#avatar la

[ben-talks-art]

Finally, a rock-fist in live action!

[ukingk24]

So I finished the Avatar Live Action and while overall, it was a good attempt at emulating the original series, the finale of the LA was perhaps the weakest episode, particularly for what it did to Katara, and I'll explain why.

Her biggest arc in season 1 in the original is that she starts off slow because she's naturally self-taught. She gets better and better but eventually her hard work and talent only goes so far and she hits a wall, so she needs a master to teach her. That master, Pakku, denies her and she challenges him. She looses the fight, but wins the ideological war and Pakku and the North change their ways because of Katara's determination. She literally fights the patriarchy and wins!

That does not happen in the live action!!

In the LA, she still fights Pakku, she still looses, and Pakku still doesn't change! The patriarchy still stands! But it turns out, that doesn't matter because Katara's a master already!! Somehow!?! Her fight with Zuko in the LA literally goes like this

Zuko: You little peasant! You found a master!

Katara: Yeah, you're looking at her!

What!!?? That doesn't even work as a "girl power" moment because there's absolutely nothing to suggest that she had reached that level all on her own. No flashback or montage of her watching Pakku's classes in secret and then practicing on her own, no Aang teaching her what Pakku taught him, no her going through scrolls to learn, nothing! You can't even say it's because of her experience in battle because there's a noticeable difference in her skill from before she gets to the North and after. In the original, the moment she gets that proper guidance and instruction, her skill skyrockets to master level.

In the LA, she's just that good because the show needed her to be.

The North and Pakku eventually do change their ways on women fighting, yes, but it's not because of Katara. It's because of war. It's only during and after the siege of the North, when he sees the devastation and damage done, does Pakku change. And initially, that's only because there aren't enough troops, so he relents and begrudgingly allows the women on the front lines. Katara is the one that points out to him that the women are there and willing to fight, but it's only the external factor of war and the Siege that makes Pakku change his mind, not Katara's determination. The patriarchy was dissolved because of the war-time logistics emergency, it was not defeated because it was wrong.

It is a disservice to Katara's character and to what she achieved in the original.

[transuncletaylor]

Something was missing from this shot of Jet, then it dawned on me. Where is his wheat??

[animedegens]

Thoughts on Avatar LA.

CGI & Bending looks great! I look forward to seeing more Uncle Iroh.

Some of the acting feels rushed & seems to lack the correct emotions that are trying to be shown especially in the many reaction shots that we get.

Some of the Dialogue and comedy feel forced at times?

It’s not great… but it’s not bad… after a few eps it’s decent probably sitting around 6.5 for me tbh. We’ll see how the rest of it is!

[theleatherbarebear]

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[eikaronswelt]

So I watched 6 episodes of the Avatar live action series but I’m honestly not motivated enough to finish it. It wasn’t bad – a lot better than I thought tbh I had low expectations and was positively surprised – and I found it engaging enough for those 6 episodes buuut…eh. Overall it’s kinda meh. I think as a show on its own it holds up well enough but as an adaptation it falls just a bit short for me. It’s okay, but not great. Mostly it suffers from the same curse that almost all Netflix series suffer from: Trying to cram way too much story into too few episodes. The CGI was fine, the bending scenes look solid and they made a very good Appa and while it’s true that the costumes look a bit cosplay-y I wasn’t bothered by that. I liked that it gave everything a cartoony vibe. Zuko and Iroh are on point (I love that they delved a bit more into Iroh’s role in the war and the loss of his son), Zuko’s actor especially is killing it (the Scar looks shit though). Aang is fine, Sokka is pretty good and so is Ozai, but imho they completely missed the mark on Katara. It’s like she has no personality at all and I don’t like how they not only took away all of her anger but also made her much more inept at bending in the beginning than she was in the cartoon. Not to mention that she doesn’t teach Aang waterbending which not only changes their dynamic slightly but is also just… super weird from a narrative perspective?? Like Aang here is much more driven to take on his role as the avatar from the start but has apparently no interest in getting started on the next element let alone mastering it?! Azula so far hasn’t impressed me at all, nor has Mai, but they haven’t gotten much screen time yet so there’s room for improvement. I don’t think either actress can really pull off the required air of total effortless superiority both characters constantly exude (though that may be a direction problem rather than their acting). Imo they also should have changed Mai’s costume. They were trying to keep everything as cartoon accurate as possible, which I get, but it doesn’t really work for Thalia Tran who has a completely different body type from OG Mai. The side knots she’s wearing give her a little girl with pigtails look. I think she’d have profited a lot from a slightly different hair style and maybe some adjustments to the clothes to find something that worked better with her face and body type to create the imposing goth look we need for Mai. Anyway, that’s my two cents no one cares about lol