“You get me what I need I’ll see to it that you get your legs back. Your REAL legs.”
This is what Colonel Quaritch, a high-up military man who looks like an Aryan poster-child, says to Jake Sully; a paralyzed Marine chosen to infiltrate the Na’vi (an alien race) via a DNA-infused body that allows him to walk, but only in a separate reality, in the new James Cameron film, Avatar.
“Hell yes, sir,” Jake answers to Colonel Quaritch, and the film progresses to Jake walking again, but only as an alien on the planet known as Pandora, as he fights to win control over an extremely precious metal worth millions.
Jake is portrayed as a determined young man who befalls an unfortunate accident, with the "Avatar" program being his only hope of ever feeling whole - physically - again. That’s at least what the preview eludes to (we’ll know more once it premieres next week). Of course he becomes a badass Na’vi, and even ends up falling in love with one of their females. Every movie needs a love story, even movies with paralyzed main characters in alien form. Hello!
But here’s the kicker. The movie takes place in 2154. Hasn’t paralysis been cured by then? That’s almost 150 years from now. Kind of depressing, but I suppose…the story wouldn‘t be as memorable if Jake Sully were able-bodied hunk with no real reason to get emotionally attached to his avatar-form?
And while watching the preview, I think I even saw a scene where Jake is cocking back a handgun from his wheelchair, fighting back, here on Earth. Awesome! Let’s hope this big-time holiday movie changes perceptions about the paralyzed. If Jake is well received (and how could he not be? Have you looked at his petty face?), it may just be one of the best PSA's for paralysis ever....or not.
I know I'd leave my body if I had the chance (for awhile), but that doesn't mean I'm ashamed of being a quadriplegic. To all the disability-rights activists out there ready to bitch about how Avatar shuns disability, please be realistic. You know you'd try out a Na'vi body if given the opportunity, if just for a day. Am I right or am I right?
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