Avatar: The Way of Water faces boycott calls over ‘cultural appropriation’ and racism

James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, which entered theatres last week, has set the global box office on fire. The film has been performing exceedingly well across the world and has already pocketed approximately £247,742,100 globally. However, there is something in the film that has not gone down well with a section of the audience.

Director James Cameron, who had earlier revealed that the film is a fictional representation of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period, is facing allegations for Native American and Indigenous cultural appropriation. And now there is a campaign urging viewers to boycott the sci-fi film.

For example, Brett Chapman, who is a Native American civil right attorney, wrote in his tweet that the film is, “a White saviour story at its core and James Cameron said the Lakota should have “fought harder” with the foresight that their descendants would all be suicidal. I won’t be seeing the new one. It does nothing for Native Americans but suck oxygen for itself at our expense.”

A native American influencer Yue also echoed similar thoughts and tweeted, “Join Natives and other Indigenous groups around the world in boycotting this horrible and racist film. Our cultures were appropriated in a harmful manner so as to satisfy some white man’s saviour complex.”

Her tweet has garnered more than 40,000 likes.

Autumn Asher BlackDeer, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver, tweeted, "Why watch a ridiculous movie about blue aliens when you could just support actual Indigenous people and our struggle for clean water here on Earth? Yes, we do exist."

Avatar: The Way of Water sees Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, and Sigourney Weaver from the first film reprise their roles. Kate Winslet is the newest addition to the cast.

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