cameron’s 2022 smash hit Avatar: The Way of Water. The film centers on a far-too-realistic humanity who, in all of its greed and propensity towards violence, decides that defiling one planet is simply not enough – no, now it’s on to the next one. The depravity of humans that we see in this film only intensifies the awe I feel at God’s willingness to redeem us, no matter how much we spit in His face. This is a kind of grace far beyond our comprehension, but the more we grow to understand it, the more and more stunning it becomes.

Moving beyond biblical themes, let’s just say it – Jake is kind of a bad father. He fails to see how his militaristic, controlling, and overly demanding parenting results only in resentment and pent-up feelings of diminished self-worth. He thinks his authoritarian approach is the solution to his kids’ behavioral issues, when in fact it is likely the greatest fuel. 

For a film containing quite the smorgasbord of brilliant themes (environmental considerations, spirituality, generational sin, just war vs. pacifism, colonialism, racial dynamics, indigenous knowledge systems vs. modern technology, etc.), it unfortunately lacks characters with the depth to fully explore them. Each character is somewhat likable but ultimately one-dimensional and bland. I think Spider’s character serves as a good example. His backstory is fascinating and begs to be developed, but the movie is already long enough and can’t afford to do anything meaningful with his character. As a result, he is only a brooding, confused boy who is more of a tool to tell other characters’ stories than his own. To really dig deep, this story would have had to be told as a book or series to allow the characters to more fully grow into themselves.

Aesthetically, this movie knocks it out of the park. The visuals are magical, and the attention to detail shows the immense dedication that went into making this movie – truly a spectacle to behold. I’d definitely watch a David Attenborough-style nature doc exploring the unique species interactions and ecology of Pandora. I don’t see that as a realistic direction for the franchise to take, but I would be personally excited if they moved to something less plot-driven and more exploratory or world-building-driven.

Overall, this is probably a movie that I will like less and less as time goes by. My guess is that the imagined world Pandora will, in the years to come, continue to turn massive profits at the box office until it is inevitably exhausted of its novelty and beauty (seems like an environmental metaphor hmmm…). But until then, I am utterly fascinated by the beautiful, mysterious, and captivating world that is Pandora, and I am eager to see how the themes of ecological destruction at the hand of humanity’s expansion continues to develop over the next installments.

Ezekiel 34:18-19 – “Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?”