#framing it so that aang is looking up at katara was unintentional but let’s say it was :) | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

whentheynameyoujoy · 3 years

Text

So the ATLA Movie Is... Good, Actually?

Just kidding, of course it’s not, it’s so bad it sucked the paint off my walls. But after ten years of people pointing out its glaring flaws, why would anyone bother talking about this garbage heap if not to go the other direction? So here’s a very brief and very superficial list of things the movie does get kinda... not atrociously wrong.

And they won’t be fake hipster pokes, like “It’s fun to laugh at”, “The Rifftrax for this is OK”, or “Kudos to the actress for managing to say we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs with a straight face”.

(though now that I mentioned it, it is fun to laugh at, the Rifftrax for this is OK, and massive props indeed.)

Rasta Iroh

Yes, I know it’s not exactly the aesthetic of the real Iroh or that it makes no cultural sense for him to sport this do when no one else in the racebended Indian “OMFG what were you thinking Shyamalan” Nation does but goddamn, long-haired dudes are my one mortal weakness and I will ogle the hell out of him.

Jesus is that a man bun I see that’s it mum I’ve been deaded

Yue’s hair

No.

Now we’re talking. Yue’s hair turned white when the Moon spirit gave her life, so it makes sense for it to go black again when she sacrifices herself to revive the koi fish. It’s a neat detail I find myself expecting whenever I rewatch the scene in the show. Yes, I realize it’d be a pointless hassle to animate since she, unlike in the movie, immediately goes on to become the Moon herself but still. I like.

The Blue Spirit’s mop

Zuko, hun, what’s with the dance-off?

First of all, I want to imagine that Zuko the Theatre Nerd was about to leave his ship with just the mask like in the show but then stuck his head into the cleaning cupboard and went, “Yeah, more coverage might be good, even though it do seem mighty fried to shit”.

Which makes me giggle. I like to giggle.

And secondly, the hair’s movement is what makes the static mess of the Blue Spirit’s solo fight scene appear at least bit more dynamic because God knows the cinematography isn’t doing it.

Any particular reason why it’s at the edge of the action, shot all boring-like?

Now, I get why circular shots would be reserved for Aang while he’s in the practice area and then used once the two join forces. What I don’t get is why Aang’s part of the action scene has a defined visual style while Zuko’s delegated to a few stationary wide shots from afar as though he’s a tertiary goon, meaning that when the time comes to combine the respective pieces of cinema language and visually convey collaboration, there’s not really much to combine.

But as long as Zuko is stuck in this static mess, it’s that awesome disaster on his head flopping about that draws the eye, helping me understand that something even is going on over there.

It also prevents me from paying much attention to how the extras are mostly just staying put and a lot of the hits don’t land, so that’s good.

The music slaps

James Newton Howard is too good for this.

youtube

Pls ignore that the word “gods” is used in the ATLA universe

I can’t be the only one who constantly uses this piece to daydream about writing specific fanfic scenes instead of, you know, actually sitting down and writing them. It’s just so good at communicating a sense of sorrow while speaking of rebirth that I find myself getting misty-eyed whenever I listen to it. Unfailingly, the soundtrack as a whole manages to break through the mile-thick crust of horrible acting, confusing writing, and uninspired cinematography and make me feel things. And considering how everything on screen is working against it, that’s no small feat.

Imagine what a powerful experience it would be if the score was used in service of an actual movie.

Dev Patel

No wonder since he’s the only one in the film occupying that crucial intersection between “is a good actor” and “was given something to work with”. It also doesn’t hurt that he breaks with the trend of actors starring in martial arts flicks despite never having done any martial art.

And all EIP-jokes about “stiff and humorless” aside, he’s a pretty decent Zuko considering how abridged this version of the character is. A while ago, I remember hearing a reviewer say that with his comedic chops, Patel should have been cast as Sokka. And on one hand, yes, god, absolutely, I need to see that asap. But on the other? He captures all layers of Book 1!Zuko, the desperate obsession, rage, and self-loathing, and at the same time gives you a peek at the soft momma’s boy dork that’s buried underneath. For Christ sakes, he exudes intensity and ambivalence even when acting against an emotionless hunk of wood that’s giving him nothing in return.

Oh, and I guess there’s a tree in the frame.

Ba dum tss

What can I say, the guy’s good.

Showing vs telling

OK, so this movie is all tell and no show, except for one single moment. And it’s the exact moment where the original goes in the other direction in terms of how information is conveyed.

See, I never liked this. The revelation is preceded by Iroh giving advice to Zuko who scolds him for nagging. Iroh then apologizes, moves in to say the line above, and is interrupted by Zuko who seems rather uncomfortable with Iroh laying his feelings out like this. And once they’re out, Zuko verbally confirms that he knew already and Iroh didn’t need to bother.

All this extraneous information and pussyfooting ends up weakening what should be a profound scene that reveals to us, the viewers, how deep the relationship between these two in fact runs.

Compare to the movie where Dadroh acts like a parent by fussing and worrying, with Sonion needing a single look to tell him and us that he understands what it’s all really about.

It’s genuinely efficient and just good.

No Cataang

Fine, a bit mean-girl bitchy from me since I only start minding the ship in Book 3. And probably unintentional on the part of the creators since there are moments where I think they’re trying to set the romance up? There’s a, well, an attempt to recreate the famous introductory shot of fateful meaningful destiny of meaningness, there’s some slight note of saving each other’s bacon going on, I’m pretty sure they’re the only ones in the film who smile, and oh, right, Katara’s shoved into her post-canon useless role where she doesn’t ever do anything, and is all about Aang right from the get go.

Yes, I will blame the “executive producers” because a) I’m incredibly petty, and b) it’s perfectly in line with their vision of the character so why the hell not.

Hilariously, none of it reads on screen because the actors are just... yeah. These poor kids are struggling so much with delivering their own lines and portraying their own characters they don’t seem to have any strength left to create something between them. To be fair, the bare-bones shot-reverse shot style of their scenes doesn’t exactly lend itself to the idea they occupy the same universe, let alone are friends or each other’s crushes.

And I enjoy this immensely because it allows me to forget the depressing horror show Katara’s life turns into post ATLA.

Yes Zutara

I need to delve into this because it’s fucking hilarious. So in a movie which fails to establish the original’s central romance so spectacularly that if Aang got lost in a crowd I don’t believe Katara would notice, SomEOnE thought it’d be a good idea to add an utterly unnecessary non-canon moment where Zuko for some reason feels the need to pause his character-defining hunt for the Avatar which otherwise has him ignore everything and snap at everyone, and explain his central conflict to an unconscious peasant he doesn’t know, complete with gently pushing the hair from the pretty girl’s the soulmate’s the Water Tribe Ambassador’s the Fire Lady’s the love of his life’s her face away, AFTER his uncle nagged him twice to find a girl and settle down.

I just wanted to make sure we’re all on the same page and this is what we really saw.

Celibate Avatars

I have no idea why the decision was made, if TPTB thought expecting viewers to understand the story through the lens of Buddhism would be too much, or if the “executive producers” already worked their retconny magic. What I do know, however, is that there’s a big shift in worldbuilding and Aang’s struggle with his role as the Avatar stops being a personal conflict defined by a) his grief for Air Nomads, b) his notion of being robbed of the loved ones in his life, and c) the selfish attachment to Katara he confuses with true love. Instead, what he has a difficulty to accept is apparently a general notion of who Avatars are supposed to be, i.e. a fantasy version of Catholic monks, no family and worldly relations, period.

I guess either someone understood the original’s portrayal of de/attachment as “hermit no freaky”, or thought the audience would so why not go there outright.

Now, do I like this on its own? No, God no, it makes the world infinitely poorer and changes the story from an exploration of ideas which aren’t all that ingrained in the West, to a cliché tropester about a Catholic priest going Protestant so that he could be with a girl.

At least I assume that’s where they were going to take this eventually.

I mean, I think the direction was “look conflicted, this isn’t the final stage of your journey”?

But consider this—the show went there, it built on the concepts of Eastern philosophy and touched upon the ideas of spiritual awakening, only to swerve in the end and strongly imply they’re bullshit and Aang should have never wasted his time with them.

So honestly, I much prefer scanty worldbuilding to an insulting retcon by a damn rock.

Multiracial Air Nomads

Probably the most substantial “no hint of irony” point on this list and a genuinely good addition to the universe’s worldbuilding.

See, the notion of the elemental nations being perfectly separate and never mingling before Sozin has always been sketchy but it’s especially ridiculous in the case of airbenders. It never made sense to me for all airbenders to be Air Nomads and for all Air Nomads to be monks and for all monks to be chilling at the temples all the time to facilitate a quick everyone-dies genocide should an imperialistic warlord ever decide to commit one.

Because committing everyone to a single way of life at a handful of places kinda goes against the central philosophy behind airbending. Like the freedom and nomadism part.

Instead, there should be more variety to the airbending culture, with some staying at the temples as monks, hermits, and teachers while others live as nomads, travelling the world and creating more airbenders, with the resulting children in turn being influenced by the non-airbending cultures they grew up in.

And thus, not only should airbenders not be modeled after a single culture to create a one-size-fits-all lifestyle, but they should have the most diverse and dynamic culture out of the four nations.

And it’d be precisely this diversity which would pave way for an eventual reveal that some of them survived, that their complete extermination is impossible.

Because they’re everywhere.

You know.

Like air.

#atla #atla movie #zutara #anti bryke #dev patel #the last airbender #anti-kataang

172 notes · View notes

august-anon · 4 years

Text

Tickletober Day 9 - Ganged Up On [LATE]

(get it, cuz the ‘GAANG’ lol) (this was actually unintentional)

Fandom: ATLA

Ship(s): platonic Gaang

Characters (lee/ler): Lee!Zuko, Ler!Gaang

Word Count: 715 words

Summary: They'd been plotting all week, and it was driving Zuko insane. The actual reason turned out a lot more innocent than Zuko was worried about.

[ao3 link]

-------------------------------

They were planning something, Zuko could tell. He was trying not to let it make him anxious, but Zuko never had been good at that. Because truly, what were they planning?

Were they going to kick Zuko out of the group? Fire him from being Aang’s teacher? Or maybe they had decided he was a liability, were they going to change their minds and take him as a prisoner after all? What did Zuko do to upset them so much, to make them give him those glares and glances?

After days of stressing him out, they finally granted Zuko mercy.

“Hey Zuko,” Aang asked, framing the question so painfully casually that Zuko just knew it was planned. “Are you ticklish?”

Zuko paused, a spoonful of stew halfway up to his lips. His eyes darted from Aang, to Katara, to Sokka, to Toph, and back to Aang. They all shared that painfully casual look that screamed “I’m actually plotting right now” and Zuko couldn’t believe he’d been so dumb.

“Seriously?!” He hissed, practically slamming his bowl onto the ground. “That’s what you’ve all been so suspicious about? Tickling me?”

Sokka winced. “You noticed?”

Zuko dropped his head into his hands and shook it. He didn’t know whether he wanted to laugh or yell in frustration, so instead he just let out a half-hearted groan. All that agonizing over what he did wrong, and all they wanted to do was tickle him.

He sighed and dropped his arms. “Whatever.”

Katara furrowed her brow. “Whatever?”

Zuko shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. Go for it. I don’t care.”

The three of them exchanged glances. Toph kept gazing (for lack of a better term) in his general direction.

“But—“

Zuko gave the four of them a look. “Usually, when someone asks if you’re ticklish, they do it with the intent to tickle the person no matter the answer. So go ahead.”

Sokka immediately started moving forward, but Katara grabbed his arm. “You’re really okay with that?”

Zuko shrugged.

Toph shrugged, as well. “I mean, he’s not lying about not caring, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Aang cocked his head. “But are you ticklish?”

Zuko hesitated. “I don’t actually know. No one’s tried in a really long time.”

Aang beamed. “Well, we’ll just have to help you find out!”

Zuko yelped as he was tackled back by four other bodies, forcing down his immediate instinct to fight back. He let out a much higher pitched yelp as he felt fingers — who even knew whose they were — lightly dig into his sides, just below his ribcage. He tried to double over to protect himself, but the mass of bodies prevented him from doing so. The fingers skittered downward and hit a sensitive spot, and Zuko couldn’t hold back the startled laugh that escaped.

“Told you it would be the best way to get him to laugh,” Sokka said, voice filled with bravado.

“Better be careful,” Toph said. “Or you’ll be next.”

Zuko swallowed a squeal and did his best to force out a stuttered sentence through his giggles, “Why did you want to make me laugh?”

“Because you’re always so frowny!” Aang replied, and Zuko knew the second pair of fingers that joined on his ribs had to be his thanks to the way they punctuated Aang’s statement with wiggles.

Zuko didn’t try to talk again. The four of them slowly amped up their tickles, until Zuko was writhing on the ground beneath them, howling and cackling and wheezing. Despite how insane the touch made him, and how much his lungs burned for relief, Zuko couldn’t say he wasn’t having fun. Truth be told, it was a little nice to let go and laugh, to just act like the kid he was for once.

So he swallowed his protests until he had truly had enough, slapping at the ground in silent laughter and sighing in relief when Toph took that as a sigh to stop. They all went back to their dinner, stew now slightly colder than satisfactory, and started up a conversation as Zuko desperately drew air back into his lungs.

The second he felt recovered enough, Zuko sat up and dove back into his own stew, stuffing his mouth full before he could do something stupid like thank them.

#tickle fic #My writing #atla tickling #lee!zuko #ler!toph #ler!katara #ler!sokka #ler!aang #ticklish!zuko #atla #aang #zuko #sokka #toph #katara #the gaang

102 notes · View notes

theowriteswhatever · 4 years

Text

Zuko Story That Has No Title Part 2

So I already wrote most of this story, because my friend asked me to. But I’m just going to release it in chunks so I don’t overload your dash.

-Your pal, Bubbles

I told no one that I had saved Zuko all those months ago. I knew they’d probably be pissed at me for saving the life of someone who repeatedly tried to kill us.

But I couldn’t just watch him die. He was still human.

Now we were in Ba Sing Se and everyone was bored of waiting to talk to the prince and was still trying to figure out the mysteries of this weird town.

Katara had taken Toph, a new member of our group, to a makeover day. Aang was helping with some kind of zoo. And Sokka was wandering around probably thinking about Suki.

I had heard of this nice tea shop in the poorer area of Ba Sing Se, but I wasn’t really allowed near there. So I devised a plan.

I put my (Y/H/C) hair in a braid and then into a bun, which I had never done before. I did my make up differently too. I then found a knee length green dress with flowers in my closet and put it on with a black cardigan. I looked completely different and knew Joo Dee wouldn’t be able to stop me.

I poked my head into the hallway and made sure no one was there. Everyone was gone. Even Momo. I made my way out of the house and onto the monorail system.

Once I had arrived at the immigrant slums of Ba Sing Se, I made my way to where the supposed tea shop was. When I arrived at the opening to the tea shop, I practically gasped. I ran to hide outside the shop.

Zuko, with no ponytail, was working with his uncle around the tea shop. He seemed angry to be helping, which wasn’t out of character.

I wasn’t recognizable, so I knew I could go in. But I wasn’t sure I should. But I took another look and the tea looked so good. And Zuko didn’t look as focused on regaining his honor, but more focused on helping his uncle and forcing himself to be upset about it.

I came out of my hiding spot and walked into the building to sit in the front corner so I could make a quick escape if need be. Zuko approached me and I could tell he was forcing a smile. It took all my effort to not laugh.

“Hi, welcome to our tea shop. What can I get you?” He said in the most bored voice imaginable.

“2 chamomiles please.” I responded with a smile.

“2?” He asked, “But you’re alone.”

“I thought maybe you could sit with me for a second. Unless you don’t like chamomile. Then I’ll take 2 of whatever you like.” I said as if it was no big deal.

He obviously thought it was a big deal. He practically stumbled backwards at the offer and his face went red. Even though half of it already permanently was. My face grew a little red too, but I stayed calm. He was still kinda in shock and it was a little adorable. Just a little bit.

“You don’t have to.” I said through chuckles.

“N-no it’s ok. I w-will. And um. . .chamomile is fine.” He said while stumbling over his words. He then rushed off to the back and started to make our tea.

I could tell from where I was sitting that his uncle was laughing at his awkwardness and nudging him teasingly. I laughed a little bit, because not only was it sweet, it was unexpected. We had always seen them as ruthless people that were practically evil, but I had to remember they were still humans with emotions. All humans could love, except Azula.

He headed back and set the tea in front of me and the chair opposite mine. He sat down and almost fell in the process. I giggled at it, but covered it with my nad. He smiled awkwardly and looked down at the table in what looked like shame.

I took a sip of the chamomile to hide the continuous laughter and my eyes went wide. “Is it bad?” He said in a panicked voice.

“No! No no no. It’s delicious. It’s probably the best tea I’ve ever had.” I said quickly so he wouldn’t worry. Lord knows this boy doesn’t need more worry in his life.

He cracked a near invisible smile. I had never seen him even come close to curling his lip, but right now I could tell that he was actually. . .happy. Which was weird. But nice.

“What’s your name?” He asked while scratching the back of his neck nervously. I had almost forgotten that I didn’t look like (Y/N) anymore. I hadn’t thought of what I would say my name is.

“Leeane.” I stammered out. He chuckled a little bit and I got scared for a second. What if he knew it was actually me? What if he knew and was about to give me a burn identical to his? “Wh-what’s funny?” I whispered in fear as I looked down at the table like Zuko had done just seconds ago.

“I just thought that was funny, because my name’s Lee.” He said with a smile. I completely forgot that he would be in disguise too. Although it was hard to not recognize his scar. Not that I would mention that. I let out an unintentional sigh of relief, but turned it into a laugh to play along. I looked up and became more confident. He smiled more when he saw me look up.

“I thought you were going to make fun of my name for a second there.” I lied. He chuckled a little bit and I did too.

“No. It’s a um. . .it’s a beautiful name.” He said nervously before clearing his throat. I smiled and put my hand on his while I leaned forward.

“Why are you so nervous?” I asked with concern in my voice.

He was honestly worrying me with how awkward he was. The group had always seen him as heartless and evil, but evil people can’t be like this. He can’t be so worried about messing up without caring a little bit. He had to care about me just a bit if he’s so shy and awkward. That or he doesn’t care and we just never realized how quiet he is. I guess when he isn’t talking about honor, he doesn’t have much else to say.

“I’m not a people person.” He stated quietly and in an ashamed voice. I felt bad for him. Which while it’s normal for me to care for people, I doubt he was used to being cared for. Except Iroh always treated him like a son. But Zuko needed someone to treat him as something else. A friend.

* * *

Zuko and I sat for what felt like hours and talked, and I couldn’t help but feel bad for not telling him who I really was. But he wasn’t honest with me either, so I guess we were equal.

I eventually had to leave before the group got worried about me and had two missing group members to look for. I politely excused myself and promised to come back soon. Zuko stood at the door frame and waved goodbye before his uncle wrapped his arm around him and led him inside.

Once I made it onto the monorail, I let my hair down and brushed through it to look remotely normal. I would probably look weird to them in green compared to my usual blue and my makeup was still a little different, but I doubt they would care. Katara might, but that wouldn’t be unusual. She always found something or someone to worry about.

I got back to the house quickly in an effort to avoid Joo Dee and any Dai Li. I finally made it without anyone stopping me and saw everyone gathered in the living room. They all looked exhausted and sad. Whether it was Appa, the impending war, or whatever happened today, I couldn’t guess. Katara looked up and smiled before running towards me to engulf me in a bearhug. “(Y/N), where have you been? I was worried sick!”

“We were worried sick.” Toph corrected in a sassy tone. Katara rolled her eyes and let go.

“Why were you worried? I was fine.” I reassured all of them. But I could tell Katara wasn’t buying it. My change in clothes and make up also hadn’t gone unnoticed.

“We didn’t know that. Now where were you?” Katara demanded.

“I just explored town a little bit, like all of you did.” I said in my “as-a-matter-of-fact” voice. But Katara still didn’t seem convinced. She raised one eyebrow and took another look at my personally unique outfit.

“Then why are you dressed like that?” She pressed.

“I wanted to explore the slums and didn’t want Joo Dee stopping me. So I disguised myself as someone else.” I admitted sheepishly. I knew she’d be mad that I went where I wasn’t supposed to go, especially in such a mysterious city. But I wouldn’t regret what I did.

“You can’t do that! The Dai Li could find you and we would have no idea. They could’ve captured you or hurt you or. . .killed you! You have no idea how dangerous that was.” She screeched with her hands placed firmly on her hips.

I wanted to run off in an effort to not upset her. The last thing I wanted to do was make it worse. I wanted to maybe stay silent and not make her more mad. Everyone was watching and waiting for what I would do and I didn’t want to let them down.

But I couldn’t this time. I love Katara. I do. But she was being ridiculous. She was acting as if this was the worst thing in the world. And she was looking at me like I was the scum of the Earth. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to say something and this time I would not just apologize.

“Really? I go across town to go and explore a town we have nothing better to do in and then I’m in danger! We’ve been traveling the world going from one life-threatening situation to the next and the one day I can do something fun or nice or even remotely enjoyable, I come back to be told that I was in danger? I’ve been in danger from the second this all started and now’s the point where you decide to mention it? I had my first day in months today where I didn’t have to worry about getting burned, or crushed, or drowned, or being hurt by some kind of crazy freak and you decide to tell me I was in danger!” Katara was taken aback by my anger and looked like she felt bad. I took a deep breath and continued with more of a calm tone. “I appreciate that you care about me Katara and I know you mean well, but I finally had one day that I legitimately enjoyed. Please don’t ruin it for me.”

Katara looked down and kicked some kind of rock around on the floor to distract herself. I sighed and made my way to my room.

I shut my door and locked it and then began to wipe my makeup off on my sleeve. I took off my dress and looked at my old southern water tribe gear. I didn’t want it right now. It didn’t feel right. I crawled into my bed into just my undershirt and shorts and sat there staring at the ceiling.

Soon enough I heard Katara knocking on my door, but instead of answering the door like I know I should have, I rolled over and forced myself to sleep.

#zuko x reader #zuko imagine #zuko #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla x reader #katara

120 notes · View notes

watchathon · 4 years

Text

BONUS: The Last Airbender

In case you’re finding this post just by browsing the tags I’ve used for this post, this is the Watchathon, a blog where I’m hoping to watch an episode of a show (or in this case, a movie) every one-to-two days, with a short blog post where I give my thoughts on what I’ve just seen. Each new point starts with a hyphen and a bolded first word.

- Like so.

But today, I’m subjecting myself to the notorious live-action film The Last Airbender, to... Well, to “celebrate” its tenth anniversary. I initially planned on doing it either after Book 1, or after Book 3, but for whatever reason, I have decided to do this now.

Fair warning, this is going to be one of my rare posts where I’ll be mostly negative.

So much for “gushing about things I like”...

Also, so much for “the rare occasion I cover movies”, but that I don’t mind so much. The Lilo & Stitch post was a ton of fun to make.

- So, first things first, I don’t tend to be a fan of live-action movies based on animated properties in general. But it’s not like I don’t give them a chance.

Sometimes I even like them better than the original. I could never get through The Jungle Book in one sitting as a kid, but the 2016 live-action remake? I adored it!

Even the worst ones I tend to be “meh” about rather than flat-out disliking. But The Last Airbender? I hated it when I watched it as a kid... Emphasis on the past tense. I could well change my tune because of this, though I can’t imagine I’ll end up liking it.

- They recreate the “Water, earth, fire, air” part of the intro but without narration. Which, to be frank, just makes it look pretty silly.

- “The four nations. Water, Earth, Fire, and Air Nomads.” Sooo are they all nomads?

- Awvatar? Pronouncing Aang as Awng, I could sorta get, but... Awvatar? Really?!

- It feels oh-so-weird to see a white Katara and Sokka, when they, and all the people of the Water Tribes, had the darkest skin in the show.

- Something that really strikes me about this movie already is that it’s so... humorless. Sokka described himself once in the show as “the meat and sarcasm guy” if I’m remembering right, and not even five minutes in I can already tell we’re missing half of that description.

- Not only is this movie humorless, it can seem strangely... smaller, than the cartoon. In the cartoon, Katara got Aang out of the iceberg by accidentally using powerful Waterbending.

But here, Sokka causes the ice to crack by accident, revealing the iceberg with Aang inside. Then Katara grabs Sokka’s boomerang and whacks the iceberg twice with it.

- More about the lack of humor: There’s not even a mention of penguin sledding once Aang is out either.

- And not only are our most prominent Waterbenders white, the Fire Nation (who had light skin in the cartoon) have the darkest skin of the whole main cast. Juuust great...

- Aang’s heroic moment from the cartoon is taken away from him. In the cartoon, Aang was on his way out of the Southern Water Tribe when he saw the Fire Nation approaching, at which point he turned around and helped them.

Here? Aang sits in a tent until one of the Fire Nation soldiers sees his tattoos and drags him out.

- “We found that boy, he’s our responsibility!” Katara sounds like she’s talking about a stray puppy they found. “I’ll feed him, and bathe him, and teach him!”

- It crosses the line into unintentional hilarity when, as Katara and Sokka are discussing Aang, there’s just Appa noises in the background, entirely unremarked upon. The only take a glance in that direction once they’re done talking, ironically after Appa’s quietened down somewhat.

- Nobody gets out of this movie without major changes, but if it weren’t for Iroh referring to Zuko as his nephew, I’d have never guessed it was him. Also, Eeroh. Frankly, I’ll be surprised if Zuko isn’t pronounced Zucko.

- Katara and Sokka’s grandmother pronounces Avatar correctly. Why don’t Katara and Sokka? Or, heck, why doesn’t she pronounce it “Awvatar”? It’d be better if they stuck to one rather than the inconsistent pronunciation.

- I’ll give them props: The idea of testing if Aang is the Avatar by setting four objects representing the elements in front of him is pretty cool. Does become kinda silly, though, when the rock just... wobbles and goes upright. They could have had it, like, cracking, but instead, wobbly rock.

- I might be misremembering, but it felt like Aang’s escape from Zuko’s ship was a lot... more, in the cartoon. I know, time constraints of fitting a twenty-episode season into a two-hour movie. But I have to tilt my head at just how much shorter (and milder) this particular scene is than its animated counterpart.

- It’s weird how Katara’s narration calls Aang by name, then like a minute later (at most) we see her ask him for his name.

- Wow, is it weird to see Aasif Mandvi playing Zhao when I watched The Daily Show as a teenager.

- Exposition is always fun when it’s delivered in the form of a roast.

- “But we will let [Zuko] wear [the Fire Nation uniform] today, like a child wearing a costume.” And nobody even smiles at Zhao’s sick burn.

- Hey, at least they have Iroh drinking tea. But cartoon Iroh probably wouldn’t do that so casually while his nephew is fighting Zhao’s soldiers. And cartoon Iroh would probably smile. At some point in time.

- And movie Katara and Sokka have apparently gone all the way to the Earth Kingdom without learning that Aang is the Avatar.

- “He was bending tiny stones at us from behind a tree! It really hurt!” I gotta be honest, that’s not a bad joke. It does feel kinda out of place with the general tone of the movie thus far, but whatever. I’ll take the lighthearted fun moments where I can get them.

- I can sort of understand why they would want the Earthbenders imprisoned by the Fire Nation to have some sort of earth to bend without the Gaang going to all that trouble to get the coal. But putting them in a quarry is more than a bit overboard.

- Aang gets a big Katara moment from the cartoon. And the thing is, Katara doesn’t really get that much time to shine in this movie. She could have used a moment like this one. Heck, Aang could’ve joined in to confirm that the Avatar has returned.

But no... In this scene, Katara just shoves a Fire Nation soldier who’s being rude to Aang.

- Ah, the infamous pebble dance. And the thing is, in the cartoon, this would’ve been a joke.

Aang would go through this huge, over-the-top dance just to make a relatively small rock float slowly towards a Fire Nation soldier. At which point, Toph would make the rock move much faster before teasing Aang about what he just did.

- Ohhh, gosh, I’m half an hour into this hour-and-a-half movie, and the post already looks like... this.

- “Teachers to teach you bending.” A lot of attention gets given to another repetitive line later on in the movie, but we shouldn’t ignore this beauty.

- Weird to see Ozai in plain view. Especially considering how, later on, he will be framed in shadow.

- Agni Key... What is it with this movie and changing pronunciations? I wouldn’t even care if that was the only problem, but with how it is, it’s one of several things that make this movie feel like “Avatar but wrong”.

- “Yip yip.” Gosh, does it feel weird to hear those words in a movie that tries to be more serious than the cartoon.

- I had to stop and continue this in the morning since it was late, so I might be forgetting something... But was it established before the Blue Spirit that Zuko knew Zhao would be hunting the Avatar?

- Hard to take it seriously when Zhao looks at his soldiers, chained by their hands to the ceiling, and simply mutters “fools.”

- “You think my son is this person the soldiers are calling ‘Blue Spirit’?” *pause of at least four seconds* “...Yes.”

- “My brother and the princess became friends right away.” First off, that’s really underplaying it. But second, Sokka’s face is so blank as Katara says this that I can’t buy even that.

- Zhao really becomes a much less threatening force when it’s Ozai who tells him to kill the spirits, when it’s Ozai who starts talking about their destiny.

- “HOOOOOOOOO” lives in a pineapple under the sea?!

- Everything in the Spirit World is compressed into this one dragon. Which makes it seem a lot less like a Spirit World than just the home of this dragon.

- I would say that the whole bit of Aang trying to avoid Zuko even though he’s right behind him is more like something from the cartoon... But, the dramatic music really makes it seem like this is supposed to be a serious moment. And it just doesn’t work as one.

- Iroh’s trying to stop Zhao is nowhere near as good as it was in the cartoon.

- “He’s making fire out of nothing!” I don’t understand why they made the change that this is uncommon. The Fire Nation are the villains, they should be stronger than other benders.

- “It’s time we show the Fire Nation that we believe in our beliefs as much as they believe in theirs.” I don’t understand how anyone thought this could work as a serious line.

- Back to the whole thing of this being smaller than the cartoon, Aang doesn’t turn into Aangzilla here. He accomplishes a very impressive feat of Waterbending, but when I just watched the cartoon version last week, it feels lesser in comparison.

- I imagine this is supposed to be Aang bowing in response, since he didn’t with the monks. But it doesn’t look like bowing. It just looks like an elegant dance move.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yeah, I still don’t like it much. But I’ll say this: Now that I’ve watched it again, I appreciate the cartoon so much more.

I appreciate the characters. I appreciate the tone, I appreciate the pacing. And I appreciate all the things that are lacking from this movie.

I can only hope that the new live-action adaptation will be better, even if I know the cartoon will still be my preferred way of experiencing the story.

#The Last Airbender #bonus post #long post #really long post #super long post #negativity #negative #Katara #Sokka #Aang #Iroh #Zuko #Zhao #pebble dance #Fire Lord Ozai #Movie

10 notes · View notes