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Are the Avatar the Last Airbender Comics Liberal Cringe?

I watched the show Avatar The Last Airbender for the first time in my life in 2019 on a friend's recommendation. I was somewhat bothered by it seeming appropriative and orientalist, and how it was basically a show about Western imperialism set in the exotic trappings of Eastern and indigenous cultures. Still, I enjoyed those trappings and the martial arts choreography.

But then early on it did anticolonial freedom fighters dirty yet that was portrayed as a good thing, and that bothered me. I chalked it up to children's cartoons in the mid-2000s having to follow certain tropes about violence and didn't just ragequit there. Then when they did the blood-bender dirty I rationalized it away with "well they're kids who haven't been imprisoned and tortured like she has, they haven't learned that you have to be merciless when fighting merciless colonizers." Then when Aang did some bullshit peace-policing and manipulated Katara into not taking the justified revenge she so clearly needed yet that was portrayed as a good thing, I figured hey, I wasn't raised Buddhist, I don't know how this spiritual system handles things, maaaaybe this is in character... (but it was still very shitty of him to get in her way). And I was very close to the end and wanted to see how this played out and I'd already excused a couple bits of lib shit so I kept going.

Despite those flaws, I persisted in watching and found it pleasant and enjoyable enough. When it ended I wanted more. But the very first episode of Legend of Korra was an utter disappointment -- the liberatory heroes of the first series had just implemented neoliberalism and the setting was some uninspired 1920s new world shit, and the political questions that were being set up seemed utterly boring. So I stopped watching and dropped the entire franchise like a hot potato.

Well, apparently the ATLA story gets continued in comics and I was wondering if they're at all good or not. I want to read them because I want them to be good -- there's enough fun stuff in the first series that it could be and there are questions the show left unanswered I think I would like to know. But at the same time the world-building and rank liberalism in some of the plots make me fear that I would just ruin what enjoyment I got out of the show the first time around. If they have even a drop more of liberal "killing your oppressors makes you worse than them" bullshit in it I feel like it would sour any positive feelings I had about the show.

I guess now that I've typed it out the answer is obvious: Don't bother, there's better shit out there to read that isn't written by politically illiterate culturally appropriative liberals. Still, I'd welcome any comrades' thoughts!

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9 comments
  • Well, apparently the ATLA story gets continued in comics and I was wondering if they're at all good or not

    The liberalism is still there. It's just liberals trying to do decolonization but failing every step of the way. It's mainly there for character driven stories and tie into LOK more.

    But then early on it did anticolonial freedom fighters dirty yet that was portrayed as a good thing, and that bothered me.

    It was certainly better than its peers. Katara's revenge I think was the best handled plotline regarding imperialist trauma.

    southern raiders spoilers

    I enjoyed that it was ultimately her choice in the end. They didn't have aang go with her but Zuko, someone who is intimately entwined with overwhelming feelings of revenge and abandonment trauma. The man who killed her mother turning out to be more of a waste of space compared to an average zionist I think is an important lesson for kids to have. That our abusers are not the same and not all abuse heals the same way. I don't see it as taking revenge makes you as bad as ur abuser. If only they actually killed the fire lord at the end.

    The show's ending could have been handled much better. Very lib, just kill the fire lord and dismantle the fire nation lmao.

    Legend of Korra is a complete garbage slopfest, ruined the entire series because of how badly it tanked so no exec wants to touch OC avatar material. But honestly avatar has overstayed its welcome past TLA.

  • spoiler

    toph creates the police to crack down on crime after her boyfriend's firing of benders in favour of cheaper nonbenders (ty machines) caused a crime wave of unemployed benders. This is all treated as natural and normal

    Korra is an amazing depiction of the inside of the liberal mind (even down to

    spoiler

    'balkanize china'

    ). Sadly this depiction is created by and for liberals, so all the liberalism is seen as good

    • Honestly even just seeing the first ep of Korra I felt like they did the kids in the original series so dirty by making them agents of neoliberal fascism.

      • Tbh I love it because it subverts AtLA's "happy" ending of

        spoiler

        the imperialist fire nation's monarch is replaced by another monarch and this somehow reshapes the entire socioeconomic structure of a century long imperialist-fascist power.

        so that by Legend of Korra

        spoiler

        the Fire Nation's technology and socioeconomic systems have taken firm root in the southern water tribe, republic city and are worming their way into the earth kingdom

        And I find this all 100% reasonable for the characters;

        Zuko

        spoiler

        is a naive 14 year old whose anti-imperialist uncle retired to Ba-Sing-Se he would be eaten alive by the Fire Nation's aristocratic proto-bourgeois

        ; Sokka's

        spoiler

        fondness for technology and novelty could easily see him rapidly adopting fire nation technology without realising their social relations are built into their technologies

        ; Toph's

        spoiler

        hit first ask questions later mindset combined with isolation from poverty are fundamentals of policing

        ; Aang's

        spoiler

        inability to do what needed to be done wrt Ozai means there's fuck all he could do against any of his friends if they get co-opted.

        No idea why the hell Katara

        spoiler

        stands by with all the pollution and shit when she helped blow up a fire nation factory to stop pollution, but ig everyone else thought it was a good idea so she went along with it

        Sadly the writers think this is all inevitable, natural and good ('progress', 'development', 'modernization'), but if I were to write a sequel to AtLA i'd keep all the lore from korra but portray the society as bad

  • I don't remember how lib they are, but I do remember that they are just plain awful

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