The movie Avatar featured two different aspects of soundscape. The music culture of the film score and the culture of the Na’vi, the indigenous creatures of the planet Pandora, could be distinguished in terms of style and musical instruments. All in all, the film score music was created with the intention of dramatizing the scenes and plot line of the movie itself, while the music of the Na’vi was created to fully define the beliefs, values, and customs of their world.
Listening through each soundtrack of the movie, I could make a generalization that the film score music consists mainly of Western orchestral form, which was familiar like the ones from typical film scores of other movies. Notable usage of string instruments with dark tones in a rather fast paced beat could be easily referred to the concept of destruction and devastation on the land of the Na’vi caused by the human greed.
On the other hand, the exclusive music culture of the Na’vi embodies the “otherworldly” sense of wonder and mystery. The tempo in general is noticeably slow compared to the film score, and the implementation of polyrhythmic drumming and actual voices in the Na’vi language were key characteristics that made the music remind the listener of African or even Native American tribal music.
Some of the shared elements of these two music cultures include the use of digital synthesizers and mash-ups of pre-recorded sound clips. The collaboration of these two forms of music in this movie soundtrack helps beautify and accentuate the wonders of the interaction between the humans and the Na’vi.
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