Linked scenes and mirror images

[neytirifanboy]

I have noticed in Avatar that there are a few scenes that relate to each other or where there is a mirror image. These scenes usually serve to show a similarity between to different objects and can often be ironic. Here are the ones I have spotted,

The coffin and the link unit
When Jake speaks of his brother's death we see the coffin go into the incinerator.

But when we see Jake's link unit start up the scene looks identical to the coffin scene. The metal case going into the wall looks exactly like the coffin going into the incinerator.

Obviously this shows a similarity between the two event. One life ends. Another begins.

The wheelchair and the Amp Suit
When Quaritch tells Jake he can have his legs back, it is like a mirror image. Both in the same situation. Both are sitting in machines which negates thefull use of their real legs. It is as if Quaritch has brought himself to the same condidtion as Jake and disabled himself through technology.

It is also ironic that Quaritch talks about Jake getting his real legs back, when quaritch is actually not using his own legs at the time.

The Mud Scene

In the control room Selfridge says that the Na'vi like mud.

But shortly afterwards, we see Jake fall off the Direhorse and land in a pile of mud. And then we see Tsu-Tey mocking Jake as he happily wipes the mud on his own face and even puts it in his mouth like a child.

So despite what Selfridge says, it is actually jake who shows himself to like mud.So it is ironic.

The web scenes

Sometimes we see scenes of interconnected webs.

When Trudy's Samson overflies Pandora after escaping Hell's Gate, we see webb shapes in the countryside below.

When the Na'vi welcome Jake as one of the people, the all lonk together forming a web shape. When the Na'vi chant in front on the Tree of Souls, they also form a web shape.

And when the sould transference at the tree of souls takes place, the roots of the tree also form an intricate web shape.

This obviously suggests interconnectedness. It would not surprise me if there are other web scenes in the movie.

Has anyone else noticed thing like this?

[alexajaye]

The coffin/cardboard box that holds Tom and the link unit that holds Jake - those were the first two scenes I noticed that looked extremely similar. Upon repeat viewings, a lot of things jump out at me that I didn't notice before, like the fact that Trudy actually has tribal/ancestral things along the control panel of her Samson. If you look closely, you can see a picture in front of her and a small dream-catcher looking piece off to the side in the scene where she's carrying Jake, Norm and Grace on their first sortie together.

Something else I'm a little off about is how long Jake was detained at Hell's Gate before begging Selfridge to let him try to talk the Omaticaya out of Hometree, because when he "leaves," Neytiri's hair is all completely down, and when he gets back, it's all braided up like before. Or maybe the people who rendered those frames thought she looked better having her hair braided. We may never know.

But those are all really good observations. I'll have to look again the next time I watch the movie, which will probably be tomorrow.

[_Omaticaya_]

Nice thread I think all you said is true, and it's a skill to notice all the simbolism i think ^_^ I bet there's other things too, you just have to find them Definitely the coffin/linker image going in is a mirror image, once its going in to end a life, the second time another life begins, Jake in his Avatar body

[ScottWashburn]

Actually, I thought the scene linked with Tom's coffin going into the incinerator was Jake emerging from his cryo-capsule on the ISV. Newly dead body going in, newly revived body coming out.

[FoxGhost]

A couple of mirrored scenes that come to mind were, unfortunately, cut from the film.The first one is the bar scene from earth and the hunt festival.The second one were the dining scenes both from hellgate and at the hometree.Never understood why the hellgate dining scene was cut even though it was finished.Worked to show Jakes isolation from the science team and some motives for wanting to work for Quaritch.And it was only about 10 seconds long :/

[HufweMakto]

In the Collector's Edition of Avatar, the connection between Tom's death and Jake going to Pandora is made ever more apparent with the way Tom in the incinerator is shown morphing into Jake in the cyro container waking up. The use of red flames transistioning into the cool blue of the chamber brings this connection in more graphically.