The history of the bow is as old as the history of the world. In Avatar the parallelism with the techniques of Native Americans, and beyond, is total.
Before us was Pandora. One grows up hearing about it, but I never imagined I would go there.
So Jake Sully begins at the entrance to Pandora, we could transform this quote, modifying the ending, with a simple “we never imagined that we would return”. Yes, because the world of Pandora with her Na’Vi seemed like a closed chapter until a few years ago, but since James Cameron if he came out with the bombshell that he had at least stories for five more films, every fan of this wonderful project literally exploded. Avatar like his other film projects, it marked an era, the highest-grossing film in the history of cinema, a film that exalted 3D technology (and which immediately afterwards literally destroyed it) and a film which, with the power of his own images, wants to tell a very profound cross-section of the world, but one that has always been misunderstood and relegated to the corners of the planet: the world of the natives.
Avatar: The Way of Water, an image
Yes, because you want it or not, the Na’Vi are our natives, our aborigines, our protectors of forests and deserts, those peoples who still try to defend what is dearest to our Planet, but which unfortunately we “Westerners” we fail to preserve: Mother Earth. There is a strong environmentalist, naturalist theme in James Cameron’s film, with a very in-depth study of the habits and customs, for example, of the peoples of the prairies and the great lakes. Without a doubt one of the most used traditions in the film is theuse of the bow.
The arcs in the story
From the details of the first Avatar, and from the trailer of this second chapter, one can understand how profound the study of Cameron himself, and his screenwriters, was regarding the world of arcs. A very strong parallel with the greatest archers in history (along with the Orientals) who are none other than Native Americans. The bow has always been one of the oldest objects, which has accompanied the history of the world since its dawn: we remember that the oldest finds attributable to the use of bow and arrows were dated to 60-70,000 years ago and found in South Africa, in Europe they were found in Germany and dated to 11-18,000 years ago (Mannheim-Vogelstang and Stellmoore sites) and in America they were dated to 6 – 9,000 years ago.
Avatar: The Way of Water, an image of a scene from the film
But are the bows that the Na’Vi have so close to the real ones of the native peoples? Absolutely yes, in the meantime let’s remember that the division of the arches, in relation to the materials, is simple and composite. The simplest traditional composite bow was constructed using only two materials on the plains, wood/horn/bone and sinew. In North America, composite bows were widespread in the Plains, Plateau, Great Basin, and Arctic areas. The simplest traditional composite bow was constructed using only two materials: on the plains, wood/horn/bone and sinew. The arches in Avatar they are part of this type of characterization, with processes closer to ceremonial ones as they are covered with ornaments and details of the tribe.
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Na’Vi archers like native archers
Period illustrations and photographs of various Native Americans with their bows
Another very important feature that can be seen in almost all the frames of the first chapter and also in part of the trailer Avatar: The Way of Water how the Na’Vi shoot arrows, but above all how to hold them in battle. To increase the speed of shooting, the natives did not extract the arrows directly from the quiver, but they were held in the mouth and with the same hand as the bow, a practically similar situation also in the Na’Vi. During the shot the arrow was pointed upwards, then the bow hand pushed forward and the other simultaneously pulled the string back, with a very fast movement that gave no way for those who had to defend themselves to see the arrow start. the arrow. The Na’Vi like the Native Americans adopted the same method of attack with archery. Another very important parallel and detail that can be noted in the first chapter of Avatar and in the few images received from the trailer it is also the protection for the arms when the Na’Vi use the bow: even in ancient times the armguard was in common use, but of small dimensions, to protect the wrist from the shot of the arrow.
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A historic armguard, protecting the wrist, in a photograph of a Plains Native American
Finally, the size of the bows changes differently from the uses, the Na’Vi who are on foot have very long and high bows (typical of the natives of the forests who need power and range) while those who are on the back of the Banshee They use slightly smaller bows just like natives on horseback.
For Native Americans the bow encompasses, first of all, the complementarity and interrelationship of the aspects of creation, of the feminine and the masculine, of the earth and the sky and this central role can also be seen in the trailer of the second chapter of Avatar, where Jake himself tries to teach his son how to shoot a bow in a very intimate and profound way. For the peoples of the great lakes, of the east and of the prairies, the most important thing was harmony and the search for balance in the relationship between these elements: in fact, bow and arrow must be in total harmony with each other. Native archers began to practice from an early age, until the bow became an extension of their arm and even if very little of the ancient native shooting techniques has been handed down to us, these recall in many aspects the approach of oriental peoples, such as for example Zen philosophy. In the native culture the archer must know and feel himself, the muscles of his body, his breathing, his thoughts, he must see his limits and his potential, he must fight against his internal enemies and find peace so that his arrows fly safely to the center of the target and certainly the scene of Neytiri teaching Jake how to manage the shot perfectly embodies this philosophy handed down by the native peoples.
An expert archer understands whether he will hit the target from the moment the arrow is released
The native archer does not have a fixed anchor point, neither in drawing, nor in nocking the arrow, nor in resting it on the bow, his sensitivity in listening to his body and his concentration must be maximum here because Jake’s scene with his son and Neytiri’s scene in the first one Avatar emerging from the jungle as he prepares to shoot his arrow is the closest thing to the classic Native American way of shooting with a bow.
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2022-11-14 08:00:00
#Avatar #archery #NaVi
