"It's time for you to look inward , and begin asking yourself the big question: who are You? and what do you want?"- Iroh
Many of us growing up watched the Nickelodeon cartoon Avatar the Last Airbender, or have at least heard of it. A cartoon about a twelve-year-old boy who can master all the four elements, and must defeat the Fire nation after a one hundred yearlong war against the other nations. Each nation having the ability to bend each of the elements. Fire nations can fire bend, Water tribes can water bend, Earth Kingdom can earth bend, and those in the Air temples can air bend. We all had that one element that we wished we could bend. For instance, mine was water. I would always pretend that I was waterbending when I went swimming in the ocean or in the pool. But I'm not here to discuss my waterbending skills. Instead I want to talk about how this show didn't beat around the bush.
Most children show’s try to sensor kids. We don't our children to know that some kids are abused, that some kids are treated differently for being disabled, about people losing those we care about, or about war. This one cartoon hits all those marks, and makes kids and parents want to keep watching it. It also manages to do so in a tasteful way. Yes, there are dark, and terrifying things happening in the world today. But let’s help people see hope. This one cartoon could do so successfully.
Let's first discuss the character Toph. At the beginning of season two Aang is looking for someone to teach him how to earth bend. An old friend advised him, Bumi, saying that he should look for someone who waits and listens when earthbending. One night Aang, Sokka, and Katara go to an earthbending match and watch a little blind girl defeat the Boulder at earthbending. The Boulder is an actual person, based off The Rock Johnson, not an actual boulder. Later, we discover that her name is Toph and that she's living a double life. One where she is one of the best fighters in earthbending matches, and one where she's secluded and overly protected by her parents. Her parents who don't know that she can earth bend as well as she can.
They see the same thing we do at first. A small fragile and blind little girl. Someone who can never live on her own or be on her own. But, by the end of the episode, and series, we see that Toph is anything but defenseless. She's not afraid to fight her own fights, she usually wins said fights, and is the first earthbender able to bend metal. Yet we're having to be reminded that Toph is blind. Usually because the other characters tend to forget that. They forget that Toph is blind, because she doesn't make it obvious. Because she doesn't act like they would expect her too. Toph doesn’t live how society expects her to, but how she wants to.
Moving on to the one-hundred-year war. While Aang was frozen for one hundred years, the fire nation goes to war with the other nations. Territories are being taken over by the fire nation, and all the other nations live in fear. Fear that one day the fire nation might come for them. Is that not how we live? We live in fear for the one day that war might be right outside our front door. Back to the show, if somebody from the fire nation is spotted in another nation's territory they are automatically hated and shamed. Take for example, the one-time Zuko stopped military officials from abusing their power over an earth kingdom village. As soon as the villagers see that he can fire bend, he's no longer the hero. He's the villain now. The little boy he saves says that he hates him now, and the rest of the villagers run him out of town. Do we not do the same thing to those who are Muslim, and from the middle east? Zuko wasn't an extremist at that time, he was an outcast from the fire nation trying to survive. Not all Muslims are extremist but we treat them like they are, just like the villagers did with Zuko. A cartoon is able to be depict this part of society.
We've talked about war and those living with a disability. Let's talk about how this show, handles loss. In the beginning, we find out that Aang is the last airbender, and Katara and Sokka had lost their mom. The show manages to depict grief when we first find about death, and how it affects us later. With Aang we watch him experience the first initial shock, then he starts to grieve and cry, and finally anger. Aang loses control and slips into the avatar state because he's mad. Later, we see that he's still dealing with the death of the people he cared about. We see Aang blame himself for not being there to protect them. Finally, we see him reach a sort of understanding. Grief never truly goes away, but Aang finds a way to accept it and live with it. Without it destroying him.
In season three we see that Katara didn't move past the stage of anger. She found a way to live with the grief of losing her mother, but she still held onto that anger towards the fire nation. When Zuko explains that he knows how to find her mother's killer, Katara jumps at the chance of being able to have her revenge. She goes with Zuko with the intent to kill the man who killed her mother. When she finally gets there, she decides to not kill him at the last chance. Aang believes it’s because she found a way to forgive him. But Katara explains very clearly that she will never forgive him for killing her mother. She finds a way to live with the grief of losing her mom, but also keeps anger she feels towards it. Aang finds a way to forgive the fire nation, and himself, for the loss of his people. Katara will always hold onto that anger for her mother's death, but she finds a way to deal with that as well. Avatar the Last Airbender shows that people deal with grief differently, and separately than others.
Finally, the show discusses abuse. Zuko was abused by his father his entire life. From when he was young boy to the day he left the fire nation to help Aang train. We first learn about his abuse from his scar. Zuko was told that he was going to fight a general for disrespecting him. Instead he finds out that it’s his father. Instead of fighting Zuko bows to him, because he doesn't want to fight his father. Ozai, Zuko’s father, burns half of Zuko’s face while his son is kneeling before him. Permanently scaring him for the rest of his life.
Not only does Ozai scar Zuko, but he banishes him from the Fire Nation. Telling Zuko that he can only return after capturing the Avatar. A goal he believes that can never be accomplished. Even when the goal is found to be achievable, instead of helping Zuko he sends out orders for his son’s arrest. When Zuko is finally welcomed home it’s because Azula, who is the favorite child, vouches for him over his part in fighting the Avatar at Bas-sing se. But still, when Zuko returns home you can tell that Ozai still doesn't want him there. It isn't until Zuko makes this comment, that you know he's realized what's going on.
"For so long all I wanted was for you to love me, to accept me. I though it was my honor that I wanted. But really, I was just trying to please you. You, my father who banished me just from talking out of turn. My father who challenged me, a thirteen year old boy, to an Agni Kai."- Zuko
In that moment, we the audience, know that Zuko knows. He's now realized that this isn't love his father had been showing him. But instead that he’s been abused by this man his entire life, up until this point. Zuko has had enough, and he's letting his father know it. Zuko is letting his father know that he has no control over him anymore.
Avatar the Last Airbender was a children’s cartoon. A cartoon that didn't coddle children, but told them what the real world is like. All while taking place in a made-up world where we all wanted to go. This television series taught kids that the world is not a perfect place, but that we could make it one. Aang and Katara found a way to live with their grief and be happy with it. Zuko found a way out of an abusive relationship, to help better himself and his life. Toph didn't live by the standards that were dictated for her because she was disabled, but instead made her own. Even in a time of war, people that the group along the way, in different villages, found a way to be happy with what they had. So even though this show, showed kids a grown-up reality it also showed that you could make your own reality whatever you wanted it to be. A lesson that I soon won't forget.
