Dances with Blue Aliens

Just in case anyone was curious (and since this is the MOVIE THAT WILL CHANGE ALL MOVIES), I would like to say that I have very mixed feelings about Avatar. [SPOILER WARNING] While I thought it was beautiful and "entertaining," I also thought its paradigm was horribly colonialist and, one could argue based on the rampant stereotypes of our indigenous persons, racist--seriously, horse-shaped animals for the "natives" to ride? feathers? "Mohawk" style hair? nose-bones?

::head bangs on desk::

And, although my giant sucker heart got tugged in all the right spots (and perhaps, admittedly, a bit weepy at one point), this is partly due to the very, very cliched use of the same ole' archetypes we've seen before: troubled hero, wise spiritual mother, beautiful young enchantress, evil greedy white dude. I'm practically programmed to respond to these sorts of stories. But, as engrossed as I was, I couldn't help it, my brain kept having internal "eye roll" moments throughout the film at some of the plot and characterizations. Particularly bothersome to me was that the colonialist dude goes in and makes the indigenous persons better than they were before. Sure he empathizes with them and helps us (the audience) see the error of our (past and future) ways, but why couldn't the Na'vi do it for themselves? And why couldn't we see a film from their eyes, for once?


io9 actually had great write-up about this type of film last week. Here's an excerpt:

These are movies about white guilt. Our main white characters realize that they are complicit in a system which is destroying aliens, AKA people of color - their cultures, their habitats, and their populations. The whites realize this when they begin to assimilate into the "alien" cultures and see things from a new perspective. To purge their overwhelming sense of guilt, they switch sides, become "race traitors," and fight against their old comrades. But then they go beyond assimilation and become leaders of the people they once oppressed. This is the essence of the white guilt fantasy, laid bare. It's not just a wish to be absolved of the crimes whites have committed against people of color; it's not just a wish to join the side of moral justice in battle. It's a wish to lead people of color from the inside rather than from the (oppressive, white) outside.

Think of it this way. Avatar is a fantasy about ceasing to be white, giving up the old human meatsack to join the blue people, but never losing white privilege. Jake never really knows what it's like to be a Na'vi because he always has the option to switch back into human mode. Interestingly, Wikus in District 9 learns a very different lesson. He's becoming alien and he can't go back. He has no other choice but to live in the slums and eat catfood. And guess what? He really hates it. He helps his alien buddy to escape Earth solely because he's hoping the guy will come back in a few years with a "cure" for his alienness. When whites fantasize about becoming other races, it's only fun if they can blithely ignore the fundamental experience of being an oppressed racial group. Which is that you are oppressed, and nobody will let you be a leader of anything.

Sure, Avatar goes a little bit beyond the basic colonizing story. We are told in no uncertain terms that it's wrong to colonize the lands of native people. Our hero chooses to join the Na'vi rather than abide the racist culture of his own people. But it is nevertheless a story that revisits the same old tropes of colonization. Whites still get to be leaders of the natives - just in a kinder, gentler way than they would have in an old Flash Gordon flick or in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars novels.

I'm not trying to be a Negative Nellie or ubercritical--there are, in fact, lots of books, tv, and film that I enjoy despite my intellectual reactions to them, like Twilight (anti-feminist, chastity-glorifying, domestic violence model), Star Wars(white, male, sexist), or, honestly, pick nearly any romantic comedy, I'll watch it, because, despite being bothered by the sexist gender roles and punchlines, my heart goes pitter-patter. What can you do? Sometimes you just have to take things for what they are, admit what kind of societal rules are in play, and turn your brain off for a tiny second.

However, I do think there's a danger with never turning your brain back on, especially with films like Avatar, where people go and think they've seen an amazingly different story about how "we should all get along," when in fact, it's another movie about white, male privilege. Just because the hero is right in saying we shouldn't destroy the cultures of other peoples doesn't mean that he has to be the only one we were willing to listen to or, worse, the only one who can "save" them.

In sum, I thought Avatar (or as I'm calling it now, Dances with Blue Aliens) was a beautiful film, with a deeply detailed landscape just different enough for people to forget the movie is a story we've actually seen before. In my opinion, it's not a "game-changer," but rather another colonialist trope with exciting, tasty, and sometimes emotionally moving, eye candy. Did I "enjoy" it? Yes! My eyes were glued to the screen for two hours. But, like real candy, after I've eaten it, I'm not so certain it sits well in my belly.