2 responses
I think that there will be productions of “white” movies like Avatar until other races (like African American, Hispanic, and Asian) are not considered minorities. In class, we talked about how people have grown so accustom to movies with a Caucasian main character that they need that reassurance from him that other non-white characters are “OK”.
I think one of the reasons why we’re so reassured by a character with a certain race is because we’re constantly surrounded by classifications of race; one example is on SAT tests (and the PLAN test). There is always a little square that asks you to bubble in your race. There are only a couple options, so if you don’t fit in any of the given choices, you are forced to fill in the ambiguous “Other” bubble. To me, the term “Other” is a little strange. When I think of the word “other” used to describe race, I think of some weird alien race. The race choices offered aren’t many, which may give test-takers familiarity with only specific "main" races. In addition to standardized tests, there are also many ads/commercials that I see everyday that have white spokespeople. When I turn on the TV, I rarely see a commercial with non-Caucasian people. It’s so common for us to classify people in races and be influenced (with TV, ads, music videos) by white people that it would probably scare us if movies suddenly started from the perspective of Native Americans. Even though non-white races are not not-normal, movies with perspective from a Native American’s POV would seem not normal.

This doesn’t really have to do with the question, but when Avatar came out, a lot of people probably saw that the plot was practically identical to the one from Pocahontas. This website has an interesting comparison between Pocahontas and Avatar.
http://3dvision-blog.com/pocahontas-vs-avatar-a-similar-scenario-or-what-but-...
Also, in addition to having similar scripts, I think it’s funny that the main characters both have initial J.S.
John Smith and Jake Sully.

I believe that people will stop making "white" movies when the public realizes that there are multiple sides to every story. In Avatar, we are shown the other side (the natives' side) but it is through he eyes of the white people. Also, even with the audience being show the other side, only a few characters understand it as well. This not only distances the natives from the white people, but it creates another minority within the white people. When the general public realizes that not all conquests are as black-and-white as civilized nations converting uncivilized nations, people will open up and accept that both sides are equally important.