In JAMES CAMERON’S epic sci-fi adventure, AVATAR, actress ZOE SALDANA is the one major player we never see as human. She only appears on screen as the blue-hued Na’vi. Not exactly an ideal situation for an actor’s ego and SALDANA admitted to us that, in the beginning, it gave her pause. But after seeing CAMERON’S attention to detail and the incredible mo-cap technology, SALDANA says it’s good to be blue. (Click on the media bar below for audio):
AVATAR is in theaters now
Steve Real
December 19th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Once A Nigger Always A Nigger
I saw Avatar yesterday and
I can’t help to notice the subtle racists overtones.
You can clearly see the West
subjectgating and terrorizing the primitive
peoples of the world.
Right down to the Afrikaner look,
language and music.
The natives should all be white people
dressed up in black face to hammer this point home.
I don’t think this is totally conscious on
James Cameron’s part
but it left a bad taste in my mouth.
The so-called “White Man” is superior
right to the end
of the movie and the natives reminded me
of Isaac Asimov’s Gaea planet
in the Foundation trilogy.
(of which I am recently rereading)
Tell me I’m wrong fellas, but it’s a clear
apology for 19th century colonialism in my opinion.
That’s not to say I didn’t like the movie.
I thought it had some redeeming qualities outside
of his clearly anti-Western opinions and racists views.
But Jim, come on man! What the fuck?
Right down to the native customs of Afrikaners?
(Hair extensions? Are you kidding me Jim or what?)
It reminds one Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.
You know fellas? The white man
has to keep those niggers down
even in early 21st century Hollywood film making.
Once a nigger always a nigger.
Steve Real
December 19th, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Avatar is a classic scenario you’ve seen in Hollywood epics from Dances With Wolves, Dune, District 9 and The Last Samurai, where a white guy manages to get himself accepted into a closed society of people of color and eventually becomes its most awesome member.
If we think of Avatar and its ilk as white fantasies about race, what kinds of patterns do we see emerging in these fantasies?
A white man who was one of the oppressors switches sides at the last minute, assimilating into the alien culture and becoming its savior.
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.