After an hour or so of mystical wildlife documentary, it almost comes as a relief when the film finally bursts into rampant violence and mayhem.
If the Na’vi originally seemed to be based on the American Indians, with the human invasion of Pandora being akin to the invasion of the West, the Metkayina are much closer to the Māori. The patterns that cover their faces and bodies, and even seem to grow on the Tulkun, are obviously inspired by Polynesian tattoos.
By portraying the invaders as whalers, as well as forest burners, Cameron trawls the depths of environmental villainy. His portrait of humanity is every bit as degraded as the vision of the Western world recently presented inIt’s a remarkable turnaround from the Golden Age of Hollywood, when John Wayne routinely dispatched whole tribes of Native Americans, restless natives or foreigners who stood in the way of American greatness.
In today’s multimillion-dollar blockbusters, Americans are no longer the all-conquering heroes but bloodthirsty killers, ready to decimate native communities and destroy the planet through sheer greed and stupidity. This is the image Hollywood movies are spreading across the planet nowadays, reflecting the deep divisions in American society. It’s a powerful, dangerous form of propaganda that indulges the worst suspicions of the rest of the world, while announcing there is resistance from within.