"Avatar" is a sci-fi re-imagining of the European colonization of the Americas, James Cameron said. The film drew inspiration from other movies with similar themes, like the Japanese anime "Princess Mononoke." The Na'vi and avatars are directly influenced by Hindu deities.
Dune, the sci-fi Frank Herbert novel first published in 1965 has inspired several films over the years including expansive franchises like 'Star Wars', 'Mad Max' and even the monster thrillers like 'Alien' and 'Tremors'.
2001: A Space Odyssey. Perhaps one of the films more tentatively influenced by Dune, 2001: A Space Odyssey was another work of 1960s sci-fi that would go on to revolutionize the genre. Indeed, 2001: A Space Odyssey still holds up today.
Activists not only claim that the ideas promoted by James Cameron are dangerous revisionist history, but that his depiction of the Na'vi people is racist cultural appropriation, with some users dubbing the representation as “blueface”.
James Cameron & Denis Villeneuve on 'Avatar', 'Dune', and Pioneering CGI | Directors on Directors
Why don't Indigenous people like Avatar?
The release of “Avatar: The Way of Water” has put the series' creators in hot water yet again, as Indigenous people criticize what they call the movie's glamorization of colonialism and racist depiction of Native people and culture.
It was important for Cameron and his crew to be respectful of Maori culture, as it was announced in 2013 that the Avatar sequels would all be filming in New Zealand. The Way of Water introduces the Great Barrier Reef Metkayina Clan, which was directly inspired by the Maori.
On April 5, 2010, a real-world planitia (plain) on Saturn's moon Titan was named Arrakis Planitia after Herbert's fictional planet. Arrakis is also an alternative name for the star Mu Draconis. The fictional desert planet of Tatooine in the Star Wars franchise was inspired by the desert planet of Arrakis in Dune.
The biggest Dune controversy was rooted in how the book is a complex epic about the dangers of messianic prophecies, which doesn't immediately read as a fun affair. The film follows three major groups: House Atreides, House Harkonnen, and the Fremen.
Is Star Wars based on Dune? Based on their similarities, yes, the story of Star Wars is based on Dune. For instance, Han Solo smuggled the drug Glitterstim from the Spice Mines of Kessel in A New Hope. Dune universe also has a drug called the Spice Melange used for space travel.
Both Game of Thrones and Dune also showcase powerful and influential religious figures in the Bene Gesserit and the maesters. While both stories have other influences, such as European history and classic myths, Dune appears to inspire several Game of Thrones characters and plot points.
Avatar draws inspiration from films like Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, FernGully, and A Man Called Horse, incorporating similar storylines and character dynamics.
“The best inspiration I got for 'Avatar' 2 and 3 was dealing with the master navigator culture in Micronesia,” Cameron told the Los Angeles Times. Cameron spent seven years preparing for his historic dive on many of the Western Pacific islands; the Micronesians are famous for their instrument-free deep-sea voyaging.
In a recent interview to GQ, the filmmaker revealed that the initial ideas for the Avatar franchise – which already has three more installments brewing – came to him in a dream when he was only 19 years old.
“Dune” is a multilayered allegory for subjects including T.E. Lawrence's Bedouin exploits (which Herbert critiqued, following Suleiman Mousa's “T.E. Lawrence: An Arab View”), Caucasian Muslim resistance to Russian imperialism, OPEC and Indigenous struggles in the United States and Latin America.
Origins. The legend stated that the Atreides family came from a noble family that originated in Greece on Earth, and that they rose to prominence during the Butlerian Jihad. House Atreides specifically claimed descent from King Agamemnon, a son of Atreus, in Greek mythology.
Frank Herbert was partly inspired to write Dune by The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by TE Lawrence AKA Lawrence of Arabia. Lawrence, as a remarkably young British officer in the first world war, lead an uprising of of Arab tribes in revolt against the Ottoman empire.
One can find the DNA of everything from Flash Gordon to Akira Kurosawa to Richard Wagner in the original movies. And let's not forget a little sci-fi novel called Dune. If anything, Dune's influence on Star Wars is all the more palpable thanks to The Book of Boba Fett.
It's obviously Jabba the Hutt, right? But two years before this character appeared in Return of the Jedi, Frank Herbert, debuted a character with the exact same description in God Emperor of Dune. Lucas pretty much ripped the character straight out of Herbert's book and put him in his movie.
It's no secret that Star Wars owes a lot to Dune in terms of inspiration. Recent years have shown that even after the first film, its most famous planet, Tatooine, operates similarly to Dune's Arrakis.
POHUWATO, Indonesia — The world's largest collective of seafaring nomads has sailed the waters off Sulawesi Island and farther afield for centuries, forging a cultural legacy that inspired even James Cameron, whose 2022 blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water was based in part on the Bajo people.
The Avatar franchise is aesthetically and conceptually influenced by many real-world cultures, particularly China and other parts of East Asia. Other cultural influences come from South Asia, mainly India, and various indigenous cultures from around the world, such as those inhabiting the Arctic regions.
