Before and After: Sam Worthington in Avatar; Zoe Saldana is his fellow Na'vi
In James Cameron's Avatar, a white human is turned into a blue Na'vi, the inhabitants of a far-off moon. He eventually turns against the human invaders, becoming the leader of the Na'vi in their fight to preserve their way of life. Some people are pissed off because the human is Sam Worthington, and not someone like Will Smith.
Personally, I'd never call Avatar racist. Its narrative structure is conventional and its characters are a mix of archetypes and stereotypes — as to be expected in a superproduction that needs to reach the widest possible audience — but having a white guy lead a group of "people of color" doesn't necessarily make a movie or a filmmaker "racist." What takes place in Avatar is a common dramatic device that has been in use since the first narrative movies were being cranked out: Oppressor switches sides to help the Oppressed, especially if among them is a good-looking female.
The problem is that, apart from Smith and Denzel Washington, you don't see many "people of color" as leaders in Hollywood movies. Especially as leaders of white people. Generally, it's the other way around, whether it's in Pocahontas or Lawrence of Arabia. And that's why Avatar has been attacked in some quarters for its "racist" depiction of a race/culture war.
"It's really upsetting in many ways," actress Robinne Lee (of Jamaican-Chinese ancestry) told The Associated Press. "It would be nice if we could save ourselves."
Avatar, adds black author and film professor Donald Bogle (who has refrained from labeling the sci-fier "racist"), "is a film with still a certain kind of distortion. It's a movie that hasn't yet freed itself of old Hollywood traditions, old formulas."
That's absolutely true. But why then stop at ethnic issues? Why not call Avatar sexist? How many women are leaders of men in movies? Almost invariably, guys are the ones saving women right and left. (They're also the ones who often end up very dead at the end, so women can go on living free.) Also, how many gays or lesbians are up there on screen leading heterosexuals? For that matter, how many avowed Muslims or Buddhists have you seen in movies helping Euro-Christians to fulfill their destinies?
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, James Cameron stated that Avatar "asks us to open our eyes and truly see others, respecting them even though they are different, in the hope that we may find a way to prevent conflict and live more harmoniously on this world. I hardly think that is a racist message."
And in all fairness, I believe that if Will Smith (who fought to save the world in I Am Legend) had been available for Sam Worthington's salary, James Cameron would have used him to guarantee solid box-office returns for the expensive sci-fi epic.
So, would Avatar have been a better movie had its hero been played by, say, a Tamil actor, or had it featured a Muslim Indonesian lesbian heroine?
Photos: Mark Fellman (top); WETA (bottom) / 20th Century Fox
also let's not forget that hollywood never really show's what indians really are only what sliver of culture that was stolen from us by whites for the sake of wild west romance just like wild bills indian show. we have to give up our traditional ways of life unless it's for your intertainment.
You know i'm actually a mvskoke creek indian and here's an idians take on the movie. Most racist shit i've ever hear, oh wait what about pathfinder what about dance's with wolves. if you want to see all of the great things that the benevolent white's did for us why don't you visit oklahoma instead of the theater and see what's really hood.
Avatar was boringly predictable and extremely racist. Almost all the bad people are white. The token Indian and Chinese characters are scientists, so they are not really bad. The Na'vi culture looks Native American, but their names, rituals and accents are heavily African.
The 3-D gimmick wore off about ten minutes into the movie and I never noticed it was 3-D after that. For the rest of the movie, it was a predictable, roll-the-eyes, preachfest with Hollywood using the latest high-tech magic to preach to us that a simple technology-free life is better than our modern existence.
Avatar is the best picture to portrait what the white people has been done to screwed other people in the world for century.
James Cameron’s AVATAR reminds us of the 18 million Native Americans from the Cherokee, Cheyenne, Choctaw, Comanche, Iroquois, and Muscogee tribes in America. They were in great miseries and poverty under the dictatorship of their colonial leaders. Remember how they were removed from their homelands to accommodate their colonial masters. Today,there are an estimated 2 million Native Americans, and they are the most impoverished of all ethnic groups. According to the latest Census.
AVATAR: IS THEIR LEGACY . . .SOMEHOW!
Well done
hail to thee, noble James!
Mitu Sengupta over at ryeberg.com weighs up the various racism charges and decides in the end that they stick. Your point is well taken, but the popularity of the film, and the fact it fits into a long established Hollywood tradition of White Messiah films make it subject to so much analysis of its politics. Check it out:
http://ryeberg.com/curated-videos/avatar-race-relations-light-years-from-earth/
It's such a nice looking film, and was so much fun. I have a hard time wondering how someone can be so angry they call this film racist.
Frankly, I think there is a chance it was an agent provacateur from some corporation, that didn't like the film's anti-corporate message.
Instead of talking opening up a dialogue about the damages of strip mining and mountain top removal we discussed the race card. Instead of discussing huge corporate aggressions into Africa & the Middle East, we talked about race. Instead of discussing the Supreme Court decision to up cap corporations to spend as much as they want on campaign contributions, we discussed race. Wow!
Way to support liberty & justice for all, by playing that race card.
Sad thing is, now with all the campaign contributions from the big corps on the way, you can forget ever having a candidate who is by the people for the people. It will be, by the Unobtainium, for the Unobtainium.
THAT was the message of the film. Not some whacked idea about a white savior.
Start paying attention to the big picture there race card. Yes there are still some idiots who are racist, but look around! We are light years away from the bullshit that was heaped upon Americans because of color. Light years!
Racist idiots are the exception today, not the rule. Anyone who speaks ill of someone based on their race, I tell them not offend me by assuming I'm a bigot also. I haven't had to say that to someone in over 20 years. People have evolved away from that crap.
Why not call Avatar homophobic too? I didn't see any gay leaders!
Ridiculous. The reason people think it's such a big deal is because they're making a big deal out of it.
For the love of GOD!!!!!!!! It's a movie!! A great movie at that and once again some jackass has to play the race card!! This nonsense gets frickin old and gets old quick and also was OLD a long damn time ago!! I have Native American blood in me as well as African american blood in my family and I am so tired of the race card being play from every angle on damn near everything that HAPPENS or is an ISSUE with whoever feels like everything offends them. I don't expect every Anglo-American to apologize for Slavery to every African-American they see and I sure as hell don't expect James Cameron to apologize for Avatar. Anyone who thinks this is racist even in the most minuscule way obviously has the IQ of a grapefruit. We have more important things in life to worry about, how are we going to pull this country together if everything has to be ran over with a fine tooth comb so we don't RACIALLY upset ANYONE? Get over it and let's start fixing the here and now to try and save it from the "CHANGE" that is SO obviously NOT working!!! I know this will piss someone off and you know what? I don't care!!! Bring on the whiny little haters!!!
Another point: anti-racist fanatics see racism everywhere. If a black had been the hero, then they would complain about why they used a black actor to represent a traitor to his race? why didnt they use a white to represent a traitor?
Hey Jill B,
I think it was 300 million. Hmm, well, you have to think that with all this CG plus Will Smith, it would have been off the chain popular. So I have to disagree that money wasn't a factor. How much does Will Smith cost? 30-40 million? Hollywood can still come up with a blockbuster now and again, but they are loosing money and are a sinking ship. Guys like
Robert Rodriguez have consistently made digital shoots for much smaller amounts that have done well in the box office. This is just another point to drive home the idea that they could have dumped more money into the whole thing.
Well, while the general theme and story arc were predictable, I was enamored with the plants and the bio-sphere that had a conciousness. Even better that they could access the network. And the nerve ending interface with the animals was nice too. So for me, the differences were in the details. And I suppose,I found those differences to be a nod to spiritual beliefs. I mean, they came right out and said, "everything is connected". And while in this filk it was from the roots of the plants, if you read any quantum physics stuff, the leading scientists are saying we are all connected on a sub-atomic level.
But to all the people who say the film is predictable I ask, if they really predicted that the animals would attack the Marines. I sure didn't see that coming. I expected a bunch of new tribes to show up. But the animals attacking the thugs of a big corporation was nice!
And whether or no you believe in Global Warming, no one can deny that corporations have a long history of pollution. So to see the animals attack like that was an interesting visual metaphor.
If you don't like the film, and thought it was too CG heavy, thats fine. That view is way too cynical for me, but thats why theaters come in groups of 4, 6, 8, and up.
But this discussion was about racism in the film. Not about how predictable you thought it was or how cool I thought the film was.
So the point I was trying to make with the Denzel & Will Smith thing was that I think the people crying racist about this film wouldn't have a beef if either of the two were the stars.
Funny too, that Denzel is staring in Book of Eli, which from the previews looks like he's a savior of some kind. Cool! But only a small mind will make divisions on the color of that savior.
Denzel and Will Smith the kinds of actors that if they are in a film I will generally want to see it because of their performance. Likewise with a lot of other actors I like.
I saw Sam Worthington is a flik called Rogue. It's a giant Croc that attacks people on a tour. He was really good in it, so I can see why Cameron chose him. And if he got him for cheap, well thats awesome.
Just one point here, Tony C
"If Cameron could have got Will Smith or Denzel Washington to come on board Avatar for the same price he got Sam Worthington"
You think he didn't cast a well-known actor because of the money? Money was no object here. I think he cast a white actor who was relatively unknown because he cared more about the CGI than actors, or script or anything else. I don't think it is a racist film just a stereotypical, predictable story; and that is my problem. You spend $400 million and that is all you can come up with for a story?
If we could re-write history and play Will Smith or Denzel Washington as the lead role, can we call that racist too?
If the answer is no, then you are racist.
Some claim that this is another "White Messiah" movie and that the natives couldn't even fly their own big dragon. Well, if you paid attention to the movie instead of allowed yourself to be embroiled in your own fear based attitude that labels everything as racist, then you would have heard that the big dragon had been ridden twice before, during troubled times.
So who rode the big red dragon then? Did a white guy fly from earth to pilot their big red dragon on the previous occasions? No, it was a Navi champion who flew it.
Also, this is an EARTHLING, who becomes a Navi through a technology, called Avatar, then, shucks his broken body and is reborn into the one of the Navi. So what, is our hero now a wannabe?
Certainly there are a load of stereo-types in this film but racist is not one of them.
But the stereo-types in a movie that cost $300 million are essential so it can reach the greatest audience. And ultimately, get the message out of run away corporatism.
Corporations chewing up the top of mountains, (as in the opening scene when the shuttle flies right over a MTR strip mine), is not science fiction, it is happening right now in the USA in the Appelacians at an alarming rate. It is forever destroying an eco system, that will never exist again anywhere once it is gone.
But to cry racism in a parable that draws attention to the big machine of corporate greed is extremely reactionary and paranoid. But I'll go you one further, I think calling this film racist is a PR campaign against the enviromentalism. Makes me wonder if the people are crying racist here aren't getting paid to cause a stir to draw attention away from the intended theme.
I mean c'mon…the shuttle flies in over a mountain top removal mine, and then you see a big dump truck with arrows in it. The nature people are fighting back. And then the hero becomes one of them! How much more plain could the message in this film be that is a kick in the shins of the big corporations.
If you actually take the racist point of view, then go ahead an call the film sexist as well. Why wasn't the hero a woman? Why was the crippled Marine a woman? I was in the Marines…there were women in the Marines…so why not?
And why don't the disabled people bitch that the films hero could only accomplish something when he became a creature with working legs?
If Cameron could have got Will Smith or Denzel Washington to come on board Avatar for the same price he got Sam Worthington, would this conversation exist No. The film cost a lot to make. And I'm sure the audition process included lot of unknown actors. They chose Sam Worthington because he is very good. They didn't choose him because of his color. And I bet if you get the script there is no mention of the race of the crippled ex-Marine.
The plot of Avatar is device driven and has a lot of Hollywood standards, but calling this film racist is the kind of comment that keeps racism alive. The bent view of a few who find racism in practically everything is a crutch some give to themselves psychologically.
I know if I thought in these terms, I wouldn't have enjoyed any of the Blade movies, I Am Legend, or Return of the Jedi. All films had black characters that saved a lot of white people. Big deal. (In Blade…the casting call did call for a black actor, since the comic book had a black hero. And thank God the character was called Blade. I remember back when if a super hero was Chocolate, he had to have the word "black" in his name somewhere. Black Lightning, Black Panther, etc… Jeeze! Thank God for Mosaic!)
If you start loving who you are, and loving others…it's funny how the world will open for you like a blossom, and color seems not to matter. I'm white and I live in a chocolate neighborhood and people here like me because I'm decent to them. And I know they know when I speak to them, I see a human being, not a "black" person. (and actually, I've never seen a wholly black or white person…kind of silly adjectives really. I'm italian & german decent…so I'm kind of dark with a really light butt! LOL)
Condescending is the word I would use. These people on a far off planet cannot take care of themselves. They need a human, a man, a white man to save them from the other evil humans. They can't even fly their own big dragon themselves. Avatar is just another in a long line of movies that use the White Messiah to save a group of noble savages. See David Brooks article in NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/opinion/08brooks.html?scp=1&sq=white%20messiah&st=cse
Avatar in itself is not racist. But, the playing field has to be level. When whites make movies about how the Chinese are rescuing America (mostly whites) from the economic mess by buying up treasuries or Japanese rescuing the white unemployed in small town America by opening up auto manufacturing plant, perhaps the playing field would be level.
lets be honest with eachother here, is james cameron's creation really racist or is it the people calling it racist that are really the racist ones themselves? nit-picking every little happen stance in life and finding ways to deam it racist is what's keeping racism alive. maybe we can just go to the theater and enjoy a well made movie that opens your mind and imagination instead of finding ways that it offends you. trying to connect these beings with african americans is just rediculous to me, you would think the same would apply to the afformentioned. its pretty funny how if the "white hero" was in fact black, then there wouldn't even be a blog here. they seem to be keeping their own racism alive which is also pretty sad and annoying. i ask again, who is really guilty of being racist here? i, for one, dont think its james cameron.
If anything, some people need to get their racial stereotypes in order and stop demonstrating a blind racial ignorance, while labeling everything else racist.
The racial equivalent in Avatar would be Native Americans, or Australian aboriginals, chased off their land for valuables, etc. not African Americans.
The whole plot in that respect was simply "Cowboys vs. Indians" not the slave trade or segregation or whatever that would be race-related to African Americans.
Anyone who watched the movie and didn't catch that and just went "blue people must equal black people", was engaging in a misplaced racial stereotyping of their own.
C'mon people, just watch the damn movie and shut up already. OMG….is this where we are as a society now? So I guess that in Star Wars, blacks can bitch that Darth Vader was killed because he was black right? His voice was of James Earl Jones, he's black! Or..or how about Daffy Duck was a crazy, loony character because he was black!! Or how about this one Mexicans. Pluto, whose a brown dog, lived outside, and couldn't talk, but Goofy lived indoors, had a job, talked, drove a car, and he was black!!! Mickey is black. Donald is the only freakin white character!!! Sounds stupid right? Look, Will Smith saves the world in Men in Black,I Robot, I Am Legend, and in Hancock. Denzel is the hero in Book of Eli. This country is becoming so damn radical and ignorant. Moral values are gone, secularism is rising. Get a life. I've found that the ones who bitch of racism are the more times than not, racist themselves. It takes one to know one I guess.
Say waaaa? Some people get pissed off at ANY and EVERYTHING.
What kind of dunce calls Avatar racist because Will Smith or some other black actor isn't in the lead role? What has that even got to do with anything?
Seriously, only someone who themselves has a warped and racist mind could even come up with something so stupid; that because the characters are 'blue' a white actor leading them is somehow 'racist'. Who but someone obsessed with race, and that can't just sit back and enjoy literally ANYTHING without seeing it through the prism of a warped, race-based mindset would even comes up with something that stupid?
It's simply mind-boggling sometimes.
I guess the real signs of actual, real-world 'racism' coming to an end will really be people having to pull their hair out to find examples of it… in a SCI-FI FANTASY movie!
I mean really, imagine a time when REAL racism meant people were being lynched and truly horrible things, and that someone would actually have the time to be worried about the aliens in some Buck Rodgers movie being an example of 'racism' to get bent out of shape about!
We've truly come a LOOOOOOOOOONNNG way!
Finally an AVATAR review I can respect!!!
I, personally was shocked to start hearing these racial accusations. They only distort and take attention away from the true message of the film that James Cameron gave to the AP. A message I believe has many facets.
And I find the mention of the possibility of sexist overtones laughable. Wasn't it Neytiri who was brave & wise enough to heed the "sign" about him? And wasn't it her who taught him how to survive/thrive in that hostile environment? And wasn't it her who saved Jake's life in the end? Seems like we have a female heroine to me.
And from a different perspective… wasn't it the Navi who saved Jake? Not the other way around. He just reminded them of their own strengths. And ultimately… it was the Planet Pandora who sent reinforcements that really turned the tide of the battle! The planet had consciousness as well. What race can you call a planet who takes care of itself?
I think everyone would do well to throw away ALL their own ingrained stereotypes and look at this movie from a wider perspective….
My definition of an "evolved" species is one that acknowledges interconnectedness and lives in harmony with their environment, so as to never run out of their natural resources. Are the Navi primitive? Or are they evolved… beyond our understanding?
And I believe the thought of a planet that takes care of itself is an idea that is much to threatening for most people to acknowledge or see as a true possibility.
I see many messages in this movie…. many that I, personally, will be chewing on for a long time. I just hope others who want to criticize it will look in the mirror first and then see if they are wearing their blinders before opening their mouths!!!