Uproar as white hero saves day in Avatar

[windrider_09]

By Jesse Washington

Near the end of the hit film Avatar, the villain snarls at the hero, "How does it feel to betray your own race?" Both men are white - although the hero is inhabiting a blue-skinned, 2.74 metre-tall, long-tailed alien.

Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral humans against noble denizens of a faraway moon,

Comments

[melancthe]

I agree with many points in the article. I found Avatar's "white man saves the day" theme to be condescending and stupid, although I wouldn't so much call it racist as just plain clueless.

[windrider_09]

Avatar's theme is not new, but it's not racist in this movie. The majority of the movie was predictable, but we did not actually see it for the story.

I find the 'white man's guilt' articles to be the most clueless of all. The comparisons are obvious: to the war in Iraq, to the corporations that seem to have more and more power, etc. Yet they choose to ignore everything and concentrate on the colour of a protagonist skin. This kind of narrow-mindness is idiotic, yet they that we agree with that kind of dribble, otherwise be prepared to be labelled racist.

[melancthe]

So because there are other things to discuss in a movie, does it mean that we should ignore the issues that concern us? Although, for the record, I thought the "big corporations BAD, simple technology GOOD" message was not only simplistic and overdone, but also laughable in light of the way that Cameron has been fapping over the technology used in the movie.

Just because you didn't see it, it doesn't mean it isn't there and that others didn't find it insulting (I personally found it incredibly condescending, which is one of the reasons I dislike the film as much as I do). I'm tired of movies where the heroic white man saves the day for the poor ignorant natives. In Avatar, the hero is better than the natives - he not only masters their culture and their alien biology (LOL x 1,000,000), but he unites the "ignorant savages" because of his l33t skills, and they all acknowledge him as the super-awesome leader. How is that NOT condescending and insulting?

[claidheamhmor]

I found it really condescending too. Ridiculously condescending at points too; these script descriptions make some good points:
Avatar - The Metacontextual Edition: http://autotelic.com/avatar_-_the_metacontextual_edition
Avatar: The Abridged Script: http://www.the-editing-room.com/avatar.html