Pandora — The World of Avatar & The Humanoid Zoo
Racist and Colonial Themes in Disney’s Animal Kingdom
James Cameron’s 2009 film, Avatar, was a cultural phenomenon. Amongst fears of climate change and as the United States began reckoning with its past, Avatar found a way to piece through these themes and speak to its audience in a way that both reassured it and spurred it to some sort of action.
The stunning CGI visuals behind 3D glasses dazzled viewers and made many wonder what a world so green and full of life may be like. This realization that they would not actually experience the moon of Pandora deep in space rippled into an actual mental health epidemic known as the “Avatar blues” or the “Pandora Effect”.
Sufferers of this mental illness felt anguish at their inability to leave this dying planet and live life instead in the blue bodies of the Na’vi in the lush jungles of Pandora. A new problem had arisen, which unsurprisingly instigated the market to provide a solution. Enter in: Pandora — The World of Avatar at Animal Kingdom and its racist undertones.
CONTROVERSY OVER THE FILM
The film Avatar already had its host of issues. The narrative follows a white man (Jake Sulley) who simultaneously gets to be the hero as well as the near-downfall of Na’vi…
