Great Character: Neytiri (“Avatar”)

This month’s theme: Heroines. Today’s guest post by Jason Cuthbert features Neytiri from the 2009 movie Avatar, written by James Cameron.

James Cameron is not just a storyteller; he is an inventor of worlds that stories have the privilege of taking place in. Cameron played the role of fictional god when setting the smart science fiction/action movie standard in 1984 with “The Terminator,” upgraded the stakes of Ridley Scott’s “Alien” franchise with “Aliens” in 1986, shape-shifted our imaginations with water aliens for “The Abyss” in 1989 then gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a ground-breaking malleable liquid terminator adversary in 1991 with “Terminator 2: Judgment Day.”

For 12 years, James Cameron’s epic disaster film “Titanic” was the most lucrative movie on planet Earth — until he followed it up as screenwriter and director of “Avatar” in 2009. With $2.7 billion generated, and an eagerly awaited “Avatar 2” and “Avatar 3” on the way, Cameron’s intergalactic blue people struck a cord with every possible culture, creed and gender, especially thanks to the world of Pandora having one of its mightiest heroes actually be a heroine named Neytiri.

Avatar plot summary from IMDB:

A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.

Actress Zoe Saldana had a pivotal year in 2009, playing substantial roles in two internationally loved science fiction film franchises, one old and one new — “Star Trek” and “Avatar” respectively. As Neytiri in “Avatar,” Saldana isn’t just some sexy love interest and spoiled daughter to the leader of the Omaticaya Na’vi clan. Neytiri is a bold, agile warrior who meets her human/Avatar body mate Jake by saving his life instead of the typical standard of women needing saving. Not only does she prevent the wild life of Pandora to consume the ill-equipped Jake, but also she is disgusted by the fact that he can’t do it for himself.

NEYTIRI: You are like a baby. Making noise, don’t know what to do.

Why does Neytiri stick her turquoise neck out for Jake to rescue him if he is so pitiful in her eyes? Is love in the air for Neytiri already or is she just feeling sorry for this stranger who has simply wandered into the wrong neighborhood alone?

NEYTIRI: You have a strong heart. No fear. But stupid! Ignorant like a child!

Jake Sully may have been hired to infiltrate the Na’vi in order to colonize the planet of Pandora for the lucrative mineral unobtanium. But in the process of befriending Neytiri, he gains her unadulterated trust and her heart instead.

NEYTIRI: You are Omaticaya now. You may make your bow from the wood of Hometree. And you may choose a woman. We have many fine women. Ninat is the best singer.
JAKE SULLY: I don’t want Ninat.
NEYTIRI: Peyral is a good hunter.
JAKE SULLY: Yes, she is a good hunter. But I’ve already chosen. But this woman must also choose me.
NEYTIRI: [smiles] She already has.

The balance of Neytiri’s ability to love and conquer, to build and destroy as well as emotionally connect and scornfully scold make her the cosmic soul of the story and Jake’s intimate version of unobtanium — a valuable prize worth risking his entire mission for. She represents justice, honesty, spiritual connectivity and a self-less defender of her entire species. What other larger-than-life qualities could a man, whether human or Na’vi, possibly ask for in a women?

Neytiri’s unflinching heroism to protect her immediate and extended family becomes a contagious addiction that forces Jake to confront the larger moral and ethical issues that his fellow Earthlings are ignoring in the midst of their pillage of Pandora. He’s hypnotized by Neytiri’s clean sense of purpose and bold bravado to enforce.

Being that survival is priority number 1,2,3,4 and 5 on Pandora, the fact that Neytiri takes it upon herself to guide Jake proves that she is not just a strategic and unmerciful kicker of butt, but a key link in the cycle of life: teach others that need what you know so that your gifts are not in vain.

By investing her compassion into Jake, which evolved into passion, Neytiti does not just continually save Jake’s life, but she inadvertently saves his spirit from being submerged in guilt and allows it to blossom into a mirror image of her own valiant essence that inspires her people to join him in uprising battle for preservation.

For her formidable stance as a soldier of love, her ability to faithfully surrender to her higher power for the benefit of others around her and for her fearless survival instinct — Neytiri is one insanely GREAT CHARACTER.

In a Fangoria interview going all the way back to 1986, Cameron said this:

“I tend to like strong female characters. It just interests me dramatically. A strong male character isn’t interesting because it has been done and it’s so cliched. A weak male character is interesting: somebody else hasn’t done it a hundred times. A strong female character is still interesting to me because it hasn’t been done all that much, finding the balance of femininity and strength.”

Look what he did with Ripley in Aliens. Or Sarah Connor in Terminator 2. And here with Neytiri in Avatar. Perhaps a lesson there somewhere…

Thanks, Jason, for another great installment in the Great Character series. Join us in comments!