The scene opens with Jake and Neytiri peacefully sleeping next to each other as sunlight streams down through the tendrils of the trees and cricket-like noises of the forest soothe the viewer. The moment seems perfect, the world is at peace, and Jake is mated for life with Neytiri. With the camera still focused on the sleeping couple, a faint beeping and rumbling starts in the background until the thuds become powerful enough to wake Neytiri. The is the moment the I'd been dreading, I knew the RDA would be coming, I just didn't know when. At the beginning of the movie, I sympathized with the humans, but that sympathy slowly shifted to the Na'vi. However, I didn't hate the humans and the destruction they're bringing on Pandora until this scene.
The stress of the viewer builds even further when Neytiri cannot wake Jake as he remains awake in the Avatar control area with Grace forcing him to eat. The forest is crashing down around Neytiri as she tries in vain to wake Jake and save him. The music focuses to rapid violins as the scene switches to Jake wolfing down his food, almost as if he knows something's wrong.
At the last second (as melodramas always do), Jake wakes to Neytiri screaming and sees the enormous bulldozer destroying everything in its path. He frantically tries to stop the machine by plant
The scene engenders hate for the humans and the RDA corporation's greed, but also great sadness at the devastation of Pandora both through watching the destruction itself and Neytiri's reaction at seeing the fate of her world. The scene is also pivotal in the plot of the film because Jake makes his first move against his own race when he smashes the camera in an attempt to stop the advance of the machines.
One of the most frustrating parts is the complete lack of empathy exhibited by the manager of RDA corporation. When told “I've got a native blocking my blade.” The response is only “He'll move. Keep going, these people have to learn that we don't stop.” followed by reaching over and pushing the control to drive the machine forward.
This relates to the standard image of corporate greed: owners are only concerned with the balance sheet at the end of the year. If it's cheaper to kill off the natives and deal with the bad PR, then that's exactly what they'll do. This resonates even better currently due to the frustration with big business, golden parachutes and Occupy Wall Street. Something great and beautiful is being decimated, all in the name of money and greed.
After watching Avatar again while analyzing it, I realized I had more appreciation to the work that went in to the making of this movie. Consider me at least a partial convert from the Avatar-haters group. (However, I don't think I'll ever get over the cliche names of Hometree and Unobtainium)
On a side note, were you reminded of WALL-E when you the camera on the crawler machine?
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