One fine example of Transcendentalism in Modern film is Avatar(2009) Directed by James Cameron. This film features heavy-handed storytelling of a near human future, in which, upon discovering a habitable planet rich with a precious metal used for fuel on Earth, they begin destructively harvesting it, much to the dismay and rebellion of the native, and notably blue, tall, cat-like peoples. These intelligent natives have tails that communicate with a sort of central nervous system in the roots and nature of the planet. This connectivity is referred to by the Natives as an entity, Ey-wa, the planet mother. This in itself is a prime example of transcendentalism, personifying the function of nature, and is expanded on by contrasting human folly, …show more content…
Through futuristic technology, a human explorer on this planet is allowed to inhabit a lab-grown body of the planet's ruling native species. We, the audience, learn all the intriguing information about the planet through the eyes of this explorer, who slowly enters and is accepted by a large tribe of these natives. Through the course of the film, he learns of the specialness of the planet and its native life, and the interconnection of the natives to it, and the harm in interrupting and destroying it. This is further iterated themes of Transcendentalism, in its undying support of natural process, and the sacred quality of native species' connnection to nature.
Another modern film example of transcendentalism is the film Ella Enchanted. Featuring Anne Hathaway in a lead role, playing a woman who, in a fantasy land of olde, was given by her fairy godmother, the magical gift at birth to be unable to lie. This shapes the course of her entire life, and the plot features her striving for the familiar transcendentalist themes of independence, self reliance, and self-definition, in her quest to track down the fairy who cursed her, in an attempt to reverse the