The highly anticipated sequel to James Cameron's Avatar has received criticism from critics and audiences due to its Westernised portrayal of colonialism and First People.
The sequel, Avatar: The Way of the Water was finally released on Dec 16.
While the film has received positive reviews from critics, some critics and audiences have called the film out for its inaccurate portrayal and appropriation of Māori culture.
WARNING: This article may contain spoilers for Avatar: The Way of the Water.
In 2015, Cameron was accused by visual effects artist Gerald Morawski who claimed he stole the idea from him. Cameron in turn provided a declaration as to how the came about the film.
"Avatar is a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South American in the early colonial period," the statement read.
"Avatar very pointedly made reference to the colonial period in the Americas, with all its conflict and bloodshed between the military aggressors from Europe and the Indigenous peoples.
"Europe equals Earth. The Native Americans are the Na'vi. It's not meant to be subtle."
At the time this stirred up criticism as despite Cameron's inspiration, there were no First Nation actors cast in the original movie.
Additionally, in an interview with The Guardian in 2010, Cameron referred to the Lakota Sioux Nation as "hopeless" and "dead-end society".
In the newest sequel, a new group of people on Pandora are introduced to viewers. The Metkayina reef people who were inspired by the Māori.
The chief of the Metkayina people is portrayed by Māori, Te Arawa and Ngati Hauiti actor, Cliff Curtis. While Roxto is portrayed by Māori actor Duane Evans Jr.
Curtis himself told NewsHub he has never been so excited about for his whanau to see him in a role.
"I get too over-enthusiastic about it. I've never been this excited about something I've worked on, in terms of exceeding my own expectations of what's possible and what we do in cinema - it's that great to me," he said.
"I can't wait for my kids to see it, I can't wait for the audience to discover it and to experience it on a visceral level."
Reactions from some Indigenous viewers online are positive.
Spoiler 🚨: the reef people in the new avatar preform the haka. There's a lot of connections and representation of Māori culture and I love it.
— Burgandy Barboza (@BurgandyBarboza) December 22, 2022
I'm defs gonna watch Avatar 2 again. Depiction of water people is based of our Polynesian people - specific parallels to Maori in particular. Story really hit me in the feels.. 2nd time around I'll be less emotive lol and pay more attention to detail… 9/10
— Lolo Fusitu'a (@lolofusitua) December 22, 2022
However others are unhappy there are so few non-white actors in the film.
Another criticism which arose suggested the main character Jake Sully, played by Caucasian actor Sam Worthington represented a 'white saviour complex' where his white character was the one responsible for rescuing the people of colour from danger.
what if a producer just gave a Maori-inspired project like this to an actual Indigenous filmmaker & we had an actual Indigenous filmmaker tell the story instead of a story told through the lens of a white guy updating colonial western movie tropes? #avatar https://t.co/DlZS6hgVgm
— Lydia Jennings, Ph.D. (@1NativeSoilNerd) December 21, 2022
It's important that if James Cameron uses Māori and other Indigenous cultures as inspiration for Avatar that they give some of the money they're making to revitalise our cultures amongst our people.
— Te Matahiapo (@HynesSafari) December 22, 2022
Avatar should have stopped at the first movie, because honestly the only people that *need* this movie are those in the infancy stage of their understanding of colonial history who still feel tied to the concept of a White Saviour.
— Jay-Ann Lopez ✨manifesting ✨ (@jayannlopez_) December 19, 2022
One viewer, Cheney Poole from Otautahi, Aotearoa (Christchurch, New Zealand) said the sequel was an example of the romanticization of colonisation.
"It very much romanticizes the idea of what not only Māori are going through but many Indigenous cultures around the world and almost downplays the suffering," Poole told Washington Post.
For a sequel 13 years in the making, and following one of the highest grossing movies of all time, its release has been full of mixed criticisms which might throw a spanner in the works for Cameron's initial plan for a five-movie series.
Avatar: The Way of the Water is in cinemas now.
