I was talking with a friend of mine about Avatar The Last Airbender and wanted to share something interesting we’ve realized through our conversation. So we were discussing the podcast Braving The Elements, specifically the segment with Bryan (one half of our infamous Bryke) dunking on Zutara (‘bad boy doesn’t always win y’all 🙄) and basically disregarding Zuko’s an entire redemption arc.
My friend said that Bryke seem to be stuck in a very black and white view of their own creation. From the beginning they had a good idea for a show, but it was very black and white. The writers were the ones to take the idea, expand it, and give it depth and nuance. For Bryke, Aang being this protagonist who never has to grow or change and gains all this power without having to really work for it. The writers attempted to give Aang an actual arc but Bryke clearly vetoed it as evidenced by the finale and the aborted chakra arc.
Fortunately they were a little more successful at getting Bryke to change some of the other things. Katara being the chick, the girl the hero gets at the end as his prize for saving the world, and nothing more, her character revolving completely around Aang, seems to be how Bryke initially created Katara seeing how Aang was originally going to fight Pakku so Katara could learn to waterbend until the writers turned her into a feminist powerhouse who fought Pakku herself. And considering how Katara is reverted back to the hero’s girl and nothing else in the comics where Bryke had more control and none of the writing talent from the show. Even Sokka who seems to have been conceived as a one dimensional comic relief character but was given amazing character development and an arc that made Sokka a leader. He became so much more than just the comic relief. (And like Katara was reverted back to his one dimensional character in the comics). Toph was going to be a guy who rivaled Aang for his affections in pursuing Katara before being changed to a blind girl who kicks butt!
The point is Bryke conceived a very shallow, one dimensional show that the very talented writers were able to turn into one of the best and most influential children’s cartoons of the 21st century. And just think how much more amazing and highly praised atla would have been if Zutara had happened instead of the canon pairs.
It seems like Bryke is still very stuck in their black and white mindset of their original more shallow idea for the show and characters. What they don’t seem to realize is that if they hadn’t had those talented writers, if they had made the show the way they initially set out to, it would never have been as successful and well loved by all ages and audiences as it is now. And that’s even with the awful canon pairs we got. Even in spite of the canon pairs the show is still very very well written and enjoyable to watch. Again, just imagine how much more awesome this show could have been if Zutara had been canon as well as all the other great stuff the show gave us. They can’t see the diamond their show became and still see it as the coal it started out as.
That’s why they view Zuko as this bad boy who would have a toxic relationship with Katara (never mind that Zuko even at his worst was never a bad boy). That’s why they don’t respect or care about Katara as a character outside of her relationship to Aang. That’s why the comics were as flat and one dimensional as they were, walking back all the character development and undoing all the nuance the story had.
Avatar The Last Airbender seems to have been conceived as a typical ten year old boy cartoon in the beginning, with lots of action and adventure, full of cliches, the protagonist being a boy who gets everything he wants and more in the end without having to work for it much. A comic relief character who is nothing more than a butt monkey, the only girl in the group exists to be nothing more than the hero’s prize at the end. The bad guys are bad for the sake of being bad and nothing more.
And that’s what it would have been if Bryke hadn’t gotten the writers they did. It would have been entirely unremarkable. That’s what it turned back into in the comics and LOK. But fortunately for all of us, they got writers who turned the this show into something exceptional. Nearly all of the characters are real and relatable, with their own thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, etc. They all have depth, nuance and for the most part a good solid clear character arc. Aang and Mai not included. The story is engaging and has so many good messages that can be felt and understood at any age. The worldbuilding is unique and interesting. For all it’s faults and flaws Avatar The Last Airbender is an amazing show. It’s kind of sad that Bryke can’t seem to see what they have, what their show writers did to make their shallow one dimensional idea into what it became and will forever be praised as. Even after all this time.
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