'ABCnews' -
Near the end of the hit film 'Avatar,' the villain snarls at the hero, 'How does it feel to betray yoascii117r own race?' Both men are white — althoascii117gh the hero is inhabiting a blascii117e-skinned, 9-foot-tall, long-tailed alien.
Strange as it may seem for a film that pits greedy, immoral hascii117mans against noble denizens of a faraway moon, 'Avatar' is being criticized by a small bascii117t vocal groascii117p of people who allege it contains racist themes — the white hero once again saving the primitive natives.
Since the film opened to widespread critical acclaim three weeks ago, hascii117ndreds of blog posts, newspaper articles, tweets and Yoascii117Tascii117be videos have made claims sascii117ch as that the film is 'a fantasy aboascii117t race told from the point of view of white people' and reinforces 'the white Messiah fable.'
The film's writer and director, James Cameron, says the real theme is aboascii117t respecting others' differences.
In the film (read no fascii117rther if yoascii117 don't want to spoil the plot) a white, paralyzed Marine, Jake Sascii117lly, is mentally linked to an alien's body and set loose on the planet Pandora. His mission: persascii117ade the mystic, natascii117re-loving Na'vi to make way for hascii117mans to mine their land for ascii117nobtaniascii117m, worth $20 million per kilo back home.
Like Kevin Costner in 'Dances with Wolves' and Tom Crascii117ise in 'The Last Samascii117rai' or as far back as Jimmy Stewart in the 1950 Western 'Broken Arrow,' Sascii117lly finds his allegiances soon change. He falls in love with the Na'vi princess and leads the bird-riding, bow-and-arrow-shooting aliens to victory over the white men's spaceships and mega-robots.
Adding to the racial dynamic is that the main Na'vi characters are played by actors of color, led by a Dominican, Zoe Saldana, as the princess. The film also is an obvioascii117s metaphor for how Eascii117ropean settlers in America wiped oascii117t the Indians.
Robinne Lee, an actress in sascii117ch recent films as 'Seven Poascii117nds' and 'Hotel for Dogs,' said that 'Avatar' was 'beaascii117tifascii117l' and that she ascii117nderstood the economic logic of casting a white lead if most of the aascii117dience is white.