YouTuber Sham Sharma, who runs ‘The Sham Sharma Show’ channel, made a video about how James Cameron, the director of the Avatar films, could have taken inspiration from Hindu deities and mythology, but it sparked a stir. some controversy on Twitter. The video titled ‘Avatar | How India Inspires Hollywood and the World’ talks about how blue people in movies may have been inspired by deities portrayed with blue bodies – think Ram, Krishna, Shiva. It also deals with the appropriation of Indian culture by Westerners.
James Cameron as quoted in the video explained how he took inspiration from the entire Hindu pantheon and even considered making the blue people multi-membered but ultimately decided against it as it might be “too specific”. While Cameron was visually inspired by Hindu deities and their depiction in blue, would it be appropriate to say that the inspiration extends beyond that?
The Avatar films are, after all, understood as a representation of a struggle between colonizers and indigenous peoples. In fact, according to a report by Mashable, Cameron said in 2010, “I didn’t mean to refer to the Hindu religion so closely, but the subconscious association was interesting, and I hope I didn’t offend anyone by doing it.”
This is where Twitter users seem to have struggled a bit.
A drink that gives immortality is not, however, exclusively an Indian/Hindu concept. The first mention of it was in the Epic of Gilgamesh in 2000 BC. This is a theme that comes up often in the story. I can’t claim it as a victory for ‘Indian texts’ – Adnaan Naveet (@crapycrapcrap76) December 25, 2022
Jiss hisab se greek, roman aur japanese mythology se american pop culture inspiration leta hai, woh log toh 24/7 naache toh bhi kam hai — Chaoticartist07 (@kalakaryash07) December 25, 2022
Yeh aadmi apne aap ko desi Joe Rogan samajta hai!— Gina Kholkar (@BabaJogeshwari) December 25, 2022
I don’t know the development of this character, but a lot of inspiration is taken from India.— Tejas (@tepatankar) December 25, 2022
But inspiration is only limited to appearances and names? Is it sufficient ! — Subhadeep Ghosh (@Subhade91541311) December 25, 2022
Where do you think the line should be drawn when it comes to talking about inspiration?
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