I don't believe he can save the world; Avatar, Netflix

Personally, I was not a fan of this.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated series I have watched multiple times. Netflix decided to bring the characters to life, human life, live-action. There were doubts, worry, hope, many feelings that I and others were feeling when the news came out. Waiting to see the final product. The original creators were working with Netflix, but then they vanished. It was now clear that this adaptation would be different. Not a direct retelling of the animated series that came before, but an inspired vision, like the movie. This was not the first time a live-action remake was happening; this was actually the second. They tried to retell a season of the show as a movie, which had its own vision of how the world worked. Now they were retelling a season, as another season, using similar rules, but a different telling of events. We will be seeing more of this world as it has been renewed for a second and third season, just like the original series. This show made its choices.

If this was my first time watching the series, I would give it a passing score, barely. A show that, if you don't ask too many questions, you could enjoy, as the characters in the world are interesting and you want to learn more about them. My biggest issue with this retelling was the writing. First, I will praise the writing for the fire-bending characters, for the most part. I believe they were given the most care, mainly because they were given more screen time, which helped flesh out these characters to the viewers. Zuko, the banished Fire Nation prince, had every key moment in the original series retold here as well, with extra fine-tuned details that fleshed him out. His sister Azula, who was barely seen in season one and fleshed out in season two, is now shown in season one with motivation to make us care for her from the start. Fire Lord Ozai, a father that was previously shown as just a ruthless no-face villain, now has a face that shows us different emotions with the possibility of a sense of care for his kids. They humanized the villains early on, trying to create an unclear sense of good vs. evil. Yes, the Fire Nation may be considered evil, but they have a reason to act this way. Before this was done with just Zuko in the original series, he is the protagonist, but he has a good heart and is unfortunately put in this situation. He even gets a full redemption arc later on. Now, they are showing us not just Zuko but Azula as well. She does still look and act like a villain, but now she is a villain we can empathize with; her father is treating her poorly and pitting his children against each other. Their father is given depth as well. In the original show, at least for season one, he was just the big bad guy. He had no redeeming qualities; he was just plain evil. But now, maybe we can empathize with him in moments; maybe we see some reasoning for his actions; maybe we see him in a different light. They give us these moments, but at a cost.

 

If you are a pro fire-bender fan, then this show sounds amazing so far. All your favorite characters are getting more depth right from the start. The problem though, is that screen time is being taken away elsewhere. Team Avatar is generic. They took away time from the good guys to show us more time with the bad guys. Right from the start of the show, original new content. Content focused on the Fire Nation starting the war one hundred years ago. Knowledge that is heavily mentioned in the original show but never actually shown. Just a story, a tale, that many side characters tell and the audience hears from their perspective. This terrible event changed the lives of many in a negative way. We were told this story many times; heck, the intro for the original show is a shortened version to remind us each episode. There was no reason to show us how the war started, because they already showed us how it affected the world as a whole. The show struggles to understand what they need to show the viewers and what information can just be told. My personal belief, the creators of the live-action did the same thing Zack Snyder did with the DC Universe. They aimed to make it more gritty, dark, and edgy. Most original content focused on this dark energy, giving each character of team Avatar a dark past they must deal with. Missing the main theme of the original show, hope.

 

Following the original series, the Avatar came through with people telling him how messed up things are since he disappeared, but ending with hope for a better future now that he is back. In the live-action, people are telling the Avatar how messed up the world is, and we are left with the same negative despair feeling the Avatar has. The moments that hope is shown, they have to remind us first of how terrible things are over and over and over and over before being like, okay maybe I can try to think positively...maybe. After finishing an episode, I don't feel positive. I am left feeling dread about how sad this world is. A feeling that makes me ask, why would I want to come back? Why would I want to learn more about this world? This world doesn't show me hope for a better future, just people who are upset about the past and will not let you forget it. Yes, you can be upset, but that shouldn't be the big takeaway. You don't leave your audience at the end of every episode feeling miserable; you want them to feel hopeful for the characters future, that maybe they can do this and fix the world.

A prime example of a character changed to be more dark and gritty is Bumi. In the original show, we are shown a flashback of the Avatar with a friend from before the war. The Avatar meets this king, has to deal with multiple challenges to rescue his friends, and learns at the end that the king was his old friend Bumi. His old friend was trying to teach him a lesson, that many challenges await him on his journey, but with out-of-the box thinking, any problem can be solved. In the live-action, we are shown a similar flashback, but as soon as the Avatar meets the king, he reveals who he really is. Instead of this secretly being an old friend to help him on his journey, it now becomes an old friend blaming him for his actions. The live-action makes this wise positive character into a selfish negative one. They focus more on the dark, rather than the light. And then they recreate an original series moment that makes no sense in the live-action because it is no longer a cherished memory from their childhood. Just a random act of fan service.

This is not just done to Bumi, but to every main character. They changed lore about Sokka, a traveling companion of the Avatar. In the original series, he never got a chance to do the special ritual called ice dodging with his father before he left. In the live-action, Sokka does the ritual but gets special treatment for being the chief's son and is given a passing score even though he doesn't deserve it. This is information Sokka discovers and feels ashamed about because his father doesn't believe he deserves to be seen as a warrior yet. This new lore changes the character of Sokka. It is no longer about a war that forces the dismantling of families like his, but now a personal father issue that he must deal with. Before, his father left him and his sister at a young age where he never got to experience crucial childhood moments that every person his age would normally experience. He saw his father as a hero, going off to help others in the war, a figure of hope. Now, his father left him and his sister to go help fight in the war, but he also doesn't believe his son is ready enough to be a warrior, a person people can depend on. He sees his father as baggage, another person he has to prove his worth to, a figure of stress.

I originally did not intend to break this down for each character, but I might as well continue with Sokka's sister, Katara. Her biggest issue, is power scaling. Actually, that is a bigger issue as a whole, but a very important one for Katara. In the original and live-action series, we see Katara practice water-bending and she struggles with it but persists and starts to master the craft. A key moment in the original series, episode one, that was not shown in the live-action, was her potential. In episode one, we see Katara get upset and unintentionally break apart an iceberg behind her, after we just watched her a few minutes earlier, barely able to lift a fish out of water. Yes, she may be new to this, but she has the potential for growth. We see this from the start, so when the first season ends and she is on par or just right below in power with a master water-bender, it's believable. In the live-action, we see the slow progression of her learning water-bending, but a power scaling skip happens, and she is doing moves that don't seem believable for her power yet. A common ability for water-benders is being able to freeze water. Yes, this may be a nitpicky thing, but in the live-action, we never see Katara freeze anything until the pivotal moment with Jet, which was shot in a similar way as the original series. Jet, a person who she thought she could trust, ends up betraying her. I don't mind that she freezes him in place, but I do mind that she acts nonchalant about it. This girl has barely learned to water-bend and has been amazed every step of the way. Now they show us freezing water for the first time, and we don't see any amazement from Katara. She should be impressed with herself as this is a new skill she has picked up, but instead they act like this is a normal thing she could do any time. Yeah, you could say she learned this in between episodes, but then that means we're missing pivotal character moments that could easily make us enjoy these characters. The creators disregard any possible moments to show us joy for these characters, believing we need to see how sad they can be for us to care about them. I sadly do not believe her strength in the final episodes of the live-action series. They did not show me the potential or full growth of Katara that makes me believe she could go toe to toe with a master water-bender. In the original series, you actually believed that maybe she could pull it off; you had hope for her. In the live-action I believed she would lose, and she does. Yeah, she sparks interest for girl warrior water-benders just like in the original series, but I don't think this moment is earned in the live-action, which is disappointing for me.

The Avatar himself, Aang. In the original series, he is a kid who is given a huge burden on his shoulders, but with help from his friends, he is able to fulfill his destiny as the Avatar. For the live-action, he is a kid given a huge burden on his shoulders, who is reminded of this burden while traveling with his friends, who have their own burdens, and being told he must go north for reasons. They take away the fun from this character to remind us how his life sucks. Aang no longer gets to act like a kid his age; everyone tells him to grow up because he messed up for not being here a hundred years ago. But he still reminds them that he is a kid because the audience needs to be reminded since they no longer show his moments of acting like one. They are too busy reminding us how the world sucks because he was gone. For Aang, they took away character moments. Before, in the original series, they would show us the masterful air-bending he could do at such a young age. In the live-action, they tell us all the time and show us maybe once or twice in a flashback. During the present time, he rarely shows any masterful feat of air-bending. In the original show, when Zuko would show up, Aang could deal with him, winning each time, with no worry that he would actually lose. This is different in the live-action; Zuko is a tough opponent. Not just with Aang, but even with his own father, technically beating him in their duel. The creators don't know how to deal with power scaling. After watching Zuko beat his father in a duel, losing because he wouldn't do the final blow, why should we be afraid of the Fire Lord? Yes, he abused his son to the public, but his own son could beat him if he wanted to. Zuko is shown to be the strongest character in the live-action series, which is pretty cool, but doesn't make sense in the world they are trying to tell us. His father, the big bad, should be the strongest. He is meant to be the final boss. Showing us this moment of loss diminishes the fear we have of him. Then Aang, a master of air-bending, could only defend against Zuko during a fight when he was not fire-bending. Aang should have beaten him with ease, but instead, in this world, Zuko is shown to be the strongest character.

Currently, I am rewatching the original series, and each episode flows into each other, keeping pace and staying consistent with the world they are telling us. Sadly, this is not done well with the live-action counterpart on Netflix. The creators took this world and are telling stories they want to tell, but they are not staying consistent about it. They are telling us one thing but showing us another. I am happy for the people who enjoy this and are ecstatic that a show they love is being shared again with others. That is how it should be, but I just wish this version had better writing. I want people to enjoy this series; it's one of my favorites, but I don't feel confident about telling people to see this adaptation. Sadly, I am not a fan of this.