Blah blah Avatar, 3D sucks blue cat people DAE no cultural impact?? Can you remember any character names??
but seriously it was bold as fuck for someone like James Cameron to make something so blatantly anti-US-military at a time when literally the entirety of Hollywood was united in jerking off American imperialism. It was not the least bit subtle and that makes it all the more impressive that Cameron was able to make a pointed takedown of Iraq-era militarism on such a scale.
The average American probably doesn't read political themes in media unless it's directly spelled out for them. They will however scan something as politically motivated if the protagonist is a woman, LGBTQ, or black.
When Americans do scan fictional media as political in its content, they will invariably read it as supporting their particular ideology. It wouldn't surprise me to hear chuds have an understanding of Avatar as expressing right wing ideology. They think The Matrix is right wing for God's sake.
Instead I think most Americans try to scan media as political outside its specific content, like they know actors express direct liberal values, so they assume the media itself presents liberal values because the actor is in it. Politics in America can't be expressed through the symbolic, because that entire field of expression has already been subverted to act in the interests of status quo capitalism. Things only seem political if they're expressed directly, in a clear voice, and literally.
Oh I know that one, that's the movie where the main character takes a red pill and realizes women are stupid
The matrix is a movie where a bunch of Gen X dropouts decide to do something with their life, and by "Something" I mean snort estrogen and blow up a building and literally shoot The Man right in the head. The terrorists are the good guys, the bad guy is your boss, and the explicit path to liberation is a workplace shooting.
Best movie of the 20th century.
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