I don’t agree with this yahoo article. But, comment with your take here and let me know what you think.
Some see racist theme in alien adventure ‘Avatar’ – Yahoo! News.
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I really think that for someone to think this movie is racist they have to go in looking for it. If you’re told yeah it’s racist, you can see how some one could possibly pull that out of the story. To see Avatar movie as racist reflects more on the person watching and searching for racist undertones than it does the movie’s story.
I get their point. If it seems racists, it is accidental. I think cameron used sci fi to try and make a movie about tolerance from an objective perspective. I get it, but I am a white kid from orange county, so any more comments from me would make it seem like another comment is being made by a white kid to save an ethnic article from slander.
My favorite comment in the article was that one person said if the hero was black it would not have been racist. I think that comment is so ridiculous as the reasoning for it being racist is that someone from another race is joining the oppressed to save them, the masiah effect. How would it be any different if it was black or mexican or indian? This reminds me of a story from when I was in college and I had this profesor….
I agree, plus as a white business man I have all the right in the world to find this Movie as slander towards my demographic, my kind just likes money and will fly exo-squad across the galaxy to get it.
I think you can read what you want into it. The strongest parallel I left with was a Native American theme going on both in the storyline and some of the thing used (war paint; riding a ‘horse’ like animal without a saddle, but what do I know… I thought Snow SWhite was a tramp living with those seven little men.
You are correct on both accounts, especially the pale flusy with the midgets,
Watching the movie, all I could think was “Wow, all this movie is is a futuristic portrayal of the Native Americans v. Colonists story, or the Australians v. Aborigines…” or any other number of stories through the ages of ‘settlers’ coming into a territory and uprooting/destroying the beautiful, meaningful, deep culture of a native people. It’s nothing new – it’s tragic – it’s sad and wrong – But, certainly I wouldn’t call the FILM ‘racist’. That’s just nuts!! But, hey – people will always see what they wanna see I suppose!
Thank you Trevor/ Bagel Boy for the Exo Squad comment. Sometimes I wondered if any body ever remembered that. That takes me back.
Oh, and now the Vatican is blasting Avatar for encouraging nature worship. Which is funny because Pope Bennadick, the Green Pope as he fancy’s himself, is supposed to be all about nature. That is after he left the Nazi Youth. But I digress.
Interesting that you should post about this subject because wifey and I were recently having a very heady talk about it.
While absurdly cliché (but enjoyable nonetheless, for what it was), I don’t think that the movie is intentionally racist. I do think that the tropes with which the story is told have inherent elements that still apply to the way race is perceived in American culture. Indeed, while the film is more of a Nationalist/Colonialist fantasy (“American ideals/attitudes/chutzpah save the otherwise troubled foreign community”), in the grand scheme of things it is still impossible to fully deny the racial implications from such a story. Nor should they be denied, but rather addressed, discussed, disected and re-examined.
The movie falls into the realm of glorifying/fetishizing the “Other” which, despite being the polar opposite of demonizing/tokenizing, is still an aspect of racism. Though the conceit is “Science Fiction” and the “Others” are xenomorphs, the Na’vi are thinly veiled analogs for “ethnic” cultures: Native American, African, Aboriginal, Asian, etc. – cultural minorities in the U.S. While Cameron’s intentions were most likely good, it’s also critical to realize that a majority’s relationship with race will most likely differ from that of a minority (quite drastically, in some cases).
Case in point: while “Avatar” may speak to your feelings that thoughtless economic/social colonialism is detrimental to indigenous cultures, it concurrently speaks to my feelings that appropriating a culture for three months does not constitute becoming it. That’s like someone discovering Anime, watching a boatload of videos for a few months, then believing that they have a strong understanding of Japanese culture. I appreciate the sympathetic nature of the film but, overall, the immediacy with which Sully becomes part of the culture is part of what makes it a shallow fantasy.
Here’s Erin’s two cents:
“I think it’s hard for the storyteller to show homage to the indigenous culture without it feeling presumptuously ‘othering’ when the culture is seen and presented through the eyes of the foreigner, rather than the Na’vi being able to define themselves. But much of this potential problem is mitigated by the use of a Na’vi teaching what’s-his-name about the culture.
“Though the film intends to criticize our history of imperialism and colonialization, it still reveals a need common in the narratives of white American storytellers for the white guy who ‘gets it’ to be forgiven and then accepted by the minority group. This need comes from a place of privilege – the white guy still needs to be the center of the story, the star. He thinks EVERY story is about him.
“And, yet I do understand that the average white American is a huge part of the target audience. AND, if you want those white Americans to feel the implications of our treatment of other cultures, then it makes sense to make the white Marine (really, our current real-life equivilent of a hero) the character through which we see the world of the movie. AND, if THIS guy can have a change of heart and learn to respect other cultures, then we have an example through which we might see the potential of our whole country learning to be more respectful.
“So, I think there is a strong argument against the INTENTIONS of the filmmaker being racist. And even that there are good justifications for his choices. But I also understand why some people ask why everytime there is a movie about another culture (and in this case it’s a fictional culture, but a clear stand in for some other real world peoples), the story is always told from the perspective of the white character, and the members of the other culture are just that: the others.”
Regardless, the movie has sparked discussions that tackle social issues on many levels, and I’m all for that.
On a somewhat unrelated note, it’s interesting that the last time a James Cameron film had an alien fighting a mech suit, we were rooting for the mech suit, right?
I this is a perfect example of why I love working next to Jay Africa. I will hand it to the Africa voice, YOU HAVE CONVINCED ME that the movie can suggest racist tones even though they might not have been intended.
And I particularly like this point::
I think that was the hope for Rocky 4 as well.
And yes I do remember that Ripley was rocking the Exoskeleton Loader in Aliens against the queen, which I do feel like was not a match that should have been a sure victory for the Queen Xenomorph but oh well.