The Nav'i Language and Gamer Culture

[Garnfellow]

There's a neat article over at Slate.com on the surge of fan interest in learning the fictional Na'vi language, just as people have taken up Klingon.

But what I found really interesting, from a gamer's perspective, was the intense desire for many of these fans to establish an authority over this made-up language:

Prrton and fans like him want a language authority. They want confirmation that what they have figured out so far is correct. They want more vocabulary to work with and a wider range of sentence examples so they can better determine how to use the language. Na'vi is attractive to fans because it's usable in the real world, but it loses its value without a coherent connection to the fictional world of the film. If Na'vi speakers just made up words as needed and settled questions of grammar on their own, they would no longer be speaking the language of Pandora. And that's the whole point: to speak Na'vi, not some other weird language. There is also the danger that a sequel will come along and undo all the decisions they've made in a few lines of dialogue.

To me, this all has eerie parallels to gaming, where many fans feel an overwhelming need to establish similar authorities for their imaginary worlds. They clamor for Official (tm) answers to all their rules questions, they set up game creators as final arbiters with an almost cultish fervor. James Maliszewski, for example, has made a blogging career out of his search for the most authentic, authoritative version of D&D.

It's a powerful impulse, and one I often feel myself, but where does it come from, and ultimately, what good does it do? Paul Frommer may have originated the Na'vi language, but once people start speaking a language, it really stops belonging to any one person -- just as when people start playing an RPG, it stops belonging to the game creator (or the game company) alone.

 

[Raven Crowking]

I wonder if they'll admit that the Na'vi are not native to Pandora in the sequel.

All Pandoran species shown are hairless hexapods with two pairs of eyes, and none show any signs of being mammals. They all have two organs to interface with Pandora's global "brain".

Conversely, the Na'vi are quadrapedal mammals with a single pair of eyes, hair, mammary glands, and a single interface organ. Their eyes are also notably different from the eyes of the other species encountered on Pandora.

This suggests (IMHO) rather strongly that the Na'vi evolved elsewhere, and adapted to Pandora. That Pandora's global brain can interface with (and potentially modify) non-natives is demonstrated in the film (via Weaver's character).

The use of cryogenics to travel indicates sublight drives.....quite possibly the Na'vi are descended from earlier human colonists. This would explain the cultural similarities to native North Americans, the genetic similarities that allow the "Avatar" program to work, and the biological similarities to humans that allow a male human to know what to do with a female Na'vi.

To me, this was the most interesting aspect of Avatar.


RC

 

[GuJiaXian]

I wonder if they'll admit that the Na'vi are not native to Pandora in the sequel.

All Pandoran species shown are hairless hexapods with two pairs of eyes, and none show any signs of being mammals. They all have two organs to interface with Pandora's global "brain".

Conversely, the Na'vi are quadrapedal mammals with a single pair of eyes, hair, mammary glands, and a single interface organ. Their eyes are also notably different from the eyes of the other species encountered on Pandora.

This suggests (IMHO) rather strongly that the Na'vi evolved elsewhere, and adapted to Pandora. That Pandora's global brain can interface with (and potentially modify) non-natives is demonstrated in the film (via Weaver's character).

The use of cryogenics to travel indicates sublight drives.....quite possibly the Na'vi are descended from earlier human colonists. This would explain the cultural similarities to native North Americans, the genetic similarities that allow the "Avatar" program to work, and the biological similarities to humans that allow a male human to know what to do with a female Na'vi.

To me, this was the most interesting aspect of Avatar.


RC

See, and I think you're reading way too much into the movie. I agree with you on the Na'vi's outward biological differences--I noticed it right away the first time I saw the movie. Still, even after seeing it twice and thinking about it, I really think it boils down to gross oversight by Cameron and Co. while designing a "cool alien world."

Flunky: "Wouldn't it be cool if all the animals had four eyes? Oh, and six legs!"

Cameron: "Excellent idea, very alien."

Flunky: "And the intelligent natives, the Na'vi, they should be these totally alien hexapods with--"

Cameron: "No. Audiences won't relate to that. They have to be overtly humanoid. Make them...blue cat people."

Flunky: "So let it be written. So let it be done."

 

[Raven Crowking]

Oh, I'm not saying that they necessarily thought everything out.

I'm saying that they should just say they did, and run with it.

 

[amysrevenge]

Just the same sort of thing as Star Wars back in the day.

GL: "I need a space-y word to describe how fast Han Solo's ship is. I remember some word... sounded like a second, only shorter... Got it, parsec!"

And then later fandom and Expanded Universe publishers/authors bent over backwards to find a way that describing the duration of the Kessel run in parsecs made total sense.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

You realize, RC, that notion of Na'avi origins can only lead to a big reveal where it turns out the Na'avi we know are the descendants of Techno-Na'avi who rejected their science, but as a last act of scientific power restructured themselves genetically to interface with Pandora before destroying all their technology. (They're not technologically ignorant! They were smart enough to reject it! New levels of irony in Cameron's career.... ACHIEVED!)

Clearly, there will be a tribal elder who is entrusted with this terrible secret and the knowledge of a technological uber weapon that, if used, will do irreparable harm to the world, but may be their only hope of surviving the new onslaught of humanity.

....

/Waits patiently for co-writer credit on Avatar 2: Financial Embiggening

 

[Raven Crowking]

@ Canis: That sounds plausible. As with the Time Lords, the Na'vi "rejected the sterile path of technology" (supposedly).

@ amysrevenge: My youngest (now 3) watches Dora the Explorer, and I can't help but do the same with Dora's world, too. After all, the route between two places is never the same twice, and she needs a talking Map (computer interface?) to navigate.

EDIT: And, no, I don't make those observations to my 3-yr-old daughter. And, yes, my partner rolls her eyes at me when I bring it up.

RC

 

[Relique du Madde]

You realize, RC, that notion of Na'avi origins can only lead to a big reveal where it turns out the Na'avi we know are the descendants of Techno-Na'avi who rejected their science, but as a last act of scientific power restructured themselves genetically to interface with Pandora before destroying all their technology. (They're not technologically ignorant! They were smart enough to reject it! New levels of irony in Cameron's career.... ACHIEVED!)

Clearly, there will be a tribal elder who is entrusted with this terrible secret and the knowledge of a technological uber weapon that, if used, will do irreparable harm to the world, but may be their only hope of surviving the new onslaught of humanity.

....

/Waits patiently for co-writer credit on Avatar 2: Financial Embiggening

OR.. they achieved a ultra high-level of technology that has become indistinct from magic via bioengineering and genetic manipulation allowing them to interface with the life forms they created/modified and the planet itself via "Unobtainium" to create the ultimate psychic weapon. However, something went horribly awry thousands of years in the past causing every Na'vi who was mature enough to interface with the world-weapon to die by having their consciousness absorbed into the "Spirit Tree."

Thus generation after generation of Na'vi grew without the knowledge to understand the principals behind their bio-tech causing the Na'vi Civilization to "de-evolve" into a primitive anti-technological state.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

OR.. they achieved a ultra high-level of technology that has become indistinct from magic via bioengineering and genetic manipulation allowing them to interface with the life forms they created/modified and the planet itself via "Unobtainium" to create the ultimate psychic weapon. However, something went horribly awry thousands of years in the past causing every Na'vi who was mature enough to interface with the world-weapon to die by having their consciousness absorbed into the "Spirit Tree."

Thus generation after generation of Na'vi grew without the knowledge to understand the principals behind their bio-tech causing the Na'vi Civilization to "de-evolve" into a primitive anti-technological state.

No clear, ultra-reductionist message. Would never make it past the script stage.

Is my cynicism showing?

 

[Relique du Madde]

No clear, ultra-reductionist message. Would never make it past the script stage.

Is my cynicism showing?

Don't worry, the reductionist message comes as result of people not purchasing the DVDs or buying extra tickets to see the movie in 3D, Smell-o-vision, and Hologra-vision.