The Way of Water: From Jake to the Metkayina, an Omaticaya Cabibbo in a New Subculture of Reef People

Ultimately, though, “The Way of Water” melts away any skepticism that it might be too late or too long in its return to Pandora. For a franchise that popularized the line “I see you,” the director has created a sequel that truly deserves to be seen, not from the comfort of the couch, but on the biggest screen you can find.

In addition, “The Way of Water” introduces an entirely new Na’vi subculture of reef people, with their own evolutionary adaptations and remarkable fauna with which they bond, wedding the original to Cameron’s well-documented love of the ocean and its exploration, an impulse he’s been indulging since “Titanic” a quarter-century ago.

Jake Sully was dispatched to the moon as part of an imperialist mission in the original film. There, he inhabits a new body that mimics the appearance of the Na’vi, the blue humanoid species indigenous to this new environment. As Sully bonds with the Na’vi and falls in love with princess Neytiri, he’s forced to choose between both worlds. In the sequel, the Omaticaya clan are once again fighting the Humans in order to protect their culture from the colonizers.

Jake explains in his introduction that happiness is simple, until thesky people return to again lay siege to their paradise, this time motivated by a “WALL-E”-type dilemma that involves having polluted Earth beyond habitability, making the commander of this mission.

Out of concern for protecting his family, which Jake repeatedly describes as a father’s primary mission, he chooses to seek refuge with the aforementioned water clan, the Metkayina. He finds a more receptive greeting from their king (Cliff Curtis) than their queen (Kate Winslet, in what can be described as a “‘Titanic’ reunion” in more ways than one).

Fleeing, of course, will only delay the seemingly inevitable showdown, but it offers a chance to introduce a rich new culture as well as expose both parents and their progeny to the adjustment their new surroundings require. The children, in particular, must grapple with the personalities and pettiness associated with becoming the new kids on the reef.

The Avatar of Sully: Discovery and Reconciliation from the Early Years of the “Avatar” Franchise in a Scenario with James Cameron

The simplicity of the story provides license to indulge in the dazzling visuals and state-of-the-art performance-capture techniques, which despite fewer human characters this time around prove authentic enough that it almost never feels as if you’re watching an animated film.

Similarly, the sequences that are extended for long stretches are seldom dull, with one exception being the final battle, during which the opponents keep piling on threats and escapes that could have been truncated or tightened.

That note amounts to a quibble, though, with a film that brings a full-throated roar to celebrating theatrical movie-going as a singular experience, practically daring the viewer to resist its muscularity and power.

The property which was produced under Fox and is now part of Disney has changed a lot since James CAMERON introduced the Na’vi.

There are people who called for a boycott of the film and there are people who compiled a list of Indigenous-led sci-fi. Countless others have also weighed in with their own complaints, with some – including Begay – calling out remarks made by Cameron in earlier interviews.

The series isn’t subtle in its anti-colonial, anti imperialist and environmentalist themes, as has been previously stated by director James Cameron, who refers to the first film as a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period

The center of Sully is a missed opportunity as his outsider status is a very close match to White settlers.

He said by involving more Indigenous people at all levels of production, it might have been possible for him to tell a truer story to the audience.

“It’s a level of arrogance once again that a White filmmaker can just somehow tell a story that’s based on Indigenous peoples better than Indigenous peoples ever could,” she added.

She said that she is in talks with Disney about how to avoid the pitfalls of the previous two films of the “Avatar” franchise.

“It’s based on what James Cameron’s notion is of what he thinks Indigenous history is, what he thinks Indigenous culture is,” she said. People think that we are a monolith. What it does is flatten who Indigenous peoples are, what Indigenous cultures, language, practices are.”

Part of the outrage around the sequel has also stemmed from recently resurfaced comments that Cameron made in 2010 to The Guardian as he joined the Xingu people in the Amazon in their fight against a dam project. It was while watching Indigenous ceremonies in the Amazon that he was compelled to ponder the plight of Native peoples in North America.

At the time, he said that he felt as if he was 130 years back in time, when the Lakota were being asked to relocate and be given some form of compensation. “This was a driving force for me in the writing of Avatar – I couldn’t help but think that if (the Lakota Sioux) had had a time-window and they could see the future… and they could see their kids committing suicide at the highest suicide rates in the nation… because they were hopeless and they were a dead-end society – which is what is happening now – they would have fought a lot harder.”

The British Prime Minister said that it was important to listen and be sensitive to people’s issues when responding to criticism of the movie.

“It’s not up to me, speaking from a perspective of White privilege, if you will, to tell them that they’re wrong,” he said of his critics. It has validity. It’s pointless to say, “That was never my intention.”

Rhonda Lucy: Making Your Own: The Toronto Indigenous Filmmakers Collective and Sun Raven Arts collectives in the Light of their Work, Their Critique and Their Analogues

Rhonda Lucy is the founder of Toronto Indigenous Filmmakers Collective as well as the media production company Sun Raven Arts.

“I live that reality. Lucy said that her community lived this reality. Why would I want to give them the small amount of money to use to show me what I really think about them?

But while she understands and shares in the criticism, she hopes that Indigenous creatives will take this as a sign to develop their own ambitious projects.

“We have a whole bunch of nerds in our community who love writing and creative writing and doing so much sci-fi,” she said. I hope our people leave all of the stuff in the dust and say we made our own.