Dances With Aliens?: A Look At Multiracialism in "Avatar"

This article is based on my 2011 American Studies Association Conference presentation [1], which explored depictions of multiracialism in the 2009 film Avatar [2] and its reviews. The article begins by defining multiracialism as a mediated and rhetorical representational site and contextualizing multiracialism in scholarship on mixed race science fiction and western films. Then, it reads Avatar’s depictions of mixed race identity and explores how the film’s critical reception reflects differing engagements with contemporary multiracialism. It concludes by distinguishing Avatar’s and reviews’ visions of multiracialism from a more progressive perspective that constitutes new subjectivities for mixed race identities.