Woven with action and extraterrestrial science fiction, I think Avatar would be a stellar addition to the Black Mirror and Digital Culture course. Why, you ask? This movie highlights technological aspects such as the combination of military and tech advances, the development of society with technology, and the demand for privacy. It theorizes future human technology and the capability of injecting a human’s intelligence into a biological body and the possibility of remotely controlling and transferring human personalities into alien bodies. Although fictional, the story pulls out topics of civil peace, energy and natural resource crises, and the dangers of what technology may be able to accomplish in the future.
Set in 2154, the movie addresses the power of technology in making military advances and the anonymity component as human Jake fills and lives out life in an Avatar body undercover for The Resources Development Administration’s private security force. Avatar would most definitely address the Digital Self theme, as we talked about military intelligence and the Black Mirror Episode Men Against Fire in class. I would assign this movie around that episode and our military readings that we were assigned so that there’s another applicable fiction example that may be equally as effective at describing the overarching idea of digital life and technological advancements. I think it would be the most effective to have a Student Led Discussion assignment on this movie because it would be interesting to hear the differing thoughts the class would have on the movie after the readings, and would lead to an overall stimulating discussion.
