Hey, Listen! The controversy of Avatar’s Na’vi.
Avatar, technologically groundbreaking but storyline standard, features the Na’vi people; aliens that are drawing accusations of racism due to character design involving tribal/ethnic elements. The film’s art direction is unequivocally beautiful—it immerses the audience into a world in which everything glows when poked, and air jellyfish can detect pure hearts. Peace and harmony abound until the humans arrive, because the blue cat-people are an unrealistic construct.
Avatar, the best moneymaking scheme since The Titanic, hit theaters several weeks ago and is still at the top of the box office. (This may be in part because 3d and Imax tickets cost more. I viewed the 3d version, and everyone in line in front of me complained of the price to the ticket seller (which he greatly enjoyed). Raising the price for escapism in a down economy is a dangerous move, yet somehow, it just might pay off for James Cameron.)
From some quarters, the storyline is drawing heat as anti-imperial, unfairly villainizing the middle-aged white-man enemy. And indeed the whole human race, who are portrayed in gray and gunmetal, a much less interesting palette than the blue and green alien flora and fauna. This movie further insults the white man by making a hero of a “noble-hearted” traitor (which is essentially the norm for everything post-Heart of Darkness, including cinema as offensive as Pocahontas, Dances with Wolves, The Last Samurai, Hidalgo, Fern Gully, etc). At the same time, the white-man-hero who must save the natives is criticized as a condescending avatar of white liberalism who must benevolently lead the uncultured populace to success and civilization. Never mind that Jake Sully has extensive knowledge of the humans’ military capabilities and equipment.
The film has received other complaints, because the aliens have dreadlocks, Masai jewelry, feathers, war-paint, and cultural markings of a variety of strangely Earth-like cultures and tribes. It is not a direct parallel for any particular group, but a mix of all that have suffered the steamrolling Imperial Machine. But there is also a disturbing anthropomorphic aspect to these aliens. Not only is their blue skin striped, but they sport pointy ears, sharp teeth, feline noses, and tails.
This is not the most seized upon flaw, but it should be. The Na’vi are essentially human and cats morphed together into a very tall alien, with a Matrix-like back-of-the-head link into the planet and other creatures. They strongly emphasize very human values of ‘community’, ‘connection’, ‘harmony’, and ‘tradition’. This portrayal blatantly ignores the strongly individualist leanings of the housecat. Neytiri, the female Na’vi protagonist, expresses regret at the unnecessary loss of animal life. Anyone who has received the considerate doormat offerings of chewed birds, mice, and voles, is aware that her views are human words placed betwixt the cat’s fangs, as it is an unpopular minority view within feline hunter culture. Portraying a cat-alien without a sense of entitlement, and, indeed, to celebrate the idea of working together for the common good, is a fundamental flaw of the film. Cats are individualists. They are selfish. The harmony agenda imposed onto the Na’vi ignore the feline aspects of the alien creatures.
Tags: Review