Fern Gully/Avatar and Racial Mashups

Avatar (Camerson 2009) is yet another film that assimilates a white man into a native society to become the hero! I do not know about you, but avatar looked a lot like Fern Gully (Kroyer 1992) on steroids- steroids produced from the atmosphere of the war on terror and dystopian views of new media technology. A story about a man who gets to re-live his life in an alien form, a form where he witnesses the oppression of the Na'vi, but never truly experiences it because of his "whiteness."

Annelee Newitz in her article, "When will white people stop making movies like "Avatar"?" wrote:

Avatar is a fantasy about ceasing to be white, giving up the old human to join the blue people, but never losing white privilege.

Jake Sully was oppressed by the Na'vi for his lack of Na'vi skill, but he earned their respect- especially the respect of Neytiri. As a result, he never truly escapes his "white" privilege.

In terms of race, I also find it interesting that every actor who did the voice of a Na'vi character was of a different race than white. Neytiri was played by Zoe Saldana, a black American. Neytiri's brother, Tsu'tey, was played by Laz Alonso and Eytuken was played by Wes Studi. This further underscores the subject/object power relationship between race in the film.

Could the aliens be like the Iraqi soldiers fighting for their homeland against the embodiment of terror? In the film, Stephan Lang who place Colonel Miles Quaritch says, "we must fight terror with terror." Avatar could very well be a metaphor for the War on Terror, and a hope for peace.

If you have not seen Avatar, try to look for more themes in the film that build on old story structures which assimilate a white man with nature- a utopia that no longer exists in reality.

Also, why does it always have to be a man that becomes the hero? Originally women have been described as being associated with nature- but every since the turn o the 20th century- women have been associated with the threat of machines. Due to this reversal, male protagonists in films have been driven to go back to nature to escape the "castrating" machine.

Also check out this Fern Gully/Avatar Mashup!

Also, read this article- more on race

http://io9.com/5422666/when-will-white-people-stop-making-movies-like-avatar