Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli media: Direct damage from Iranian bombing of "Israel" in one week is estimated at approximately 5 billion shekels (about $1.35 billion)
Unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis or justification: Putin
Shahid Beheshti University Public Relations: The Israeli aggression targeted a building belonging to Shahid Beheshti University with the aim of sabotaging Iran's cultural and scientific infrastructure
Al Mayadeen correspondent: The Fordow nuclear facility was bombed once again, 24 hours after the US aggression.
Fars News Agency, citing informed sources: The Iranian Armed Forces used the Kheibar-Shekan, Emad, Ghadr, and Fattah missiles in their attacks on the Israeli entity today
Sirens sound from the occupied Golan Heights to Akka and Nahariya
Sirens sound again in the occupied Golan Heights and al-Jalil
Israeli media: Power outages reported in several settlements following a missile attack targeting an infrastructure facility
Israeli media: Strategic location in the south likely hit
Israeli media outlet: Reports of missiles falling in at least 7 areas, including Askalan, Safad, and Isdud

Native Americans call to boycott Avatar over cultural appropriation

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Dazed
  • 23 Dec 2022 23:17
5 Min Read

The movie which came out on December 6 in the UK and December 18 in the US reported profits of almost $400 million internationally.

  • x
  • Native Americans call to boycott Avatar over cultural appropriation
    Native Americans call to boycott Avatar over cultural appropriation

Native Americans and other Indigenous groups are calling for a boycott of the recently released movie of Avatar: The way of the water which features blue-skinned aliens over claims that the film is an attempt to whitewash colonialism.

Do NOT watch Avatar: The Way of Water

Join Natives & other Indigenous groups around the world in boycotting this horrible & racist film. Our cultures were appropriated in a harmful manner to satisfy some 🏳 man's savior complex.
No more Blueface!
Lakota people are powerful! pic.twitter.com/NmHVU565u3

— 🌽Asdzáá Tłʼéé honaaʼéí🌽(She/Her)🌽 (@asdza_tlehonaei) December 18, 2022

The movie which came out on December 6 in the UK and December 18 in the US reported profits of almost $400 million internationally.

But several critics, including Indigenous and Native American activists, have been calling for a total ban on the movie, which they argue contains elements of cultural appropriation.  

Some of the parallels that have already been noticed include associating human marine characters in the movie with real-life colonizers. 

Read more: Mexican 'Black Panther' star is in quest of fighting racism at home

In the movie, after humans had depleted all of Earth's resources, they move to colonize the Na'vi's home planet of Pandora to exploit its natural resources. The Na'vi's succeed in warding off humans after Jake, a human falls in love with Neytiri, a female Na'vi.

In The Way of Water, the story takes place a decade after the first film, with events similar to the first sequel, where humans clash with Na'vi's again and Jake is once again the movie's hero.

Related News

Native Americans say tribal members harassed by immigration agents

Biden apologizes for Native American boarding school atrocities

So parallels are traced between humans and colonizers, and the Na'vi with indigenous peoples - although Cameron has previously said that the film is "a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period."

"The Avatar films are increasingly harmful, as they pretend to be anti-colonial but simultaneously uphold the same colonial narratives," Dr. Autumn Asher BlackDeer, 28, from the Southern Cheyenne Nation, told Dazed magazine. "The underlying storyline still positions Indigenous communities (like the Na’vi) as these primitive and uncivilized communities. Thus, it justifies colonialism in order to ‘bring progress’ to help the poor Natives."

"[Avatar] presents colonization as a noble and heroic deed – like how Jake is another white savior who ‘becomes Native’ to save the day… it’s a colonial fantasy,” Dr. BlackDeer added. "Both movies show that non-Natives can infiltrate our communities, speak over us, and try to make us play victim so we’ll see white people as our only hope. That’s colonial bullshit."

Read more: Almost 50% British youth afraid to dispute White privilege

It was further revealed that James Cameron had himself a narrow understanding of colonialism. In 2010, while describing his encounter with indigenous peoples in the Amazon, he said in an interview "I felt like I was 130 years back in time watching what the Lakota Sioux might have been saying at a point when they were being pushed and they were being killed and they were being asked to displace and they were being given some form of compensation."

"This was a driving force for me in the writing of Avatar – I couldn't help but think that if they [the Lakota Sioux] had had a time-window and they could see the future… and they could see their kids committing suicide at the highest suicide rates in the nation… because they were hopeless and they were a dead-end society – which is what is happening now – they would have fought a lot harder," he added.

"My Lakota relatives were one of the most powerful people the United States came across. They did fight. They won," Yué Begay, who is a Navajo artist and co-chair of Indigenous Pride Los Angeles, wrote in an open letter. "Their ancestors would be proud of their descendants for thriving, living, and just existing with their culture intact. But you do not show that in your films. Instead, you choose to show or glorify colonialism."

"James Cameron is guilty of [favoring] non-Indigenous folks to play Na’vi, an alien race based on many Indigenous cultures he [appropriated] from," she added. "This is a form of racist caricature known as ‘Blueface’ [...] where a creator appropriates many non-white cultures, blends them together indiscriminately or blatantly and has white people play or voice them using fiction as a medium to necessitate and validate their worldbuilding."

"Indigenous people know what’s best for our communities, we can tell our own stories,” Dr BlackDeer said. "We don't need some ole racist Jim telling his version of colonialism."

Read more: Indigenous America: The US kills its victim and walks in its funeral

  • Native Americans
  • Racism
  • Avatar
  • Colonialism

Most Read

Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

Iran launches 9th wave of Op. True Promise 3, destroys IOF air defense

  • MENA
  • 17 Jun 2025
Rescue team work at the site where a missile launched from Iran struck Tel Aviv, Israel, Monday, June 16, 2025 (AP)

Wave 12 of Operation True Promise 3 launched, Sejjil deployed: IRGC

  • Politics
  • 18 Jun 2025
Israeli workers survey the site where a missile launched from Iran struck in Haifa on Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP)

True Promise 3, wave 20: 40 missiles launched, Kheibar-Shekan in first

  • Politics
  • 22 Jun 2025
Iran launches missile barrage to Tel Aviv, casualties reported

True Promise 3, wave 14: Tel Aviv targeted, casualties reported

  • Politics
  • 19 Jun 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani, speaks with then-Syrian Prime Minister Imad Khamis in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, January 17, 2017 (AP)
Politics

Iran holds the initiative after nuclear strikes, Shamkhani says

Blood stains a religious painting inside Mar Elias Church, where a suicide bomber detonated himself in al-Dwela, on the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, on Sunday, June 22, 2025 (AP)
Politics

UN, regional governments condemn Damascus church bombing

A B-2 bomber arrives at Whiteman Air Force Base Missouri, Sunday, June 22, 2025, after returning from a massive strike on Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday (AP)
Politics

Israeli media: US-Israeli strike on Iran failed to end war

China UN Ambassador Fu Cong addresses the United Nations Security Council, Monday, March 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Politics

China slam US strikes on Iran nuclear sites

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS