Destruction of the Hometree

The destruction of the Hometree is a very dramatic and eventful part of the movie. So many emotions came over me when I saw this for the first time: sad, angry, helpless. I wanted everything to end up being okay for the Omaticaya, but this was so devastating for them, and me as a viewer. When the Marines first started flying overhead, Quaritch was casually drinking a cup of coffee like he had already won the fight. This really irked me because I wanted to believe that the Nah'vi had a fighting chance. Then came the gas attack. This switched my perspective a little. It now seemed that the RDA fleet was a little worried about the Omaticaya, although the Marines clearly had heavy artillery and ammunition. As all of this was unfolding, Quaritch referred to the Omaticaya as "dumb bastards" and "roaches." Even I was offended when I heard this and I hear swear words all of the time! Quaritch is talking about the Nah'vi as if THEY did something wrong, like the deserved to be called those names. When in actuality, I think the only reason he calls them these things is to make himself feel better. It was very interesting to me that there was no music playing in between the time the firing had stopped and when the tree started to fall. Dead silence. It's like the viewer already knew what was going to happen so no music was necessary. "A moment of Silence" for the Hometree. As soon as the tree began crumbling, music started playing in an ascending order, ultimately reaching a climax, which signified that the tree had completely fallen.

As I was reading about this clip, people compared this scene to the falling of the Twin Towers during 9/11. I can see how this works because in the clip there were planes and heavy firing and explosions like the events of 9/11, but also one of the most iconic aspects of their world was destroyed, much like the Twin Towers.