Like the film’s predecessor, Avatar 2 vividly showcases the evils of imperialism as seen through the Resources Development Administration’s (RDA) violent plunder of Pandora, a habitable moon on Alpha Centauri, to extract unobtanium, a rare earth compound found there. The second installment of Avatar kicks off more than a decade after Jake joins the Na’vi and leads the war against the RDA (sky people). Jake and Neytiri are now husband and wife with four children. After turning earth into a barren planet the RDA returns to Pandora in an effort to colonize it for human settlement. Jake and Neytiri’s idyllic family life in the Pandoran paradise is uprooted by RDA’s attack on their clan, and they’re forced to flee– much like the international working class around the world does everyday to escape the deadly grip of U.S. imperialism.
Alienating class conflict
While the film does a good job of making us hate imperialism and its disastrous consequences such as genocide and environmental destruction, it promotes harmful, racist, anti-worker ideas. The most damaging aspect of Avatar 2 is that it is devoid of class analysis. Although it depicts the colonization of Pandora by the RDA and we clearly see that the Tulkan hunters are capitalists driven by the profit motive, the central conflict is not between workers and bosses, but between natives and settlers. This is clear in its one-dimensional representation of the antagonists and protagonists. In the film, most if not all humans are rotten capitalists from the imperialist RDA, to the violent military recruits, and the Tulkun hunting capitalists who wish to kill these enormous manatee-like animals to extract highly profitable age-defying serum out of their brains.
The only humans who are depicted as “good” are those who surrender to nature like Jake who goes native and Spider, the villainous general Quatrich’s son, who rejects his militaristic human father and is loyal to the Na’vi. The working class is virtually non-existent in this fanciful tale. This perpetuates the myth that workers are responsible for climate change. The does not make a distinction between workers and capitalists and lays the blame on all humanity for environmental destruction and imperialist violence. By contrast, the film relies on the racist myth of the noble savage to depict the Na’vi as pure people in communion with nature who are powerless against the forces of progress. It never shows technology being developed by the native population except for bows and arrows. It keeps them entirely ensconced within the archetype of the noble primitive. By keeping them in an Eden, the film enables the audience to identify and even sympathize with the Na'vi while still being able to disassociate themselves from them as fellow workers.
At best Avatar 2 promotes nationalistic indigenous decolonial struggles as opposed to revolutionary class struggle. In the film's climax, we witness the positive character development of the Metkayina Clan, an oceanic Na’vi species who later abandon their pacifism after captain Miles Quatrich teams up with poachers who kill a Tulkuln to draw out Jake Sully. The Metkayina join forces with the Sullys and a fierce Tulkun and defeat the RDA and the poachers. While this demonstrates an overt rejection of pacifism in favor of armed struggle there is no political ideology grounding the Na’vi’s struggle. Instead, what is waged is a moralistic war against good and evil fueled by a kind of tribal nationalism, spirituality, familial protection
Cameron builds a liberal Eden
So, why did James Cameron spend an obscene amount of money, making a movie about the wageless, moneyless, primitive communism of a population being plundered? And what message does a film made by one of the wealthiest and most celebrated directors have for workers? Though the film does communicate the need for violence against imperialist exploitation, it never creates a moment where the working class can see themselves as revolutionary agents. By making the protagonists a different species, living on another planet in the distant future, Cameron is telling the modern proletariat that they are ill-equipped to smash capitalism. They should adapt to climate change embrace eco capitalism and live in harmony with nature like the Na’vi.
Far from promoting a revolutionary message, Cameron believes that a kinder greener capitalism is possible. A self-professed environmentalist and vegan, Cameron' Avatar films promote his liberal politics, championing individualism and romanticizing primitive communism. For Cameron all worker’s need to do is be in tune with nature and live a “responsible” green capitalist lifestyle. Still, Avatar 2 is worth watching if only for the opportunities it creates to counter the myth that only a morally superior alien species is powerful enough to smash imperialism with real-life historical examples of revolutionary working-class heroism from the Soviet Union to China.
Avatar 2: The Way of Water, James Cameron’s highly anticipated follow-up to his 2010 film, the highest-grossing film of all time, has already earned 2.2 billion dollars. Clocking in at three and a half hours, what makes Avatar 2 a worthy watch is not its visually arresting graphics or the universal acclaim it received from the bosses' media. The film contains some important themes that will spark political discussions where we can counter the bosses' ideology with pro-worker and communist ideas. Make no mistake, the purpose of all art under capitalism is to reinforce the ideas that help the rulers maintain their power while degrading the working class, so that we believe we are powerless and incapable of transforming or running society. If we peel away its fantastical veneer of “radicalism” we find that Avatar 2 is a liberal anticommunist film.
