Work Cited

• Boyd, Dana. "Friendship." Cambridge: Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data, 2007. 79-95. Ereseveres.com. Jan. 2007. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. <http://ereserves.library.umass.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=2576&page=docs#>.

• Cameron, James. "Avatar Script." Www.imsdb.com. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. <http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Avatar.html>.

• Kendall, Lori. “Beyond Media Producers and Consumers: Online Multimedia Productions as Interpersonal Communication” Information Communication and Society. 2008. Pp. 207-220. (EBSCO Host)(Choose "PDF Full-Text" Link). <http://ereserves.library.umass.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=2576&page=docs#>.

• Lyle, Randall R.; Gehart-Brooks, Diane R. “Postmodernism and Divorce: Reflections on Gergen’s Notion of the Saturated Self in Relation to Modern Divorce” Family Journal. 1999. Pp. 245-252. (Sage) <http://ereserves.library.umass.edu/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=2576&page=docs#>.

• Milloy, Courtland. "'Avatar' is part of important discussion about race ." Washington Post 23 Dec.2009: n. pag. Washington Post.com. Web. 13 Dec. 2010. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/22/AR2009122203276.html>.

• Ratan, Robby. "Analyzing Avatar: An Ancient Word, Awesome Movie, and Advancing Scientific Reality." Rev. of Avatar Movie. Weblog post. Eblogger.com. 11 Jan. 2010. Web. 5 Dec. 2010. <http://mediaman-raratan.blogspot.com/2010/01/analyzing-avatar-ancient-word-awesome.html>.

• Wikipedia contributors. "Dell Hymes." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 18 Oct. 2010. Web. 14 Dec. 2010.

Relevant Quotes

• "interpersonal communication has been the killer app of the internet”
• "characters represent identities that must be rejected in order to conform to hegemonic masculinity and identity”
• “assertions about identity can seem blunt and awkward in text”

(from Lori Kendall: Beyond Media Producers and Consumers") --Rosey Allen 20:25, 30 November 2010 (EST)

• "While the specific tools vary by geography, time, and peer group, [...] engaging with social media is important for developing and maintaining friendships with peers." (80)*

--Taylor 15:41, 2 December 2010 (EST)

The Most Relevant Articles I've Read..

• Now, this is just an excerpt, but it seems like almost exactly what we hope to explore through the investigation of inter-cultural communication in the movie "Avatar". The whole article is definitely worth a read, if you're feelin' it..

" Avatar imaginatively revisits the crime scene of white America's foundational act of genocide, in which entire native tribes and civilizations were wiped out by European immigrants to the American continent. In the film, a group of soldiers and scientists have set up shop on the verdant moon Pandora, whose landscapes look like a cross between Northern California's redwood cathedrals and Brazil's tropical rainforest. The moon's inhabitants, the Na'vi, are blue, catlike versions of native people: They wear feathers in their hair, worship nature gods, paint their faces for war, use bows and arrows, and live in tribes. Watching the movie, there is really no mistake that these are alien versions of stereotypical native peoples that we've seen in Hollywood movies for decades. " -Taylor 12:30, 6 December 2010 (EST)

(from "When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like 'Avatar'?", a blog entry by Annalee Newitz posted on www.io9.com)

• Here's Another:

"The movie is a fantasy from the point of view of white people. At the end the white man leads, just as he would lead as a colonizer, but this time he leads the natives from the inside. The hero is always a hero in any world and he's always white.[...]the Avatar movie [was] patronizing [and] the racial subtext of the movie was extremely blatant.[...]the message that we need to protect our environment, wild life, respect other people's cultures and way of life, and control the profit-driven military-industrial complex makes Avatar worth the time. But it gets so, so typically racist, violent, violent, violent - literally and psychologically - and despicably so.[...]this is no more than a white savoir movie where the "assimilated white" becomes the messiah for the "savages." -Taylor 13:41, 6 December 2010 (EST)

(from "The Avatar Movie from a Black perspective", an article by Ezili Danto posted on www.opednews.com)

Check these out too!

• On Ableism in Avatar

-Taylor 14:12, 6 December 2010 (EST)

Is Technology a Tool or an Interface?

• from graduate student in Communication (UMass), Zachary McDowell. Originally posted as a comment to www.reflexivity.us.

The humans on the world use technology as a tool, typical to the way that we normally see technology used today - as a means to an end. So you could say that there is a teleological system in place - there is goal always associated with technology for the humans.

The Na'vi use "technology" as "interface", as far as I'm calling it at the moment. There is not a goal, per se, in this technology (heck, they didn't even invent it, but that doesn't really matter in the long run), but rather they approach the technology as a medium for which to communicate with, to link to others. One could argue that the goal is to connect, but it doesn't have an end - the "goal" is the continuing of the interface, the strengthening of the bond. It is a goal that, in recognizing the "goal", recognizes that the goal is unachievable, "impossible". Not to say that it isn't worth reaching for, but merely the opposite - insofar that it is impossible, the only thing to do is to strive for it, because it is always open. This is my current idea, in rough rough form. It is a messianic view of human-technology interface - the idea that we (all of us, really, because this is the world we are living in now, but you could characterize the "we" as those using social technologies such as wikipedia) continue to utilize technology to continually strengthen the common bond, due to the realization that it is impossible and, if we follow communication theory from those like Derrida and Briankle Chang, we know that we are essentially alone and communication remains impossible. Otherwise, we would "communicate", and then just be done with it.

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