Why ‘Avatar’ really IS fantasy

A number of commentators have noted how 'Avatar' is an allegory for modern times. That’s to say, a so-called 'primitive' tribe, in this case the Na’vi, has its land invaded by a company, the RDA corporation, eager to exploit a valuable natural resource, 'unobtanium', on its land.

This is a situation many indigenous people could relate to. All around the world, from Africa to Asia to the Americas, their territories are being invaded by companies with all the kinds of tricks and dirty treats that the RDA has up its sleeves - and many more.

So why, despite the allegory, is 'Avatar' a fantasy after all? Because the Na’vi win and the RDA loses: the 'unobtanium' remains unobtainable. Because more often than not, over the last 500 years or so, it is the tribe which has lost and the company that has won: the 'unobtainium' has been anything but.

This is a largely unwritten history which many people in western Europe and the US are completely unaware of. Millions and millions have been killed in the scramble for resources - and the killing continues today. This isn’t the history they teach us at school.

That’s not to say 'Avatar' can’t act as a wake-up call for citizens in countries where companies like the RDA are based. It can. And it’s not to say that indigenous people around the world don’t sometimes repel companies from their land. They do. Only not as 'simply' as the Na'vi do.