As James Cameron’s Avatar: Fire and Ash approaches the billion mark at the box office, Avatar-franchise fans are looking back on their favorite characters, places, animals, and storylines. For almost 20 years, Avatar has been an awe-inspiring movie franchise that redefined the movie industry with its new and extensive uses of performance capture technology and CGI to create the lovely world of Pandora, as well as the characters themselves. Beneath all of this, though, is the underlying message about the importance of taking care of our Earth, our people, and appreciating what we have.

The fictional world of Pandora has captivated audiences across the globe. From the magnetic forests inhabited by the Omatikaya people, including the protagonists Jake Sully and Neytiri and their family, to the magnetic waters of the Metkayina, it makes sense that people have major FOMO when viewing this movie. However, while people are so obsessed with looking at a beautiful world on screen, they actively ignore the beauty of our own Earth. Places like China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park, world-renowned for its interesting mountain scenery, are what actually inspired James Cameron to create the floating Hallelujah Mountains on Pandora. This mountain range has also been dubbed “Avatar Park” for its close resemblance to the mountains in the movie. 

There are so many incredible landscapes across the globe that remind viewers of Avatar, which goes to show just how important it is to appreciate what we have and preserve it. Even though we may not have the flying ikran or a “queue braid” to connect to any living thing, there are still so many underappreciated beauties of our world that are getting taken over by people equivalent to the “Sky People.” According to the Clean Air Fund, the largest environmental threat to human health worldwide is air pollution. In this way, it is not just humans being harmed by pollution, but also our environment and the animals living within. When watching Avatar, viewers dislike the way the Sky People, or humans, take advantage of Pandora. At the same time, most don’t acknowledge that the same thing is happening on Earth as more and more land is taken for farming, agriculture, oil drilling, etc. As Earth’s population rises, so does the need for more natural resources and amenities. This will cause people to destroy the environment for their benefit and make a lot of money while doing it. In the short run, people enjoy simple luxuries, but if we look further into the future, there could be serious consequences to what we are doing to the Earth. The parallels in the movie to our world make the viewer think: When our Earth becomes uninhabitable to humans, what happens next?

If Avatar can teach us anything, it is that we must appreciate our Earth and its many beauties. We need to preserve them and take care of what we have to keep them thriving for our next generations. More and more people talk about how much they would love to live on Pandora and live their best lives as a Na’vi. However, all they need to do is wake up and look around because there are so many beautiful places and new experiences to explore. The underlying message of Avatar highlights the importance of connecting with nature to achieve inner peace and to leave the beauty of our world for future generations to enjoy.