When Jake's soul and body finally combine

Here is the youtube link to the part of the scene from Avatar that I decided to read:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S0Lc6hZ9mk&feature=bf_prev&list=PL46FEBFD804DA99F4&lf=results_video

The clip is really short, but I think the whole scene before it is the most important and meaningful part of the movie. For those of you don't remember the very end, what happens right before this is that Jake finishes his last video log and says, "Whatever happens tonight, either way I'm not coming back to this place...I don't want to be late to my own party. It is my birthday after all." The scene you see after that, the last scene in the film, is the one that I'd like to talk about.

The scene starts with the camera panning the roots that connect to the Tree of Souls (I think that's what it's called), which are pulsing with a green color. The camera then goes over the cliff and reveals the Na'vi people swaying and chanting together around the Tree of Souls. The camera then starts zooming in the on the base of the tree where you see Neytiri, a leader of the Na'vi, Jake's human body, and Jake's Na'vi body. The leader of the Na'vi quiets the chanting and you see Neytiri pull off the air mask from Jake's human body and then kiss both of his eyes. As she walks over to Jake's Na'vi body, you see the white seeds of Tree of Souls float from Jake's human body to his Na'vi body. The camera then zooms in on Jake's Na'vi body as his eyes burst open and then the movie ends.

I love this scene because it think it shows the gap between Jake's self image as a human and the image that he sees of the Na'vi and how he is able to bridge that gap. This scene makes me feel a sense of completeness and happiness. The fact that Jake was able to work and earn the hearts of the Na'vi people, so much so that they help him fulfill his dream of becoming one of them, makes me feel that Jake has finally become complete and happy. A big signifier that is supposed to lead the reader, or in this case the viewer, to this feeling is that when the camera zooms in on Jake's human body you see that it is slowly being consumed by the roots of the Tree of Souls. This gives the viewer the effect that not only has Na'vi Jake been accepted by the Na'vi people, but so has human Jake. Another big signifier is the words that you hear Jake say in his last video log paired with Jake's eyes opening in the last seconds of the film. You hear him say that no matter what happens to him he isn't coming back to the lab, which is supposed to give the viewer this sense that whatever is about to happen is almost his last hope to be happy and complete again. That if whatever is about to happen doesn't work than he won't be returning to the world of the living. This sense leaves the viewer with a feeling of longing for whatever is about to happen to work because, by this point in the film, the viewer is attached to Jake's character and wants him to be happy. When the viewer sees Jake's eyes burst open in the last seconds of the film, they are filled with a sense of relief and joy because Jake is finally happy and complete. The viewer, feels this perhaps even more so because of another signifier in between those two where you see the white seeds of the Tree of Souls move from Jake's human body to Jake's Na'vi body. When the viewer sees this they get a sense of hope that everything that Jake wants is going to come true. However, when the camera zooms in on Jake's Na'vi they grow concerned that they misplaced their hope. So they are even more reliefed when they see Jake's eyes burst open.

I think that all of the signifiers in this scene really exemplify fantasy as defined by the gap between ones image and self image. This whole scene is about Jake being able to do what all of us wish that we could do; bridge the gap between the images we see (and either want or, in this case, want to become) and our self image. In this scene the viewer gets to be a part of Jake's fulfillment, which almost gives them a few moments of hope that they too can live a life that bridges the gap. The film really attempts to put the viewer in the scene every chance they get in order to achieve that feeling. At the beginning of the scene, the film puts you in the position of overviewer; watching the people come together to chant. The viewer almost feels as though they are a bystander in this amazing transformation. Then suddenly the viewer becomes Neytiri. Once the viewer see Neytiri bending over Jake's human body the reader is no longer an outsider, but is now with Neytiri gently sending Jake's self image off to become part of the Tree of Souls. When Neytiri kisses Jake's eyes, the viewer almost feels as if they are giving Jake permission to leave his self-image behind. The viewer is then part of the white seeds of the Tree of Souls as they float and bridge the gap between Jake's self image (Jake's human body) and the image that Jake has been wanting (Jake's Na'vi body). The viewer is then brought back to Neytiri where they too anxiously await news that Jake's transformation (or bridging of the gap) worked and in the last few seconds they too feel the relief that it did work. Every person leaves this film with the hope that they will be able to bridge the gap between their self image and the images that they want and want to be. On a side note, I believe that this is the main reason that people have post-Avatar depression. They no longer feel that fantasy is good enough to satisfy their personal gaps because they believe they saw someone be able to bridge that gap. This knowledge leaves them with no way to get out of their self image and no way to indulge in the fantasy of what their life would be like with all of the images that they want, because that is no longer good enough for them. Therefore, leaving them nothing in this world that is worth living for.