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More On The Last Airbender

cosmicyoruba16 Comments

The Last Airbender will soon be released in America soon and it seems my prayers have already been answered.

I am extremely glad that the people who have seen this movie seem not to be impressed. I also hope the movie doesn’t do well at the box office (though one of my primary concerns is that it could go on to do well in the international box office. I mean I’ve tried to explain to some of my friends here why the movie is racist but they just refused to listen. Goodness talking with them was like talking to a brick wall I just kept quiet after a while).

Anyway I just wanted to point out how The Last Airbender movie is not only racist but is also sexist. One of the reasons I adored the cartoon series was because of Katara. Katara is a brown-skinned girl with lots of agency. She is a powerful Waterbender, she is brave, she challenges customs…basically her character is so full of girl-power. However (as can be expected) all this is not shown in the movie. There is a breakdown of scenes in the original cartoon that were not depicted, altered or absent in the movie at Racebending.com. While reading the list what stood out to me was the way in which Katara was really undermined and pushed to the side in the movie. For example;

ORIGINAL:
Katara inadvertently frees Aang from the ice as she yells at her brother. Her anger manifests when she waterbends, breaking the iceberg surrounding the frozen Aang. After the ice is cracked open, Aang and Appa awaken. They ride back to the tribe on Appa’s back, with Appa swimming.

FILM:
Sokka notices that the ice beneath them is glowing. The sphere rises up, cracking open the ice surface. He yells “Katara! Don’t touch that sphere!” Katara cracks open the sphere and there is an explosion of light. The camera reveals a crater, where Aang and Appa lie unconscious. Katara and Sokka argue, then decide to bring them back to the village.

So rather than portray Katara’s anger as the main catalyst that the Avatar is released from his nesting state, everything is left to chance and pure luck. In the original you get the sense that if Katara had not being angry and if she were not a Waterbender, Aang would have remained unconscious forever yet in the movie all she had to was crack the sphere…

Here’s another example that really upset me (emphasis mine).

ORIGINAL:
Haru, a young Earthbending boy, uses his bending to protect an innocent. He’s captured and sent to a metal coal processing camp, with other Earthbenders. Their powers are vastly limited by their metal surroundings. Katara allows herself to be captured and is taken to the camp. She shows the Earthbenders that they can fight – and (with the help of Aang and Sokka) arranges for a huge supply of coal for the prisoners to use as they win their freedom.

FILM:
A nameless Earthbending boy hides behind Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Fire Nation soldiers arrive and accuse the boy of being a bender who “bended pebbles at their heads.” They are all captured when it is discovered that Katara is also a Waterbender.

They are taken to an internment village. Aang rallies the captured Earthbenders, telling them that they are surrounded by earth and can fight back. He begins to fight the handful of Firebender soldiers guarding the village. Katara and Sokka join. Finally, the Earthbenders intervene, and together are able to defeat the Firebender guards.

Why is it that in the movie it is Aang that gets to rally the captured Earthbenders while presumably Katara just sits back and only joins in the action after Aang has done all the hard work? In the cartoon both Aang and Katara (and Sokka as well) get their chances to shine on their own. There are other examples of how the movie fails to give Katara the power she has in the cartoon as a Waterbender. In the cartoon she is able to defeat Zuko once but in the movie she never gains the upper hand. This does not only happen to Katara as the Kyoshi warriors, a group of all-female warriors that appears in the original cartoon series were completely erased from the movie. I’ve noticed this disturbing trend in movies that are based on original works in which female characters who played important active roles in original works are reduced to two-dimensional beings in movie adaptations. All I have to say is; ‘Whyyyyy?!’

In conclusion, I urge anyone who reads my blog to boycott The Last Airbender no matter which part of the world you are in. Do not waste your money supporting a movie that is all kinds of FAIL rather why not watch the cartoon series instead?

16 Comments

  1. I started watching the cartoon series actually because of the movie previews last year. I loved the series!

    I agree with you on the weaknesses of the movie. I will not be watching it.

    1. i’m glad you loved the cartoon series! it’s great that you made the decision to watch the cartoon and will not be paying to watch the movie. my heart just warmed up 😀

  2. I always knew this movie would be a bust glad to know I was right LOL. But seriously, most of the people who would have seen the films were fans of the orginal series, so why not do your best to appease the fans.

  3. i read something on another blog about Shamalyan’s responses to the racist comments. i can’t find it now, but he said something about how the “villain” is not necessarily the villain, and that all the main characters are good in their own ways.
    but it doesn’t change the fact that he still cast two clearly asian/islander pacific characters as white. he and/or the casting director opened up the casting call for those characters to white actors. he should address that specifically.
    definitely boycott this movie.
    there supposed to be a rendition of Cleopatra in the making, and theres rumors that Angelina Jolie is going to be cast as Cleopatra instead of a woman of color.
    hollywood’s been doing this to characters of color since forever. it’s about time it stopped.

    1. in the cartoon series the ‘villain’, Zuko is not really a bad guy and i guess that’s what M. Night was getting at. still in the movie the only identifiable villains were dark-skinned. i’ve read M. Night’s responses too and i’m just not buying it.

      i’ve heard about Angelina Jolie playing Cleopatra as well! it’s crazy and does not make a lick of sense. smh and you’re right hollywood has been doing this for ages. i have to say that i agree with those that say hollywood is one of the most racist and sexist industries out there.

  6. When I said it made no sense to make the characters in this movie white, people said I just like to see race in everything. How won’t I see it? The characters in the series are not friggin white! Someone even told me that the show is American so they can do what they want. I got a brick wall just like you did. I am not going to see the movie. It insults me. I don’t know how it does but it just does. LOL!

    1. goodness i hate when people do that. i’ve been told so many times that i see race in everything and that i’m the person who is racist because i won’t see a movie that whitewashes its characters. it’s is maddening.

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  8. I blame the original animation writers and producers for this flop of a movie. They let Shaymalan(*) write the script! i haven’t watched the movie yet; however, when i watched the trailer, i noticed that the storyline was extremely serious and was lacking the humour and cheekiness of the original show, therefore ignoring the fact that the characters are children.
    it’s shameful that Katara’s feminism was completely ignored seeing as it helped aang throughout the series.
    PS: Shaymalan(*) is writing the sequel.

    1. i guess they must have thought that Shyamalan would actually do a good job and did not expect him to mess things up the way he did. oh no i was really hoping all plans for a sequel would be dropped after the failure in the form of bad reviews of this movie.

  9. And they took away the one bit of agency Yue had and gave it to IROH, making him tell her to sacrifice her life. And Azula looks like being yet another Evil Chick whose evil is manifested through her sexuality (limited to flirtatiousness, since this is marketed a kids’ film, I guess). Or “instability.” Grrrr.

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