It’s Christmas Eve, so for something fun a bunch of us went to see Avatar in IMAX 3D. I fully expected to be annoyed-to-offended by it, based on the premise: humans have found a planet rich in a valuable mineral, and they are fighting the (understandably) hostile native people, the gazellelike/catlike Na’vi. US Marine Jake Sully, due to curious circumstances involving a dead twin brother, has been assigned to an “avatar,” a surrogate Na’vi body grown from human DNA in order to learn more about the indigenous society, all the better to swindle them out of their land/blow them up with superior military power, whichever is most convenient. And because Sully is a paraplegic living in a time when such things are curable but expensive, he makes a deal with the evil colonel to spy on the Na’vi in exchange for surgery to gain the use of his legs.
Meanwhile, the leader of the avatar science mission Grace Augustine (a wonderful Sigourney Weaver) and nerdy language expert Norm know all of this is going on, but let him do it in order to continue their research. They are really lovely characters, and I wish we had a better idea of how much field work they managed to get with the Na’vi. I guess I’m a sucker for anthropological details.
Sully, however, learns to love the Na’vi, especially one in particular, Neytiri. She is the daughter of the tribe’s chief and its spiritual leader, and has been put in charge of showing Sully their ways. So anyhow, they discover that he is no ordinary “sky person,” and that he has special qualities and possibly a destiny marked out by their Mother Earth type deity.
The whole colonizer-gone-native-turned-saviour thing is annoying/offensive, for sure. Why should we need the mediation of some white dude to understand a culture that seems entirely able to speak for themselves? Here’s the thing, though: the whole avatar part complicates that entire trope.
As an avatar, Sully is no longer straightforwardly human. He is a hybrid. An immigrant. In between cultures. The idea of finding connection and coalition is reiterated as a theme, especially in the partnerships that the Na’vi have with the horse-like and pterodactyl-like animals on the planet. They literally connect, and they must trust one another’s ability to manoeuver the planet. So rather than merely wallow in guilt, the film posits an actual course of action for those who align themselves with oppressed cultures. I’ve never believed that guilt alone is a valuable response to injustice; it doesn’t do anyone any good to think that participating in someone else’s struggle is a form of oppression. In fact, distancing oneself from another’s suffering is irresponsible.
The politics of Avatar are not without troubling elements. But I don’t think it’s as cut-and-dried as, say, Dances With Wolves. I’m gonna think about this one good and hard. Whether or not you think it’s a good movie (I actually enjoyed it!), there’s certainly plenty to discuss.