Fans Are Losing Faith in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ — and We Understand Why
Opinion
Avatar: The Last Airbender holds a special place in many hearts.
Fans have been protective of the Nickelodeon franchise ever since the film adaptation of The Last Airbender by director M. Night Shyamalan was released in 2010, which justifiably set the series back several years from receiving further adaptations.
When Netflix got their hands on the property, there was skepticism, but then original series creators Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino were announced as on board for the project — something the film adaptation lacked — and we became cautiously curious.
The original creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender did eventually drop out of the series after two years “over creative differences,” but fans still held out hope, especially after we got some first-look images and a teaser trailer showcasing Netflix’s live-action interpretation.
Everything looked the way it was supposed to. The vibrant colors from the animated series weren’t washed out and didn’t feature miscellaneous race-swaps (like the film). It looked like the animated series had come to life.
Netflix
However, as the press tour ramped up and the release date drew closer, several red flags emerged. There was Sokka’s sexist behavior, a crucial aspect of his character development as he evolves to appreciate strong women throughout the series. Kiawentiio, the actress portraying Katara, expressed, “I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy.”
Then producer Albert Kim said that Katara’s character would be getting an adjustment: “There are certain roles I think that Katara did in the cartoon that we didn’t necessarily also do here. I mean, I don’t want to really get into a lot of that, but some gender issues that didn’t quite translate from the cartoon.”
This may allude to Katara assuming a maternal role within the group in the original series, a noteworthy aspect as she confronts the challenges presented by Sokka’s sexism, which proved pivotal in both conflict and character development.
Finally, it was announced that Aang and the gang wouldn’t be going on their frequent detours in their quest to end the Fire Nation’s war against the other nations, which is pivotal for Aang’s growth.
“In the first season of the animated series, he’s kind of going from place to place looking for adventures. He even says, ‘First, we’ve got to go and ride the elephant koi,'” Kim said in a recent interview. “It’s a little looser as befits a cartoon. We needed to make sure that he had that drive from the start. And so, that’s a change that we made. We essentially give him this vision of what’s going to happen, and he says, ‘I have to get to the Northern Water Tribe to stop this from happening.’ That gives him much more narrative compulsion going forward, as opposed to, ‘Let’s make a detour and go ride the elephant koi,’ that type of thing.”
Fans quickly pointed out the problem with this and instantly questioned whether the producers understood the source material.
“So they’ve completely missed the point of Aang’s journey and character arc in Book 1,” someone said on social media. “He was a kid thrust with so much responsibility at a young age. He wanted to be able to have a childhood; have fun, until forced to confront the reality of how important his responsibility was.”
It’s a daunting thing to hear as fans ourselves. When the first teaser was released, we celebrated how visually stunning it was, and we bonded as our faith was reinforced. Now, we’re just as cautious as we were when Netflix first announced a live-action adaptation.
And with the series premiering on the 22nd of this month, all fans can do is wait at this point and pray the cast and producers don’t reveal anything else to make this feeling in our hearts any worse.
Are we wrong for being so concerned? Let us know in the comments below.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, Series Premiere, Thursday, February 22, Netflix
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) where to stream
