Introduction
The exposition in “Avatar” begins with the presentation of the main character, Jake Sully – a military officer who is permanently wheelchair-bound due to an injury. He has enrolled in a special program designed to help humanity communicate with the native population of the planet Pandora – the Na’vi. After the viewer is fully immersed in the characters and begins to understand the narrative, an inciting incident occurs. Jake is attacked by the planet’s wildlife in his Avatar form and is rescued by the Na’vi princess Neytiri. Initially, Neytiri wants to kill Jake but after experiencing a sign from the Na’vi divine tree Eywa, she decides to introduce him to her tribe.
Discussion
For me as a viewer, the exposition scenes were the ones that hooked my attention from the very beginning of the movie. Seeing the Earth completely drained of all its resources made me feel as if it is a premonition of our future. Moreover, learning that humanity wants to establish contact with Pandorans only to colonize and exhaust their planet, too, left me with a feeling of bitterness and thought that history repeats itself. However, as I watched Neytiri and Jake’s interaction in the second plot element, I felt relieved to a degree, as I started to relate to Jake’s character, and it was a fascinating development.
Rufus Emeritio is the second main character of the novel They Both Die at the End written by Adam Silvera (2018) which describes a world where people are notified preemptively about the day of their death. The notification about his impending death reaches him while he is beating up the new boyfriend of his ex-girlfriend – Peck – whom he hates with a passion. Rufus finds himself disturbed by the fact that his last days of life are tarnished with violence. Moreover, he cannot spend his final day properly as the police are after him, thus he turns to the app Last Friends which connects people who are about to die.
Rufus seeks to redeem himself and die a good person and friend, so in his interactions with Mateo – the boy he was matched with – he tries to be as supportive and honest as possible. Together, they visit various places and people, establish a connection with each other that later blossoms into love, and try to have a good final day.
Conclusion
To conclude, each conversation Rufus has with Mateo deepens their bond, and after they confess their love to each other, Rufus bitterly wishes he had met Mateo sooner. In the end, after Mateo dies in a fire accident, Rufus is devastated – and he walks right into the traffic, not caring about his own life anymore.
Work Cited
Silvera, Adam. They Both Die at the End. Quill Tree Books, an Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers, 2018.