Both Avatar and Inception are popular science fiction films, though they differ in their storylines, settings, and endings. Avatar follows humans who attack aliens on the planet Pandora to mine a valuable mineral, while Inception explores a dream world where people can infiltrate and plant ideas in others' dreams. Avatar is set primarily on Pandora, while Inception takes place in locations like Los Angeles and a Japanese palace. Avatar ends happily with the humans expelled from Pandora, while the ambiguous ending of Inception leaves it unknown if the events were real or a dream. Overall, both films use exciting visuals and plots, though they approach the science fiction genre in distinct ways.

1. SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
THE DESIGN SCHOOL
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT
NAME: LOONG BO LIN
STUDENT ID NO: 0321469
FILMS SELECTED: Avatar and Inception
WORD COUNT: 978 words
ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY
LECTURER: CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
SUBMISSION DATE: APRIL 3RD, 2015

2. Pre-writing
Avatar vs. Inception
storyline
Avatar:humanattackedNa'vi from
Pandora for a valuable mineral,
Unobtanium
Inception:about the dreamworldwhich
the maincharacter, a professionalthief
who specializesinconning secrets from
his victims byinfiltrating their dreams
settings
Avatar:mainlyinPandora
Inception: mainlyinFrench
ending
Avatar:happyending which humans are
expelledfrom Pandora
Inception:
thesisstatement:Both ofthe movies are interesting andawesome although theyare different in
storyline, settings andending.

3. Avatar vs. Inception
Nowadays, a film or so called a movie is have turned into a big form of entertainment.
Since 1960, science fiction movies were becoming a burgeoning demand in the film industry and
continue to grow till today. So, what is science fiction movie? Science fiction movie is a film
genre that uses science fiction that is not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as time
travel, alien worlds, extrasensory perception and futuristic elements. Basically, science fiction
movies are movies with thought-provoking stories. Science Fiction is a subdivision of fantastic
literature which employs science or rationalism to create an appearance of plausibility (Paul,
1996). At its best, science fiction has no peer in creating another universe of experience, in
showing us what we look like in the mirror of technological society or thought the eyes of a non-
human (Riley, 1978). To being with, I am a movie fanatic and my favorite film genre is science
fiction movies. Watching science fiction will bring me into another fantasy world beyond my
imagination. They take me to another dimension, or in other words, non-reality world with aliens,
incredible technology, time machine and etc. For the past few years, I have watched two popular
science fiction movies, Avatar and Inception. Both of the movies are interesting and awesome
although they are different in storyline, settings and ending.
As for the story line, Avatar is how humans attack aliens while Inception is all about
fantastically detailed of a dream world. Avatar is quite stunning with superb visual effects that
create exciting action sequences and enhance the touching character development and interaction
scene. However, many people walked away from Inception impressed. Some were confused;
some were even feeling like they had their brains awakened by the most exciting and thought-
provoking movie experience. In Avatar, human have severely depleted Earth’s natural resources.
So, human attacked the blue-skinned human-like aliens to mine for a valuable mineral,
Unobtanium on Pandora. To explore Pandora, the scientists used “Avatar” to infiltrate the local
people, the Na’vi of Pandora and try to build peaceful relations with them. The main character,
Jake was given 3 months to evacuate the Na’vi, but he failed the mission and the human
commenced attack to drive them away. Although the Na’vi had won the war at last, but humans
are the one to initiate and declare the war, causing damages of both sides. On the other hand,
in Inception, the story is all about the dream world which the main character, Cobb, a
professional thief who specializes in conning secrets from his victims by infiltrating their

4. dreams. Cobb's rare ability has made him a coveted player in this new world of corporate
espionage, but it has also made him an international escapee and cost him everything he has ever
loved. Cobb is being offered a chance at redemption. This last job could give him his life back
but only if he can accomplish the impossible-inception. Instead of the perfect theft, Cobb and his
team of specialists have to succeed in the reverse: their mission is not to steal an idea but to plant
one. If they succeed, it could be the perfect crime. But no amount of careful planning can prepare
the team for the dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move.
The most important difference between Avatar and Inception is the settings. In Avatar,
the settings cover mainly on the Pandora planet which treasure trove of both living and non-
living natural resources and wildlife. Although most of the scenes and backgrounds in the movie
were computer-generated, but they are all in high definition with the animation softwares by the
professionals to make the scenes as look realistic. The director of Avatar, James Cameron said,
“Ideally at the end of the day audience has no idea which they are looking at.” Furthermore, the
floating “Hallelujah Mountains”, the “Hometree”, Iknimaya, Banshee Rookery and other places
made up the settings and backgrounds in Pandora of the whole movie. Besides, there are several
places that made up the settings of the movie Inception. At the start of the movie, Cobb washes
up on a rocky shore, and is brought into a Japanese palace. Other than that, the settings and
background mainly would be at Los Angeles, rest would be in Shenanigansville.
Of course, both movies have different endings as well. The ending of the movie Avatar is
considered a happy ending because all the humans are expelled from the Pandora planet. Only
the main character, Jake and few others are allowed to stay in Pandora. The last part of the movie
had shown a spiritual ceremony at the “Hometree” in which Jake is transferred permanently into
his Avatar body with the aid of The Tree of Souls. It ends with explicit ending in which Jake’s
Avatar opened his eyes. A sense of completeness and satisfaction is considered a happy ending
to the audiences. Whereas, for Inception, everybody wanted to know what Christopher Nolan,
the director of the movie truly intended, specifically with his ending. Was it really all just a
dream? It's very important to me that by the end of the movie you understand what Mal means
when she says to Cobb,"You don't believe in one reality anymore," and that we see the potential
for getting lost. When the movie ends, Cobb is reunited with his children for the first time after a
long separation. It appeared as though they hadn’t changed from his vision of them in his dreams.

5. For me, the ending of Inception it’s interesting and deep because the ending is left unknown to
let the viewers to imagine with different thoughts.
In a nutshell, both movies, Avatar and Inception are different in storyline, settings and
ending. I really enjoyed watching both movies with their interesting and exciting plots and
endings. Moreover, the settings and background with the visual effects are really great.

6. References
1. Mendelsohn, K. (1986). Trillion Year Spree: the History of Science Fiction. London
2. Wilson, M. (2015). What Does "Science Fiction" Really Mean?. About.com Entertainment.
Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://scifi.about.com/od/scififantasy101/a/SCIFI_defs.htm
3. IMDb,. (2015). Avatar (2009). Retrieved 5 April 2015, from
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499549/plotsummary
4. WhatCulture.com,. (2015). What Does The Ending Of Inception Really Mean? - 5 Possible
Solutions. Retrieved 5 April 2015, from http://whatculture.com/film/what-does-the-ending-of-
inception-really-mean-5-possible-solutions.php
5. Perrin, R. (2012) Pocket Guide to APA Style (4th ed) Boston: Wadsworth