Sequel to Avatar (2009), Avatar:
The Way of Water (2022) contains many parallels with the original film—perhaps
too many. The most outlandish, yet philosophically robust, concerns the return
of Steven Lang even though his character, the antagonist Col. Miles Quaritch,
is killed by Neytiri at the end of the first film. Lang delivers some
outstanding lines, so it is no wonder that David Cameron wanted to extend
Lang’s character’s life. In so doing, Cameron invented the devise of a
recombinant, a Na’vi artificially grown with the human Quaritch’s memories and
personality implanted in the brain. This device is fundamentally different than
a Na’vi avatar body in which a human brain is temporarily infused remotely by a
human. In the case of Jake’s avatar body, which has both Na’vi and Jake’s DNA,
there is no question that Jake’s avatar is not Jake himself. In the second
film, the lines of identity blur between the human Miles Quaritch of the first
film and the Na’vi Quaritch of the second. Cameron himself seems to be not of
one mind on the question of whether the Na’vi Quaritch is the same “person” as
the deceased human Quaritch. I contend that they are not, and, by implication,
that a person’s self-identity, based on existing (or experience of oneself)
does not rest solely with one’s memories and personality. In short, there is
more to being a person. Before applying philosophy of personhood to the
Quaritch characters in the films, I want to provide a context by briefly
laying out the extent of parallels between the two films.
The full essay is at "Avatar: The Way of Water."
