Written by Charlie Johnson
Aaron Ehasz announced back in July that he was working on a new series, The Dragon Prince, which has now been released on Netflix as of last week and it raised a few eyebrows within the animation community. For those of you who are racking your brains trying to remember where he is from, Aaron was the head writer for one of my favourite TV shows of all time: Avatar. With his new show recently released, now is the perfect time to go back and experience the rich worlds that he created.
This is why you should rewatch Avatar: The Last Airbender, and if you haven’t seen it yet, be warned, there are spoilers ahead!
1. The Story Is Full and Rewarding
This is what showcases Aaron’s writing talents. The story of Avatar starts of with a localised mystery where two kids find a strange boy and his flying bison frozen in an iceberg. From there, Aang and crew must defeat the single most powerful man in this world, Fire Lord Ozai. What is a cat and mouse story between the group of kids and an exiled prince who is hellbent on tracking them down, becomes a search for purpose in life and how to deal with the notion of destiny. As they get more powerful, the bigger the challenges become. It really makes you feel for the plight of the group and root for them to succeed. It’s this gradual accumulation of power by the characters that makes the show worth a watch.
2. Beautifully Animated Action Sequences
Avatar draws visual inspiration from all over “The East”. The gigantic Earth Kingdom is based of China. The proud Fire Nation is very Japanese in feel. The Air Nomads, in their orange robes are similar to the Tibetan monks, and the Water Tribes (located on the North and South Poles) lend heavily from Inuit traditions. Each nation practices its own form of martial arts that is inspired by the elements they represent. Each one of these fighting styles are based on real world martial arts. The animators have gone to great lengths to replicate these poses and stances on the screen. This makes for stunning choreography with each fight scene feeling as high stakes and unique as the next.
3. Unique and Engaging World
The only way to describe the world of Avatar is vibrant. As I mentioned before, the world is as distinct as the people who inhabit it. As the characters travel around you get a real feel of cultural change. In the bustling Earth Kingdom city of Ba Sing Se, it’s every man for himself as they struggle to get rich or just survive. While the people in the Water Tribes are driven by traditionalism and rituals. The people reflect their environments and that speaks to the real world. Every class of society is visited in this story too. Beggars, refugees, kings, government officials, university students, farmers, merchants, pirates, priests, illegal ring fighters and cabbage salesmen; everyone gets a chance to tell their story. Not to mention the crazy hybrid animals that dot the wilds. Have you ever stopped to consider what a platypus bear looks like?
4. Avatar Teaches About Religion and Tolerance
Until I watched the show, my teenage mind had rarely stopped to consider other faiths. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a hater I just hadn’t been exposed to much outside of my semi-rural Christian dominant upbringing. But Avatar presents its audience with a wide array of Eastern faiths and belief systems. Centring around Buddhism and Confucianism, it also dabbles in ideas of Taoism and some Hindu beliefs. On top of this, each nation has a different government system. The Earth Kingdom functions as a communist state with an emperor at the head. While the water tribes have the ability to vote in a leader from a recognised family, and the Fire Nation adheres to Imperialist bloodline successions. What is most impressive about the show is that it presents all these different world views to its audience in an equal light. Everything has both pros and cons. Everything is about balance.
5. Every Character Has An Arc
Every character you meet in the show has a past. Everyone gets their time to shine. Everyone has triumphs, and everyone has flaws. While most of the characters learn to “bend” or manipulate the elements, some do not. Sokka, one of Aang’s travelling companions shows a great amount of growth. He doesn’t physically get stronger, instead his story focuses on his feelings of inadequacy and sense of belonging. Throughout the show you see that his strengths don’t lie in physical prowess, but in his ability to plan and improvise as required. On the other side of the story is Iroh, who is the uncle of the outcast Prince Zuko who is dedicated to hunting down the Avatar. His struggle revolves around helping his stubborn nephew to find inner peace and become a better man. While he knows what Zuko is doing is wrong, his conflict is helping him realise these shortcomings on his own.
6. Bending Is Freaking Cool!
So, I’ve been waiting to discuss this. Bending is when a person channels their energy to manipulate the very elements. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air can all be used by the people of this world and it is one of the coolest ideas ever. In the school yard we’ve all had arguments about which super powers would be better than the rest. Bending is that argument made into animation. Each discipline is based on a different martial arts style. The elegant forms used in water bending evoke images of Tai Chi, while fire benders rely on flurries of strikes and kicks like many Shaolin techniques. Earth bending is all about power from your stance like Hung Gar and air bending is similar to Ba Gua where the user rotates their centre of gravity to roll away from blows and utilise an enemy’s energy against them. Once again, these differences in technique create dynamic fight scenes and moments of shock and awe. Bending is one of the coolest “magic” systems I’ve seen. If you don’t believe me, check out this clip:
7. Avatar Makes You Want to Create
Finally, Avatar: The Last Airbender seems to capture some part of our collective imaginations. Most people I’ve talked to about it, love it to bits. Personally, it has inspired me to research more into Eastern mythology and write some stories about it. I know others who have taken to art and even animation because of the impression it made on them. Comics, music compilations, web animations, short stories, you name it, someone will have made an Avatar inspired version. Not to mention there is a sequel story set in the Avatar equivalent of the industrial boom. But I will have to discuss The Legend of Korra another time.
