I experienced war, similarly to many of my generational peers through Avatar: The Last Airbender – a Nickelodeon show made for children alongside Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer.
Avatar Aang bending all four elements
Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated series set in an Asiatic world. In the four nations of this world – Water, Earth, Fire, and Air, some humans can ‘bend’ their respective element. There is always a spiritual incarnate, known as the Avatar, who can bend all four elements, whose destiny is to restore or retain peace. In the series’ era, the Fire Nation has tyrannically ruled the world for a century in war, and a 12-year-old boy named Aang must master his skills as the Avatar to restore harmony to the world.
I will be discussing how relatability, darker elements, and character development contextualised the nuances of war for youths.
Katara assassinating her mother’s killer
The strength of the series is within its microcosms. The audience sees individual stories as opposed to many nameless deaths. Aang’s water bending teacher, Katara was my childhood hero. She was a feminist warrior, but she was also a victim of war. Despite growing up with both parents, I was able to empathise with her anguish and rage over her murdered mother. She was so similar to me in age, personality, and energy that I could replicate her grief with the masses who had also faced loss from senseless murders.
Aang finds his entire race killed by the Fire Nation
Avatar never strayed from darker themes despite being a kids show. The Fire Nation’s wrath displayed itself in every facet of the show. Within the first episodes, we discover the Fire Nation committed genocide of the Air Nomad race in an attempt to eradicate the Avatar. The Fire Lord mutilated and banished his son who was evidently suffocated in the totalitarian Fire Nation dogma. Katara, who is kind and nurturing resorts to blood bending to avenge her mother’s death. The lack of censorship in the show created something powerful and real for children to comprehend. War is horrific, and it should not be sugar-coated.
Zuko’s development from enemy to ally taught kids that war isn’t as simple as “good vs bad”. The audience watches Zuko, an angry banished prince who was once heir to the Fire Nation throne, obsess over restoring his honour by capturing the Avatar. Zuko’s duality gleams throughout the show. We watch his oscillation between his upbringing and what he knows is right. We see him help his enemies because his morals overcome his fears. Most importantly, we grasp that he, perhaps more than any other character, despite his position, has had everything taken from him by this war-torn world.
Prince Zuko begging for forgiveness before his father burns and banishes him
Avatar: The Last Airbender teaches youths about war through honest, accessible, appropriate storytelling. To this day, I cannot think of a children’s show that grapples and contextualises such difficult themes with a cast that is as cohesive and deep as The Legend of Aang’s. Great fiction is not bound to a particular demographic. Despite being fifteen years old, Avatar still defines a generation and is remembered not as something juvenile, but brilliant.
Team Avatar saving the world
PS: It was so hard writing about all this in only 500 words, but the idea came from the question that is frequently asked about how apt, we, as privileged Kiwi kids perceive war compared to people who have first-hand experience.
I appreciate the undertaking in explaining this magnificent show and all its nuanced glories in 500 words!! I also grew up watching Avatar, and it seems crazy to me that I, as an 8-year-old, essentially watched a show that centred around colonialism, genocide, and victims of war. As I became older, I grew to really appreciate the way the show’s producers humanised victims of war (among many other themes). The entire 2nd season when Avatar + friends AND Zuko + uncle meet war victims who share their own personal stories, adds to the real-life humanitarian impact that war has on civilians. Massive displacements of refugees, famines/food shortages, living in constant fear for your family etc.
And the show didn’t just focus on refugees, it focused on fallen war veterans who lost their sons, and what that taught them about life. I really liked how you touched on one of the core messages of the show- good/bad isn’t clear cut, and unless you’re Azula, no one is predisposed to violence, and we’re all in control of our own fate, reactions, and decisions. (Ty lee, Mai, Zuko, and Jet)
I really liked reading this 🙂 and the applications you put to our artsschol theme! Fun little read
You’ve done so much in five hundred words! This is definitely an incredible show though. I only ever watched a few episodes as a child, but managed to finish the series a couple years ago and loved it. The strength of its themes definitely comes through when watching it at an older age. Given that I hadn’t really watched it as a kid, I didn’t have any kind of nostalgia to draw me in, and it was simply how the show handled the topics and ideas it deals with that kept me watching. I can’t think of many children’s shows that have done the same so successfully.
One thing that I’m consistently impressed by is the intensity of some of the stuff the show deals with: Zuko being a victim of familial abuse, Katara’s rage and how that’s expressed, among copious other examples. Yet, none of these things ever crosses the line where they become inappropriate for the intended young audience. It introduces these concepts in a way that’s easily understandable and relatable for children, a real testament to the skill of those involved in its creation.
It’s really wonderful to see a cartoon kids show (both types of entertainment that are frequently dismissed) handle these concepts in such a graceful way that holds up even after all these years, and even more wonderful to see this show linked to what we’re currently doing.
This post shows fantastic insight into the way fiction can be used to analyse and acceptably present upsetting topics to different audiences. I find your comments on the microcosms of conflict interesting: instead of framing the ongoing war as just that, the show focuses on the minutia, individual characters, and their personal struggles; Zuko demonstrates the complexities of war and family, and how a moral dichotomy fails to address the personal, lived experiences of those engaged in day-to-day survival; Katara, a mentor and role model, is imperfect and driven by anger; and Aang, our hero, is the sole survivor of a genocide. These are ideas not easily understood or preferred left alone by many people today, and that they were weaved into a show on Nickelodeon shows that fiction is often more effective than fact in teaching people how to think about and address what they experience around them.
Firstly, you’ve commented on so much within five hundred words, it’s hard to describe a show like ATLA with so many nuances and you’ve done a brilliant job. While I didn’t watch Avatar as a kid, I’ve seen it many times now and it remains to be one of the best shows I’ve seen. The strength of the themes portrayed and the skill with which a children’s show approached topics many adult ones abstain from always struck me as impactful, particularly the success with which it was handled. I’m glad you’ve commented on this and the links you’ve made to our current modern world, you’ve done so in a really great way.