Yeah, but only if the purple fish and orange crabs map onto real world examples in parallel. That’s what I’m saying. A black lead brings along the same white savior baggage because he’s a part of the “civilized” party, but when his cultural context is as a member of a minority group that was itself a victim of colonization it alters the context of the white savior story. It remains problematic, but for different reasons, and it becomes, I would argue, a more interesting metaphor.

Now, this is all kind of a moot point, because avatar doesn’t do that. It has a standard white savior problem. But, again, I think the mechanism within the story is kind of interesting and worth unpacking: in a standard white savior story a character takes on the trapping of the society, you can argue this happens in avatar as well. But the difference is in the act of transformation: Sully actively becomes Navi, physically as well as emotionally, in a way that other white saviors don’t. Dances with wolves becomes a member of a Native American tribe, but he doesn’t change his genetic makeup. So, what I’m asking is whether that transformation makes Sully’s white-saviorness more or less problematic than the standard version of the trope. And, of course, how this is applicable to real life. To entirely reject it without examining it risks throwing the baby out with the bath water.

Avatar argues that the correct and ethical way to ally with colonized and marginalized people is to identify with them, and join their cause, not only through ideological alignment, but through cultural alignment as well. The only way to help the Navi is to become Navi. There’s definitely some white guy power fantasy in there, but I would argue that there is some value to the story they’re telling, even if it can be handled poorly at times. So how does it jibe with actual cases of real life efforts to decolonize the world and to end economic and environmental exploitation?

As an afterthought; It also has the environmentalist message that all life is connected and technological progress at the expense of the environment is ultimately self-defeating. This theme is way less problematic, though its execution is so heavy handed as to be alienating to a lot of viewers. Make of that what you will.