THE NA’VI
As I reflected on Avatar’s depiction of the Omaticaya clan, I have come to believe that both the praise and the critique it receives depends in part on the critic’s view of nature, nonhuman animals and civilization. As a woman of color and an ethical vegan, I experienced the animal-like Omaticaya as a robust community with traditions, language, spiritual practices and indigenous knowledge. I was attracted to the tribe’s shared male-female leadership, its pre-modern union of mind, body and spirit, and its sustainable relationship with their planet. Untainted by industrialization and environmental degradation, the Omaticaya clan represents a way of living that stands in stark contrast to the attitudes and practices that have led to our present ecological crisis. Finally, I was impressed with the Na’vi’s primal connection to Pandora and the ways they reflected my view that a healthy relationship between people and creation relies in part on embracing that the human is an animal whose survival depends on a complex web of life that neither technology nor science nor civilization can overcome.
Although the Omaticaya undoubtedly represent a hyper-idealized collage of various indigenous communities, they nevertheless reflect what anthropologists have discovered about pre-civilized societies in both recent and distant human history. Is some of the backlash against the Na’vi a result of ignorance about this primitive past and fascination with “being civilized”? Are people who are offended by the “animality” of the Omaticaya simply captive to the dominant speciesist view that nonhuman animals have little or no value outside of human use and enjoyment? Yes. And no.
The Omaticaya does not represent any specific indigenous group, nevertheless several of its members are easily recognizable as people of African descent. This is partially due to the film’s technology, which animates the actors who portray key tribe members like Neytiri (Zoë Saldana), Tsu’Tey (Laz Alonso) and Mo’at (CCH Pounder). However, the resemblance to an African-like people is also apparent in the film’s use of tribal music with African drumming, the alien’s adornments (beads, headdresses, etc.) and their pattern of speech.
Therefore, when the overtly feline Omaticaya adopt recognizable primate behaviors like swinging through the trees and bearing their teeth at other “animals,” and are called “blue monkeys,” the film immediately calls to mind longstanding racist stereotypes about Black people in particular being a less evolved, subhuman species. Even a cursory look at historical race theories reveals exaggerated, derogatory images of Black people as apes and lengthy arguments aimed at proving the monkey-like traits of Africans and their descendants. In the U.S context where the history of Black people’s legal status as enslaved beasts is still raw, and a political cartoon featuring Barack Obama as a gunned down chimpanzee attempted to pass as humor, I am not surprised that some people of color and their allies bristle at the African-inspired Omaticaya being depicted as humanoid animal-like aliens. Historical and present-day racism in the U.S. will undoubtedly affects how viewers respond to the film. Ignoring these perspectives because of the film’s environmental message or its anti-civ leanings or its critique of the Bush administration will only alienate people for whom this is a critical issue.
