Eywa: The Mother of All Life in Avatar

"Eywa does not choose sides. She only protects the balance of life" (Neytiri, Avatar).

This quote is taken from Neytiri from the movie Avatar. She overhears Jake praying to Eywa at the Tree of Souls. He asks for her help in defeating the "sky people," or humans. Neytiri hears this, and tells him that Eywa does not pick sides when it comes to nature; she only protects a balance.

In nature, there is always an optimal balance of each piece of the system. If one piece becomes too strong or too weak, the balance is thrown off, and as a result, the ecosystem suffers. This is what happened on Earth in the movie. The balance was thrown off by humans and their greed. No one on Earth listened to "their mother," or Mother Nature. Eywa, much more revered in Na'vi culture than Mother Nature has been in human society, is protecting all parts of the ecosystem on Pandora through the networks inside of the ecosystem. 

Dr. Grace Augustine is studying the plants on Pandora. Throughout various parts of the movie, she talks about a network, similar to the human brain, within the ecosystem of Pandora. Pandora's network however, has seemingly infinite more connections. "It has more [connections] than the human brain" (Grace, Avatar). The trees on Pandora are a part of that network, as well as the animals on the planet, and the Na'vi people can tap into that network through the bond inside of their braid. This bond is how they connect to the animals and plants on their planet. It is part of how they understand how to protect their natural world and the reasoning behind it. Eywa seems to be the controller of this network. She, their goddess, has a way to be tangibly measured through science.

 An incredible power that Eywa has, that the Na'vi people utilize, is the power to transfer the soul of a human being into the body of their avatar permanently.

During one of the tense fight scenes, Dr. Grace Augustine is injured. She is shot in the stomach, and knows that she will not survive much longer. In the hopes that the Omaticaya people can do something for her, Jake, in his Na'vi form, brings Grace's human body and avatar body to the Tree of Souls. There, the Sahik, the woman Shaman of the Omaticaya clan, performs the necessary ritual to present this deal to Eywa. She iterates that Eywa, the goddess herself, must choose if Grace's soul should be transferred to her avatar body. Eywa instead, chooses to keep Grace within herself. She absorbs Grace's soul into the network of Pandora, something that Grace would have probably wanted anyway.


I revel in the thought of a woman goddess at the top of the hierarchy of mythology for the Na'vi people. Although I am sure she was meant to represent the "Mother Nature" of the plant Pandora, it is still inspiring that she would be the governing body over all life. Generally, in mythology, men are consistently at the top of the chain. In the Christian religion, there is the Holy Trinity, God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. In the Muslim religion there is Allah, who is also a man. In Buddhism, there is Buddha, another male. Even a majority of the Roman Gods were male. Of course there were some women, but Zeus was always at the top of the hierarchy for many of the stories. Maybe the use of a female was to perpetuate the idea that women are similar to nature. Maybe it was to pay respect to women for being reverent of nature and the Earth. Either way, a woman was still above all living things. 

Where Do I Begin?

Ecofeminism seems like a truly daunting word, completely disregarding the fact that it is a whole study in and of itself. Ecofeminism, when broken down, is inconceivably more simple than one could hope for. I am sure that there are many questions running through your mind, if anyone is actually taking the time to read this anyway. What is ecofeminism? Is this a real thing? Why is it important? Why bother with something like this? What will I get out of reading this blog? The answers to these questions and much more will follow in this blog. In particular, this first blog post will be explaining what ecofeminism is all about: what ecocriticism is, what feminism is, and when combined what ecofeminism is and means. After this particular blog post, there will be various applications of ecofeminist tenets to the award-winning film Avatar, written and directed by James Cameron.

Emerging in the late 1970's, ecofeminism has quickly become a strong branch of critical theory in literature. Truly, the movement began in the early 1960's when there was a sudden emergence of writers like Rachel Carson who warned people to ensure that the Earth was taken care of properly. They warned the rest of the world that if we did not begin taking precautions to protect the Earth, that there would be serious repercussions. Now, over forty years later, we are starting to see the effects of our ancestor's actions. However, thanks to the ecofeminist and ecocritical movements, many people are starting to realize that their actions are affecting the entire world, and are taking a stand against those who are doing nothing or doing things to harm the environment.

As in any literary criticism, there are guiding tenets that help to shape the way that the followers view the literary work, or poem. According to Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought, there are three main points the ecofeminism tries to disprove. The "most significant features of this framework are: value-hierarchial thinking, value dualisms and disjunctive pairs, and the logic of domination" (Tong, 237).

Ecofeminism tries to break these ways of thinking, and put into place a new way of viewing literature, and in this case, the environment in general. Ecofeminism aims to put a stop to value-hierarchial thinking. A value-hierarchial type of thinking has one need or desire in mind. Every other mean to get this desire is a value object.To the right is an example of a type of value-hierarchial thinking. For our purposes, a desire could be something like money, or in Avatar specifically, the element unobtanium. We will go more into that later though. Everything else, the objects are means to get to the goal. For us, this will include the Na'vi, the Home Tree, and the environment as a whole.

Next, ecofeminism tries to break the value of dualisms and disjunctive pairs; many of us know them as binary oppositions. The most common binary oppositions are: white and black, good and bad, and day and night. The first in the pair, generally, is the better or of higher status than the second. The second is always lower on the totem pole, so to speak. According to Jaques Derrida as reported by Bressler in Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory and Practice, "For each center, an opposing center (e.g., God/humankind, for example) exists. In addition, Western philosophy decrees that in each of these binary oppositions or opposing centers, one concept is superior and defines itself by its opposite or inferior center. We know truth, for instance, because we know deception; we know good because we know bad" (Bressler, 110-111). Ecofeminism aims to stop this because traditionally the binary oppositions for this instance would be men versus women, as well as environmental stability versus technological advancement.

Lastly, ecofeminism attempts to break the ideas from the logic of domination. Often times in works, like Avatar, there will be a patriarchal male figure who justifies what he is doing to an indigenous people, environment, etc. It will seem like he has a valid reason, but ecofeminism says that there is no logic to domination. There is never a good reason to overtake a group of people, destroy a particular area of land, or to pillage the land and animals. Ecofeminism breaks these fallacies of domination and help to bring the truth of domination to light.

These are some of the core values of ecofeminism. To learn more about the specifics, you can look at these resources online (There are of course tons of books on this subject as well.):

1) A TED Talk with Vandana Shiva

2) A TED Talk with a College Professor <-- Really easy to understand!

3) Beautiful (Strictly Feminist) Talk

Ecofeminism VS the Non-Human World

The movie Avatar, which this blog has already addressed, is filled with tensions between the human and non-human interfaces. In Avatar, in the human world, technology is completely overrunning their society. Many of the first images seen in the movie are that of excessive technology and the seeming lack of humanity present in their current society. There are hundreds of floating signs in different colors hovering over the population's heads (see right). The main character, Jake Sully, who is confined to a wheelchair is stepped over and pushed aside. Technology is more than king in this society, and humanity and the environment are second rate. This tension between technology and humanity helps to illustrate the relationship between men and women. Men are traditionally the domineering, plundering, and generally destructive group, while women are connected to nature, nurturing, and preservationists. This society has men dominating it and therefore has exhausted its natural resources, in contrast to the women-driven society on Pandora which still has all of its natural resources and life intact.

According to Rosemarie Tong in Feminist Thought one of the major tenets of deep ecology utilized sometimes in ecofeminism was the fact that "present Human Interface with the non-human world is excessive, and the situation is rapidly worsening" (Tong, 241). This is a completely true statement, about the current society that is present today, but in the world of Avatar, the "worsening situation" mentioned in the quote is alive and present. It is present so much so that human beings are venturing off world to Pandora to exploit another planet's natural resources. Technology, the male domination, has taken over, and there is no way to restore the Earth to its former, matronly, abundant state. As said so perfectly in the movie by Jake Sully, "They killed their mother, and they're gonna do the same here" (Avatar).

Even the name of the movie itself, Avatar, is a technological term. The Oxford English Dictionary, in the 2008 update, defines an avatar as "A graphical representation of a person or character in a computer-generated environment, esp. one which represents a user in an interactive game or other setting, and which can move about in its surroundings and interact with others" (OED, avatar). If the title was viewed from a New Critical perspective, someone would more than likely think of this definition in relationship to the title of the movie. There are technological terms used throughout the movie, not only incorporated into the title.

Even further, and relating to the title, some humans in this film have their own avatars in the form of the Na'vi people, the natives of Pandora; most of these people are scientists. They use these avatar creatures to interface with the world of Pandora and the Na'vi. The whole relationship that the humans have with the Na'vi world is through technology, and is quite surreal. Jake Sully in one part of the movie, representing his scientific video logs, expresses the feeling that he is so wrapped up in between the two worlds that he can no longer tell which reality from which. In the end, the mother of the Na'vi world, Eywa, helps Jake Sully, the main character, live his life truly as a Na'vi and cuts the technological ties to the human world for him. The Na'vi perform a specific ritual in which Eywa can choose to save the human body in Na'vi form. She felt that Jake Sully was pure enough in his human life in helping the Na'vi that his eternal soul was able to be transferred to his Na'vi avatar.

Females in Power in Avatar

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In the movie Avatar, there are many powerful women. However, these three women exemplify the ecofeminist approach to literary studies, and help to show that women can successfully hold positions in power on a revolutionary project. At times in this movie, the women are more powerful, and much more insightful and concerned than the men.

Dr. Grace Augustine

Dr. Grace Augustine has a stunning transformation throughout the movie. In the beginning of the movie, Dr. Augustine has worlds of power. She is the head of the science team that is working on the plant Pandora. She has access to some of the top scientists in the world, along with the most advanced technology available to her. She is also openly scornful to men, including the head of the project (pictured to the left). She scorns him for mistreating the indigenous people, as well as for attempting to destroy their natural environment. As an biologist primarily interested in studying the plant life on the planet Pandora, Dr. Grace Augustine is the perfect ecofeminist. She is a strong woman, not focused on dominating men, but focused on being treated equal to the men on the project. She is also intent on preserving the integrity of the environment on Pandora. Her ideals are absolutely aligned with ecofeminism, and in the end of the movie, (spoiler alert) as she is dying, she is joined with Eywa, the deity of the Na'vi people who is the mother of their world. She is absorbed into the tree of Eywa, and is now a permanent part of their ecosystem.

Neytiri 

Neytiri, in the film, is the daughter of the clan chief of her people. She is the
first of her people to meet Jake Sully, the human in Na'vi form. She sees him making a mess of nature, using a stick with fire to ward off animals trying to kill him. She takes pity in him because of her motherly nature. She saves him, and eventually teaches him the ways of the Na'vi people: how they view nature, the different rituals they have to help protect nature, their social structures and more. In several instances, especially in the beginning of the movie, before Jake becomes a full Omaticaya, Neytiri is heard calling him a "child" and "like a baby." She takes him in and teaches him the ways of the Na'vi, just as she would for one of her own people. Portrayed in the picture to the right, are the seeds of the tree of Eywa, the Na'vi deity. Eywa is the mother of their entire world and all their people. Jake smacks away one of the seeds that attempts to land on him. Neytiri grabs his hand, and tells him about the importance of these seeds and about the importance of Eywa. She tells him of their purity, and after a large group of seeds land on him, she knows that Eywa is telling her something important. She listened to nature, her mother of nature, and took Jake Sully in to teach him her people's ways. Aside from acting motherly to Jake, she also controls their relationship. She is one of the few women of her clan who must also choose her mate. The rest of the women in the clan must be chosen by a male Omaticaya. Neytiri is one of the most powerful women in her clan, and is treated as such. Because she listened to nature, and protected it, Jake ends up changing his patriarchal ways, and saves the Omaticaya people, as well as saving their natural world.

Trudy Chacon

The name Trudy is of German descent. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it comes from two German words "ermin" and "drudi." These words, respectively, mean "universal" and "strength." Together, the name Trudy comes to mean universal strength. In the movie, this woman, is the epitome of stereotypical patriarchal strength. She is a part of the human military, and a highly-ranked one at that. Although Trudy is the pilot of her very own fighter plane, it is primarily used for transporting the scientists. She makes the most of her power, and is at various times ordering other soldiers around. She is often depicted in white tank tops that are typical of Italian men along with cargo pants or shorts. Rarely does the audience see her without a gun. She is consistently surrounded by objects associated with power. In the movie, she has a transformation. Through her interactions with Dr. Grace Augustine and Jake Sully, Trudy gains a perspective into what the life is like for the Na'vi people. She begins to oppose the military that she was so happy to be a part of originally. In the end, Trudy has an emotional scene where she has a change of heart about destroying the Na'vi people's "Home Tree," and sacrifices her own life in an attempt to sabotage the military objectives. Trudy changes from a woman who blindly followed patriarchal men, to an almost ecofeminist. She plays an instrumental role in showing the epiphany-like ideas that come to mind when first learning about ecofeminist ideas. She also helps to illustrate a transition into the enlightenment that comes when a "truth" is revealed.