Transgender Subtext in Avatar:Fire and Ash
So when I went to see Avatar: Fire and Ash I was in the middle of figuring out I was transmasc. I also remembered This Video from Council of Geeks about movies that could be interpreted as queer/transgender allegories, and the first James Cameron Avatar film was one of them.
With that in mind, I went in to AFAA not expecting THAT particular narrative turn with Spider—you know, the part where he virtually dies after his oxygen mask runs out and he's physically prevented from accessing his backups because a group of Ax-Crazy raiders is between the groups and the backups but is saved by Kiri's prayer to Eywa? The prayer that leads to him getting revived due to a fungus being implanted in his lungs and rewriting his biology at the cellular level so that not only can he breathe the air without the need of a mask, but he's also growing one of those nerve-tendril-braid-things at the back of his head, too, meaning he'll be able to connect to Pandora like any Na'vi (body) would be able to.
Now, there are several other facets to this—there's the fact that, IIRC, he's never verbally referred to by his birth name of Miles Soccoro and certainly not by the main characters, but rather by nicknames—either "Spider" or "Monkey Boy"— instead. Also, in the Tie-in Comic for "Way of Water", Jake muses that, in some ways, Spider "is more Na'vi than [Jake will] ever be".
But the biggest and most notable thing happens a bit later than this in the film, when Kiri and Spider are out in the forest gathering water and Spider half-jokingly laments/wonders why Eywa "couldn't have made [him] taller. Or blue.", to which Kiri essentially responds that he's perfect as he is, at which point she kisses him. Spider, who throughout the two movies he's been in has exhibited a fairly obvious crush on Kiri, is then shown to have a silent, almost awed expression after.
Having lived 29 years convinced without a shadow of a doubt that I was a straight cis woman, I can't say I really relate to the whole "I've lived my entire life for as long as I can remember identifying as/belonging to a group and yet I was never truly able to be a part of it in any way that truly mattered, not really" thing.
What I CAN relate to is wanting to be part of another group so deeply you feel it in your soul but you know it can't be because your body, your stupid biology that you were born with, won't let you be that group, that for something to come along and change you at the fundamental level to align you with what you want in the way that was important to YOU would be something holy, something sacred, something precious and beautiful and wonderful, a veritable miracle. That, even if by some chance said miracle didn't grant you the superficial characteristics that would've made you fit in with the group you knew you belonged to even more seamlessly, the one(s) who you love and care about would reciprocate that affection, would see beyond your shortcomings. THAT'S beautiful.
