Avatar: an all-purpose allegory

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar has becoming something of a political rorsarch test around the world. The story of the alien Na’avi’s struggles against the invasion of Earth’s military-industrial complexhas taken on some surprising allegorical means for movements around the world: Palestinian protesters in the town of Bilin dressed up as Na’avi recently to protest ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
OREN ZIV/AFP/Getty Images
OREN ZIV/AFP/Getty Images
OREN ZIV/AFP/Getty Images

James Cameron's sci-fi epic Avatar has becoming something of a political rorsarch test around the world. The story of the alien Na'avi's struggles against the invasion of Earth's military-industrial complexhas taken on some surprising allegorical means for movements around the world:

James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar has becoming something of a political rorsarch test around the world. The story of the alien Na’avi’s struggles against the invasion of Earth’s military-industrial complexhas taken on some surprising allegorical means for movements around the world:

  • Palestinian protesters in the town of Bilin dressed up as Na’avi recently to protest the Israeli occupation of the West Bank.
  • Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales has praised Avatar as a "profound show of resistance to capitalism and the struggle for the defense of nature."
  • Chinese bloggers have compared the film’s story to the exploitation of Chinese citizens by government-backed real estate developers — a factor that may have contributed to the film being pulled from Chinese theaters.  
  • Activists ran ads in the Hollywood newspaper Variety comparing the Na’avi to India’s forest-dwelling indigenous tribe, the Dongria, whose territory is now threatened by a planned bauxite mine.
  • Environmentalists Lori Pottinger compared the story of Avatar to the Brazilian government’s plans to build dams in the Amazon Basin.
  • Russian Communists described the film as an attempt to justify Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize. 
  • New York Times columinist Ross Douthat called the movie "an apolologia for pantheism."
  • David Boaz of the libertarian Cato Institute says the movie is about "defending property rights".
  • Last but not least, Cameron himself says the movie is an allegory about the U.S. war on terror

Personally, the movie struck me as a critique of counterinsurgency: the humans talked a good game about cultural understanding and minimizing civilian casualties to reassure the folks back home, but they were really just on Pandora to conquer and exploit.

Then again, it could have just been a movie about aliens.

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Read More On Culture

More from Foreign Policy

The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.
The USS Nimitz and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and South Korean Navy warships sail in formation during a joint naval exercise off the South Korean coast.

America Is a Heartbeat Away From a War It Could Lose

Global war is neither a theoretical contingency nor the fever dream of hawks and militarists.

A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.
A protester waves a Palestinian flag in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, during a demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. People sit and walk on the grass lawn in front of the protester and barricades.

The West’s Incoherent Critique of Israel’s Gaza Strategy

The reality of fighting Hamas in Gaza makes this war terrible one way or another.

Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.
Biden dressed in a dark blue suit walks with his head down past a row of alternating U.S. and Israeli flags.

Biden Owns the Israel-Palestine Conflict Now

In tying Washington to Israel’s war in Gaza, the U.S. president now shares responsibility for the broader conflict’s fate.

U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.
U.S. President Joe Biden is seen in profile as he greets Chinese President Xi Jinping with a handshake. Xi, a 70-year-old man in a dark blue suit, smiles as he takes the hand of Biden, an 80-year-old man who also wears a dark blue suit.

Taiwan’s Room to Maneuver Shrinks as Biden and Xi Meet

As the latest crisis in the straits wraps up, Taipei is on the back foot.