‘Up in the Air,’ ‘Avatar’ and other 2009 films treat travel as a journey within

When “Up in the Air’s” Ryan Bingham says “moving is living,” he’s standing at a podium in front of a group of anonymous businesspeople, discussing the benefits of eliminating the literal and figurative baggage in their lives. But as the movie progresses, it’s clear that Bingham’s ability to travel light is much more about avoiding any emotional attachments than it is about gliding with ease through an airport security line.

Although Bingham, played by the Oscar-nominated George Clooney, is using travel as a way of escaping emotional growth -- or, some might say, making time stand still -- “Up in the Air” isn’t the only film this season -- or even the only Oscar nominee -- that uses the physical journey as a metaphor for a character’s visceral transformation. The journey in “Up” allows a reclusive old man to reconnect with the world. “Where the Wild Things Are” is about a boy who learns the importance of family through his travels. “The Road” follows a man’s trek as he teaches his son to survive. “Avatar” gives a paraplegic Marine an opportunity to travel through space and develop a love for another culture.

Moving might be living, but taking the first step is the most difficult part, which is punctuated by the final scene of “Up in the Air,” in which Bingham stands in front of a destination board, no itinerary in hand, trying to decide where to go next.

“We are always kind of at that precipice,” says director Jason Reitman. “We are always at that first step of a journey to being the people that we want to be. We’re all terrified because there’s no correct route and there’s sacrifice in every direction.”

But uncertainty can also represent possibility, as it does for Jake Sully (played by Sam Worthington) in director James Cameron’s “Avatar.”

“Travel presents for him an opportunity for a new beginning,” says producer Jon Landau. “In some ways, Jake’s journey is Dorothy’s journey from ‘The Wizard of Oz.’ He goes somewhere and he learns something that’s always been there right in front of him.”

While Sully emotionally connects with the Na’vi and Bingham is disconnected from the people around him, both films speak to the notion of how technology gives society a false sense of community.

“Both travel and technology are methods of feeling as though you are more connected to the world when you are, in fact, less connected,” Reitman explains. “You can have a thousand friends on Facebook, but you never actually see any of them in person. When you walk through an airport, you can see a destination board filled with lots of places you’ve never been, and it makes you feel as though you’re everywhere when you’re, in fact, nowhere.”

Technology and nature are at odds in “Avatar”; military toys turn out to be no match for shrewdly organized wildlife, a victory for proponents of staying connected to the world.

“Avatar” “tells you to reach out; it tells you to make those personal contacts,” Landau says. “That’s really the story of Sigourney Weaver’s character. She’s there as a scientist; she’s not there to become emotionally attached.”

Incidentally, both “Up in the Air” and “Avatar” represent a sunny outlook on travel in the post- 9/11 era, which seems to have replaced the glamour and excitement with a fear of losing control. Yet Sully and Bingham have complete command of their individual journeys, giving the audience a sense of ease.

“I made a love letter to travel, not a movie about the frustration of traveling,” Reitman says. “When you see the ease and fluidity with which he packs and goes through security, that’s my experience.”

Most physical journeys have a specific destination, which is perhaps what makes traveling appealing. But every trip has some kind of lasting effect.

“Jake is not going there expecting what he finds, but he’s absorbing and he’s reacting,” Landau says. “And I think that’s what the audience does when they go to the movie ‘Avatar.’ They’re not going and finding what they expect to find. They’re going on a journey, and they’re reacting to that journey.”

And even with its focus on constant motion, “Up in the Air” doesn’t let the audience off the hook when it comes to the emotional journey.

“What’s important is where [the film] leaves the audience and what it gets the audience to think as they walk out of the theater,” Reitman says. “Where they are going in life, what they want in life, who they want in life. Do they value the people around them enough? You know, the big” stuff.

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