Those of use who spend a lot of time online think of an “avatar” as a digital representation of yourself, such as you might use in a virtual world or social networking site. That definition certainly makes sense for the movie of the same name, where the characters take on an “alien” persona in order to interact with the indigenous people on a foreign planet. The Free Online Dictionary also defines the word avatar as “an embodiment, as of a quality or concept; an archetype.” And it is that definition of the word that struck me so hard during the movie that I found myself in tears halfway through. The basic…