I'm just as tired of white people shouting "Racist!" as I am of anyone else shouting it, but those denying this is anything but a popcorn flick are either ignoring what's staring them in the face or haven't the most basic ability to grasp theme or subtext.
The racial element is there because this is a scifi version of Dances With Wolves and all the movies that portray the Indian side of the settlement of America. One doesn't have to agree with Cameron and the other libs to admit that of course the natives of this country were given the shaft in many ways, but it's this bizarre attitude that somehow expansionism and folks fighting each other for something they want is unique to this situation. Folks like Cameron simply skip the inconvenient parts, about how Indians weren't Greens (never saw any stampeding of buffalo over cliffs, subjegation of enemies, etc.)
The reason for this is the REAL "race" angle here--Cameron and the Hollywood libs who've portrayed Indians in films aren't interested in portraying the Indians as real, flawed humans, because they don't care about Indians. They care about attacking what they see as the excesses of capitolist America.
This movie is about "blood for oil," shock and awe, idiot, evil military types (the white hero--gotta appeal to that white demographic to actually make money--and the Latina woman being the exceptions), and creating a situation so that the audience can cheer the slaughter of the military types in the climax. Action movies use the tool of having the villain "personalize" his evil to skip over the ethical dilemna of having the hero be judge, jury and executioner by having the villain do something more than the larger crime which could get him arrested--it's not satisfying enough to have the villain surrender and be arrested, so have him shoot the hero's pal and then try a last-second murder attempt, so the hero is justified in executing him.
Similarly in Avatar, the humans HAVE to be portrayed as completely evil capitalists run amok--destroying natural resources in search of oil, uh, energy--so that the climax can show them being slaughtered--they DESERVE it, in the context of the dramatic situation. So once again, the military is shown as stupid or evil, and the standins for the people who protect us are slaughtered in a liberal revenge fantasy.
But it's not about race, because the aliens are so perfect, they are inhuman. They aren't like real people of any color. All they have to be are the perfect creatures, so their survival justifies killing ANY human opponent.
The movie is a Gaia fantasy, with all the life on the planet joined as one, so any violation of ANY element of nature--in the quest for energy--is the same as trying to kill the native residents. Of COURSE it's right to slaughter American/human soldiers, if you don't you're guilty of allowing genocide to proceed--even if the goal is "unobtanium" because hurting the planet is killing the world--aliensl, animals, plants.
This movie is based on Cameron's sappy romance, using awful dialogue, to support tons of special effects that are the cutting edge of the industry. But it looks like an effects demo reel. Star Wars wasn't the most original story ever, but its USE of older elements was indeed new and different, putting western heroes, samurai, Naziesque villains, etc. all in the same universe. Avatar looks highly derivative of a much narrower source--video games using imagery derived from SF illustrations of Roger Dean,Michael Whelan, etc., and characters that are ALL old SF cliches.
This is a PC tract wrapped up in Cameron's fascination with military equipment, made palatable to his intended audience by playing up to their college-dorm comic book simple politics. Anyone denying this is either blind or deceptive.
How much cooler if Cameron used the same imagery to tell a tale of humans and aliens who don't make the mistakes of the past, showing how such a situation as our settling of America could be learned from. Imagine if this were a tale of humans exploring the planet, trying to work with the aliens, and, I don't know, another alien race or SOME humans and SOME aliens were the antagonists. That would make for surprsing drama--what if the conflicted hero sympathized with BOTH aliens and humans, isn't that much more dramatic than having him see his side as "bad" and just switching sides?
A movie this big can handle more thematic complexity than a rah-rah America bash for the simple minded. And the fetishizing of "cat people" is, frankly, juvenile and creepy.
Other than that, I don't have much to say. ;)
Sorry for the length and repeating a paragraph in there. But Cameron repeats a lot, too. :)
Bravo! bump
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