James Cameron's Avatar is not about 'some white guy' who becomes 'the most awesome member of a non-white culture'.
That's because the Na'vi in the movie do not just represent a non-'white' culture. They represent a higher state of mind.
'White' Europe is young and ignorant. That does not mean that 'white' people have to stay ignorant.
'White' people have just as much potential to become enlightened beings as Buddhist Chinese or Krishna-worshipping Hindu gurus or Native American shamans.
That is what the hero's journey of the 'white' hero means in Avatar. It means that 'white' people have just as much potential for enlightened thought as anyone else. Our civilization is just young, and ignorant, and does not know any better.
And because it's the West that needs to learn, it's the 'white' guy who learns to be the central hero. For it's not the Buddhists and the Sufis and the Native American shamans that need to learn, its the young west.
And why is the west so ignorant?
The West is young. Western Europe only began to take off on its own around 800 AD in Charlemagne's time. China had been around for 2,000 years in Confucius's time.
And the west is ignorant. The ancient Persian Empire opened up the trade routes of Asia over 2,000 years ago, bringing the ancient wisdom of Egypt and Israel to all Asia. Western Europe, on the other hand, knew little of ancient Egypt and the East, and did not learn everything the Greeks had to teach. (We still dismiss the most important teachings of Plato, Plato's ideas on Love and Virtue, in favor of Plato's politics.) Wisdom was learned by the ancient Egyptians, and other civilizations got more of a chance to learn from Egypt than we did.
This is our chance to learn.
And that's why the 'white' guy gets to join the Na'vi, become enlightened like the Na'vi and be a hero.
Because we in the west can learn and become enlightened by joining the older, wiser civilizations and becoming Buddhist, or Sufis, or students of the Native American Shamans, or Taoists, or Confucian Gentlemen, or Eastern Christians- or better yet, all of them! We too can learn wisdom! We're just young and inexperienced here in the west.
And James Cameron's Avatar is there to convince 'white' people like Jake Sully that they too can learn higher wisdom- higher wisdom that is only available from non-'white' cultures! (Including the Greeks, who are more like the Arabs! (only most 'white' people don't know that!) And the Russians of old, who were also more like the Arabs before they were colonized by the Communists!)
God loves you!
Sincerely,
David S. Annderson
P.S. I know that the question of why the west is ignorant is more complex than that. I explain it in more detail in the Special Chapter 'Why Is The Northwest Ignorant' in 'The Sublime Fate of Rome' 13th Installment (The Sublime State of Rome 13) on my Deviantart page, as part of a large, fantastic and all true story from our real history!
P.P.S. It's not a matter of what went wrong in the west- it's a matter of what went right in the East, and the Americas. The young west has just followed the natural patterns of the mental development of civilization. But God set up Asia, Africa and the Americas for something special!
P.P.P.S. Yes, Africa- look up the history and culture of Ethiopia! (And that's just a start!) (And look up my own 'Black Athena The Importance of Nubia 1 and 2' on my Deviantart page to find out more!)
P.P.P.P.S. Jake Sully may have become Toruk Makto, but Neyteri got to be rider of the giant panther, the baddest beast in Pandora, something that I'm guessing no one had ever done before!