Director James Cameron is facing allegations of Native American and Indigenous cultural appropriation over the themes and imagery in his latest blockbuster, Avatar: The Way of Water.

The follow-up to his 2009 film Avatar, which is the highest-grossing movie in history, opened this past weekend at No. 1 at the box office. Like its predecessor, the sequel centers on a story about colonizers taking over land from tribes. In Cameron's telling, the colonizers are humans who need a new inhabitable planet because Earth's resources are becoming increasingly depleted.

Also like its predecessor, the new Avatar film is being accused of using an amalgamation of the histories of various Indigenous cultures for a film that features a largely white cast. (Notable exceptions in the casting include Zoe Saldaña, a Black Latina actress, and Cliff Curtis, who is of Maori descent.)

Among those upset by Cameron's film is Yuè Begay, a Native American influencer and co-chair of Indigenous Pride L.A.

"Do NOT watch Avatar: The Way of Water," Begay wrote on Twitter on Sunday. "Join Natives & other Indigenous groups around the world in boycotting this horrible & racist film."

Begay also said that Indigenous "cultures were appropriated in a harmful manner" to satisfy a white man's "savior complex."

Elsewhere in her post, Begay referenced a 2010 Cameron interview in The Guardian with Cameron. Other social media users have also cited the interview and its "dead-end society" remark, which caused controversy for the Canadian filmmaker when it was first published.

In the interview, Cameron described visiting the Brazilian Xingu people in the Amazon and spoke of the Native American inspiration for making the first Avatar.

"This was a driving force for me in the writing of Avatar—I couldn't help but think that if they [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," Cameron told The Guardian.

Begay also wrote in her post, "No more Blueface!"

The term "blueface" emerged after allegations of appropriation followed the release of the first Avatar, and its use is similar to using the terms "blackface" or "yellow face."

When fighting a legal claim that he stole the idea of Avatar, Cameron even said directly that its story came from Indigenous history.

"Avatar is a science fiction retelling of the history of North and South America in the early colonial period," read a section of a legal document Cameron filed, which was published by Business Insider in 2012. "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."

Another Twitter user whose critiques of Avatar have gained attention is Autumn Asher BlackDeer, an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Social Work at the University of Denver.

"Why watch a ridiculous movie about blue aliens when you could just support actual Indigenous people and our struggle for clean water here on Earth? Yes, we do exist," BlackDeer wrote. She followed up with a thread listing sci-fi films made by Indigenous people.

While many people indicated support for the boycott calls, Avatar does have plenty of messages of support, including some from people who identify as Indigenous.

"I'm a "native" (just an indigenous person) and Avatar is good," one Twitter user wrote in part. "The movies are versatile enough for the general public to swallow the big pill of talk around colonization."

Newsweek reached out to a representative for Cameron and 20th Century Studios for comment.

Uncommon Knowledge

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.

");jQuery(this).remove()}) jQuery('.start-slider').owlCarousel({loop:!1,margin:10,nav:!0,items:1}).on('changed.owl.carousel',function(event){var currentItem=event.item.index;var totalItems=event.item.count;if(currentItem===0){jQuery('.owl-prev').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-prev').removeClass('disabled')} if(currentItem===totalItems-1){jQuery('.owl-next').addClass('disabled')}else{jQuery('.owl-next').removeClass('disabled')}})}})})

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7r7HWrK6enZtjsLC5jpqtmqyRp3qnrcKeqmabkaG5tHnBqLCcp6SperDCxKtkmpuTqsCiwMiopaxlopawqr%2FMZmhwbmhnfng%3D