Avatar: The Last Airbender Is Being Reborn as a Live-Action Netflix Series

Discussion in 'Joker’s Funhouse (Off Topic)' started by DCUO Post, Sep 18, 2018.

  1. DCUO Post Loyal Player

    [IMG]

    Hot on the heels of Netflix’s The Dragon Prince, from Avatar: The Last Airbender head writer Aaron Ehasz, the studio has just stealthily announced that Avatar is coming back in an all-new, live-action series.

    Along with the first piece of concept art from the upcoming reboot, Netflix announced that The Last Airbender’s co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko are both signed on to oversee the show, something they’ve been planning on for ages.

    In a public statement, DiMartino and Konietzko expressed their excitement about the upcoming show and made a point of stating that thisincarnation of the Aang’s story will star characters of color, unlike M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned 2010 The Last Airbender:

    “We’re thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We can’t wait to realize Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast.

    It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to build upon everyone’s great work on the original animated series and go even deeper into the characters, story, action, and world-building. Netflix is wholly dedicated to manifesting our vision for this retelling, and we’re incredibly grateful to be partnering with them.”

    It’s been a while since we last caught up with Aang and the Avatar crew, but from the sounds of it, it won’t be too long before we’re all “yip-yipping” our ways into another unforgettable adventure.

    Source: https://io9.gizmodo.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-is-being-reborn-as-a-netflix-1829139229
  2. ALB Dedicated Player

    Can't do worse than movie. They're also making a series from the golden compass. Or is it a trilogy? Anyway Netflix is on a roll
    • Like x 1
  3. willflynne 10000 Post Club

    Personally, I think it should be left alone because the original series stands up so well. I'm just not sure they can capture that lightning in a bottle again with live action. Comparisons WILL be made and criticism will be much more harsh if they can't meet or exceed the bar set by the original.

    But one thing from the press release is a little troubling.

    In a public statement, DiMartino and Konietzko expressed their excitement about the upcoming show and made a point of stating that thisincarnation of the Aang’s story will star characters of color, unlike M. Night Shyamalan’s much-maligned 2010 The Last Airbender:

    “We’re thrilled for the opportunity to helm this live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We can’t wait to realize Aang’s world as cinematically as we always imagined it to be, and with a culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed cast.


    It's that last bit that I think could cause them some trouble, but not because I think the whitewashing aspect of Shayamalan's film attempt was a good thing or anything like that. I think focusing on that aspect could seem like they're focusing on the wrong thing to promote their project, and it's the same kind of problem that Crunchyroll is running into with their first trailer for their show High Guardian Spice.

    Now with Crunchyroll some of the blowback is coming from individuals complaining about some kind of "agenda" on the part of the creators (and coming across acting like little boys not wanting girl cooties in their cartoons in the process LOL) so I've taken some of the complaints with a sizeable grain of salt. :D But there was a commentary on the trailer from the Anime America channel that brought a different perspective for me.


    For me it reminds me of when BioWare was trying to hype up SWTOR before release, and they kept talking about the story aspect of the game. After the third interview/preview where they talked a LOT about the story, I found myself saying, "Okay, but what else does it have?" And the more they kept focusing on the story, the louder that question got in my mind until I found myself losing interest in the game overall.

    Granted, it's just an initial announcement and there's probably a long way to go yet. But if they lean too hard into the "culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed" aspects in promoting the show they could inadvertently undermine their efforts in making the show, even if they're leaning hard into those aspects with the best of intentions.
    • Like x 1
  4. DarkVisor 15000 Post Club

    The biggest complaint about Shamallama'sdingdong's version of Avatar was how the 'evil nation' was the 'non-white' characters, umm, that's how they were in the cartoon: the Fire Nation was a dark-skinned race

    The other 'complaint' that, POO, is a load of horse-flops is concerning the Southern Water tribe and how they didn't cast Inuit actors and actresses. Last time looked, you don't have Inuit in the south, also, Inuit are not the only ones who live in or near the Arctic Circle (guess Scandinavia, Greenland and Iceland don't exist, not to mention RUSSIA!!)

    Personally never saw this movie, not because of the made-up racist bullflack butt because Shamallama'dingdong is an idiot
  5. willflynne 10000 Post Club

    The complaints about whitewashing can be a little tricky to sort out when it comes to the source material being an animated series. With anime, for example, the character designs can be pretty generic or have aspects that don't fit any one ethnicity or look (hair color among characters varying from typical brown and black to various shades of green and purple, for example). With the live action Ghost in the Shell film, going by appearance there was only one character I could think of from the original anime film that looked distinctly Japanese, and that was the chief. Everyone else, from the Major to some of the minor team members, had looks that were pretty unremarkable in terms of determining where they came from.

    Last Airbender complicates things a little more. You have the same kind of unremarkable designs on the physical appearance of the characters, but at the same time the aesthetics used in things like clothing, makeup or vehicles (thinking the ships, mainly) definitely had roots in real-world cultures. So it's very easy to look at casting in a live-action adaptation as being whitewashing if an actor for a particular role doesn't match up with the culture his character is based on.

    A problem I see with that, however, is that Last Airbender is a completely fictional universe. While they used many aspects and aesthetics from Asian and Inuit culture for the various nations, we aren't talking about a show set specifically in Japan, China or any of the other locations/cultures that they drew inspiration from. At the very least it begs the question of how culturally appropriate a show can be when the cultures in question (Fire Nation, Water Tribes, etc.) don't actually exist, even if they're heavily influenced or inspired by real-world cultures.

    It's these kinds of thoughts that lead me to think the creators may have opened up a can of worms with the "culturally appropriate, non-whitewashed" line they threw in there.
    • Like x 1
  6. DarkVisor 15000 Post Club

    Well typed willflynne
  7. Wiccan026 Loyal Player

    While those are all well thought out (and trust me I agree with most of what you're saying) if they do one thing that the live action does I will find do everything in my power to try to get it to fail.

    The animated show already exists and existed before any live version so let's just pronounce things exactly the way the show did... if we do that everything will be savy.