A post drawing connections from the Avatar series to real life and predicting possible ideas for the future of the franchise that touches on religion, technology, history, and that juicy racism.
I reach out to people for ideas on what to write. In return, I get nothing direct. Instead, I have interesting conversations that inspire ideas. Or I should say, “interesting conversation” as in only one. Because for as great of readers as some of you claim to be (and some of you have) few (if any) rarely provide any feedback. I won’t improve or touch on topics you’re interested in unless you provide feedback. As such, I will talk about shit I want to talk about. Today, we’re talking about more Legend of Korra stuff, but on a grander scale, including discussion of Last Airbender and what a possible future may hold for the Avatar franchise (the good anime-style one, not the so-so James Cameron one) as a whole.
First, shout-out to Max Burress for inspiring this topic with a recent discussion. To sum it, he pointed out some cultural distinctions between Last Airbender and Legend of Korra that I overlooked because while the differences were obvious, I never really connected the dots to their real-world counterparts because I just didn’t think of them. I was more fixated on the characters and no so much on the real life inspirations that may have helped shape the world from one time-period to another. So thank you, Max, for helping me take a better look at this aspect. For that, you earn 30 points. They don’t really matter, but right now you are the only one with them, so congratulations on that!
For the uninitiated (and if you are uninitiated, I’m curious as to why you’re still here), Avatar is a series in which different people in the world have different elemental manipulation powers (Earth, Wind, and Fire… oh, and Water too). The Avatar (the protagonist in both series) is an individual who can manipulate all four elements as well as communicate to spirits. They also have a couple of other perks most others don’t. When an Avatar dies, a new Avatar is created via reincarnation, which also allows them to tap into the knowledge of their previous lives… until a certain something happens in Legend of Korra: Book 2. They learn their different abilities and they use their powers to effect a great change in the world.
In the first series, Avatar: Last Airbender, we followed the story of Aang, who brought about great change by ending the 100 year war with the Fire Nation. The royal family and their elitist Fire Lord declared everyone else beneath them. He was prepared to wipe out anyone in his way, devastating landscapes and bringing death to thousands, perhaps even millions of people. Hell, they wiped out the Air Nomads at the beginning of the war with no one to stop them.
In the second series, Avatar: Legend of Korra, we’ve seen Korra assist with a few changes, but, by far, the most significant has been her decision to destroy the barrier that separates the human world from the spirit world, forcing the two populations to co-exist. We’re still seeing the results of this radical change and what the long term effects might be as the series airs. Therefore I can’t get too much into how this connects with anything, but I can make a few speculations.
What was initially brought to my attention (and thus prompted me to dig a little farther) was the mentioning of swimsuits. In Last Airbender, everyone wore bikinis while in Korra, everyone wears more 1920’s style swimsuits. This is something I never really paid much attention to, but that connection does make sense. The time gap between the Airbender and Korra series is about 80 years. And during Korra’s time we’re seeing the first manufactured cars and the first mass-produced aircrafts. And, in our world, these are big inventions brought into existence during the age of industrialization, which actually begins around our 1920’s.
Further proof? The radio, while invented in the 1800’s, wasn’t a widely used term until the 1900’s and public broadcasting didn’t first take prominence until about 1919. And, in the Korra series, this is how the characters receive big news stories as well as Pro-Bending matches. That’s how we got news from the warfront during the first and second World Wars (at least until the cinema became popular). Speaking of which, Varrick’s “Movers,” which are just the early versions of films started (at least in our world) around 1890 but they didn’t have sound (like Varrick’s Movers) until 1927.
But where would this set the first Avatar (not the original one according to Korra’s crazy flashback episode)? If we had to give a fair speculation, Last Airbender would have to take place 80 years prior, which would (mathematically) be around 1840’s. Now, I’m no expert in the 1800’s, so let me consult a few online sources to see if we have something that culturally matches what we’re suggesting and not just blowing smoke.
While the events don’t match up exactly, there are a couple of major events (at least in American history, which is where the writers of the show come from) that might fit the bill. In the earlier part of the 1800s (roughly 1820s), we elect president Andrew Jackson. One of his biggest contributions to American history, or at least the first that always comes to MY mind would be the “Trail of Tears.” For those not familiar with American history, in 1930-31, Andrew Jackson passed a law for the relocation of the Native Americans (the indigenous people of what is now the United States). This forced probably millions of Native Americans off their homeland and they were relocated to… Oklahoma. To this day, there’s isn’t anything IN Oklahoma worth talking about. No one goes there because they want to. As Friends’ Chanlder put it, “Oklahoma, the Sooner State. Frankly, I’d sooner be anywhere else.”
(Apologies to those from Oklahoma, but… well… yeah).
The Trail of Tears is a controversial piece of work that got a lot of support back in the day because people were afraid of the Native Americans (with SOME valid reason, but they never seemed to consider the fact they kind of encroached on their land first). Anyway, this relocation was not done with the best of intentions and MANY Native Americans died as a result of this act. So much so that the Native American population is one of the smaller minorities in America today. Sounds a lot like some Air Nomads we used to know, getting killed by the Fire Nation without any provocation from the Air Nomads.
But what else do we have? The racism doesn’t end there. Another big set of big events in the 1800’s worth discussing would be slavery and the Civil War. Slavery was prominent throughout the 1800’s UNTIL the Civil War put a stop to it, and, much like in real life, the Fire Nation wasn’t opposed to oppressing people and getting free (slave) labor for it. Many of the Earth Nation would be colonized and forced to work for the Fire Nation nobles that ran those towns, sometimes imprisoned if they didn’t obey. Interestingly enough, imperialism/colonialism was prominent in our world as well as a couple of the big European powers (British mostly, but Germany and eventually even the US too) would go to smaller 3rd-World countries like 1700’s India, parts of Africa, and South America and just establish colonies there (that’s how America was created). And, yes, this behavior from the supposed 1st-World nations took place between the mid-late-1700’s to the early 1900’s (which fits nicely with our timeline so far).
But the most important part of this conversation is the Civil War aspect. The Civil War wasn’t initially about abolishing slavery; that was a happy side-effect that Lincoln pushed for by the end. The Civil War was originally about keeping the Southern United States from leaving the Union (the collective United States). Or, in short, it was about the Federal Government establishing dominance over the State Governments. How does this compare with our 100 Year War in with the Fire Nation? Here are a couple of ways to look at it...
With the roles reversed, the 100 Year War was about the Fire Nation establishing dominance over the rest of the world (which they succeeded in doing for quite a while). However, they are outdone by the “states” (other nations, Avatar, White Lotus, etc) in the end because they get too ambitious and careless. Alternatively, consider the Avatar itself to be the Federal Government, keeping the world balanced (like the checks-and-balances that are supposed to keep individuals in the government from getting too powerful in America). And when a state or terrorist group (like the Fire Nation or Amon’s Anti-Bending Revolution) appear, it is up to the Avatar to shut them down and keep them in line. Effectively, that’s exactly what happened to the Fire Nation. The Avatar took away Ozai’s bending and put the Fire Nation back in line with the rest of his nations (states).
Granted, none of this is directly referenced or stated IN Last Airbender, but seeing how Legend of Korra set a cultural tone for her time-period, it feels safe to adequately place Aang’s time-period within the 1800’s (possibly 1700’s is when it starts, given he was frozen in ice for a while). Wait… war… frozen in ice… thawed out decades later… Aang is CAPTAIN AMERICA, Civil War Style.
Ahem… So, what does this mean for the future of Korra and the franchise of Avatar as a whole? Speculation leads me to believe that the spirit world mixing with the human world will force a new divide between people and spirits, but within the same world, leading to possible religious-style wars. I know it’s a little late for Crusades and the religious wars of the Middle East have been going on forever… but given how things are in the Modern Era, I could see where this might head.
I think Korra’s big cultural significance to the 1900’s is coming to a close, as I speculate Korra will probably end with season three (if not season four). And I think the spirit world will persist to be a problem for a number of people who don’t like this forced upon them (much like how people don’t like various religious beliefs forced upon them). Generations of kids will rebel against this and it will ultimately lead to what I speculate to be a “modern age” Avatar, who’s time-period will equate to our 2000’s. Unfortunately, that’s only just started, but I can see a few things that might help it work.
For a Modern Era Avatar, there will be a larger focus on the explosion of technology (computers, smartphones, etc). There will be people who fight against the Avatar and the governments of their Nations who support the Avatar for interfering with their lives. By that, I mean akin to how the Middle East is now. They’ve always been at war, but America put itself in the middle of it with the creation of Israel (a country made by America for those of the Jewish faith to call home… by dislocating populations of Arab people to make it happen all because the Jewish people call it a “Holy Land”). But the truth is, we set them up there to help make connections with other Middle Eastern nations to secure oil reserves and to keep an eye on the USSR during the cold war (now Russia for those historically and geographically impaired).
And given how the Avatar’s approval ratings are down in Republic City (a city in the middle of all four nations in the Avatar World), I can see them wanting to declare war against Korra or a future Avatar. They have had this spirit-world merger forced upon them and they can’t do anything about it. And Korra is doing nothing to fix her “mistake” (even though in this case, she’s not in the wrong, she just doesn’t have the resources to stop it). In short, Korra forced her ideals onto people to solve a problem with a solution that, at the time, seemed perfectly reasonable, but, over the course of time, will eventually grow into a bigger problem for those who don’t agree with her. For those who have had their ways of life upturned for the betterment of others and have received no rewards for it.
I speculate the next Avatar series we get will be that series. It will be taking pages from how the American government is trying to clean up the actions of previous generations in the Middle East (ala, cleaning up after Korra’s messes in Republic City). I feel it will emphasize more technology and further divide the people from the spirits much like how today, religion is clashing with law, business, and the evolving beliefs of average people, causing conflicts of little issues to explode into bigger issues. And in a world where the spirits are ACTUALLY THERE and their actions and presence can’t be ignored easily, yes, there will be some big results from that.
After that, it would have to be an Avatar set in the not-too-distant future (2100’s) which we don’t have a strong estimate for what our world will be like then. Science and technology are advancing quickly, but because of a weak and idiotic government as well as businesses strangling good ideas in favor of keeping money in their pocket, it’s hard to really gauge just how far we will advance and how good those advancements will be. Hell, in the 60’s we thought we’d have flying cars by the 2000’s, and we’re still not even close to that yet (sadly). The 4th Avatar series would have to predict how the world would change 100 years from now. But, given it’s a fictional universe that doesn’t mirror our own, but just takes inspiration from it, I’d say at this point we could get a little more liberal with bizarre ideas and just make it up as we go along.
What I’m saying is that the Avatar franchise (elemental martial arts series, not the stupid blue aliens) has potential to be a long-lasting series that could expand its universe into so many different territories. Fact is, it has greater potential longevity than most other shows because you don’t need to have the same group of characters going on adventures. I love Aang, Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Zuko, but I won’t lie that I’m happy the show’s spin-off went in a new direction.
Familiarity breeds contempt and we would have grown bored with the original cast over time had we stayed with them for too much longer (which is why I’m still thinking Star Wars VII is a stupid idea with what they want to do with the original cast). And Korra shouldn’t last forever either. We should see their adventures and then stop to have the world grow from their actions and create a new Avatar with new problems to face in this newer world. It will keep the characters, stories, and universe fresh every few seasons and I think the true fans of this series will appreciate that kind of growth.
That went on longer than expected, but I think that about covers that. See you next time for random thoughts and ideas. Also check out my recent reviews of Wolf Among Us and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes if you haven't already. And tune in soon for new reviews, rants, and bizarre quirky ideas from me. See ya next time!
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