Avatar goes too far visually defining dystopia with disability

Jake Sully’s body is used as a world-building tool. A dystopian Earth is paralleled with a disabled body. 

Saying Jake's body represents what's wrong in society is ableist. This assertion also perpetuates internal ableism by reinforcing the need for disabled people to be the ones who obviously want and need to change. The deeper meaning goes beyond saying the world needs to change its ways to avoid becoming a dystopia. Jake is "someone who does not want to be treated any differently than someone able-bodied. In this way, Jake not only agrees with but also extends the long-standing perception of disabled people as inferior because they need and want help from others. His attitude, we are told later by  Jake, remains unchanged" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8).  

The perception of disabled people is not addressed in other adaptations of these historical events. And popular films don't often tackle multiple issues in separate minority groups. 

Intersectionality is ignored because it's too complicated and not as entertaining or easy to accept that racism and ableism can occur together.

Of course, those are not the only biases in the world, but they are the two that intersect here. 

The perception that disability cripples the individual and represents what's wrong with the world perpetuates ableism. The possibility existed to write Jake in a way that would not have perpetuated stereotypes. Showing him as "relentlessly self-reliant,  promoting a reactionary portrait of himself as the ideal disabled person" (Holtmeier & Park-Primiano, 8). This "ideal" is meant for able-bodied people, not people who are actually disabled. This makes it impossible for me to think of the world we're shown as real. It is a movie with an agenda concerned more with the evils of Westernization than with disability representation. 

The film simply copies and pastes an idealized version of a  disabled person for plot convenience.

Source

Holtmeier, M., & Parker-Primiano, S. (2020). Ableism in Avatar: The Transhuman, Postcolonial Rapprochement to Bioregionalism. Studies of Humanities, 46(1-2), 3-17. https://go.gale.com/ps/i.doid=GALE%7CA673944097&sid=googleScholar&v=2.1&it=r&linkaccess=abs&issn=00393800&p=AONE&sw=w&userGroupName=nysl_oweb&isGeoAuthType=true

Where’s the upside in being a stereotypical burden?

The inspirational disabled character relies on able-bodied people being inspired by a person with a disability who perseveres through hardship and challenges, sporting a "can do" attitude despite their disability. This problematic stereotype reinforces the notion that people with disabilities are striving to be able-bodied. Every task accomplished represents progress toward that goal. The polar opposite disabled character stereotype is the self-pitying person that needs guidance from able-bodied characters to accept themselves. This stereotype emphasizes the burden a disabled person represents due to their special needs. 

"Burdens can also morph into background characters, centering the focus on the caretaker and how noble they are for dealing with the disabled person. 

An example is the film The Upside, where Kevin Hart's character is shown growing as a man, and the focus remains mostly on him. In the film, Kevin Hart plays an ex-convict looking for a job." (Campos, 43) 

Philip Laccase, played by Bryan Cranston, is presented as a billionaire quadriplegic searching for a caretaker who focuses less on how inspirational he is for doing the basic necessities. Applicants are shown talking about how much they want to help Philip do more in his life by being his caretaker. They are focused on Philip's special needs instead of treating him like "everyone else." Hart's character is an attractive candidate because he doesn't care about Philip's disability but takes the job to pay child support and avoid jail time. Shortly after Hart's character Dell Scott is hired, Philip asks him:" Have you ever taken care  of anyone?" Dell's response is, "yes, myself." For Dell's development, Philip must present a burden in need of "tough love" to learn how it feels to be treated like everyone else. 

"The implication of the burden stereotype is that a disabled person is reliant on the charity of others to survive. Jay Dolmage asserts that 'much of the language of disability relies on a semiotics of pity: myths of powerlessness that demand to be answered with charity'" (Campos, 40). 

This stereotype extends beyond feeling sorry for, or wanting to help the disabled, to a belief that disabled people are  incapable of taking care of themselves regardless of the severity of their disability." (Campos, 41)  

The Upside is based on a true story, and Philip's disability provides a visual cue for the audience to see Philip as a burden. As a quadriplegic, he has more need for others to take care of him than  some other disabilities require. 

"the ideal disabled person is someone who doesn't want or require any assistance or accommodation, particularly not social services, someone who does not want to be treated any differently than someone able-bodied." (Holtmier & Park-Primiano, 6) Philip doesn't want assistance, but he requires it. He also doesn't know that he needs Dell to show him the joys of everyday life.

Sources

Campos, B. (2021). Who Am I Now? The Value of Métis in the Construction of the Disabled Identity. Middle Tennessee State University, 1-212. https://jewlscholar.mtsu.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/38942409-a101-426c-bc7e-63d0d5fa56e4/content

Holtmeier, Matthew, and Sueyoung Park-Primiano. "Ableism in Avatar: The Transhuman, Postcolonial Rapprochement to Bioregionalism." Studies in the Humanities, vol. 46, no. 1-2, Mar. 2020, pp. 135+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A673944097/AONE? u=nysl_oweb&sid=googleScholar&xid=036924f3. Accessed 17 July 2022.