Avatar has reappeared and made it’s way back to a screen near you. I’m in the middle of writing a video essay about how avatar challenges gender norms and societal values. However, after watching this, I need to add some commentary.
Firstly, the creators walked away from the Netflix production. One of them said: “To be clear, this was not a simple matter of us not getting our way. Mike and I are collaborative people; we did not need all the ideas to come from us. As long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them. However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series”
I bolded the section that I found really particular.
So here’s a light critique of Avtar the Last Airbender, the Netflix live-action adaptation. This is for fans only, if you know the show you’ll understand.
When Gran-Gran gave Karata the water scroll it added some nice detail to the storyline even though they changed it. When Katara stole the scroll from the pirates, she was rightfully taking what belonged to her. And they emphasized how this was saved for her as the last waterbender. I loved this detail
Aang only held a funeral for Gyatso. This seemed a bit strange. Knowing Aang how much he missed his friends and everyone around him, I don’t think he would have only buried one person. That doesn’t seem like Aang who in the movie doesn’t leave anyone behind and saves the world one person at a time.
At times Sokka’s humor was more mean than sarcastic. He was overall sarcastic, but there were some comments that didn’t align with his tone of voice. Also, I just wanna say kudos to Netflix for giving the main roles to a bunch of Asians, native Americans, and other. I loved the casting they they looked like the actual characters. That was AMAZING! I hope these kids continue to prosper and stay safe in this industry.
So they removed the misogynistic qualities from Sokka. I’m not sure why they would do this when that removes his growth and character development. In the video essay that I’m writing, I detail how Sokka’s journey to handhold first begins with him realizing that women are equal. Only then does he become a better fighter and more strategic — after he respects women.
The Kyoshi Warriors weren’t very welcoming to the Avatar even though….they were expecting him. This was a strange change.
And if you noticed since they removed Sokka’s misogynistic attitude, the story no longer makes sense with Suki. Without Sokka’s sexist remarks, Suki looks like a bitch for no reason. Suki comes off like she’s being rude to him just because he’s a boy, but the only reason they had a problem with each other in the show was because he was being sexist and devaluing them because they were girls. If they made this choice then they should have just had Suki been nice to Sokka. Again, not sure why the writers did this. Moving on.
Kyoshi was dope, and said something like “Only justice will create peace”, and said that the avatar has to play many roles. Oddly enough towards the end of the season the other Avatar was talking as if he was going to contradict her, but literally said what she already said, but emphasized a different part. I thought this was a bit strange for someone to write.
Once I saw this MFin Omashu I knew something was off. I won’t even mention the other changes because you know what they are. Netflix overlaps several episodes. They meet Teo here instead of at the air temple, jet also makes an alternative appearance.
And Uncle Iroh gets thrown into jail by the Earth kingdom? That’s ruled by Bumo…who is also his friend in the show…so I’m not sure what happened here. This could be a difference since I haven’t read the comics, but based on the animated series, I didn’t understand this.
I thought they were going to kick off an Alabama love story here. The tale of two lovers where Aang first kisses Katara is swapped out with Sokka, who luckily did not kiss Katara. This was an odd change. But I get it. Because they had a lot to cram into 8 episodes.
From this point, I decided to stop critiquing the show based on the storyline because too many things were changed to make a productive critique. Back to the reasons that the creators left, the ideas were not in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar.
The characters have undergone some changes. Here Aang paints his friends as being scared of him because he can’t control his power, meanwhile, in the show we just get the impression that they didn’t want to play with him because he was so strong.
Sokka, as we already discussed, loses one of the main points of his growth, and instead, Katara faces her first piece of discrimination at the Northern Water Temple.
Princess Yue was very different. She wasn’t shy or depressed, but rather straightforward and a “normal girl”. She also didn’t have a fiance here which altered the relationship between Sokka and [insert name here — fas will know].
Gran Gran was excellent. I loved seeing more of her.
Momo literally almost died at one point.
Final thoughts: I don’t want to comment on the acting, but I think these kids have a lot of pressure on them and I don’t any of us should be hard on them. They all did well.
But the writing. That was done by adults. The writing could have been better for the characters matching their tone of voice with their personality. A lot of Aang’s lines felt unnaturally long as if he wasn’t actually speaking to the characters, but speaking to the audience.
I swear Appa was purring at some point. A sound I didn’t expect.
The visuals were great. The music was nice, especially playing the song twice from the death of Iroh’s son.
My favorite part is when Katara says something like “Someone has to tell your story, the legend of Aang”. This is probably not near to being an exact quote. But it almost seemed like she was the person to keep living and tell the legend of Aang, and it made me think about the first animated episode narrated by Katara and the intro songs narrated by her. It’s almost as if now the whole animated series is told from the perspective of Katara and how she’s experiencing being with Aang and how they all grow from her eyes.
And if Katara is the person telling the Legend of Aang, this adds a different level of depth that I have not considered. Anyway, I gotta continue my video essay. Be sure to subscribe to me on youtube, just type in “Kevan Hudson”. That’s me. Peace.
