The Similarities of Native Lands in The Searchers and Avatar

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Throughout the world humans have invaded other lands where native people live to try to gain more land of their own. It has happened many times in history. One major occurrence of this is when the first European settlers came to live in North America. They ran into the Native Americans and eventually drove them out of their homelands. There are two movies that are also good examples of this. Even though these movies are completely different and filmed in different time periods, they have many similarities and show many concepts of how certain natives are invaded, not treated well, or even killed. These two movies are called The Searchers and Avatar. The first settlers arrived in New England in 1620. They wanted to live in peace with the Natives. Problems began because settlers and the Natives had different views for the land. Settlers wanted to own large amounts of land because owning land often meant you were wealthy and powerful. The Native Americans believed that no one could own land but they can use it. The Native Americans taught settlers how to plant crops on this land but they did not understand that the settlers were going to keep the land for themselves. More settlers began to come over and take more land. They began kicking the Natives out. All of land taking was starting to cause tension between these two groups of people. By the 19th Century, the westward expansion of the US caused many of the Native Americans to move further west, usually by force. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 caused tens of thousands of Native Americans to be relocated. The Native Americans were not treated right. In the movies The Searchers and Avatar the bad way people treat natives is very evident. The movie The Searchers is about a man named ... ... middle of paper ... ... native that falls for the so called “savages” or the native people of the land. In The Searchers, the young girl that is taken as a captive basically falls for the Native Americans and calls them her people. Ethan does not like how that happens and almost shoots Debbie. In Avatar the Na’vi woman falls for Jake Sulley and Jake falls for her. The general of the mission finds out and tries to destroy all the Na’vi people and their land. So, both of these movies have the same concept. The movies The Searchers and Avatar are both very ideal examples of how people have occupied new land and tried to drive out the natives that live there. Even though these are both very different types of movies and written in different times, they definitely have some similarities. This has happened throughout the world’s history and probably will continue to happen for years to come.

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