Anti-smoking watchdogs are up in arms about Sigourney Weaver's character lighting up in the movie Avatar, but James Cameron says that her character's cigarette habit was a critique of videogamers.

In Sunday's New York Times, the director defended himself against critics, saying that Weaver's character Grace Augustine was never meant to be a role model for young people. In fact, he said, her smoking was meant to be a commentary on the character's obsession with climbing into her blue meat puppet.

"We were showing that Grace doesn’t care about her human body, only her avatar body," Cameron said. Augustine's destructive behavior "is a negative comment about people in our real world living too much in their avatars, meaning online and in video games.”

So the next time you watch Avatar, let it be a reminder: Raiding Ice Crown Citadel for new gear is fine, just don't forget to take your real-world toon for a walk every now and then.

Image courtesy 20th Century Fox

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