Jake Meets His Avatar

I decided to look at the scene in which Jake "meets" his avatar for the first time. In this scene we (the audience) are supposed to feel curious initially, but there is a turn toward the end of the scene that is supposed to make us feel sentimental. The scene makes good use of sound and music; at the beginning we have only background noise, but as the scene progresses the score creeps in and creates this emotional atmosphere. The air of wonder and curiousity is created by the little twinkly sounds of the score with a steady synth string chord under all of that. This mood is further enhanced by the unnatural, blue light being cast in the lab. (Cameron uses this same effect in Titanic when the crew of the salvage effort is in the room with all of the TV screens, everyone is cast in that other-worldly blue and there's a sense of wonder and curiosity as they search through the wreck of the ship.) But then, there is a change in the music when Jake wheels over to see his avatar face to face. The strings become a bit more broad and prominent. "Looks like him," Jake says, referring to his brother. "Looks like you," Norm corrects him, "this is your avatar now." At this very moment, the sad sounding strings break out. They are sweeping and sound like any other emotional moment in a film. We've heard this exact same music cue before in so many other films that it would almost seem incomplete without it. But we recognize it in context as a punctuation. The lighting and space together set up the mood for this emotional moment to occur. Jake goes to a brightly lit, public place, to a dimly lit, more intimate space that sets things up nicely for the emotional climax of the scene.
Obviously Jake's brother is not around to use this avatar and it is a reminder that Jake has suffered an emotional loss. At the same time, Jake is offered a fantastic opportunity in this scene. His inability to walk puts him in a unique position, by taking his brother's place, he can experience free movement once again and with out the loss of his brother he would not be able to do this. There is almost a moral dilemma here. Jake is excited, curious, fascinated in the avatars, but there is also some sadness there and I think the music helps build that complicated atmosphere that is also very emotional. I think this drives home family values because it tells us that family, in this case, Jake's brother, is extremely important to him and is deserving of such an expression of feelings. This bond, that Jake once shared with his brother, comes forth throughout the film as he learns to also bond with the creatures and natural world around him.