In his blockbuster quintessence of Hollywood leftism and romantic primitivism – Avatar – James Cameron shows the whole planet population as les bon sauvages – the noble savages. A bunch of tree huggers who even killing their food ethically, with apologies to the victim, though ex post facto.
Well, the Bon Sauvage and the romantic primitivism are as old as our civilization. In any times there will be rather naive people who think that progress, social evolution and civilization itself are killing something good, naturally noble and spiritual in us. So James Cameron is not the only one and not the last one. Le mythe du bon sauvage will be rewritten many times in the future. But lets get back to Avatar.
In the movie there is a scene when Le Mythe is fading for a second and indigenous bloodthirsty nature reveals itself. In the moment when Neytiri is telling about Na’vi social traditions we are getting one important message: only those who successfully accomplished a set of pretty tough exams can become a member of Na’vi society. The fate of failed ones is not uttered but rather transparent. At that moment we’ve seen cute black bald kittehs. We know who cares about that les miserables in the jungle by night.
There are no cripples among the Na’vi, even their elders are not so old and quite lively. And the Humans as a contrast: movie’s main character is a cripple with both legs paralyzed, Sigourney Weaver’s nerd team are brainiac pussies who will never pass the Na’vi exams. On Pandora their natural role is to be a helpless food for wild animals.
One of the most important things that differs civilized men from indigenous savages is how the society treats its failed members: cripples, criminals, bankrupts.