{"id":24226,"date":"2026-01-07T06:09:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T14:09:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/?p=24226"},"modified":"2026-01-13T18:40:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T02:40:18","slug":"avatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/avatar\/","title":{"rendered":"Avatar"},"content":{"rendered":"[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]

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Still of Oona Chaplin as Varang in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash.\u201d | Photo from @entertainmentweekly on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Jan 7. 2026 | Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor<\/p>\n

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James Cameron created perhaps one of the greatest fictional worlds in cinematic history when he introduced moviegoers to Pandora in his 2009 film \u201cAvatar.\u201d While the director is best known for his 1997 historical romance \u201cTitanic,\u201d his true pet project is the \u201cAvatar\u201d universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a 2022 interview for the \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d press tour, Cameron revealed the idea came to him in a dream when he was 19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up after dreaming of this kind of bioluminescent forest with these trees that look kind of like fiber-optic lamps and this river that was glowing (with) bioluminescent particles and kind of purple moss on the ground that lit up when you walked on it,\u201d Cameron said in the interview. \u201cIt was all in the dream. I woke up super excited, and I actually drew it. So I actually have a drawing. It saved us from about 10 lawsuits. Any successful film, there\u2019s always some freak with tinfoil under their wig that thinks you\u2019ve beamed the idea out of their head. And it turned out there were 10 or 11 of them. And so I pointed at this drawing I did when I was 19.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The franchise\u2019s titular film, \u201cAvatar,\u201d broke records when it first appeared in box offices. It was the highest-grossing film ever \u2014 until \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d usurped it in 2019 \u2014 and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2010, following the success of his movie, Cameron announced that two more movies were set to follow, with the first of these sequels initially slated for a 2014 release. However, Cameron did not feel underwater filming technology was advanced enough for the direction he wanted to take the sequel, so it was delayed until December 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d became as big a success as its older sister. It was the highest grossing movie of 2022, earning $2.02 billion globally, and is currently the third-highest-grossing movie of all time. With \u201cAvatar,\u201d \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d and \u201cTitanic\u201d sitting in the first, third and fourth spots, respectively \u2014 \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d still holds second \u2014 James Cameron sits second in the list of highest-grossing directors, only $1.3 billion behind Steven Spielberg.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 2025 saw the release of \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d which picked up immediately where \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d left off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The film follows Jake Sully and his family as they defend their lush world from the Resources Development Agency and its privatized military SecOps. Sam Worthington, Zoe Salda\u00f1a and Stephen Lang reprise their roles as Sully, Neytiri and Colonel Miles Quaritch, with most of the cast from \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d returning. The film also introduces Varang \u2014 played by Oona Chaplin, best known for her role as Talisa Maegyr in \u201cA Game of Thrones\u201d \u2014 the Tsa\u2019hik of the Mangkwan Clan, and Peylak \u2014 played by David Thewlis, best known for his role as Remus Lupin in the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d franchise \u2014 the leader of the Na\u2019vi Wind Traders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Water, fire, wind? This is starting to sound a lot like \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d In fact, a lot of times, when someone mentions \u201cAvatar,\u201d there\u2019s always the clarification: \u201cthe one that controls the elements or the blue cat people?\u201d What started as a joke about sharing a name has now shaped into two franchises being near-mirror images of each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Metkayina Clan, which was introduced in \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d bears an eerie resemblance to the Water Tribe in \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d They\u2019re isolationists, deeply spiritual and, of course, associated with the ocean. The only difference, however, is that the Metkayina Clan does not control the element they are associated with. The Mangkwan Clan, which is associated with fire \u2014 actually controlling it in a way in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d \u2014 and which turns on their own kind? Well, that\u2019s almost twin to the Fire Nation. Even the Wind Traders are similar to the Air Nomads: never staying in one place and wearing orange, monk-style robes. Both franchises are also based on various indigenous cultures.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not as bad as it seems. Both franchises rely heavily on similar tropes and premises.<\/span><\/p>\n

For one, color-coding elements. Fire is red, which is seen in the Fire Nation\u2019s clothing and the Mangkwan Clan\u2019s war paint, and aggressive, which is shared by both groups\u2019 desire to conquer their world. Water is blue and is associated with spirituality \u2014 the Metkayina are the most spiritual of the Na\u2019vi clans, just like the Water Tribe. Air has flow and cannot be contained, which is seen in the Air Nomads and the Wind Traders, who each never stay in one place. Even the Omaticaya, the forest-dwelling Clan to which Sully and Neytiri belong, is similar to the Earth Kingdom in the sense that both groups are grounded and deeply connected to their element.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, fire is red and aggressive, water is blue and flowing, air is free-willed and cannot be tied down and earth is grounded and holds a deep connection to the surrounding world. These are all associations that the elements have naturally. After all, every zodiac sign has an element it best fits with.<\/span><\/p>\n

And being based on indigenous cultures? Well, natives are just like that. We\u2019re cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a more serious note, indigenous peoples share many commonalities with one another. We all have fought against oppressors and colonizers in our histories. We are all deeply connected with the world around us. Our stories are compelling, even today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar\u201d is, of course, not without its critics. A lot of people believe the films fit into the white-savior trope, where a white person assimilates into a native population and ends up saving them. Others feel like it is the noble savage trope, where the indigenous peoples are portrayed as morally superior and uncorruptible. Still others see it as a romanticized view of colonization.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a native woman, I don\u2019t see these movies as any of those, but some indigenous peoples do see them like that. It is all based on perspective. I think they are a love letter to the indigenous peoples who have been on this world since time immemorial and survived despite war and genocide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar\u201d and \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, where \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d will also be released once it leaves theaters.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Still of Oona Chaplin as Varang in \u201cAvatar: Fire and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1645,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"Avatar","_seopress_titles_desc":"Students gathered outside of the Werner University Center in counter-protesting efforts.","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"\n

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Still of Oona Chaplin as Varang in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash.\u201d | Photo from @entertainmentweekly on Instagram<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jan 7. 2025 | Jaylin Emond-Hardin | Entertainment Editor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

James Cameron created perhaps one of the greatest fictional worlds in cinematic history when he introduced moviegoers to Pandora in his 2009 film \u201cAvatar.\u201d While the director is best known for his 1997 historical romance \u201cTitanic,\u201d his true pet project is the \u201cAvatar\u201d universe.<\/span><\/p>\n

In a 2022 interview for the \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d press tour, Cameron revealed the idea came to him in a dream when he was 19.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up after dreaming of this kind of bioluminescent forest with these trees that look kind of like fiber-optic lamps and this river that was glowing (with) bioluminescent particles and kind of purple moss on the ground that lit up when you walked on it,\u201d Cameron said in the interview. \u201cIt was all in the dream. I woke up super excited, and I actually drew it. So I actually have a drawing. It saved us from about 10 lawsuits. Any successful film, there\u2019s always some freak with tinfoil under their wig that thinks you\u2019ve beamed the idea out of their head. And it turned out there were 10 or 11 of them. And so I pointed at this drawing I did when I was 19.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The franchise\u2019s titular film, \u201cAvatar,\u201d broke records when it first appeared in box offices. It was the highest-grossing film ever \u2014 until \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d usurped it in 2019 \u2014 and won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. In 2010, following the success of his movie, Cameron announced that two more movies were set to follow, with the first of these sequels initially slated for a 2014 release. However, Cameron did not feel underwater filming technology was advanced enough for the direction he wanted to take the sequel, so it was delayed until December 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d became as big a success as its older sister. It was the highest grossing movie of 2022, earning $2.02 billion globally, and is currently the third-highest-grossing movie of all time. With \u201cAvatar,\u201d \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d and \u201cTitanic\u201d sitting in the first, third and fourth spots, respectively \u2014 \u201cAvengers: Endgame\u201d still holds second \u2014 James Cameron sits second in the list of highest-grossing directors, only $1.3 billion behind Steven Spielberg.<\/span><\/p>\n

December 2025 saw the release of \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash,\u201d which picked up immediately where \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d left off.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The film follows Jake Sully and his family as they defend their lush world from the Resources Development Agency and its privatized military SecOps. Sam Worthington, Zoe Salda\u00f1a and Stephen Lang reprise their roles as Sully, Neytiri and Colonel Miles Quaritch, with most of the cast from \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d returning. The film also introduces Varang \u2014 played by Oona Chaplin, best known for her role as Talisa Maegyr in \u201cA Game of Thrones\u201d \u2014 the Tsa\u2019hik of the Mangkwan Clan, and Peylak \u2014 played by David Thewlis, best known for his role as Remus Lupin in the \u201cHarry Potter\u201d franchise \u2014 the leader of the Na\u2019vi Wind Traders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Water, fire, wind? This is starting to sound a lot like \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d In fact, a lot of times, when someone mentions \u201cAvatar,\u201d there\u2019s always the clarification: \u201cthe one that controls the elements or the blue cat people?\u201d What started as a joke about sharing a name has now shaped into two franchises being near-mirror images of each other.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Metkayina Clan, which was introduced in \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water,\u201d bears an eerie resemblance to the Water Tribe in \u201cAvatar: The Last Airbender.\u201d They\u2019re isolationists, deeply spiritual and, of course, associated with the ocean. The only difference, however, is that the Metkayina Clan does not control the element they are associated with. The Mangkwan Clan, which is associated with fire \u2014 actually controlling it in a way in \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d \u2014 and which turns on their own kind? Well, that\u2019s almost twin to the Fire Nation. Even the Wind Traders are similar to the Air Nomads: never staying in one place and wearing orange, monk-style robes. Both franchises are also based on various indigenous cultures.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it\u2019s not as bad as it seems. Both franchises rely heavily on similar tropes and premises.<\/span><\/p>\n

For one, color-coding elements. Fire is red, which is seen in the Fire Nation\u2019s clothing and the Mangkwan Clan\u2019s war paint, and aggressive, which is shared by both groups\u2019 desire to conquer their world. Water is blue and is associated with spirituality \u2014 the Metkayina are the most spiritual of the Na\u2019vi clans, just like the Water Tribe. Air has flow and cannot be contained, which is seen in the Air Nomads and the Wind Traders, who each never stay in one place. Even the Omaticaya, the forest-dwelling Clan to which Sully and Neytiri belong, is similar to the Earth Kingdom in the sense that both groups are grounded and deeply connected to their element.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, fire is red and aggressive, water is blue and flowing, air is free-willed and cannot be tied down and earth is grounded and holds a deep connection to the surrounding world. These are all associations that the elements have naturally. After all, every zodiac sign has an element it best fits with.<\/span><\/p>\n

And being based on indigenous cultures? Well, natives are just like that. We\u2019re cool.<\/span><\/p>\n

On a more serious note, indigenous peoples share many commonalities with one another. We all have fought against oppressors and colonizers in our histories. We are all deeply connected with the world around us. Our stories are compelling, even today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar\u201d is, of course, not without its critics. A lot of people believe the films fit into the white-savior trope, where a white person assimilates into a native population and ends up saving them. Others feel like it is the noble savage trope, where the indigenous peoples are portrayed as morally superior and uncorruptible. Still others see it as a romanticized view of colonization.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a native woman, I don\u2019t see these movies as any of those, but some indigenous peoples do see them like that. It is all based on perspective. I think they are a love letter to the indigenous peoples who have been on this world since time immemorial and survived despite war and genocide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAvatar\u201d and \u201cAvatar: The Way of Water\u201d are currently streaming on Disney+ and Hulu, where \u201cAvatar: Fire and Ash\u201d will also be released once it leaves theaters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/span><\/p>\n","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-entertainment"],"modified_by":"saragerrick","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1645"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24273,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24226\/revisions\/24273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}