In James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar, the story unfolds on the moon Pandora.
Avatar is set in the mid-22nd century and follows former Marine Jake Sully, who operates a genetically engineered avatar on Pandora. The moon orbits the fictional gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri star system. Its forests, wildlife, and indigenous Na’vi society form the central setting of the film.
Pandora’s environment is presented as biologically interconnected. The Na’vi maintain spiritual and physical relationships with the moon’s living systems, while the human corporation RDA seeks the valuable mineral unobtanium. The conflict over land and resources drives the film’s plot.
This Pandora is a science-fiction setting rather than the jar-opening figure from Greek mythology. Cameron’s choice of name creates an allusive connection to the older myth, but the film does not retell Hesiod’s story. The title Avatar refers to the remotely controlled hybrid bodies used by human operators.