The Banal Spectacle of "Avatar: Fire and Ash"

"(Courtesy of Disney) James Cameron's latest Avatar movie opens with a scene of innocent wonder. Two young brothers soar through the air on winged beasts, taking in the vertiginous views of their majestic home world. Both are Na'Vi, lithe bipedal inhabitants of the verdant moon Pandora introduced back in 2009 in the series' first entry. The boys experience Pandora as a playground, its psychedelic flora and fauna a boundless source of delight. The catch is that one of the brothers is dead."

"The shared flight is possible only because a ritual (and literal) connection to nature and their world's shared memory allows the living one, Lo'ak (Brian Dalton), to commune with his older sibling, Neteyam (Jamie Flatters). For the Na'Vi, the environment is kindred, so much so that a special organ lets them link to the planet itself. That bond, and the transcendental encounters it makes possible, are threatened in Avatar: Fire and Ash."

"These themes-war, grief, colonization, environmental calamity-are the stuff of epics, but Cameron can't escape bland allegory. The Na'Vi, already a thin puree of New Age woo-woo and stereotypical indigeneity, get further diluted in Fire and Ash. In an attempt to complicate his noble savages, Cameron introduces ignoble ones: the Ash people, a group of pyromaniac Na'Vi who've turned against their kind because their village was destroyed by a volcanic eruption."

Avatar: Fire and Ash opens with two Na'Vi brothers soaring on winged beasts; one brother is dead, and a ritual connection allows Lo'ak to commune with him. The Na'Vi possess an organ that links individuals to the planet's shared memory and environment. The Sully family must mourn Neteyam while preparing to fight escalating warfare between spacefaring humans and the Na'Vi. Central themes include war, grief, colonization, and environmental calamity. The Na'Vi portrayal mixes New Age elements and stereotypical indigeneity. New antagonists, the Ash people—pyromaniac Na'Vi whose village was destroyed by a volcanic eruption—ally with humans, creating both internal and external threats to Pandora.

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