Se por um lado o visualmente surpreendente filme, Avatar (2009) de James Cameron, uma ficção científica sobre a tentativa, ao final mal-sucedida, de terráqueos de colonizar outro planeta é vista, em grande parte, como anti-imperialista em sua expressão [en], outros alegam que o filme – o mais rápido na história a alcançar um bilhão na bilheteria – contém um nuance de racismo contra os povos nativos.

O blogueiro do Telegraph, Will Heaven, que normalmente escreve sobre política, internet e religião no Reino Unido, acusa o filme de racismo e arrogância ocidental de esquerda [en]:

I won’t spoil the plot, but here’s the basic set-up: a group of mercenary humans have colonised a faraway planet, called Pandora, in order to extract an enormously valuable mineral found there. Pandora’s “natives” – a race of tall, blue-skinned aliens called the Na’vi – live on an area of land which is set to be mined. They won’t relocate, so the humans attack.

[…]

By far the most contemptible theme in Avatar involves the hero, a young disabled American called Jake Sully, played by Sam Worthington. Before the humans declare war on the Na’vi, Sully is sent to them (in the form of a blue-skinned avatar) in a last ditch attempt to find a diplomatic solution. But, lo and behold, he becomes one of them – sympathising so much with their plight that he decides to lead them into battle against the humans.

As Left-wing conceits go, this one surely tops all the others: the ethnic Na’vi, the film suggests, need the white man to save them because, as a less developed race, they lack the intelligence and fortitude to overcome their adversaries by themselves. The poor helpless natives, in other words, must rely on the principled white man to lead them out of danger.

Thinking for You [en], um blogueiro da Flórida, concorda:

I was rather struck that so many people in the audience would accept the corporation and the caricatures of the US military as enemies, that they would literally applaud the destruction of the strike force. But perhaps the joke is on me, because ultimately the representation of military loss is only pretend, and the message that remains attached to the visual spectacle seems to be that the fate of nature and culture depends not on right, or justice, or even on inner strength, but on the disputes and intervention of Anglo, male, U.S. Marines. Whether you are a predatory corporate enterprise, or a valiant blue native, you can't win without an Anglo male Marine on your side. Everything else is incidental, and resistance is futile.

Eric Ribellarsi, blogando no The Fire Collective: Fight Imperialism, Rethink and Experiment [Coletiva do Fogo: Lute contra o Imperialismo, Reconsidere e Experimente, en], discorda:

I found the movie to be a nuanced and beautiful film that told the story of an elitist white soldier for imperialism who goes to exploit and oppress an indigenous nation of aliens (the Na’vi), but is instead transformed by them and won to take up armed struggle against imperialism along side them.

A blogueira indígena Mindanaoan's Narratives [As Narrativas de Mindanaoan, en] considera Avatar “um filme dos sonhos de um ativista” e traça paralelos com problemas em sua própria terra natal nas Filipinas:

The movie is also a reflection of the struggle of the indigenous peoples and rural communities in the hinterlands of Mindanao. Mining and other ‘development projects’ is linked with militarization and human rights violations; pitting lumads against lumads.

O blog de  Jordan Poss [en], com base no estado americano da Georgia, assume um ponto de vista diferente:

The equation of Na'vi with Native Americans is shameless and nauseating. Not because I think there's anything sacrosanct about the Indian experience–rather, the whole movie is so cloying and mawkish, the Na'vi so saintly and their earthly oppressors so evil I wanted to puke. This isn't storytelling, it's preaching. And lame preaching at that.

Asking the Wrong Questions [Fazendo as Perguntas Erradas, en], um blog com sede em Israel, de Abigail Nussbaum, não acredita que o filme romantize os povos indígenas:

When the film's production designer obliviously explains that making the film's Others blue-skinned aliens freed the filmmakers to tell a story that would have been considered racist if told about humans, and doesn't see the problem in what he's saying despite the fact that the only thing distinguishing those aliens from stereotypical Native Americans is their blue skin, what is there for a humble blogger to add?