Tag: avatar

i feel like there’s a genie in charge of avatar. the thing we wanted most was probably a show about Kyoshi, our beloved 8 foot tall bisexual trans woman, free from all self doubt, kills fascists, separates an island from a fucking continent to be gay in peace and start a feminist militia. “the tallest feet of any avatar” and The Most Down For Murder.

and they announce we’re getting two ya novels about her!

and then they announce a second live action reboot of the original show. as if anyone asked for that again. as if anyone thinks “hey this was a great cartoon, you know what else would be good? if it was a live action show that needs to be at least 50% cgi anyway”. 

and that means that it’s not that they just didn’t have the time or funding for a whole new show at the moment, they just thought it was safer to make a show that doesn’t tread any new ground.

aspiringwarriorlibrarian:

lesbwian:

Superheroes that are like “if we kill them we’re just as bad as they are uwu” ? Micro dick energy

The only exception is Aang, whose whole “I’m not gonna kill him if i can find another way” thing is less false moral equivalency and more “I’m twelve and I have been through way too much bullshit this year to add ‘commit my first murder’ to the list.”

i don’t think i see it addressed often enough that aang not willing to kill is cultural. that’s what he believed in because it’s what the air nomads believed in, that all life is inherently sacred. Not even that life is valuable, but sacred, as in it’s of central importance to air nomad spirituality. we don’t hear of the air nomads having another commandment that’s nearly as important. we hear that they don’t encourage attachment, but aang falls in love without any mention that monks aren’t meant to do that. (love and starting a family have been prohibited. which would mean aang feels okay breaking some rules, except for one he can’t allow himself to break)

aang sees killing the firelord as permanently severing the last link between himself and his culture, that taking a life will mean no longer being an air nomad. it’s tied up in both the deepest level of his identity, and his survivor’s guilt. that’s the only reason he puts it above his responsibility to save the world, and why not even the previous avatars could understand. i think aang really would have died before taking a life, because either way he saw his own death and taking a life as very nearly the same thing, as his whole culture ending forever with him. he can save the world but have to live with the guilt, and without his identity.

and that’s part of why ‘killing the bad guy makes you the bad guy’ falls flat. because aang isn’t just trying to be the Good Guy, he’s trying to be the last survivor of his culture. it’s even said as much by the gang and by every previous avatar that he’s not doing it to be good or morally superior, he’s ultimately being selfish.

aspiringwarriorlibrarian:

lesbwian:

Superheroes that are like “if we kill them we’re just as bad as they are uwu” ? Micro dick energy

The only exception is Aang, whose whole “I’m not gonna kill him if i can find another way” thing is less false moral equivalency and more “I’m twelve and I have been through way too much bullshit this year to add ‘commit my first murder’ to the list.”

blackdionysus:

siderealsandman:

ashura-kais:

siderealsandman:

prince zuko got you all out here thinking every dark haired antagonist boy is gonna do right in the end when zuzu was the exception not the rule

I really wish it weren’t though? I think it’s really telling that a lot of people like redemption arcs because we want to see people be good despite their pasts. The fact that there are so little redemption arcs in media is very upsetting because it just sends the message that people can’t change which we know is not true. I absolutely don’t mean this for characters like Kylo Ren though lol

Redemption arcs are hard and Zuko’s was successful for a couple of reasons: 

1) Zuko wasn’t the worst character in the Fire Nation. From really early on it was shown that, compared to Zhao, Azula, and other Fire Nation leaders, Zuko was consistently more noble. He tried to be a good person and do the right thing, even when doing so led to him suffering for his actions. 

2) Zuko suffered for his mistakes. He suffered when he turned away from Iroh, he suffered when he betrayed Iroh, and he suffered even after his face turn. There were consequences for his mistakes; he didn’t get off scot free because his childhood was hard. He was still held accountable by the narrative and made to take responsibility for the wrongs he did. 

3) Zuko made tangible amends to the people he hurt. He rescued Hakoda, helped Katara get closure, and became Aang’s firebending master. He put in work to make up for the things he did and rebuild bridges with his new allies. 

Most redemption narratives fail because the guilty party is guilty of much greater crimes than failing to capture the hero, never works to make amends, and never suffers for their mistakes. You wanted to see Zuko redeem himself because he had the capacity, wanted to do the work, and paid dearly for his mistakes.

you’re right and you should say it