Princess Mononoke
Cameron said his inspiration was "every single science fiction book I read as a kid" and that he wanted to update the style of Edgar Rice Burroughs' "John Carter" series. He acknowledged that "Avatar" shares themes with the films "At Play in the Fields of the Lord", "The Emerald Forest", and "Princess Mononoke", which feature clashes between cultures and civilizations, and with "Dances with Wolves," where a battered soldier finds himself drawn to the culture he was initially fighting against. He also cited Hayao Miyazaki's anime films such as "Princess Mononoke" as an influence on the ecosystem of Pandora.