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Happy 10th Birthday, Avatar
Feb. 21st, 2015 09:28 pmTen years ago, the first episode of Avatar the Last Airbender aired.
I was late to come to Avatar, because when I first heard of it I was really skeptical of any "American rendition of anime". But people kept recommending it, and I finally watched it, realized I was wrong, and I totally loved it.
However, for all of it's flaws, both due to writing and due to Nick (who couldn't understand and hated the fact that a series starring an- ick!- girl was more popular than Sponge Bob), I think I love Korra the series better. Both because of the more mature tone Korra took, the themes of growth and change, and also because to me, the stories had a very different gender element to the themes.
Avatar was very much a boy hero adventure story: Aang is the destined hero, facing off against an obvious enemy. There's no doubt that while he will do some maturing and there will be lot twists, his path is set and his triumph over the bad guys is assured.
Korra comes into a different situation; she enters a complex world, one where she is not accepted for herself, where people, even the authorities she should be able to trust try try to use her for her own purposes, or destroy not only her, but the concepts behind her. Korra's early enthusiasm and confidence is shaken, and the elements that make the Korra the Avatar are continually attacked, leaving her isolated from her very base of support. It's telling that the enemies in Korra all mostly come from around her, often from people she trusts or respects. It is not a very large leap to relate Korra's journey to what happens to so many young women. Finally, unlike Aang, Korra cannot simply make the word change for her- she has to make an accommodation, change to meet the world, learning to rely on her inner strength and empathy. Aang has a place, Korra has to make her place in the world- and in so doing changes it far more than Aang did.
I think if anything, the more complex and mature issues Korra was dealing with were very difficult for the writers to portray adequately, as frankly, they were stretching the boundaries of what an American cartoon could deal with. And of course there's fucking Nickelodeon. I wish I could go to the parallel world where Korra had been picked up by Netflix, and we saw 75 episodes. The idea is something that could really have used that much time.
I was late to come to Avatar, because when I first heard of it I was really skeptical of any "American rendition of anime". But people kept recommending it, and I finally watched it, realized I was wrong, and I totally loved it.
However, for all of it's flaws, both due to writing and due to Nick (who couldn't understand and hated the fact that a series starring an- ick!- girl was more popular than Sponge Bob), I think I love Korra the series better. Both because of the more mature tone Korra took, the themes of growth and change, and also because to me, the stories had a very different gender element to the themes.
Avatar was very much a boy hero adventure story: Aang is the destined hero, facing off against an obvious enemy. There's no doubt that while he will do some maturing and there will be lot twists, his path is set and his triumph over the bad guys is assured.
Korra comes into a different situation; she enters a complex world, one where she is not accepted for herself, where people, even the authorities she should be able to trust try try to use her for her own purposes, or destroy not only her, but the concepts behind her. Korra's early enthusiasm and confidence is shaken, and the elements that make the Korra the Avatar are continually attacked, leaving her isolated from her very base of support. It's telling that the enemies in Korra all mostly come from around her, often from people she trusts or respects. It is not a very large leap to relate Korra's journey to what happens to so many young women. Finally, unlike Aang, Korra cannot simply make the word change for her- she has to make an accommodation, change to meet the world, learning to rely on her inner strength and empathy. Aang has a place, Korra has to make her place in the world- and in so doing changes it far more than Aang did.
I think if anything, the more complex and mature issues Korra was dealing with were very difficult for the writers to portray adequately, as frankly, they were stretching the boundaries of what an American cartoon could deal with. And of course there's fucking Nickelodeon. I wish I could go to the parallel world where Korra had been picked up by Netflix, and we saw 75 episodes. The idea is something that could really have used that much time.