I am old enough to remember the days when any Western had the obligatory

Indian hordes riding in whooping, shooting their arrows and occasional

guns, only to be beaten back by the cavalry arriving at the last minute and

saving the invariably white, civilization-bearing good guys.  The film

Exodus was essentially of the same theme 〓 only it was the Jews who were

the good guys and the Palestinians who were the bad guys.  This was

eventually followed by movies like Dance with Wolves introducing the

doubting Thomas white guy who eventually turns “native” 〓 but probably

eventually perishes for that perfidy. 

Well, in Avatar the bows and arrows wielding Na’vi (who actually look

remarkably like the “Injuns” or yore) actually manages to beat back the

civilization-bearing guys for a change, with the help of the doubting Thomas

white guy.  The film is also interspersed with liberal doses of

(unacknowledged) gaia themes from Hayao Miyazaki’s animation epic

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.  Okay, with Nausicaa