According to the Daily Star, Avatar: The Way of Water faces calls for a boycott because of its insensitive, racist plot and disrespect for the local culture.
Fans believe that the new Hollywood blockbuster is appropriating indigenous culture when showing the image of the Na’vi inhabitants of Pandora’s world. Both Avatar films have been criticized for casting only white actors to portray local culture.
Yuè Begay – co-chairman of Indigenous Pride LA, an influential Native American in Hollywood – publicly proposed boycotting Avatar: Way of Water. According to Begay, the culture of the indigenous people was appropriated in a harmful way to satisfy the tastes of white people.
“Don’t watch Avatar: The Way of Water. Please join indigenous peoples and other indigenous groups around the world in boycotting this horrible and racist film,” Yuè Begay said.
Avatar 2 is entangled in a wave of boycotts
Many viewers voiced their support for Yuè Begay. One person wrote: “Avatar is horrible. Racist, cliché, plot holes, long lines is what I want to say about it. I had to leave halfway.”
In 2010, director James Cameron was criticized for comments related to Native people, especially asking Native American tribes to “fight harder” against genocide.
“I felt like going back in time 130 years ago when I saw what the Lakota Sioux people were forced to be forced to be displaced, given some form of compensation. This was what motivated me to make Avatar,” he said.
Previously, the Avatar 2 film crew was accused of labor exploitation. Preshaw – the cinematographer – accused him of not being paid fairly. Preshaw said his salary for the “multi-million dollar” film was cut to $10 an hour. This salary is lower than when he worked as an artist for a children’s animation project.
Following the success of Avatar in 2009, part 2 of the blockbuster movie was born and protected the ocean of the Navi race. After a week of release, the film’s global total reached 715.2 million USD. Currently, the film holds the throne in the chart of the highest grossing films in North America.
