Avatar's Film Score and Na'vi Culture

The film score in Avatar has an emotional timbre to it. The sounds are connected to a certain character's emotion during the movie, or if you were to close your eyes during a scene, the film score would paint the picture around you of what might be happening. This goes for nearly any film score; it relates the sounds to the emotions or space around it to make you feel like you are really apart of the movie.

After listening to the soundtrack during the Na'vi ceremonies like Jake becoming one of "The People", their culture is very similar to that of Native Americans. I found an article that gives several references between the Na'vi being a cultural tribe. Their connection or relationship with Earth is very similair to those Native American tribes that practiced Earth-based religions. There was also a reference of the Native Americans were considered the outsiders. The outsider groups would usually refer to themselves as a different name typically translating to "The People". The Na'vi group was considered "The People" by the humans trying to explore their world. Another similarity to the Native American tribes was the simple weaponary the Na'vis carried around as they also lived a hunt/killing ritual and sacrificing the animals they hunted.

The separation between film score and the music of the Na'vi is very easy to pick out. The film score usually has the sound of an orchestra with no words. The music of the Na'vi has several tribal sounds to it. There is either the unique drumming patterns or the big give away would be the foreign language being sung either by a group of the tribe or a soloist.

Article on Na'vi Similarity to Native Americans