Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, dedicated fans and content creators lived in harmony. Then everything changed when Avatar was renewed for a live-action show.
Avatar: The Last Airbender, the live action show, made its debut February 22nd on Netflix – almost exactly 19 years after the animated series started. Fans are unsure how to feel.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is a story that takes place in a world where there are people called benders that can either control air, water, fire, or earth. The story follows a young boy who was preserved in an iceberg for 100 years, and is the last of the airbenders and the Avatar, the only being who can control all of the elements. The Avatar must learn how to control his powers in time to stop the Fire Nation from taking over.
“Seeing the trailer, I can’t help but be a little excited to see what they’re going to do with it, but I’m still kind of unsure,” lifelong fan Allison Windisch commented after viewing the trailer. This uncertainty is mainly rooted in the original creators having left the project due to creative differences.
According to Collider’s article “Netflix’s ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’ — Everything We Know So Far”, one of the original creators, Bryan Konietzko, stated that “as long as we felt those ideas were in line with the spirit and integrity of Avatar, we would have happily embraced them. However, we ultimately came to the belief that we would not be able to meaningfully guide the direction of the series.” With production happening without the original creators, many fans are boomeranging back to the 2010 Avatar movie adaptation The Last Airbender, a movie many fans deny as much as the Earth Kingdom denies the war in Ba Sing Se. It scored 5% among professional critics on Rotten Tomatoes and got an audience score of only 30%. Problems ranged from white actors being cast as characters of color, names of main characters being pronounced wrong, and a whole slew of others. “Everyone is kind of hesitant to watch the new live action series after the first live action attempt went so bad,” Allison stated.
Another concern is what the format will do to the characters. According to Gamerant.com, many fans believe that there being only 8 episodes will lead the show to cut out important traits of characters, mainly Aang, the main character. Aang is a playful and reluctant hero, often going off on side quests to avoid dealing with his responsibilities as the Avatar. In the constrained number of episodes, this part of him might be lost, which is distressing because his spontaneity and childish wanderings are important to his character in the show.
Another thing Allison wants to know: “What is the point? Is there really a demand for a new live action series?” Lately this seems to be a big trend in production studios, with other classic series being remade into shows, including recently Percy Jackson and the Olympians, The Little Mermaid, and other projects in the works including Moana and Harry Potter. As Allison said, direct remakes always risk diluting the original meanings of media. This trend makes one wonder when there’ll be new stories told, and why studios feel the need to harp on fans’ previous dedications.
There is still excitement in the air for Avatar fans as they wait to yip-yip into the new show. Though there are already critiques, the show still has the potential to honor the original series and delight fans of all elements, transporting them back into the world of sky bison, cactus juice, and benders.