La circulación de los avatares

Abstract

This is paper recovers the history of the word “avatar” from its origin in ancient India to its current use in the context of the world wide web. From this path, the essay will analyze the way in which each civilization borrowing the word retains some of its meanings while adapts it to express new ideas depending on the realities and necessities of the receiving culture. The latest cultural product using this word, “avatar”, is the homonymous motion picture from the american filmmaker, James Cameron. This paper offers an interpretation of this film as a palimpsest, in order to reveal the way in which an ancient “foreign” word manages to generate new meanings in a mass media product, while the audience works to re-signify these materials as means to integrate them into its own universe.