Subtle references in Avatar--from other movies & TV

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

Hey, so I keep forgetting to post this, but here it is finally. Casually hidden in Avatar are subtle references to 20th century movie pop-culture. I am certain I have missed most of them, but if you have noticed any, please post them here! I will start us off with three:


When Norm hears about the "Hallelujah Mountains*" he does the "Home Alone" fist thing and says "Yes!"
(Reference: Home alone: that blonde kid made that move famous)

"Ranger Rick": It turns out this was an insult that could only be assuaged on the field of battle (it foreshadowed the colonel shooting her). I knew I had hear this term before ("Ranger Rick"), but I had to google it. Apparently it is a raccoon character by some wildlife organization and they have had a kid's magazine and toys and other licensing deals since 1967. In essence: Grace called the colonel a pansy "tree hugger," whose passion in life is to care for nature--when that was exactly opposite of who and what he was. He simply had to shoot her. A side note is that link #2 (immediately below) has a note where Army "Ranger Rick" got sued even though he is a U.S. Army Ranger, an his name is Rick. Money--it ruins everything it touches in the end. Even a supposed benevolent organization designed to protect bunnies and squirrels (or whatever they really do, other than sue people) feels the need to waste money on such trivialities. I wonder if they will sue James Cameron?
(References: 1-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranger_Rick 2-http://www.survivaloutdoorskills.com/)

"Dodge (city):" I forget at the moment where in the film this appears. "Dodge city" was famous in cowboy films or TV (I am part Cherokee, so I never liked cowboys--still don't). But the famous line was usually something like "You've got until sundown to get out of Dodge." or ". . . get out of Dodge City." This was macho posturing (which was NOT invented by TV wrestling by the way) giving the bad guy a chance to "run for it," which was a pretty good idea as it left the bad guy alive--thus necessitating the need for a good guy (we gots jobs to fill!). It also kept the good guy from accidentally being shot down by the bad guy (bad guys sometimes win). Finally, it was a cool thing to say. So it has become a reference to old TV or Film Westerns, and means "scram!"

Okay, did anyone else catch any references? I am sure there were some Alien, Terminator, or Titanic references somewhere.

[Kesìltsamsiyu]

Isn't "don't play with that, you'll go blind" (said by grace when she sees Jake looking at his Tsaheylu thingy) a reference to somewhere? I could have sworn I've heard it before, but I can't remember where.

[Eyamsiyu]

Isn't "don't play with that, you'll go blind" (said by grace when she sees Jake looking at his Tsaheylu thingy) a reference to somewhere? I could have sworn I've heard it before, but I can't remember where.

Technically, it is a reference, but not to any specific movie... more like a reference to... "self-induced sexual pleasure," and the myth that by doing so, will make you to go blind.  Although I would bet that it is entirely possible in this case that if Jake did play with the queue, he really would go blind.

[Kayrìlien]

When Norm hears about the "Hallelujah Mountains*" he does the "Home Alone" fist thing and says "Yes!"
(Reference: Home alone: that blonde kid made that move famous)

Macaulay Culkin is the kid you're thinking of.

Also, I know you didn't miss this, but probably just overlooked it because it is so obvious (and used constantly in other things besides Avatar): Quaritch's line, "You are not in Kansas anymore, you are on Pandora" is a reference to The Wizard of Oz. (I know, Captain Obvious reporting for duty. Hehe. Duty.)

Kayrìlien

[Kaltxì Palulukan!]

No, that is VERY good. These all show where JC gets *his* ideas from (and occasionally the actors' improvisations), what movies inspire him; even though they would never really happen 150 years from now (shh!)