ABSTRACT
In its original meaning, an “avatar” was the earthly incarnation or manifestation of a Hindu god – the local presence of something bigger and more powerful that held in its hands the fate of whole peoples (Britt 2008). In age of the internet, however, the term has come to mean something rather different. Here an “avatar” is the visual cyber-expression of a user in a online public environment, whether it is a virtual reality “person” in Second Life, or the image or icon chosen to accompany one’s postings to an online chat forum. No longer, therefore, is an avatar a representation of the very real powers of a (divine) reality. Instead, it is an expression of an idea, desire, or an ideal. It is also an attempt to influence the attitudes and orientations of others. Indeed, given the frequency with which uncommonly attractive images of other people are used as online avatars, an “av” might represent quite a lot of wishful thinking. The term has been popularized and transformed still further with the global success of the science fiction movie Avatar (2009), in which humans interact with the indigenous Na’vi population of the planet Pandora through a virtual connection to hybrid human-alien bodies.
