Azalea

It was supposed to be about the Na'vi fighting against human colonization, but from the very beginning, the white power fantasy has almost always stolen the show.

𝐉𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐀 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫

A mediocre white man who takes a job on a different planet. Puts on native skin like a suit and gallivants around Pandora. He meets the Omatikaya, becomes one of them, "steals" a native princess from her betrothed, kills said betrothed, becomes their leader and is hailed as one of the best Na'vi to ever live.

No matter that he participated in the bombing of their home and one of their sacred sites. He came back with a cool dragon, so they forgave him immediately.

No matter that he was partially responsible for the death of his wife's father, the loss of her home, and the destabilization of her people. He came back with a cool dragon, so she forgave him immediately.

Why is Tsu'tey gifting his leadership to a guy who's not only been working with the colonizer up until very recently, but has also only been living with the people for about 3 months and knows diddly squat about their ways?

Why is Mo'at defending a guy who worked for the people that killed her husband and daughter?

Did Toruk give the Omatikaya amnesia or something?

This makes the natives look incredibly shallow, and is a very reductive approach to the sheer damage that colonialism does. One good deed can't magically erase the fact that he openly worked with and supported genocide.

The whole movie was just one long montage of everybody patting Jake on the back for being so amazing.

"Wow, white boy, we've been trying to communicate with this tribe for years, but you managed to do it in one day!"

"Wow, white boy, you only just got here 3 months ago, but you're so good at being a native that they're making you their leader!"

"Wow, white boy, the native goddess doesn't usually pick a side in a fight, but you're so exceptional and amazing that she was willing to break her own rule just because you asked!"

𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐚𝐲 𝐎𝐟 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐖𝐚𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧-𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐎𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲

It focused more on the natives and less on the white boys' adventures, and I applaud the writers for that.

Pretty repetitive in the sense that, once again, the main cast are being thrust into a new clan and learning their ways, but I digress.

𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫: 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐬𝐡, 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫…

was the worst of the lot.

The natives were consistently pushed to the side in favor of the storylines of the characters with the highest proximity to whiteness/humanity aka Avatars and humans themselves.

Varang was the main marketing point for this movie. Her face was on every poster, her name in every magazine. Her hatred for Eywa was new and exciting. We were told she was "strong and dangerous", we expected her to be one of, if not the greatest villain the franchise had ever seen.

And she was, for all of 20 minutes. Then white boy Quaritch came along and she was reduced to his crazy side-piece. One mention of her hatred for Eywa, then she went back to laughing maniacally and swinging her flamethrower.

This movie was supposed to be about Lo'ak navigating his guilt and the tumultuous relationship with his father, but oh look! Spider and Kiri are kissing!

Jake blamed Lo'ak for Neteyam's death to his face, but oh, look! Spider has a kuru now!

Lo'ak just tried to blow his brains out with a gun, but oh, look! Spider's being accepted by the ancestors!

And the writing of the Mangkwan reeks of religious colonial influence. Because, what do you mean the only clan who doesn't worship our lord and savior Jesus Christ Eywa are violent, hateful savages?

What do you mean the Pandoran equivalent of atheists/apatheists are noticeably more naked and portrayed as more sexual than the rest?

What do you mean an entire group of people has no nuance and single-mindedly want to hurt everyone?

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐉𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐂𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐚𝐬 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞-𝐀𝐝𝐣𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐈𝐬 𝐒𝐨 𝐆𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐎𝐛𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐥.

They are always the "chosen ones". They are always the "gifted ones". They are always the ones to save the day.

We got Jake Sully himself, mediocre white man, not only being Olo'eyktan after only being among the people for 3 months, but also achieving one of the most revered titles in Na'vi society.

We got Kiri, a carbon copy of a white woman's Avatar, as white as a blue person can get, being Pandora Jesus.

We got Spider, white boy Tarzan, getting "Honorary Na'vi" status

All that's left now is for Quaritch to have his magic girl moment, then James would have collected all the four elements to become the original Avatar™️

Why must the actual natives be background characters in their own movies? Why must a story about Indigenous struggle center white excellence?

Why does their goddess take the image of an Avatar rather than a native Na'vi? Why does she only listen when the white man calls on her and not the natives?

And let's not even start on how every pertinent white male character gets a native wife, while Max Patel, the only human of color who doesn't die in ten minutes, gets a human wife.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐫-𝐒𝐲𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐞 𝐇𝐞'𝐬 𝐆𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐈𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈'𝐯𝐞 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐈𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬

He made up a slur for white people.

Not humans - white people.

"Pink skin" can't be used to describe a dark-skinned human. He could've had something relating to the humans' diminished height in comparison to the Na'vi, or their greed, or literally anything else that encompasses humans of all races, but no, the white people are the victims here.

Jake saying "So you hate me because I'm pink-skin?" completely forgetting that he's a part of the problem. Completely forgetting he's part of the reason for Neytiri's pain; her father is dead because of him, her home is gone because of him, and he has the audacity to bring that up.

No, Jake, you are not a "pink skin". You transitioned species. You literally transferred your soul into the body of an entirely different being. You aren't human anymore. You're an Avatar.

Spider saved a genocidal colonizer, and everyone just gets to forget about it. No remorse, no feelings of guilt for prolonging the life of a man who pledged to kill the family he wants to be a part of.

I get why he did it, that's understandable, but intent doesn't soften harm. The Na'vi that died at Quaritch's hands would still be alive if he hadn't been saved - Rotxo and Ronal would still be alive. He could've had all the good intentions in the world, but that doesn't change the fact that people still died because of what he did.

And speaking of Quaritch, that whole redemption arc thing they're trying to do for him? Horrible. He's responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Na'vi, and I know James isn't a good enough writer to give him a decent redemption arc, so he's just going to go the Jake Sully route, have him do something cool, and call it a day.

I'm worried about the direction the next movies will go in. Neytiri's supposedly going to Earth in future films - with his track record, I wouldn't be surprised if James made her say some shit like: "Aww, look, their home is dying. I know how it feels to have my home destroyed. We should share Pandora. After all, the great mother doesn't take sides, so why should we"

Completely absolving the colonizers of all responsibility and pulling a Pocahontas; "The path of hatred doesn't get us anywhere, we should all hold hands and love each other" when the indigenous start fighting back.

𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐫: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐎𝐟 𝐏𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐫𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝'𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞

The game focuses on the actual natives overcoming the effects of colonialism and fighting for their land, while still maintaining the new and introductory point of view of Pandora.

As an African, The TAP school reminds me of the schools the British colonizers planted in my country. African children are taught from nursery school that our culture was demonic, and we were barbarians until the white men came and saved us with Christianity. Just like the TAP children were taught to hate Eywa and Na'vi culture, and that embracing humanity was the only way to be civilized.

The characters that participated in and helped further the colonization of Pandora, even the ones that defected, are actually held accountable for what they did, not put on a pedestal and worshipped as heroes.

Jhon Mercer was killed, not brought back as an Avatar and given a native wife.

Angela Harding was killed, not given a sympathetic side plot.

Alma Cortez was confronted and made to take responsibility for what she did to the Sarentu kids, not immediately forgiven and given a pat on the back for cleaning up the mess she helped create (plus she dies later).

Personally, I think the message AFOP has to share resonates more with the theme of overcoming colonialism than a white man's power fantasy.

𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲…

James Cameron shouldn't have made these movies to begin with, he's way too out of touch to properly convey the message he's trying to.