The original ending of Fire And Ash

This article contains minor spoilers for “Avatar: Fire and Ashes”.

In James Cameron’s successful “Avatar” film series, the filmmaker uses cinematic violence as a means of achieving, according to him, a form of cultural justice. The aliens at the center of the series, the Na’vi, stand in for a number of indigenous tribes around the world who were historically wiped out by colonialism. Cameron has stated in interviews that the Na’vi were inspired by the Lakota Sioux and that the central Na’vi character, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), was inspired by Pocahontas. The director’s solution to all this was to send a white soldier named Jake (Sam Worthington) to the Na’vi tribes – his consciousness transformed into a Na’vi clone body – to become their savior. Jake realized the peace of the Na’vi and eventually became a soldier on their behalf. He would unite the Na’vi against the human colonizers and eventually become a Na’vi permanently.

Of course, there is an irony at the center of this story. Cameron’s films all culminate with giant battles, with the Na’vi taking up arms against a herd of human war machines, and hundreds of people/Na’vi dying. Cameron uses action movie language to extol the virtues of a pacifist, nature-connected philosophy. Indeed, Jake begins “Avatar: Fire and Ash” recover weapons from the seabed of Pandora, left there from the action climax of the previous film. If Jake loves the peaceful Na’vi, why is he still teaching his sons how to use machine guns? Why does he still think like a Marine?

In a new interview with The NationalCameron admitted he needed to rethink the ending of “Fire and Ash” when he realized Jake needed to learn to put down the guns, not pick them up again.

Part of the plot of “Fire and Ash” sees rival Marine, Colonel Quaritch (Stephen Lang)teaming up with the evil and violent Varang (Oona Chaplin), a Na’vi who cares more about conquest and destruction than peace. Quaritch, also in a Na’vi corps, offers Varang his military support, inducting his tribe into the human fighting forces. The climax of “Fire and Ash” sees many members of the Fire Tribe firing machine guns at Jake and his family. Jake, meanwhile, enlisted the help of several Na’vi tribes to fight back with arrows, spears, and specially trained intelligent attack monsters.

It appears that in an early version of his script, Cameron wrote for Jake to return fire with his own machine guns. It wasn’t until he was in production on the film that Cameron realized he was essentially repeating some of the story’s grossest mistakes. Indeed, he realized that he was simply writing a story about white oppressors arming various native tribes and hoping that they would destroy each other in violent wars. As Cameron said:

“When you watch the movie, you probably think, ‘Oh, absolutely, [Jake] must go and fulfill his destiny. […] But actually, I did all that in post-production. […] At some point it hit me; this corresponds to colonial history. […] Arming tribes and pitting them against each other is actually not a good thing. This was part of the genocide of indigenous people in North America. I can’t let Jake do the same thing.”

Once he realized this, Cameron began furiously rewriting his film.

It’s worth remembering that Cameron shot “Fire and Ash” at the same time as its predecessor, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” So when he was filming “The Way of Water,” his “Fire and Ashes” script was undergoing massive changes based directly on Cameron’s moral dilemma. And he was OK with DIY. I’m not precious about what I’ve written,” Cameron said. “I’m constantly questioning it. I see the whole post-production phase as a kind of rewriting.”

This, however, led Cameron to struggle with the very notion of pacifism. The “Avatar” films feature a species of hyperintelligent whales called Tulkun who actually live by a philosophy of total pacifism and who refuse to commit acts of violence. In Cameron’s storyline, however, the pacifist whales are convinced to fight by Jake’s son Lo’ak (Britain Dalton). This leaves the themes a bit complex in terms of the perception of violence. Is fighting a good or bad thing? Cameron admits, however:

“I don’t have all the answers. […] I do not claim to be Gandhi or a great philosopher. But I have difficulty understanding when armed conflict is justified. […] The Toulkoun have a pacifist mentality, which lasts until the moment you are going to be exterminated. […] This pacifism was based on their history, which did not involve a massively superior invading force. »

So, for Cameron, he believes that pacifism is preferable, but that it cannot persist in a violent world. The pacifist message is not really well thought out. “Star Trek” is not.