In March the earth remembers its own name.
Everywhere the plates of snow are cracking.
The rivers begin to sing. In the sky
the winter stars are sliding away; new stars
appear as, later, small blades of grain
will shine in the dark fields.
And the name of every place
is joyful.
Mary Oliver, from Worm Moon in “Twelve Moons”
(via adrasteiax)
First, I think it's fair to say that although China is still recovering from its occupation, and is the subject of attacks, but it still has done horrible things, and those shouldn't be overlooked just because China was occupied (see Tibet and violence against the Uighurs). So it's equally valid to criticize the things China has done and is still doing because they're not okay. Also, the Earth Kingdom is also based on China, and they weren't expansionist or imperialist (well, not until lok ->
putting everything under a cut and also probably reblogging a meme soon because this is, after all, a rp blog, and this is a heavy subject that i am not sure i should be having like this
and lok threw out a lot of the careful, wonderful worldbuilding of Avatar out so I'm not sure I'd count it as the China inspired Earth Kingdom. But yeah China is an inspiration for the Earth Kingdom too, not just the imperialist nation.
a lot to unpack here. i AM seeing tibet, its current state is, in fact, its FREED state! one of the ways china is recovering is by very much standing strong and refusing to bow down to the western empire’s desires to balkanize it. we’ve seen what balkanization does. it’s not pretty.
let’s just check the list of countries that are pro and against it:
Those that signed the first letter, criticizing China, include: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK.
Signing the second letter, in defense of China’s policies, were: Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Comoros, Congo, Cuba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Gabon, Kuwait, Laos, Myanmar, Nigeria, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tajikistan, Togo, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.
x.
Like, all the imperial core countries are in the criticism section. have you ever wondered why? What do they have to win by bringing it down? (we know what. it’s quite literally the ONLY thing standing against the US). the global south is in overwhelming support of it.
have to say: this wasn’t even a needed bit. it’s not imperialist. that should be the end of the discussion on that axis.
again, i’m running on very limited time. so i’m just living this and this here
second, yes, the earth kingdom is also modeled after it! that bit i have nothing against, it’s just a fantasy country borrowing from a real one without trying to add hidden meanings (partially disregarding lok here both because a LOT happened there ~> therefore I’d need a lot of space to discuss it, and because I only remember key things and might mess up details)
due to this being a rp blog and that alone i will turn anon off. if you want to have this conversation i will be open to it in private! for now i truly wish for several deep breaths before anything else and to ask ‘WHY are all this news coming out at this time, WHY the sudden preoccupation’, because it’s been rapidfire the past year and a bit, and it hasn’t come out of nowhere. who stands to win here? I promise you it’s not the “oppressed” people in xinjiang, I promise you it’s a diversion.
highlighting this again: THIS IS AN RP BLOG. i made a post about this due to me seeing one comparison in several places that i was deeply uncomfortable with, not to discuss current world events. <3
Not to be That B*tch, but 1. I don't see the Fire Nation compared to Korea all that often (except in the style of their wedding clothes, based on Ursa and Ta Min's). It's more China/Japan/Thailand influenced, with China, Japan and to some extent Great Britain providing the basis of the imperialist background. What your saying is valid and I don't think people think about how China was occupied and is still dealing with that or how Japan became imperialist BECAUSE it was modeling the behaviors
not often doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen, and ‘thailand’ isn’t exactly a better alternative, considering it, too, is not a country that’s part of the imperial core. are you implying china has an imperialist basis…? i feel like i can’t parse half of this message, sorry.
ETA:
of the western nations but China (and to a lesser extent, Japan) ARE cited as influences by the show's creator's themselves. Not saying they're perfect (the main two are white men from what I know), but it's not like people are likening the Fire Nation to these places out of nowhere, or groundlessly. And I think they liken it to these countries for more than just the imperialism (the clothes, the culture, again which were strong influences).
i think this is a case where death of the author is necessary. you can acknowledge the nod to cultural bits such as clothing while realising that comparing one thing (fire nation, which has *very* specific characteristics within the avatar world) to another (china, a country that has been getting rampant attacks, especially in the recent past due to the trade war etc, which aren’t topics for a rp blog) without first analysing what it might imply on further levels, is only furthering on an also *very* specific narrative that’s been quite popular both inside and outside of fandom circles.
i don’t have time to expand on the meta right now but i really wish the people who likened fire nation to places like china and korea took a deep breath and thought about what they’re implying. even if we don’t suppose it was modeled after japan, do you really want to say the ONE clearly imperialist nation in the world of the avatar is based on two places that have dealt with occupation deeply, and still haven’t managed to escape it?
The summer sun warms the atmosphere like the inside of a greenhouse. Ty Lee stuffs herself full with all her senses can parse -- the texture of the tree bark behind her, the sunrays forcing her to keep her eyes into crescents, the small hole in her tunic right below her ribs, on the right side -- to avoid having to think. The edge of her mouth quirks up, hollow. ❝Somewhat.❞
❝It’s a mixed bag! My blood wants me to be mean -- I’m not Azula -- and it also wants me to be fearless -- and I’m not Azula. Is that-- I mean-- is that your experience?❞
Forty more seconds of this handstand and it will be enough for the day. The soil is soft and malleable beneath her palms, blades of grass tickling between her fingers, yesterday’s rain making it harder for her to get a grip. Oh, well, at least it’s good training.
Getting characters to meet and interact for the first time can be tough to play out.
Lots of people find the first meetings between strangers to be difficult to plan, or boring to play.
Reblog this if you don’t mind skipping the intro RP and instead jump-starting interactions by plotting out what relationship your characters might have, be they friends, enemies, lovers, antagonists, etc.
“I‘m sorry for assuming but I really thought you had joined the Kyoshi warriors,” maybe this was the universe telling him to not assume stuff based of what he may overhear from far away. Way to go, Zuko. “Then, are you going to return to the circus?”
❝ You should check your eyes a bit more! ❞ She won’t tell him, but he was right: she had joined, for a day and three hours. The admiration she had for the Kyoshi warriors turned out to not be strong enough to overpower her need for individuality, waves calling to the shore. ❝ Do you see me wearing their five layers of makeup? ❞
Ty Lee pauses. She actually hadn’t thought much further than that. ❝ I don’t know, maybe, it’s what I’m good at. Why, do you want my company, prince Zuko? Are you feeling lonely now, all up on the throne? ❞
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