#n u gave me a plase to talk abt them so !!

[aliwept]

🌻 talk to me about atla I haven’t watched that show since I was like 12

send a sunflower to listen to me talk !!  aka coral continues to talk way more than he needs to n this entire post was the result of hyperfixating on panels so it’s probably reading way into it.

ok first of all .. big mood i rly gotta rewatch soon .. .. . also i’ve said this before but not like . straight out and mmm i love a lot of what they do but … the fact that no black people or like .. even indian coded people (until prince wu showed up in legend of korra).. bothers me ?  i say ‘even’ cause as far as i can tell the idea was to take out white people and ….. the opposite? or even that they’re just on the other side of the globe undiscovered i dunno but . taking out white people? sure. but humans ……. when we first evolved we were black !!!!! not to say that black people aren’t evolved cause fuck no but //… it felt really unnecessary in a tv show / cartoon that otherwise focuses on asian / brown people??

tho i’ve seen people in discourse about whether aang is supposed to be white (esp considering his blue eyes which the other moks didnt have.. personally i think of him bein child of monk (for the primary ability / culture) & waterbender (for the eyes) but the point stands) which wld be .. Bad bc monks aren’t white!! and to have the only white rep be . the savior of the world …. (white saviorism, basically)and that he’s the peace-seeker wld be ! Hm ! but he isn’t .. clearly not white like . the fire nation is ??

n i dont like that korra is seen as his ‘’’aggressive opposite’’’ when she’s clearly brown ?? but also like.. they couldn’t change the original series so that they have the avatar to be brown in the first place is .. as good as we cld really get ig? but we dont have anyone .. more aggressive than her in the entire series and idk it’s just weird. like i get that the next incarnation means she’s native bc water (can the avatar be mixed, anyw ??)

but like they did the same thing in atla too, where the only brown rep (’‘‘brown’‘‘ since asian people are often brown too.. but they mostly had chinese — the fire nation — and /…. who knows with the air nation and .. i think it was korea with the earth nation? i’ll need to check) is where.. everyone is like that? like we see.. the fire nation king and he’s violent and stuff but we also see iroh who’s not. we see a lot of earthbenders who are prone to violence (and similarly this cld be a . Problem) and .. fuck im sure there’s someone who’s peaceable …. toph’s parents? but they were also .Bad so. and then the air nation & being peaceable we dont see anyone who’s rly .. Violent? which if they really are meant to be white wld be . Problematic.  esp cause that wld make them the victims of colonialism instead of the perpetrators / havingthem be in a sympathetic light

esp if like. the idea was being like their elements water is harsh? but like. fire n hotheaded. so water as its opposite shld Not and! idk

um but then with the water tribe we don’t .. see peaceable people. that they were all mad at aang (well at least the grandmother) and i guess the mom could be seen as peaceable ? but nothing really else. sokka and katara are both prone to easily giving in to anger, and while their dad…. is generally so (??) we don’t really get any good rep (just like w the earth nation) that lasts more than like. an episode,, and i guess yue but she dies (just like katara & sokka’s mom, the only other ‘‘‘‘peaceable’‘‘‘ person besides women that were affected by the northern water tribe’s sexism). again im probably overanalyzing but !! things i kept thinking about through the show .. thought i’d mention

and as for adding in black people .. like it seemed like an unnecessary exclusion ? maybe for laziness w animating or .. this was the best they could get? but idk it just bothered me a lot while watching the show. it wldve been great to seeing them throwing off their oppressors (the fire nation, in majority) but also having variations in types of people instead of the constant lack of variation in media (specifically with either oversexualized or ‘’’animalistic’‘‘‘ / unfeeling charas)?

n that they would .. replace white people’s role with chinese (?) / japanese people feels like pushing off the weight of colonialism? it wldve been nice imo if we saw the fire nation as white ? like it’s not a big deal or anythin but it’s somethin i‘ve been thinking abt

generally tho i rly like how they handled the southern and northern water tribes, but i do have some problems ?? like how the southern water tribe is seen as … primitive almost? at least in comparison to .. everyone else (except the air nomads except not rly cause even they had their own vehicles of flight things that cld only be opened w air bending etc etc).. really reeks of native stuff which is very valid and i liked how they showed that they weren’t.. v sexist? because native american culture .. Generally (i’m sure there’s exceptions, minor or not) promotes equality ?

um but then they kinda took that out with katara doing all of the washing and being the one to take care of sokka (despite being younger(?)) which is ….. more like indian ?  and so it felt like .. they were just like ‘’‘native indian’‘‘‘‘ and indian and equating them.. and also not giving a very good representation? and generally just. Smushing them together.

and then that .. the northern water tribe is the ‘‘‘advanced’‘‘‘‘ one, but then they’re really sexist? which makes it seem like . if you’re going to be an advanced culture there’s gonna be sexism .. and a lot of it is me reading into it cause it’s a kids’ show but .. they gotta be careful when working with colonialism and race specifically as the only markers between tribes and that Didnt happen.

& the swamp benders????? like they were just pretty wack overall but they were native american coded as well but .. in a different way? and it wasj ust .. iffy to me

also that they didn’t have mixed-race people was ????? to me. just. in general. like even after the peace we dont see people w more than one bending ability ?? asdgkmdsfkjdskjg anyway yea this is too long imma stop it here

#ralcify #i havent reread it so hopefully it makes sense but .. #basically they shld add black rep #anti atla / #kinda ? #not rly i rly love the show ive just had all of these thoughts #n u gave me a plase to talk abt them so !! #long post / #colonialism m / #racism m / #rise and grind baby let’s eat today’s ass.