Avatar is a massive franchise for 20th Century Fox and now Disney, making over $5 billion with just two films. Yet, despite many fans looking at Avatar as the pinnacle of science fiction, it shares much more DNA with a classic Western. Avatar may be a Western in disguise, but it also puts a huge twist on the iconic genre. Avatar’s unique perspective elevates both science fiction and the Western genre.
The Avatar franchise explores the lives of Jake Sully and Neytiri on the alien world of Pandora. Jake Sully is a human who operates an “avatar” of the Na’vi, a humanoid species native to Pandora. Neytiri is a Na’vi and the daughter of the former chief of the Omatikaya clan; together, they became an inseparable duo. While much of the language and setting leans into sci-fi elements, the story takes multiple Western tropes and flips them on their heads.
Avatar’s Story is Built on the Western Genre
Image via 20th Century Fox
It’s obvious to all viewers that Avatar and its sequels are clearly in the sci-fi genre. Faraway worlds, advanced technology, alien species, and the threat of a dying Earth are all characteristics of sci-fi that people know and enjoy. Avatar is so much more than that, and while the trappings of the franchise are science fiction, the core of the story has been built on the Western genre.
Looking beyond the normal Poccohantis comparisons that the first film usually draws, many of the core themes of the first Avatar are deeply Western-inspired. The clear one is that the Na’vi represent the First Nations people that inhabit the American West, and are often unfairly categorized as antagonists in classic Westerns. They fulfill this role not only with their values and admiration for the natural world, but also with how they are visually represented on screen.
The Na’vi only wish to live in harmony with the world of Pandora, happy to live alongside the flora and fauna of the planet. They are all connected to Eywa, the Na’vi deity and the essence of the natural world. In this way, Avatar greatly expands upon the role that First Nations people usually take in Westerns, giving them more of a protagonist role and much more agency in the film.
Another core theme of Westerns is the sense of freedom that many of the films are imbued with. The romanticism of the West is that a person was free to do what they wanted. Free to make a living, free to find justice, and free to find redemption. While this is historically untrue for countless people who were oppressed and faced horrible conditions in the American West, Hollywood has managed to capture that spirit of freedom in numerous films.
Avatar brings that spirit to life through Jake Sully, the former soldier who falls in love with Neytiri, the Na’vi people, and the world of Pandora. Instead of finding that freedom with the Resource Development Administration (RDA), he finds it with Neytiri. Sully fully accepts the world of Pandora, and he finds out the true meaning of freedom and what it means to love the natural world instead of destroying it. This is only one of the ways that the franchise puts a twist on the usual Western tropes.
Along with embodying the themes of Western films, visually, the first film borrows a lot from the genre as well. The bows of the Na’vi, the cavalry charge against the RDA, even the costuming and war cries of the Na’vi all harken back to the Western genre’s portrayal of First Nations people. All these themes and visual cues show the clear signs that the Western genre influenced the first film, but the second film turned that concept on its head.
Avatar: The Way of Water Cements the Franchise’s Biggest Western Twist
Image via 20th Century Fox
The first Avatar somewhat embraced the themes of a Western, yet it remained somewhat anti-Western in the perspective the story was told. If the Na’vi are the First Nations, then that would make the RDA the perverbal cowboys of Avatar. Instead of having Sam Worthington’s Sully become the John Wayne-style role, the story makes Neytiri and her people the true heroes.
This theme is pushed even further in Avatar: The Way of Water. Leading this push is the franchise’s biggest antagonist, Colonel Miles Quaritch. Quaritch hates the Na’vi, hates Jake Sully, and would rather see Pandora and Eywa burn to the ground than give up the hunt for resources and a new world for humanity. In this way, he is a twisted version of John Wayne’s usually heroic gunslingers.
In movies like She Wore a Yellow Ribbon or Wayne’s most popular film, The Searchers, Wayne’s characters are often fighting a war or fulfilling a vendetta against the First Nations of the films. No matter his actions, Wayne’s characters are often seen as “good guys” and a hero. In this way, if Avatar were following a traditional Western, Quaritch and the RDA would be the heroes of the story, bravely fighting to save humanity.
Yet that dynamic is dashed aside completely as Quaritch is seen as a cold-blooded killer. He seeks out the Na’vi, eager to kill them and take their land and resources. The Way of Water makes this even clearer. As Quaritch becomes a version of the Na’vi himself, he still refuses to change how he thinks. Jake Sully’s journey was “anti-Western” because he decided to take on the perspective and beliefs of the First Nations people. Quaritch is the opposite, deciding to continue on his conquest of hate.
The Way of Water pushes the idea of the value of nature and living in balance with it further than the first film. Characters are deeply connected to the ocean and its creatures. Yet, Quaritch murders the natural world without a second thought, thinking only of vengeance. It’s fascinating to see how the typical actions and characteristics of a Western hero are made villainous from a different perspective.
Avatar Tricked Fans Into Falling in Love With a Western
Image via 20th Century Fox
In 2009, no one knew what Avatar was, then it became a cultural phenomenon. In 2022, people assumed no one cared about Avatar anymore, then The Way of Water made over $2 billion worldwide. The franchise has a powerful fanbase and has become an integral piece of the modern cinematic landscape. Yet, most fans likely don’t realize that they have fallen in love with a Western.
Westerns are a hard sell to modern audiences. While the Western TV landscape flourishes, the cinematic Western feels all but dead. Some Neo-Westerns have found new life on the big screen, but a classic John Wayne or Clint Eastwood-style film is all but dead and gone. This is what makes Avatar’s clear affection for the Western, even the parts that put a twist on classic elements, so refreshing.
Westerns were the most popular genre of films for decades, and audiences connected with them for a reason. That familiarity, but with a fresh perspective, has no doubt contributed to Avatar’s success with audiences worldwide. Avatar embraces the best parts of the Western genre, while deconstructing and telling an anti-Western story that puts the more problematic trends in a much more accurate perspective. This bait-and-switch likely tricked many viewers, but it helps to further prove Avatar’sdominance on screen.
