Avatar is not the Gold Standard. Not for female characters, there is so much male writer showing in the female characters, yes they are strong and have great arcs but, they are bar passing not Gold Standard. Especially not for PoC/minority/Asian representation. The show is extremely respectful of Asian aesthetics and martial arts and even architecture, but not of Asian people and culture. Gold Standard would require at bare minimum, you know, asking the people being represented and involving them. There are stereotypes and just, so much using their aesthetics for western ideas and beliefs. Korra being shorter works as a really good microcosm of all of avatars problems and that’s why it falls shorts for so many fans (I love Korra), you can’t hide from the orientialism and Strong Female girlfriend rather than Female Hero-isms the way you can in Avatar as it all hits with less in-between it. Also the Rava-Vaatu nonsense was, so inescapably obvious. Dragon Prince as well, the same problems as avatar with, the white male writer respecting PoC and Female characters on his terms instead listening to real PoC/Women or involving them in the writing problems that stand out in Dragon Prince and Korra. Those problems were there in Avatar too. Like yes, Avatar soars above the low bar we are used to, It’s one of the, if not the best show to come out of animated television. But it’s not the Gold Standard, you can’t achieve a gold standard of minority representation without allowing the involvement of minority creators.
