James Cameron's newly released CGI blockbuster is set to shatter box office records in the weeks and months ahead. But while most critics agree that "Avatar" uses its sci-fi plot as a metaphor for a range of geopolitical issues, some argue that the film caters to "white guilt" — the plot centers around white Jake Sully's efforts to save the Na’vi tribe on the planet Pandora — and plays on ugly and dated racial stereotypes. Is "Avatar" an offensive white fantasy?
Cameron has made a racist film: "Avatar" has a "nauseatingly patronising" racist subtext, says Will Heaven at the Daily Telegraph. With their "Maasai-style" clothing and "dreadlocked" hair, the Na’vi aliens are a "childish pastiche of the ethnic" who must rely on the "principled white man" — protagonist Jake Sully — to "lead them out of danger." How did this famously "left-wing director" make a film with such an "ugly mindset?"
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