In some ways, it is depressing to rewatch “Avatar” while remembering its initial finale in 2008, some naïve white commentators thought a Black president signaled the end of racism in the United States. In the same way that BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) activists are leading the current movement for racial justice, Aang and Katara fight to liberate themselves and their communities. Rewatching “Avatar,” it is difficult not to see the connections between the show and ongoing discussions about the United States’ history of colonization and white nationalism. Despite Aang’s pacifist nature, “Avatar” is a show about active resistance to injustice. And in our world, there is no Avatar to save us. “Avatar” might take place in a fantasy world, but our atrocities are nonfiction. In the United States, a caveat to the 13th Amendment ensures that slave labor is still legal so long as it is carried out by our (disproportionately Black) prison inmates.
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Later in the series, the gang stumbles across a Fire Nation prison camp in which Earth benders are exploited for their free labor. Aang is the last survivor, spared because he had been lost in the frozen tundra for the past hundred years. In the very first episode of “Avatar,” we learn that the Fire Nation committed genocide to drive the Air Nomads to extinction. Against such a backdrop, the imperial impulses of the Fire Nation take on a particularly sobering tone. Indigenous peoples across the United States can and have attested to the fact that our nation only exists because of genocide, past and present. To this day, the prison industrial complex and institutionalized racism have preserved that system of white supremacy. As the current Black Lives Matter movement reminds us once again, the United States was built upon the heinous enslavement of at least seven million people.
What, if anything, has changed about us, about “Avatar,” about the themes and realities it presents us with? What is it about this moment (isolation, pandemic, protest, recession) that makes us want to reach back into our childhoods and live Aang’s story over again? Twelve years later, it seems that we, the kids and teens who grew up with “Avatar” and are now entering our 20s, are ready to revisit the show. On May 15, 2020, “ Avatar” was rereleased on Netflix and has remained in the top 10 shows on the streaming service since. In short, this is not your average kids’ cartoon. The natural world is in danger of being destroyed. Refugees and displaced peoples populate the imaginative world of “Avatar.” The looming threat of genocide and imperial oppression spurs the characters to action. “Avatar” is one of the most popular and nuanced children’s cartoons ever made. All hope rests on Aang’s ability to master all four elements before he must face the Fire Lord. We follow Aang and his friends, Katara, Sokka and Toph, as they prepare for the ultimate battle with the Fire Nation. The show focuses on Aang, the 12-year-old Avatar, a reincarnated being with the power to bend all four elements and the only hope for restoring peace. In the first episode, we are introduced to a world out of balance: The Air Nomads are all but extinct the Fire Nation is engaged in a brutal war against the remaining Water Tribes and Earth Kingdom. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.” As the introduction explains: “Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. They are the Air Nomads, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation. It takes place in a mythical world where four great nations of people telekinetically manipulate, or “bend,” each of the four elements.
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On the TV sets of children across the country, Nickelodeon aired the final episode of “ Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Spanning three seasons and more than 60 episodes, “Avatar” is one of the most popular and nuanced children’s cartoons ever made. The world seemed equal parts chaotic and hopeful: Economic devastation and social change left us feeling excited but scared, anxiously awaiting a stable new world.Īmid the upheaval, another great unveiling occurred. The first iPhones hit the market, set to change the way we communicate forever. The United States elected its first Black president. The stock market slumped and the housing bubble burst. The year 2008 was tumultuous for Americans.
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