Avatar (franchise)

I’m not surprised that all Avatar movies take so much time to create, because all of them are really beautiful and truly masterpieces — especially the first and second ones. They have everything you need: a great cast, breathtaking visuals, great music, an interesting plot and an incredible atmosphere. And watching all of this in 3D, especially with the new technology, feels amazing. I’m always happy to come back to the cinema for the next chapter of this story.

However… Even though Avatar: Fire and Ash (2025) is really beautiful visually, it’s getting boring to watch the same things happening all over again. The first two times it was fine to watch the confrontation between Jake and Na’vi VS the corporation and military, but the third time is already too much — it feels like they’re running out of ideas at this point. And it’s becoming a pattern that Na’vi has to lose the battle first for Eywa to step in and help her people.

Recently I saw a TikTok where a guy was saying that Avatar is a “racist movie propagating white supremacy”, and I asked myself: “what is Avatar to me?” And I realised that for me Avatar is not about colonialism or race — it’s first and foremost about men…
…men who destroy everything in their path for money, power and fragile ego;
…men who are ready to sacrifice other people’s lives for their own benefit;
…men who don’t understand the value of life;
…men who don’t care about nature, its balance or spiritual development.

I think that’s why my favourite character from the very first movie is Neytiri — real, wild and fierce — who, unfortunately, looks very lost and oppressed in the last movie.

A lot of people think that the system in Avatar’s world is matriarchal, but that’s not quite right — all the power is still in the hands of men, and at some point the Na’vi even chose a “stranger” (Jake Sully) as their leader over any wise local woman, which says a lot. Even the matriarch tulkun is shown through a very male gaze — a wise creature that forbids killing and won’t fight back, making all the others die without resistance just to follow the rule. And it’s interesting that the Na’vi people had no problems until the moment men came to them… That’s why the story of Avatar is definitely about much more than colonialism or race.