spider socorro is a character that frustrates me deeply, because i fear people are not capable of separating meta criticisms of the writing decisions from in universe character criticisms of a teenage boy. let me get the obvious out of the way by saying that broadly, the avatar movies are a deeply misguided, fetishistic, white saviour based narrative written by a man who thinks he is the woke king of all time because the story is pro nature. that is not enough. the idea that a white man shows up and is actually the best EVER at being indigenous and the divine collective energy force of the world grants him special treatment is already absurd, and the Y/N of it all is absolutely dialed to 100 with spider. i agree with all of that and we should criticize him for it.
but when i am engaging with the story at an in universe level, i am seeing:
-this boy was abandoned by his birth parents on an alien planet where he had no choice but to grow up there as an orphan because his small body could not handle cryo stasis.
-this boy took an immediate passionate interest in the local culture of the planet he was born on, as well as ingratiating himself to the few human scientists who stayed behind because of their loyalty to the navi cause
-his interest is not performative. navi is his first language, he speaks it more than english. he observes the reverence to eywa with fervor and sincerity. he whole heartedly believes in the energy cycle and that the will of eywa is to be respected. he plays and grows up alongside navi children, who treat him as a brother because even though his body is not built for this planet, he tries his best to keep up with them on their terms. he wears the cultural clothing, lets them adorn him with paint matching their natural markings.
-despite only being a teenager, he resists DAYS OF TORTURE by military technology and refuses to give up information about his adopted family, suffering internal hemorrhages for his trouble.
-when he is dragged along with quaritch, he is seeking every available opportunity to escape and return to the navi. he uses his fluency in the language to try and mitigate the harm of the RDA to the best of his ability, crying and pleading for them to show mercy, and indisputably SAVING LIVES. obviously the burning of their homes is awful but people seem to forget the original plan was to burn the METKAYINA themselves
-takes the first available opportunity to sabatoge the controls of the gunship and wreak destruction, helping turn the tide of the battle in favour of the navi
-is willing to let neytiri kill him so that kiri can live
-in fire and ash, he is ready and willing to die by jake’s hand and views it as a worthy sacrifice given the danger his existence poses pandora now that he can breathe the air. in what he believes are his final moments, he expresses only a willingness to return to eywa and a desire to feel loved by the only father figure he’s ever truly had
-uses himself as a human shield to ensure jake’s successful escape from the RDA
yes. he saved quaritch at the end of way of water. because, and ONLY because, of the incredible emphasis navi culture puts on reciprocity, of give and take. quaritch saved his life, spider abides by what he believes to be the code of honour and saves his in return. it is NOT out of loyalty or love, as evidenced by the fact that he TRIES TO KILL QUARITCH at the end of fire and ash. like yes of COURSE on a meta level it is extremely frustrating that he didn’t let quaritch drown!!! but we cannot apply human rules of morality here! he is repaying a life debt, a deeply sacred thing to the clans. mind you this whole time he’s like 16.
i completely understand meta critique of spider as a character. i do NOT understand people saying they hate HIM as a person, or wishing he would have died. this boy is truly the definition of doing his fucking best!!! he didn’t ask to be written by james cameron!!!!
