New Celebrity Sightings

It’s racist to say ‘Avatar’ is racist

This ill-conceived idea that the film ‘Avatar’ is racist has spread quickly. 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. Sure, if you look for it, you could argue that racism is there. You could probably find it in a faxless payday loans application if you look hard enough. People will see what they want.

I don’t think James Cameron or the writers of “Avatar” intended to be racist. Basically, the logic is this: The hero is white, and helps non-white people, thus making ‘Avatar’ racist. They say it’s a “white savior” movie.

To the contrary

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.

Who is the real racist? ‘Avatar’ or the audience?

Part of the argument is that the actors cast as blue people are all of color in real life. That said, if the casting director says they hired who they thought best fit the role, it would be believable that they were hired solely on basis of ability.

Though the protagonist is white, the honkies in ‘Avatar’ are all sort of bad. The blue people are peaceful, nature loving sorts, and the white guys make it lousy for everyone. So I guess maybe that makes it racist against white people, but that’s a stretch, too.