“Strong Heart, But Stupid!”

I know most of you people in the fandom are actually white supremacists and absolutely refuse to admit the very clear metaphor of the movies, but whether you like it or not the Na'vi ARE inspired and are supposed to represent real Indigenous peoples of Earth. If you seriously think that “it’s just fiction” and “they’re aliens so concepts of our world don’t apply to them” I beg of you, please turn your brain on and try watching the movies with your eyes actually open.

Even ignoring the obvious white-savior plot of the first movie (another fact you are not ready to discuss nor willing to admit), nothing changes that the Na'vi are real in our world, they simply exist in a different form, and news flash: they’re not white! And if you love the world of Avatar so much, but you refuse to acknowledge the struggles of Indigenous people, the real “Na'vi” of Earth, then you don’t care about or understand the movies in the first place. If you are enraged by the RDA destroying Hometree and slaughtering hundreds of innocent Indigenous Na'vi and their land, but you don’t spare half a thought for the actual existing Indigenous people that are currently facing the same and even far worse issues, and who the Na'vi purposefully parallel, then you have no business being a fan of this franchise.

[Quick note: I know many people believe fandom places should stay “untouched by politics”, and I agree to a certain extent. It is more then right wanting to escape this world, but categorically ignoring real life issues is a privilege. When talking about a franchise like this that has specific themes, it is impossible to never bring up real-world issues, because that’s what the entire message of the movies is rooted in. Art is not separate from real life, and while you should absolutely enjoy your passions with little worry of everything else, maybe sometimes a few thoughts on these topics wouldn’t be bad, even if they only stay in your mind]

And it is an inherently political story. It is not an escapist fantasy for any of us who have to contend with histories of colonialism and imperialist violence. It is a fictionalization of real-world atrocities, of real-world traumas. If you think Avatar is non-political escapism, that is a blind spot caused by your overwhelming privilege and insulation from the suffering of your fellow humans.