What if the Na´vi had been non-humanoid?

[Redpaintednavi]

The impression you get of the Navi is that even if they are an alien life form they are still human. Actually they are portraid as more human than most real humans. In some way they are everything that many of us should like to be, free, athletic, strong, beautiful, intelligent, dedicated, caring, loving and honest in their feelings. One could say they are an equivalent to the fairies or elves, or the lady of the woods from our fairytales and dreams.

But, how would we have reacted if Cameron had made them non humanoid, but still with the same good mental and emotional properties they have in the movie? How much would we have cared about Neytiri if she had looked like a rain forest dwelling Squibbon? Would we have cared at all? Would a movie with the squibbons or similar non humanoids awoken any feelings in us? Would the message of conservation and respect for others rights have been noticed at all by the audience? Would Avatar have been a success or just some half forgotten, strange movie?

Just a little thought.

Two Squibbons exchange a fruit:



http://futureworld.wikispaces.com/Squibbon

[Ekirä]

You raise a good point I've thought about many times. I think that the Na'vi's human-ness played a huge part on how much we enjoyed the movie. There's just enough familiarity for us to reconcile with them; without that, it would have been a nice movie but wouldn't have pulled in the audience as much. JC made them idols for us--at least me, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. If they had been less human, say, with two arms like most of Pandoran animals and had no hair, it would have been much harder for me to connect with them, because I'm human, and like it or not, it's more pleasing to see another creature that is more human-like than alien.

Just my 2 cents. JC did an amazing job on making the Na'vi look just human enough, but not too human.

[Nyx]

I think the uncanny valley kind of applies to this too. The na'vi with 4 arms and no hair that Ekirä described would be somewhere around that dip. And I think that if the na'vi had been even less humanoid, maybe going as far as Squibbons, it would take away from how serious the movie is. You'd end up with something like Antz. It's easy to identify with those characters, but harder to take them seriously. And that would makes it easier to care less about their problems.

I think part of the point was also to make Pandora look like an ideal Earth, in order to make people aware of the destruction here. That probably also plays a big part in making the na'vi look human.

[Duma Vadamee {Aungia Tsawkeyä}]

I agree with both of you. The fact is though: JC could of and might of made the Na'vi non-humanoid if he wanted to. Unfortunately something like the attitude towards antz or bugs or some type of movie like that would be portraying avatar as well. in order to avoid this, as well as getting the right mood and idea for the movie, JC was forced to make the Na'vi more Humanoid then non. And for two (more or less main) reasons:

The box-office, movie companies, whatever you want to call it...: When JC brought this before the major movie companies, including FOX, its safe to say that everyone knew than Avatar was a wild card. No one, even JC, knew if it was going to be a hit or hit rock bottom. I don't remember much from previous reviews, but I think (half) the reason the Na'vi were humanoid were because of FOX and the other movie companies. In order to support the production, they had to make safety measurements in order to get the most from the movie's soon-to-be "money bank". they needed the Na'vi to appeal as best as possible to the second part of this post....

US, THE ECONOMY: You were right about us wanting to relate to things being more humanoid, and the movie companies knew this too. Without us, there is no money; no money equals no budget; no budget equals no success, and that would of really hurt JC's reputation. By making the Na'vi more lovable by there looks, we can take the movie and its events more seriously, which means we would like it and more people would be more willing to make the "money river" flow.

At least this is what i think.

[abi]

I heard somewhere that JC wanted na'vi to be humanoid because the audience could relate to Jake falling for Neytiri easier. Imagine Jake falling in love with a prawn from D9; I don't think audiences would be very accepting of that on a serious level.

[Lolet]

I heard somewhere that JC wanted na'vi to be humanoid because the audience could relate to Jake falling for Neytiri easier. Imagine Jake falling in love with a prawn from D9; I don't think audiences would be very accepting of that on a serious level.

This ture, even if he had a prawn body, he would still be a human male. And would be totally grossed out by the "love interest".

[Teylar Ta Palulukankelku]

I heard somewhere that JC wanted na'vi to be humanoid because the audience could relate to Jake falling for Neytiri easier. Imagine Jake falling in love with a prawn from D9; I don't think audiences would be very accepting of that on a serious level.

This ture, even if he had a prawn body, he would still be a human male. And would be totally grossed out by the "love interest".

About this... i've occasionally thought about how Jake would've reacted if Neytiri was a ball of water floating around in the air. Sure, she would've been a nice, sweet, loveable, suave, kind and gentle ball of water, and she still might have tickled Jake's fancy on the level of personality, but a love relationship isn't only about personal chemistry. There's also a side which involves physical familiarity and -attraction. I mean... imagine what it would be like when they'd try to cuddle, hug, or even kiss!  

[ToktorGrace]

Spoiler

Its true. And the scientist in me is irritated at the fact that Na'vi developed humanoid despite the very big differences (six limbs down to four....) But perhaps Prolemuris is the indicator of what happened evolutionarily.

D9 was also an awesome movie...

[Ekirä]

*snip*
Its true. And the scientist in me is irritated at the fact that Na'vi developed humanoid despite the very big differences (six limbs down to four....) But perhaps Prolemuris is the indicator of what happened evolutionarily.

That is very true. Of course, it could happen, it's just that all the other wildlife seem to follow a pattern (six legs, hairless) and the Na'vi are pretty different.

But I really like how they look................

[Lolet]

I like how they look too. Aliens are always so funky, and the Na'vi aren't.

[nìTsìng Lekinama Yayo]

Oh man, I've thought about this a ton. I nearly posted a thread like this before.

To be honest, I would probably love the Na'vi even more if they were non-humanoid. I LOVE aliens, and the weirder, the better. As a species, I admit, I sort of like Prawns better. (But the Na'vi have a better language, so...  ) Avatar with Prawns would have been a dream come true with me. Or with Squibbons. :3 Squibbons are awesome. And I'd love it beyond belief if they looked like this. Or this. Or this... *drools*

Anyway, that's unfortunately just me. >.> I'm weird like that. For the reasons they were made humanoid, I have to agree with everyone else in the thread. It just wouldn't have been a success. I would've still seen it, though. Several times over.

[Ekirä]

And I'd love it beyond belief if they looked like this. Or this. Or this... *drools*

Links don't work. But I'd like to see them.....

[nìTsìng Lekinama Yayo]

And I'd love it beyond belief if they looked like this. Or this. Or this... *drools*

Links don't work. But I'd like to see them.....

I know.  I've been scrambling for the past five minutes to fix them. I'm pretty sure they work now.

[Ekirä]

And I'd love it beyond belief if they looked like this. Or this. Or this... *drools*

Links don't work. But I'd like to see them.....

I know.  I've been scrambling for the past five minutes to fix them. I'm pretty sure they work now.

They work now. Wou. Very.......spiky.

[Tsuksìm atsawl (KaPTan)]

i believe that they were made humanoid because Jake had to be able to fall in love with one... if they weren't good looking (in our eyes) it wouldn't have been a believable love relationship that took jake away from the good side (I saw this in an interview with JC... not sure where.)

my 2cents

[Hufwe ta'em]

I dont think i'd like to see another kind of Na'vi style, they are more friendly, tonight i will update a page from the Art Book showing different kind of Na'vi desing.

[Hufwe ta'em]

Here you go

[ToktorGrace]

Which book is that? I want to have it!

(It can reside with my book of the art by Brian Froud of Labyrinth...)

[Ekirä]

Which book is that? I want to have it!

(It can reside with my book of the art by Brian Froud of Labyrinth...)

It's The Art of Avatar. It's actually pretty interesting......Amazon might be your best bet.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Avatar-James-Camerons-Adventure/dp/0810982862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286246984&sr=8-1

[ToktorGrace]

It's The Art of Avatar. It's actually pretty interesting......Amazon might be your best bet.

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Avatar-James-Camerons-Adventure/dp/0810982862/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1286246984&sr=8-1

Thanks!