Numerous people are calling to cancel “Avatar: The Way of Water” and director James Cameron for alleged disrespect towards indigenous people.
According to the media site Daily Star, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is facing heavy criticism and calls for boycott over “tone-deaf” plot and disrespectful portrayal of native people.
In particular, fans have been claiming that the new Hollywood blockbuster blatantly “appropriate” indigenous cultures when depicting the Na’vi people in Pandora. In fact, ever since the first movie, “Avatar” has been condemned for using elements of indigenous life while casting white people – who are their colonizers.
Regarding this, Yué Begay, a Native American influencer and co-chair of Indigenous Pride LA,, called for an all-out boycott of “Avatar: The Way of Water”. In particular, she wrote, “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 white man’s savior complex.”
Another audience also expressed their discontent against “Avatar”, saying that they left the cinema halfway through due to the movie being “terrible”, “racist”, “cliché” and has “half a plot yet still full of holes and dangling threads”.
On top of this, James Cameron’s remarks about Native Americans back in 2010 was brought up, raising huge anger. At the time, the director commented that natives, whose people were killed and lands were stolen, should have “fought a lot harder” if they can see their future fates.
In addition, the director stated that a driving force for him in the writing of “Avatar” comes from watching Lakota Sioux people, a native tribe, being pushed, killed, asked to displace, and given some form of compensation.
Alongside cultural appropriation and tone-deaf controversies, “Avatar: The Way of Water” is also facing criticisms about animal abuse and accusations of unfair wages.
In particular, Logan Preshaw, a CGI artist who worked on the 2nd “Avatar” movie, revealed that he only received minimum wage for his painstaking work.
“I worked on Avatar 2. I’m proud of that. I am not proud of how little Weta Workshop pays its artists. As a concept artist I was paid the current minimum wage. A pay cut of $10/h from when I was a lead on animated cartoon shows. Many of the practical artists were paid similarly”, he wrote.
“Avatar: The Way of Water” is the sequel of the 2009 movie “Avatar”, which continues the journey of male lead Jake Sully and the native Na’vi people on planet Pandora. After 1 week of release, the movie has recorded 715.2 million USD in box office sales – the highest among airing movies in North America.
Source: NY Post, Twitter 1 2, The Guardian, Daily Star
