#ffs james cameron stick to the cgi

[broitsf-ckingfreezing]

So I watched Avatar for the first time (I know, catch up already, amirite) and...

Hoo boy...

Where do I even start.

Don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful movie. It's a set right out of the deepest pits of my imagination; it hits all the positives of fantastical sci-fi with a subtle backdrop of dystopia. The Na'vi serve a beautiful fantasy down-to-earth element while humanity portrays a message of technological takeover. And we must remember that 2009, hell, basically anything pre-2016 or so, didn't often have open political messages, especially a message about white colonization of the indigenous.

But.

And it's a big but(t)

(couldn't help myself sorry)

It's only great up until, like, the last 50 minutes or so? I think you know what I'm talking about. It's a nice story about a people coming together to face the imminent threat. But it's a fucking native vs colonizers story with a goddamn white savior. What did Jake even do to actually earn their respect? Sure, the Eywa chose him and all that, but what the fuck does that even mean? It literally gives "eh, the natives weren't good enough so I blessed this white man instead."

(dropping in a point here to remind you that it isn't just because Jake is a white man, it's that he's a man at all and not a Na'vi native).

It's not a good look for James Cameron.

Wanna become native? Uhhhh.... just dress like them for a couple months, learn about 5 sentences of their language, and have sex basically in front of a shrine to their goddess.

It's...

It's just dang icky.

The story would have been easily a thousand times better had they had Neytiri (AKA the beautiful Zoe Saldana, a black woman and Na'vi native in the film) the true hero and Jake as... basically a kind of collateral damage. Maybe his former marine and informant status could've ended up inspiring her with ideas for war tactics or something. And shit, it would've been such a sick fucking plot twist for the hero of the first half to suddenly become lowkey redundant because he isn't a goddamn native; they have zero reason to trust him. I mean, this asshole literally fucked the fiancé of the future clan leader! And he faces no consequences! It's giving Anakin Skywalker massacring children and being rewarded with marriage.

And it wouldn't make him any less of a main character.

He would still be a hero, just not the hero.

And then, ONLY THEN, once they've won, do they truly accept Jake as clan. As brother.

Imagine it: Jake tries to rally the forces of Pandora and... it doesn't work. Failure is upon them. It all looks hopeless. And then Neytiri, renewed with hope and a heart aching for revenge, steps up. And it's her that delivers the powerful speeches that inspire the clans because she is their sister, not some guy who's only been around for three fucking months.

But hey, what do I know?