The Last Airbender/Analysis

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Well I guess as I'm one of the few people who don't actually get pissed off when thinking about the events of the film I'd like to do some basic analysis a few things:

  • First, the Avatar State change: In the show it was shown especially during the climax of Season 1's finale to be a force of pure rage and destruction. In the Film, it's a non-violent entity that actually makes sure not another soul on either side it's hurt by it's actions. Which I'm sorry is more in line with the source material's message than the show was. The thing is if you look through what the avatar's purpose is, to unite the 4 lands in peace, I don't think a giant Koizilla is the way to win the hearts and minds of the people within the Fire Nation, but by simply showing you have the power to kill them, but instead just make a protective barrier between their invasion and the water tribe, shows you mean to end the fight non-violently.
  • Second, the Casting: In the show it's shown to be a world basically only inhabited by a mix of East Asian, Inuit and ONE Indian, the Guru, man. The Movie shows a variety of people from various backgrounds, with the fire nation being a mix of West Asian race, air nomads being a people of all backgrounds, the Earth Kingdom being made of East Asian and Black people(montage), and the water tribes being Inuit based with some European thrown in. Going even further then that, as the series had completed by the release, we already know that the main group will be made out of a diverse cast of individuals, however in the show these were all "clearly" Asian characters(as Inuit's are considered to be apart of the mongoloid subspecies of homo sapiens in racial science as most Asians are) and a world of Asian only characters. Yet, even after this knowledge is public people accused the people of racist casting for either the fact it's white leads facing an "ambitiouslybrown" villain or that none of the actors in this film come from East Asian ancestry or have facial features is a huge betrayal even with the knowledge that Toph most likely will be non-white, and Iroh and many other fire nation members aren't villainous, join Aang and/or in fact fight against the ruling faction of the fire nation later on.
  • Third, the change of characterization: A lot of people believe that the film took away the personalities of Sokka and Katara, when in reality they're right there, it's just not as blantant as it was before. If you look at Katara's actions through out the movie, you see the inspirational Team Mom she is in the show, but it never comes a head.Because as unlike the show which presents her as unquestionably as that from stage episode 1, the movie takes a more "Let it happen naturally" way. Same with Sokka who is the center of the comedic relief in more then a few scenes but it's not as slapstick(mainly due to the fact alot of the slapstick moments from season 1 aren't in scenes that made it to the movie's storyline), his romance with Princess Yue is obvious but not beat you over the head repeatedly with how Sokka is smitten with her as it was in the show, where more of his slapstick scenes in the show come from. While this made both Katara and Sokka seem more bland it also showed more of the protective older brother role played straight, as the show turned into comedy as it would show more maturity as well as rational thinking on Katara's part. Not to mention expanded on the viewer's POV character Katara originally is in season one, as we are introduced to the world through her narration and follow her, but that was lost as Aang's journey took more center stage.
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