The Noble Savage and the "Noble-er" White Guy

In all honesty, I didn't think this was the worst movie ever. But it most certainly came close. It was so stereotypical and predictable, my eyes couldn't roll further back into my head.

But my reaction is rooted in my upbringing. Particularly being from a colonized nation (several times over; Portuguese, Dutch, British, Japanese then British again), a similar story is repeated to us over and over again. How the white man conquered our lands and stole our resources (exception for the Japanese, a different type of dissent is reserved for them), tried to"civilize" us savages by building schools, roads and churches yet treated us like dogs, forced us into unwanted diplomatic agreements and if we disagreed, they'ed start a war. So this brings me to one of the only aspects of the movie that stood out: the "chosen one" to save the Na'vi was Jake Sully (aka the noble-er white guy, aka the hero). Of course after years of western media controlling our minds, the white guy as the hero wasn't actually outstanding. Nonetheless it was the exception, to the history I was taught.

The particular scene that was interesting to me: was when Jake Sully jumped from his smaller pterodactyl-like creature unto a bigger orange one called the Leonopteryx (a dangereous predator that was only tamed by five of previous Na'vi and they were given the title Toruk Makto). Jake had to ride silently above the Leonopteryx and pounce unto its back with the sun behind him. This was in order to connect his "natural conscious/oneness cable" to that of the Leonopteryx.It was a slim chance but he had to do it, to regain his status in the tribe(or to raise it) and as well to unite all the other tribes to rise up against the sky people because that was the authority of a Toruk Makto. The signifier was a combination of the Leonopteryx and Jakes jumping unto its back. The Leonopteryx signified a unique authority, a symbol that would rally the tribes for a single cause and who so ever tamed this beast was worthy of this authority. Yet not everyone could conquer this beast, he had to be chosen and only the most courages was chosen by the Na'vis great Mother. Jakes jump was a leap that only a "chosen one " would take and he was chosen indeed.

I disagree that the movie forces us to take the side of the Na'vi. Instead it shapes us to see ourselves as Jake Sully. Because we (speaking in relation to an American) understand that these beings are noble and would join them against the unfair an cruel "sky people". Although we now view them as the other, given the opportunity we would not hesitate to become a part of something so honorable and special. Indeed all of us want to be special, chosen by nature to fulfill a destiny of a selected few, to provide leadership where there is none, to show strength when the poor tribe can only see weakness. Avatar forces us not just to be part of the noble savage but to be nobler.

This white guy, out of all the Na'vi was chosen for greatness (seen in the scene with the jelly fish like seeds and start be fulfilled in the scene of the Lenopteryx), was chosen to be a significant part of something he didn't even understand. Yet this does little for our perspective of the Na'vi( who would have readily abandon Jake if not for that 'tree' and and all this "chosen one" business) instead it speaks of this great foreigner who by natural and spiritual default was handed significance even before he earned it.

Cameron could have chosen any other hero, but he went with the stereotype. Perhaps it is a political critique of westernized cultures; that we have to save these people from ourselves, that white man are the only people that can stop the "other" white man from killing other cultures. Either way, I could only read it as the reestablishment of superiority. And though many of us think that we relate to Jake Sully, we cannot be him either because we are not white or we aren't male. In essence, Avatar shows us that the only way for the Na'vi to remain in its pure ways, is for this white guy to come and save them. Nobler comes in and saves the day and nobler comes in the form a white guy.