I don’t know that the love story is all that central of the question here. I think the central issue isn’t really a question, its a statement: western/modern culture is driven by a very harmful insensitive resource-lust. Therefore we oppress. we kill mother earths.

True, the romance/relationship is the device that gives the narrator/protagonist a deeper connection to the world, but it’s only specific to that character. The “good” scientists are already attempting to forge a better relationship at the beginning of the movie. They all fail. Why? Because of human resource-lust.

So the answer to the question of “race-relations” is already answered. we don’t need the love-story to ask it. It’s just another way to get exposition into the movie. Instead of the vlogging, now the girlfriend can explain some stuff too.

We can tell the invasion is coming for the ore, and its pretty clear our hero is going to fight alongside the blue people eventually. He’s fighting for the people though, not really just his one true alien love.

It’s not really like Titanic where the two lovers are desperately trying to get back together…

On the same note, the love story wasn’t particularly unique or creative. pretty standard fare. So that might be why its getting less attention than the environmental stuff, which is pretty innovative, as tent-pole movies go. and we are ready to like it. it looks cool.

there are of course, plenty of predecessors to this film. from colonialism/oppression films like Dances with Wolves, to dozens and dozens of sci-fi works…Orson Scott Card and Ursula LeGuin both have novels which work on similar territory, but with much more compelling narrative results. But they aren’t this movie, so oh well.