Saying ‘Avatar’ is racist is racist
The theory that billion-dollar blockbuster “Avatar” is racist has quickly spread. Whether you think that “Avatar” is racist is a matter of opinion, and in my opinion people will only say “Avatar” is racist if that’s what they want to see. If you look hard enough, you’ll find it anywhere. I could probably find racism in faxless payday loans if I really wanted to. People will see whatever they want to see.
I don’t think James Cameron or the writers of “Avatar” intended to be racist. The racism argument goes, as far as I can tell, something like this: Because the hero is white and he ends up helping and leading people of a different, non-white, race, “Avatar” is racist. Many people call “Avatar” a “white male savior” movie.
Argument: ‘Avatar’ is not racist
So a white guy plays the “hero.” So does that mean every movie that has a white hero is racist? Some people are even going so far as to say that the film is sexist, too, because the hero is a man.
However, it could be argued that Princess Neytiri is also a hero. She is one of the characters of the alien race and she is a woman. I’m not giving away the plot, but she isn’t exactly the ingénue in complete distress.
So who’s actually the racist? The audience or ‘Avatar’?
Part of what’s fueling the “Avatar is racist” argument is that all of the main characters who play blue aliens are actually played by people of color. However, if the casting directors told me that they simply chose the best people for the parts, I’d believe them.
Though the protagonist is white, the honkies in ‘Avatar’ are all sort of bad. The blue aliens are peaceful and nature-loving, and the white guys are destructive and evil. So I guess maybe that makes it racist against white people, but that’s a stretch, too.