ATLA: The Promise & Decolonization
I've been meaning to write this post since I got back from The Hunger Games and The Legend of Korra helped me detox from all the ~feelings~ I got from the film. It's been about a month and here it is!
Avatar: The Last Airbender-- The Promise, Part 1
I'm also a big fan of Gene Luen Yang's American-born Chinese so I was really looking forward to this. I almost bought it too, but the problem was that we couldn't find it at the bookstore. And no wonder: The Promise is TOO THIN. I thought this would be manga volume length at least, but at this point, I don't think even the complete volume will be that long.
My first thought can be summed up as: SWEETIE?! I'm surprised that Sokka and Toph stopped at "oogies" because I had the crazed urge to bash my head against the wall, every single time it came up. And if you've read the comic, it comes up A LOT. (On another note, did Sokka and/or Toph name Tenzin's bison for him? Because that would only be too cute.)
There's a reason most stories end after the war's been won and no later. Reconstruction tends to be messy and war heroes start to tarnish under the pressure of fixing a broken world that has become accustomed to being broken. How do you heal a world that resists healing? It's amazing that ATLA would try to tackle these issues at all, since we ourselves aren't that far removed from our world wars and the subsequent decolonization: 60-70 years, give or take a few. And we still feel the effects of colonization to this day.
But I was getting ahead of myself. The Promise is about the founding of The United Republic of Nations out of the colonies, and that is much simpler. That's like how Hong Kong with China co-exist today under "one country, two systems." Or how Singapore and Malaysia became two separate countries, despite geography suggesting they give union a whirl. Those plans got axed after anti-Chinese riots and such. (Will there be riots in The Promise Part 2? You know Smellerbee and co. want it.) And considering how these areas aren't at war with each other (the way North Korea and South Korea still are), I'd say that more or less those solutions worked.
I'm more surprised that the problems of repatriation didn't occur sooner to Zuko so that he could've dodged the entire assassination attempt episode (well, at least one of them) but I guess they had to show you the problem to solve it.
Not much to see here about whether the Fire Nation took the German route or the Japanese route on the subject of its war crimes, on whether the rest of the world felt the pull of Fire Nation cultural imperialism, on whether the Earth King fell from power, etc. But then again, we haven't seen much beyond Republic City in Korra yet. (And ok, those are heavy things to ask of a children's show, but is it crazy that I feel that while the show might not tackle these things head on, it might still be deep enough to acknowledge that these things are bubbling under the surface? I've been spoiled by A:TLA.)
On whether any war heroes have become tarnished during Reconstruction, that's yet to be seen. Zuko asking Ozai for advice does not bode well. He should've really talked to Iroh instead, and I hope he realizes this before it's too late. :P
Avatar: The Last Airbender-- The Promise, Part 1
I'm also a big fan of Gene Luen Yang's American-born Chinese so I was really looking forward to this. I almost bought it too, but the problem was that we couldn't find it at the bookstore. And no wonder: The Promise is TOO THIN. I thought this would be manga volume length at least, but at this point, I don't think even the complete volume will be that long.
My first thought can be summed up as: SWEETIE?! I'm surprised that Sokka and Toph stopped at "oogies" because I had the crazed urge to bash my head against the wall, every single time it came up. And if you've read the comic, it comes up A LOT. (On another note, did Sokka and/or Toph name Tenzin's bison for him? Because that would only be too cute.)
There's a reason most stories end after the war's been won and no later. Reconstruction tends to be messy and war heroes start to tarnish under the pressure of fixing a broken world that has become accustomed to being broken. How do you heal a world that resists healing? It's amazing that ATLA would try to tackle these issues at all, since we ourselves aren't that far removed from our world wars and the subsequent decolonization: 60-70 years, give or take a few. And we still feel the effects of colonization to this day.
But I was getting ahead of myself. The Promise is about the founding of The United Republic of Nations out of the colonies, and that is much simpler. That's like how Hong Kong with China co-exist today under "one country, two systems." Or how Singapore and Malaysia became two separate countries, despite geography suggesting they give union a whirl. Those plans got axed after anti-Chinese riots and such. (Will there be riots in The Promise Part 2? You know Smellerbee and co. want it.) And considering how these areas aren't at war with each other (the way North Korea and South Korea still are), I'd say that more or less those solutions worked.
I'm more surprised that the problems of repatriation didn't occur sooner to Zuko so that he could've dodged the entire assassination attempt episode (well, at least one of them) but I guess they had to show you the problem to solve it.
Not much to see here about whether the Fire Nation took the German route or the Japanese route on the subject of its war crimes, on whether the rest of the world felt the pull of Fire Nation cultural imperialism, on whether the Earth King fell from power, etc. But then again, we haven't seen much beyond Republic City in Korra yet. (And ok, those are heavy things to ask of a children's show, but is it crazy that I feel that while the show might not tackle these things head on, it might still be deep enough to acknowledge that these things are bubbling under the surface? I've been spoiled by A:TLA.)
On whether any war heroes have become tarnished during Reconstruction, that's yet to be seen. Zuko asking Ozai for advice does not bode well. He should've really talked to Iroh instead, and I hope he realizes this before it's too late. :P