Avatar and the British Regime
After rewatching my favourite childhood series for the 10th time, I often pick up little things each time I rewatch the series - and this time was no different. Watching it with a mature state of mind and greater understanding of the worldly connections Avatar: The Last Air-bender, has allowed me to see it for what it really is.
After doing a little research on other fan-theories, I soon realised a lot of people have made similar connections to the past - but in my opinion they are all wrong. This one reference to the Fire Nation representing Hitler is somewhat misguided and possible subjected to Western biases, or maybe just unrelatable at the time.
To me, with real life evidence of an amounting anti-white sentiment, only begs you to question your own cultures past ventures and their subjected violations as a culture - which Avatar presents ever so perfectly. With fans theorising on real life representations of bodies like the League of Nations, Fascist Germany and others, but ignore the critical fact that the Air Nomads did indeed fall to a ‘supreme’ race or culture in this instance, a genocide was successfully committed much like how the British eradicated the Aboriginal Traditions as well as the Native American’s. Although Hitler attempted, I would say his genocide and expansion of the Aryan race indeed had failed; where the British succeeded - which ultimately offset the balance for the future generations to come whether we are conscious of the fact of not.
To explain the offset of balance in more detail requires its own codex. However, briefly speaking the industrious west overtook the naturalist lives of the indigenous people; very similar to the Air Nomads living for spirit rather than the mind of the industrialist. There have it; colonialism.
But The Avatar goes much deeper than that, it goes on to show how we can create a balance within the world after evils have been committed and uses the Aang to represent this movement of peace, love, unity and respect.
Continuing on the speculation that the Fire Nation represents the British regime, we must first look at the reasoning behind the expansion of the and the portrayal of the genocide.
The Fire Nation’s march toward the world, was justified by a sharing of wealth to help industrialise the world much how Britain planned, and with academics of the time providing justifications for such atrocious acts by seeing their position as the greatest example of natural selection, therefore they were eligible to commit acts because of the presupposed position. This was popular consensus in the Western spectrum which led to expansion of the globe. Globalisation was inevitable, but genocide was a poor choice of the popular domination intent.
Now the Air Nomads represent a lot more than the indigenous, it also embodies the notion of Britain attempting to ‘cover up’ their wrong doings and land ‘entitlements’. With the Avatar or the movement towards PLUR, being reborn into the Air Nomads cycle, we see an attempt to cut throat the opposition before it can be born and allow for the industrious west to succeed in its endeavours.
More comparrisons can be made, with the Fire Nation being positioned to the West on the metaphorical world map, and so on.
This is simply something I had been reflecting on and seeing the philosophy for what it is, and really isn’t constructed as well as it could be. I threw this together 20 minutes before I had to go to work so supporting pictures are not included etc.
Take it for what it is, and look deeper into both colonial history and the way avatar presents a step forward in the world of dealing with past injustices. Because even then, the Avatar finds it hard to find a reasonable solution to end the Fire Lords regime, and Aang is torn between social justice and personal righteousness, and handles it a way that could be the only choice to move forward. After all, we do need to take a step to atone the world of its distress.
Then hopefully, we can overcome our stable state of being and move toward our potential state where PLUR is nothing but the ordinary. We won’t get there holding onto grudges, hate, bigotry and distopian ideals, we have to let the wound settle and heal with the support of love and acceptance of our humanness; after all, we are similar before we are different.
jacobvanloon
2087
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
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