Fantasy Netflix's Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender General Discussion Thread

[kguillou]

THIS LOOKS GREAT!! Wow, I was really impressed with this trailer and I am HYPED.

But...I am still slightly worried because something must have made the creators leave this project.

 

[Arachnerd]

Visually it looks impressive still, but some of those line deliveries rang flat to me which is worrying. At least Sokka is finally acting in-character as opposed to the Shyamalan version.

 

[#root]

I don’t know… Something about the overall look of this makes it look like AI generated content to me. Maybe it’s just the volume but something about looks really weird and off to my eyes which is a bummer. I’m not too sure about the acting yet either. Some of the deliveries felt a little awkward but that could just be the editing.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Weather Witch]

I don’t know… Something about the overall look of this makes it look like AI generated content to me. Maybe it’s just the volume but something about looks really weird and off to my eyes which is a bummer. I’m not too sure about the acting yet either. Some of the deliveries felt a little awkward but that could just be the editing.

It looks a bit digital and artificial, but unless they diverted from the original it probably was always going to. They went for accuracy over realism here. The only character I wasn't fully sold on here is Aang unfortunately. Might be much better in context though.

 

[flickchick85]

The action looks good and the actors seem…fine, but I just can’t get over how ugly it is, I’m afraid.

 

[kguillou]

This looks fantastic to me. Maybe it will still end up underwhelming but its got me wondering what pissed off the original creators so much about this adaptation.

 

[Arnold Rimmer]

This looks fantastic to me. Maybe it will still end up underwhelming but its got me wondering what pissed off the original creators so much about this adaptation.

Maybe they wanted more episodes?

 

[Sithborg]

This looks fantastic to me. Maybe it will still end up underwhelming but its got me wondering what pissed off the original creators so much about this adaptation.

I feel comfortable that those early reports of aging up the characters were true. They were going to do to it what they did to Winx Club. And I think they got onboard with a near one to one remake when it became clear Paramount wasn't going to let them keep Avatar.

 

[Lencho01]

I like what I see enough.

 

[Weather Witch]

I feel comfortable that those early reports of aging up the characters were true. They were going to do to it what they did to Winx Club. And I think they got onboard with a near one to one remake when it became clear Paramount wasn't going to let them keep Avatar.

I'm also fairly certain that was the problem. Speaking of which though, they'll want to really hurry with filming those next two seasons before the actors age out of the roles. The actors for Zuko and Sokka are already in their 20s.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Pennywise]

 

[Arachnerd]

That's... one way to completely misread and misunderstand the point of Sokka's character arc, I guess.

 

[Sithborg]

Adorable Azula continues to trip something in my brain.

 

[Silver Surfer]

That's... one way to completely misread and misunderstand the point of Sokka's character arc, I guess.

Uh... way to not only miss the point of the arc, but also s*** on a beloved character.

Off to a great start!

 

[Arachnerd]

Yeah, that's a massive red flag for me if you misunderstand a clear-cut arc that the original show portrayed as being clearly bad. Depicting something does not mean it's endorsing it. Sokka's sexism arc not only was about humbling him to recognize that women could be capable and powerful warriors, but also relayed something regarding how he felt he had to be "the man" of the tribe at such a young age after all the other men and his dad had left for war, and was indicative of the overall patriarchal society of both Water Tribes as well. This is especially focused on in the Northern Water Tribe arc with Katara, Pakku and Yue.

Without it, you take away important character development and worldbuilding. How the heck is his relationship with Suki going to develop now and how are they going to portray the Northern Water Tribe arc if they're severely toning down the sexism? In an attempt to sanitize this for no good reason, they're making this version less progressive than the original show.

I feel like I'm starting to understand why Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino might have walked.

 

[Weather Witch]

That's... one way to completely misread and misunderstand the point of Sokka's character arc, I guess.

I was really trying to stay cautiously optimistic. Him learning the lesson is the entire point. This ain't it.

 

[Primal Slayer]

That's... one way to completely misread and misunderstand the point of Sokka's character arc, I guess.

Yeah that's stupid. We are in a very "PG" tv era where characters being problematic isn't "acceptable?

If Sokka could have that kind of arc on what is considered a childrens show....a live action show should not be toning those things down. But showing genoicde is fine and dandy! lol

 

[Sithborg]

It was hardly an arc. More like a character beat for one specific episode. An extremely early episode, as well.

 

[Arachnerd]

Except Sokka's sexism was the catalyst that led him and Katara to discover Aang in the first place, it was not relegated to just one episode. It also informed part of a flaw that he had to overcome, he gradually started to form a romantic relationship with Suki throughout the show after she showed him why he was wrong, as well as indicating how patriarchal the Water Tribe's culture was as I pointed out in my previous post. There was a purpose to it, and it's not exactly a criticism one can just handwave away and not take it seriously unless you're okay with these showrunners pretending sexism doesn't exist at all which would be a problematic train of thought.

Changes like this make me wonder what else they might pointlessly sanitize in this show. It is not a good sign when you take away nuance from a beloved character in a remake.

 

[Weather Witch]

They were doing so well before they started talking about the show.

 

[Arachnerd]

Ah yes, why should our show need bits of filler that add to character development when we can just fast-forward all that pointless nonsense? And who the heck wants to see Aang behave like a kid, am I right?

 

[Detective Conan]

Nobody tell this guy that the original animated series that he’s basing this entire live action show on wasn’t just for kids either….