<아바타: 물의 길>에 나타난 동양적 상상력

Abstract

Director James Cameron’s Avatar: The way of Water is a work in which Jake Sully and his family adapt to a new environment on the planet Pandora, and water is a very important foundation in the story and mise-en-scène. While the previous work Avatar showed the fantastic scenery of a tropical rainforest, Avatar: The way of Water shows the mysterious atmosphere of the ocean of an unknown world. However, in Avatar: The way of Water, water or the sea is not simply the background where events occur. The Metkayina, who live by the sea, resemble the properties of water and are inclusive. They accept the strangers, the Sullys, and live as one with the water. The life of the Na’vi tribe, who live as flexible as water, is connected to the thought of water mentioned by Lao Tzu. Water, a primordial substance, is not a simple motif but a driving force that drives the imagination of the entire work. Avatar: The way of Water inherited the mythological imagination of the ancient times when humans and nature, humans and animals became one, and the shamanistic imagination that sought to unite humans and gods maximized the fantasy of the work. The theme that water connects everything in the world as one and transcends life and death, light and darkness also influenced the mise-en-scène. Curves are emphasized when expressing movement in the water, and the dark deep sea is always depicted as a space full of light. The image of curves is connected to the flexibility mentioned by Lao Tzu, and water becomes a passage through which humans and nature become one. Water, which transcends life and death and embraces everything, is the theme that runs through Avatar: The way of Water and the driving force of imagination.