I found it interesting that the navi seemed to be a large blue alien appropriation of a mixture of the Masai and native American peoples.

Yes.

But Avatar was WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY more awesome.

Nah. I think there are similarities, but they're definitely not that close.

This plot has been used and reused by many many movies over the years. Pocahontas, Ferngully, Dances With Wolves, etc. I could name a few more.

The main character, usually a guy, is a part of a certain group that wants control over the native faction (usually more primitive but not always), and as he infiltrates via some manner he discovers that the natives are actually pretty awesome and usually falls in love with one, and then eventually becomes one of them and switches faction to fight off the invaders that he used to belong to.

It's an old plot, but always a heartwarming tale of personal introspection. What I want to know is why is it always white humans who are the assholes?

i don't know of "copied" is the right term, but the plots were very similar. Also with a lot of Ferngully thrown in. but a lot of plots are similar and that's just how it is. i saw on a publisher's webpage that there are no unique plots. just unique twists on the same kind of stories. avatar was visually stunning and the whole alien thing made it a unique story, but the plot wasn't what made the movie amazing.

you guys, avatar is about the aboriginal population of Canada and what the Europeans did to them. Believe me, we did this in history class!

Pochahontas could easily be the same thing (or someone else's native population) because it happened all over the world

It is similar, yet different. Well worth a watch though.

No way. It was nothing like Pocahontus. It was the exact same plot of that old movie Dances with Wolves. Except the only difference in the end was that the guy married an indiginous woman. Whereas in Dances with Wolves, a white guy married a white woman who happened to live with native americans. I didn't like the message that portrayed. And Avatar had a better ending than Dances with Wolves.

It'd be ridiculous to say that the plot is copied from another film. At its base, it has all the main elements to a story that has been repeated numerous times. Pick one storyline, without going into specifics like there has to be a race of aliens in it or it has to be set in a dystopian world, and I guarantee you'll be able to list 10+ examples that portray that very same storyline.

It's not a bad thing though. It just goes to show that this is a tried and true equation of emotions and events that are guaranteed to get people interested and engaged. You'll find that even when someone knows how it's going to end, they'll still enjoy the journey - because it's the way the director/creator goes about the story (their style, approach, etc.) and the people they get involved in front of and behind the camera that really set one film apart from another.

hm, I actually do know who Pocahontas is but it was the closest answer I could find to the question, seeing how I haven't seen the movie yet. I feel behind the times now.