Eventually will have a comment response video to features good faith feedback, and your general niceness! So leave your thoughts below. This video took a LOT of work, so thank you for taking the time to watch it. - 🦝 Be sure to subscribe if you liked it! I am poor and it gives me dopamine lol.
Aang remembers the air nomads through rose tinted glasses. It is the pure hearted innocence of a boy. The air nomad avatar did tell Aang to kill the fire lord and Aangs favorite mentor was found amongst a literal pile of corpses. He killed as many as he could before he died. So the reason we see the nomads as a monoculture, a single peace loving entitty is because the only one who remembers them is an innocent child. A child too afraid to become Avatar. So you can see how he is willing to see his own culture as peace and butterflies
I mean... I guess, but this more feels like an excuse for the writers more than anything. I totally get what your saying, but the problem still stands with how the air nomads were represented
Avatar Yangchen was an avatar that specifically stranded from the usual Air Nomad path of non-violence, while Gyatso was fighting back and likely took them with him in a suicide attack seeing he has no actual burnings in his body. The buddhist inspired teachings of the Air Nomads talk about things of non-violence and fighting only to defend yourself, murder as the act of seeing to end another life because you want them death is an entire different thing
@@xaviergolestani3574I disagree. *everything* is an excuse for the writers... that is the point, however what we see of the air nomads in the cartoon is almost always from the viewpoint of a young child. We still see Yanchen telling Aang that as the avatar killing is sometimes needed, the lesser of two evils. We see Gyatso murdering dozens in self defense. We don't know much about air nomad culture to begin with, we know they prefer peace, we know some were vegetarian, we know they were spiritual. At the very least, it isn't 1:1 with Tibetan Bhuddism. Just as how the fire nation isn't imperial Japan, the water tribes aren't Inuit and the earth kingdom isn't Chinese. Inspiration is taken from many, many sources. The fire nation takes just as much, if not more, Inspiration from China. The earth kingdom is extremely diverse and has Inspiration from many places in Asia and many distinct time periods. The water tribes have Inuit Inspiration, sure, but also take from native Australians and Americans with their boats also nodding to Polynesia. The air nomads are no different: based on *many* himalayan cultures. They also mix a bit of China in as well. In terms of how the culture of the air nomads is presented as a monolithic thing... yeah, there is only the memory of one person left. not all of them were vegetarian, not all got a Bison, I'm sure not all shaved their head (in fact we know at least one thanks to Kyoshi's mother). We don't see much of air nomad culture so of course it will seem flatter.
15:32 To me, I never saw Water Tribe food as disgusting, I just thought it was repulsive to Aang cause he’s a vegetarian & Water Tribe food is heavily meat based (like a lot of Inuit cultures)
Great video again, It's always easy to put media you love up on a pedestal and remain ignorant on it's flaws. You've put forward a well researched analysis that shows where some of these flaws may be, and how we can avoid making the same mistakes when producing or elevating new media in the future.
Another note about Guru Pathik: the ascent up the temple and chakras to enlightenment which is rejected, and then the conversation with Iroh as they descend underground to save Katara and Zuko is almost certainly Mahayana Buddhist chauvinism. In this lens, seeking one's own enlightenment (early Buddhist, or Hindu or Jain Moksha) is selfish in comparison to the Bodhisattva vow to abstain from nirvana until all other beings are enlightened. This means reincarnating countless times as (what can be translated as) an "enlightening-hero" to ripen all beings and open them up to the Dharma. This obviously mirrors the role of the Avatar, but also feeds the Western Individualist power fantasy in the Hero's Journey and at the cost of all that Pathik represents. This chauvinist perspective is absolutely present in Mahayana sutras, and made its way to the West during the Orientalist, Theosophic, and New Age movements, but a fuller view of the points in Mahayana Buddhism rejecting this chauvinism are 1) almost nobody is qualified to even the first of the six to ten Bodhisattva Bhumis, so don't think that you're a faultless hero above others 2) ultimately there is no "Mahayana" (greater vehicle) separate from other Buddhism, so say the Ekayana sutras and the unanimous agreement of the World Buddhist Sangha Council 3) relative comparisons like above/below, greater/lesser, self/other, hero/villain, or nirvana/samsara are perspectives imputed by a mind stuck on dualism and are not ultimately true. Non-buddhist faiths and non-faiths can easily be argued to fit within the Ekayana, and the BuddhaDharma is not Buddhism nor the exclusive property or product of it. I sadly don't see Atla representing this nuance particularly clearly if at all; just a rejection of very specifically illustrated and coded beliefs, favouring a surface-level reading of a perspective that calls itself "greater". The greatest compliment that I can give is that this generation is almost ready to outgrow and outclass an already incredible show, and even the industry is craving something that can do it, due in no small part to this show specifically. Just my thoughts anyway
Iroh and Aang reject that, but the Guru insistence is vindicated somewhat when Aang finds himself forced to release his last chakra anyways under less than ideal circumstances. The Guru isn't wholly right, as he asserted it was then or never. The Guru is definitely a weak point in the show, but it does at least split the difference.
@@anotheret1064 I actually think Aang was narratively punished for letting go of Katara and entering the Avatar State in the Book 2 finale. Worse than bad circumstances, Azula puts Aang to his lowest point, which is convention for the end of Act 2, and it specifically took Katara's spirit water healing to keep him alive. Worse than dead without her, he shouldn't even reincarnate; which is ironically nirvana, and probably not accidental. But yeah 100%, Pathik was steadfast in his method and couldn't conceive of classic Airbender flip-flopping or chi-unblocking rocks
This is such a great, well-scripted video that isn’t afraid to put everything on the table. Avatar did a lot of good and it’s still one of my favorite pieces of fiction ever, but it’s incredibly important to me that we bring up its stumbles as well. Acknowledging those flaws is part of how we can use Avatar as a way to continue learning and growing. The fandom can get super defensive about this stuff, so this video was a huge breath of fresh air. Thanks for your hard work and research. :)
Hey, I just want to thank you about teaching me a few things about cultural appropriation. Admittedly, I know hardly anything about it and I often go back and forth on the voice actors stuff, but you did make me think about thinks I previously didn’t think about.
I don’t think the air nomads misrepresent Tibetan monks , as many are indeed vegetarian and pacifistic. Ahimsa is a core foundation of Buddhism. So it makes sense the monks are portrayed that way. Even still we literally see Gyatso break this code so it’s not like they are these perfect beings. You could even argue the airbenders could take some inspiration from Jains where their entire way of life is dedicated to non violence. Also the other airbenders were shown to have flaws in Aang’s flashback. As the head monk didn’t really value Aang’s personhood but rather only his role as avatar.
Really great video again man! But I must say, I don't think there's nothing wrong with Water Tribe food being portrayed as disgusting. Only Aang seems to really think so, which makes sense since Water Tribe food would have lots of meat and fish, and Aang is a vegetarian. It's kinda how he was grossed out by Fire Nation food. No malice, just that Aang is a picky eater 😊 Also if I may ask, what is your own race/ethnicity?🤔
As an Inupiaq i'm pretty comfortable saying it's not just that Aang doesn't like Water Tribe food, it's that IRL Eskimo (yes, Eskimo; we don't all call ourselves Inuit and Eskimo is the easiest, best known word for the wider cultural identity) food gets comments like "that would make me a vegitarian" or "you could not pay me to eat that" so it does bear a resemblance to IRL prejudices. One example is raw fish. A bunch of people are just fine with sushi and sashimi but when Eskimos mention raw fish as a traditional food they talk about us like we're barbarians too primitive to cook our food despite it actually being safer to eat in our climate. Our fermented foods and use of rendered animal fats get disgusted looks from the same types of people who love stinky cheeses and lard biscuits. It's not just Aang. It's knowing what the writers think about the kinds of foods people who wear fur atigiit and build igluit traditionally eat
@@seraphinasullivan4849i was looking for this and i can vouch as a so called “canadian” inuk, particularly with the attitudes towards consumption of seal meat and products by southerner qallunaat(white people or non natives) seal skin bans in the eu and smear campaigns by groups like greenpeace definitely did not help but the disgust was held long before that by colonizers specifically jesuits and presbyterian missionaries. i personally see the trope of inuit inupiat and yupiit country food being seen as disgusting as being damaging and furthering existing stigmas behind those foods that non-natives already hold and perpetuating misinformation on said foods like seal meat and fats being seen as unhealthy and bad for you or inhumane when most harvesting practices respect the seal being harvested and use the honourable harvest rule as compared to maybe not so comparably open pen salmon farming where i live(NW coast of BC) where diseases and parasites are rampant and dirty harvesting and processing practices are utilized and destroy marine and river life habitats and pose risks to indigenous communities who rely on salmon harvesting economically and non native fishermen who are concerned about the status of salmon spawns and populations but yet there’s not a lot of backlash about open pen farm salmon being used in food especially on a commercial level like restaurants and fast food places. that tangent could go on forever but people need to look at this trope critically instead of thinking it’s just a silly quirk because the character happens to be vegan or dislike animal products
I'm making a fantasy comic partially inspired by avatar that features an Asian-inspired empire with a Mongolian-inspired province (which is the homeland of the main character), and I feel like up until now I've been kinda lazy with it, especially the names. Thanks for shedding light on this topic regarding Avatar, as it helps me realize my own biases and will hopefully help me avoid cultural appropriation
I realy love your avatar videos and I hope we can see more media analysis on different topics and show's (maybe some more direct political stuff?), either way keep it up !
18:22 This entire section is just things I would never have heard about growing up in the western world if not for Avatar. Now I'm aware and I care about them.
From Nickelodeon's perspective as a corporation, yes this is still cultural appropriation. But from the perspective of the creative team, this is an awareness campaign that Nickelodeon unknowingly paid the bill for. So I'ma chalk this up as we need to *Nicely* ask Nickelodeon to subtly direct support to these groups of people.
Thanks for pointing out the Indian part. You might imagine what it was like for me or other young Indians. Finally a show whose title was recognizably Indian, promising more of the beloved concept of an Avatar, a deity who reincarnates to establish justice on earth. But after watching every episode religiously, it turned out the only recognizable Indian influence was the stereotypical Guru Pathik, and the Avatar is actually a cop for liberalism, overthrowing regimes and suppressing popular movements in the name of some vague political "balance." Here is a world based on Asia and even includes indigenous peoples, but leaves out India for some reason. Arguably the one country pivotal in the development of pan-Asian cultural phenomena like Buddhism, and maybe even the whole reason imperialism happened in the first place. India also as one of the only countries to liberate themselves peacefully is taken for granted, in ATLA and in general, because it wasn't really all that peaceful, and it sucks that the rest of history was forgotten and whitewashed like this. On the point of portrayals which increase positive attention: the few Indian concepts didn't seem to really get that advantage. The concept of reincarnation was butchered (each Avatar is portrayed as different selves instead of one self, and for some reason spirits are involved?), and people still seem to think Avatar, maybe sometimes also Naruto, invented chakras. Another thing which bothers me is the pronunciations of words. People hated the live action movies for "mispronouncing" things, but that was one thing I really appreciated about it. For whatever reason, Indians are among the only Asian peoples who use their real names instead of adopting a white name for the convenience of white people. Shyamalan must have had the same feeling. Hearing names and words like Avatar butchered kills me a little every time. Idk why anyone would rally against respecting our language, not even blinking at the accents of characters like Guru Pathik.
Hi, Indian here. I thought that maybe the form of the character guru pathik might have been stereotypical; but I felt that the message that was conveyed by him wasn't. I really appreciated how they talked about chakras in a meaningful manner with sense to it. They didn't try to go with the "you'll go super sayan if you unlock all the chakras by going on a macguffin quest" route. The viewer can really learn a thing or two from his teachings, and that's something I really appreciated. Just my two cents
@@ThePrincessCH in the Indian (mostly Hindu, but sometimes also Buddhist, Jain, and other traditions) reincarnation is a self (you can use "soul" here though it's not exactly that) taking on many bodies like a person changes clothes. A mortal who realizes the truth of this circuit of birth-and-death (samsara) can also realize their hidden past memories and break free of the circuit. Alternatively the concept can be about a divine being who incarnates into a specific form to complete a task in the mortal realm, usually a god intervening to save humanity -- this is literally "avatara" or a "coming-down." The incarnations may or may not remember their true divine origin, but eventually they return back to it, but don't remain in the circuit of samsara. It's a temporary and voluntary (or punishment) imprisonment to the material body the divine being. The Avatar in ATLA appears to be one of these at first, but is actually neither. Off the bat, it's not one self, but actually two (spoilers for LOK): a human and a spirit. The human in the Avatar is elevated to sainthood by knowing their previous life, gains powers, but for some reason doesn't accept liberation from samsara. That's fine actually, they could be a boddhisattva delaying their enlightenment to help others. But the human in the Avatar never actually achieve or helps others achieve liberation. And the spirit, free and immortal as it is, for some reason is effectively forever cursed to be mortal and suffer samsara over and over. It doesn't really make sense why either self would want this. Second, the different selves of the Avatar's lives seem to be literally different selves, not previous forms. While bodies and personalities change over time, the fundamental part of reincarnation is that something is preserved across lives: it is the same self only because of this. Different Avatars can even meet and argue with each other, as Rama and Parashurama did, but they should be fundamentally the same and thus in agreement with each other. (Spoilers for ATLA and LOK) Aang effectively rejects ALL of his previous selves, and Korra literally destroys ALL her previous selves, which makes no sense in the Indian philosophies. The writers seem intent on rejecting the idea of the self conserved temporally over time to deliver a message that a person can be whoever they want to be. But that's not really true, and is in fact an illusion that causes suffering in life, according to the Indian traditions. It seems like a Western misunderstanding or rejection of the fundamentals of Indian philosophy. To use a metaphor. Indian philosophy approaches the concept of reincarnation like carefully unfolding origami back to a flat sheet of paper. The Avatar in ATLA crumbles two origamis together into a tight ball for some reason. Edit: somewhat related and worth watching, from the Chinese rather than Indian perspective, the Cool History Bros channel's take on Zuko is pretty good. The term he uses is "cultural uncanny valley" for the surface-level Asian but ultimately Western perspectives of ATLA
@@sskpspthe reincarnation thing doesn't really hold water when applied to the show. It was never implying Bhuddist reincarnation, it is its own thing. One person has their soul continue almost as a "save" and is tied to others as the Avatar progresses. They continue in the spirit world / afterlife and can be called upon.
@@kitnal4143 He's incredibly confused lmao. He has conflated reincarnation with the concept of incarnations and the Dalai Lama. In the real world, the Dalai Lama is an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara and each Dalai Lama represents Avalokiteshvara but they all have separate personalities. In Hinduism, the god Vishnu has several avatars (incarnations) that all have different personalities. When we look at Avatar, we can see that the concept of the Avatar and their different personalities matches that of the Dalai Lama and Vishnu's avatars. I don't know why he's talking about reincarnation.
18:22 From Nickelodeon's perspective as a corporation, yes this is still cultural appropriation. But from the perspective of the creative team, this is an awareness campaign that Nickelodeon unknowingly paid the bill for. So I'ma chalk this up as we need to *Nicely* ask Nickelodeon to subtly direct support to these groups of people.
I think there's a very real question you can ask about whether or not cultural appropriation can exist when a culture has been almost completely exterminated. Can you alienate members of the population when all the members are dead? Can you uphold inequalities when one side has literally ceased to exist? Can a culture be marginalized when it no longer exists outside of history books? I guess a way to think about this would be to ask if we are capable of perpetuating cultural appropriation against real life extinct cultures; if I make a game about the Roman Empire, am I appropriating Roman culture? When we portray ancient Greeks as toga wearing philosophers, are we perpetuating racism? I don't know. And I'm not even sure if any real life example can compare to a people who were absolutely wiped out. I mean, there are still descendants of the Greeks and Romans, while there are no Air nomads in the show. So, I would argue that there's really no potential harm to commit against the air nomad culture. You could misunderstand that culture and forget essential parts of their philosophy and ways of life, but while that would be a shame for the existing people, there's no way to argue that it's hurting the air nomads because they've already been hurt beyond recovery.
@@ThePrincessCHbut the video isn't correct. Sure- some inspiration was taken from Tibet. But it was also taken from Nepal, Bhutan, Shaolin Bhuddism, Sri Lankan Bhuddism, even some Mongolian schools in Bhuddism. To look at the air nomads and say "this is Tibet" completely ignores the other inspirations and feeds into the stereotypes the creator of the video insists are being depicted. The reason they see the stereotypes is because it isn't *just* Tibet the creators took influence from. There is also heavy Chinese inspiration with the study of numerology and the architecture. The air nomad genocide is just as much a commentary on the horrors committed by Japan on China and SE Asia as it is of Tibet. It is a commentary on *all* imperialistic countries invading and attempting to eradicate entire races and cultures. That isn't even mentioning how the fire nation itself has as many references to China as Japan, if not more.
Your mention of Lake Laogai is interesting given one of the main complaints of Disney Channel's "Primos" was that the name of its main location also has negative associations to the culture it's meant to reflect. It does make me wonder if "Avatar: The Last Airbender" gave them the idea.
Newflash all fiction is considered cultural appropreation. Ok I'm really getting sick of people who get pleasure other than criticizing other things it just makes you look like a hipster whos only joy is making sure everyone else is miserable GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE As for characters voicing characters of different ethnicities NEWS FLASH NO ONE I KNOW CARES IT'S VOICE ACTING IT'S FAKE THAT'S THE POINT AS LONG AS YOUR NOT BEING RACIST OR SEXIST YOUR FINE.
I don't think there was any bad intent behind the inspirations they took to make Avatar, after all this is just a fictional world and not a one to one representation of our world, even if it was if any culture wants to be represented in fictional media they have to accept that not all is going to be correct , after all not even the records we have of ancient evens are fully correct.
It does parallel a lot of real world things though ... and perhaps tends to fly too close to the sun in that regard (presumably out of innocent ignorance but still) ........ also, there's a difference between slight adaptation variations .. and calling something one thing (and being many people's main exposure to that) while missing most of its heart and soul for the sake of convenience for your story (or just through ignorance)
Why should underrepresented cultures accept subpar representation in media? Creators that take inspiration and aspects from underrepresented cultures have the responsibility to depict them with the respect and dignity they deserve. If creators are going to be lazy about cultural representation in their media, then they should just not appropriate them in the first place. There are so many great asian and indigenous artists out there that do not get half as much attention as ATLA does. The creators should have hired more asian and indigenous voice actors, artists, and writers to create the show rather than just using them as "cultural consultants".
@theomega7699 I believe there is a Netflix Original series called "Spirit Rangers" that showcases Native American cultures, and it was created by Native Americans. Although, I believe the show targets a younger demographic than the Avatar franchise.
Think if everyone spoke in a nice and proper received English ... And then (almost) exclusively to portray people meant to be seen negatively or not taken seriously ... they pulled out the Scottish, American, Cockney, etc. .... that sends a bit of a message about what is good and what isn't and who to identify positively with in terms of how people talk
