The plot is clear. Just figure out that a Pandora blue inhabitant is an extra-terrestrial, then pure anagramming gives you: Na'vi ET = native. Avatar main plot is thus a basic western, just like Star Wars. Na'vis worship Nature, lives in tribes; with their bows and arrows they could impersonate fierce Indian Americans quite well, against (mostly) white exploiters.Could it be called SciFi then? Utopia related for sure, oscillating between a green-powered tale (Heal the world...) and a Second Life warning (You walk into your dreams) with the humorous "un-obtain-ium", an difficult-to-obtain element akin to Thomas More negative places (u-topia, a-maurote). So the script is a bit more interesting than the basic plot.
Yet, although termed Cameron's long awaited child, the story is very reminiscent of both Ursula Le Guin The word for world is forest [1972/1976] (on the green side) and Poul Anderson Call me Joe [1957] (on the wheelchair side). Or simply Pocahontas? What is left in the box is Hope.
Do You Speak Na'vi? Giving Voice To 'Avatar' Aliens:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121350582
Evoking Natives in Avatar:
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/2009/12/evoking-natives-in-avatar.htm
Avatar' and the Culture of the Na'vi:
http://www.scifisquad.com/2009/12/18/avatar-and-the-culture-of-the-navi/
