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Avatar is so heavily loaded with racial allegory that it's impossible, even for a casual viewer, to ignore its sociopolitical currents. On the surface, Avatar is an obvious, at times even heavy-handed, pro-environmental and anti-war missive. Its purpose (besides entertaining) is to hold a mirror up to humanity and show us the folly of our greed and disregard for human life, while at the same time showing us what our own planet could have been like if its indiginous peoples were allowed to retain their cultures rather than being overrun by European colonialization. But that's just the top layer. Underneath it is a bevy of subtle story lines and images that both arise from and comment on contemporary racial politics.
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/for
http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/2601013236/m/1651048518/p/3
Money
The way to make a sale or a lot of money with a movie is to sit down and list the things that the audience is already thinking and then say them within a tear jerking story. Portraying white men as greedy, diabolical, capitalists who are unconcerned about the environment or an indigenous population as they rake in the cash is popular with the socialists running Hollywood and if you can toss in sexy aliens prancing around the tree tops, so much the better. You can get everyone's heart bleeding about everything but the cash you're taking from them.
One thing briefly interesting in this socialist spiel was a short discussion about energy and how it is shared by everyone and everything, but then you realized that it was just part of the agenda.
I thought selling what is in
I thought selling what is in demand is a great cornerstone of capitalism?
The audience isn't Barbara Streisand and other liberal Hollywood elites. It's the World. You contradicted yourself.
So which way is it? Them selling us what we want to hear or them telling us what we want to hear? There is a balance in the force. FOx News sells people what they want to hear everyday.
Environmentalism is not Socialism.
Environmentalism is not one method or one interest group.
Indigenous people aren't socialist. Interest in them, isn't socialist.
Your piece makes
me want to see the movie in a theater, and that's something I haven't wanted to do in years. Thanks, Mikhail.
Traditional gender roles???
Good piece - much more subtle and sophisticated than most of what has been written on the subject. But in your next piece, I hope you explain what you mean when you say that "traditional gender roles are (mostly) reinforced."
There are four main female characters in the film. One is an earth mother priestess type - that one doesn't violate any traditional gender roles, although she's certainly pretty tough. But Neytiri is an independent hunter who's depicted as equal or superior to any other character in physical ability and courage, and is for almost the entire film in a clear position of greater power than her partner - the Na'vi society might give Jake a right to choose a mate, but Jake recognizes that she must choose him, and he has to work hard to win back her trust when she feels he's betrayed her. Grace is a tough, incredibly smart and competent scientist - this is no one's stereotype of a traditional female role. Trudy is a futuristic helicopter pilot who participates in combat and pistol-whips someone who gets in her way. I can't easily think of a big-budget adventure film which has gone farther in undermining traditional gender roles.
I do agree that the messiah undertones are awkward and unnecessary. If they needed to get help from the other tribes, there should have been a way to do it without the whole Turuk Makdo (my phonetic approximation) thing. That way it would have been even clearer that Jake is serving within the Na'vi force and not taking it over.
A comparison with a great "historical" movie?
I'd like to see Avatar compared (and contrasted!) to The New World by Terry Malick.
Scully as human avatar
Lyubansky wrote, "Jake is OUR avatar. He allows us (and by "us" I mean "humans") to experience what he experiences and, in that process, to appreciate the Na'vi the way he does". This was one of the problems I had with AVATAR. As a self-described AfroFanBoy I'm tired of sci-fi movies where MY avatar is white. Euro-Americans will be a minority by 2050. By 2154, when AVATAR takes place, it isn't inconceivable that there would be more melanin-rich people running the show. If the humans in AVATAR are to represent a global initiative then I would be certain that, given the advanced math and science educations children are now receiving in China and India, there would be more of them involved in any long-range space programs.
Expecting white males and females to be the avatars that all humans will relate to, especially in sci-fi movies, limits the movie-going experience for the rest of us and prevents the film from doing what sci-fi does best...makes us question who we are and where we are headed. I, for one, hope that future sci-fi movies take this into consideration.
Well, considering Chris Rock
Well, considering Chris Rock just made a documentary about black hair because his daughter was making negative statements about her hair not being like the white girls', I think most of the "avatars" in our country are white people (due to the media of course). When I watch my 9 year old bi-racial cousin pick blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale white skin for her video game character, I see a long sad puberty for her, and eventaully, I hope, a triumph of self. But, don't pretend that white people are not the avatars in our media. Skully is our avatar and through him we learn to be an "other."
You are right that there is a lot of good science fiction with non-white protangonists, but I think it's better to protest that there isn't more than change what already is. If everyone was Chinese in this film, they'd also be "others." That's a great platform for another movie or book though, written here or in China.
Also, the Nav'vi are played by African (more or less) actors, and the Avatars are all white and actually therefore have different facial features. Who are really the people who need this message? The people of Tanna? No, the white man.
I find the biological science fiction in this movie, in regards to the synapses connecting all life and trees that download, fascinating, but also a beautiful metaphor for what we forgot to value in the tribal cultures of America, Africa, and even the pre-industrialized cultures of Asia: Their knowledge of the land, their stories, their art, their on-going balance with the life around them, their wisdom that they could have shared if we hadn't been so arrogant about our own western culture.
I'm not bothered by the messiah part because it flows into the plot self-consciously. The tree goddess chooses Jake because she is fucking smart. She knows he's empty, she notices he's curious, and she knows that she needs him as a defensive/diplomatic measure. His messiah "image" is planned. His riding the Tanuk, or whatever, is a calculated move in order to win the Na' vi trust again. It's also a great leap of faith on his part. It's poetic, man. And I think it reflects more our culture's faith in "great men" ( and James Cameron's own love affair with himself as a director) than everyone needing a white man to finish business. We have a tendency to rally better around public figures. Hey, we just rallied behind "Hope" two novembers ago. To do what, I am not sure, but it is so much better than Bush and Cheney.
Jake isn't my avatar either
If and when I see this film, my entry point will be the female characters, human and Na'vi, not some white male I will never be able to identify with. Nothing against white men - I just can't relate to most of them. To me, white men are usually the "other".
I agree and it's time for
I agree and it's time for people who are an increasing minority in the USA to stop being used as the avatars for the rest of us. If a story is universal then the protaganist should be of any ethnicity. I want to see interesting stories with well-developed characters of all ethnicities coming out of Hollywood. It's time that we see a true American cinema...one that incorporates all of us.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments
Not sure the commenters will see this, but just wanted to express a quick word of appreciation to all of you and reply to a few of the comments:
Lloyd, I haven't seen The New World, but your comment makes me want to do so.
Robert and Anemone, I know this is an issue. I wish I had raised it, but I am glad that the two of you did. As Anemone implies, there are other "entry-points" in the film, including female characters in prominent roles. Unfortunately, while there were a few supporting characters played by people of color, I don't recall a single speaking part played by a person of African descent. Sad.
JGP, I agree with you...and still found some troubling aspects. What did you think of Part 2?
A few Points
The Navi should not be considered as one dimensionally good.
"The abundant flora and fauna of Pandora have ensured a steady population of Na'vi; it is hypothesized that there was little Darwinian pressure to adapt new traits. Indeed, studies indicate that the number of Na'vi have remained remarkably consistent over the eons. The widespread access to natural resources has also helped limit (but not eliminate) warfare among the various Na'vi clans."
http://www.pandorapedia.com/doku.php/us:na_vi
The Navi do fight each other. Neytiri does reference in the movie the peoples past struggles. Where 5 previous riders have flown the large Drake long ago.
Selfridge, the corporate bean counter, does struggle with his choices as well in the movie. He sits in contemplation spinning the Unobtanium as Quaritch explains his attack plans to use gas only reluctantly giving the order "pull the trigger". He also sends Jake back in with a a 1 hour deadline in a last ditch effort to save the Navi. Selfridge in the end chooses to put the corporate interests ahead of the Navi. But to say hes completely 1 dimensional is just not accurate.
Yeah, they don't really go
Yeah, they don't really go into the social dynamic much. But I can't imagine what James Cameron would actually know about family and community. I think we can forgive him for sticking to hunting and extreme sports. But, if you want to idealize the Na' vi,go ahead, be an idiot. Do I have to idealize native american culture in order to appreciate it? "There can be only one" when it comes to culture?
I think it's allowable to have villains in fiction. Look at Hitler. Look at Carl Rove. Some human personality traits are a perfect ingredient in certain circumstances to make some bad juju.
I just really appreciate that this very typical science fiction story is entering so strongly into our cultural subconcious. It will be a great tool for us and our children to use (and perhaps reject) in comprehending our world and humanity.
Well I can see this not a
Well I can see this not a freedom of speech website so I will only comment on the movie while others can comment on race. My last post being withdrawn for factual data.
Jake was necessary to provide technical know how and battle strategies he knew of to fight this particular enemy. With out these, The Navi could not win. The Red dragon was the only way to pull all the tribes together
This is why I called AVATAR
This is why I called AVATAR DANCES WITH WOLVES MEETS THE LAST SAMURAI IN OUTER SPACE. There have been cases in our human history where people have defeated invaders who supposedly had technical superiority. Putting Jake in that role was Hollywood creating what they view as a universal character which is the problem. Whites are universal and the rest of us are the perpetual other who are their to serve the needs of the character (best friend, antagonist to make the protagonist act and fulfill his/her potential, caretaker, etc.).
Freedom of Speech
Freedom of speech is your right as a citizen of the U.S. and many other countries. It is a right guaranteed by the U.S. constitution to express yourself, but it does not give you the "right" to publish your opinions on any particular website or publication. The deletion of your comment was not, in any way, an impingement on your freedom of speech.
As for the comment itself, it was unambiguously racist, anti-Semitic, to be exact and entirely irrelevant to this article. There is no place for that kind of rhetoric here.
a little too charitable
This is all taking "Avatar" a little too seriously. The story is riddled with cliches, stereotypes and bad dialogue. This is a commercialized Hollywood blockbuster, and the sociopolitical message doesn't go any deeper than the surface.
All of the humans in Avatar are Americans. The mineral they're pursuing is called "Unobtanium." The Na'vi look like anorexic cat-elves. The villain has to be the shallowest military stereotype they could have come up with - white hair, crew cut, scars over his eyes, etc. The "good guys" are impossibly lucky, especially in the Final Battle. (The fact that there is a Final Battle in the first place really tells you what you need to know.)
There's nothing particularly courageous about the movie's heavyhanded "politics." It's the kind of broad, simplistic and unoriginal falderal you might hear out of a well-meaning middle-schooler. If they really wanted to make a statement, the Na'vi would have been wiped out - not by a transparently-evil corporate hotshot and General Crewcut, but by culture shock or disease. They would have been assimilated into human society, become impoverished and diseased, forgotten their native language, and possibly been herded onto reservations. Football teams on Pandora would have names like "the Hunters," with a Na'vi caricature for a mascot. They would have been patronized by movies that portray them as noble savages and saints in perfect harmony with nature, perhaps by way of a flimsy allegory about beautiful, exotic aliens on another planet.
That's called District
That's called District 9.
Wait no, it still has unrealistic violence and action. A spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down.
Unobtanium, true, is lame.
Unobtanium, true, is lame. LAME.
Come on people
Man , I can't believe how everyone is reading so much into this movie. Dang you are all totally coming to crazy conclusions of the author's original intent.
For instance look, Scully is liberated, And Empowered by the Navi,
-The training he recieves from the Navi
-The Understanding he recieves from the Navi
-The Freedom he recieves from the Navi
-The Friendship he recieves fromthe Navi
It is the Navi who empower Jake to be their 'Savior' as you say. So who is the real hero?
The Navi are.
Avatar: Triumph of the Will II?
Avatar is essentially a remake of Leni Riefenstahl's odious 'Triumph of the Will': it is a hymn of praise to Aryan & Volkisch 'pure race' fascism, to idolatry and to fetishism.
My full review here: http://austeritygrub.blogspot.com/2010/03/avatar-triumph-of-will-2.html
>>Avatar's .. a great flick,
>>Avatar's .. a great flick, 'tis a shame to break it down to mini-components ..<<
.. [groan] and it's a shame anyone might read such words in vain glorious tribute, stultifying as they are ..
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