Avatar – no, the other one.
Just trawling for images to use had me wanting to watch the whole series again! (Image and characters Copyright Nickelodeon productions.)
I’ve had a few people ask me about one of the presents I mentioned in my suggestions for Team BadRep’s Christmas list: the cartoon series Avatar – the last Airbender. Unlike some of the gift suggestions it’s not a specifically feminist item, but I recommended it because I think it’s awesome on many levels and feminist-friendly as well. (Some spoilers ahead!)
First of all, there’s a rough gender balance. The core group is made up of two boys and two girls. They are as important as each other on average – one of the boys is the title character, but the other is something of a clown figure who doesn’t have any of the powers that the two girls do. It’s not that clear-cut because everyone has a lot of growth over the series, but there is no “male hero and some sidekicks” dynamic going on here. They are all important, and talented in different ways.
The enemies are initially men (especially a teenage boy and his grandfather), but his sister and her female friends take even more of the villain roles later on (and are frankly better at them). When the core group gains another man, a woman who was previously a side character gets more screentime too.
What’s more interesting to me than strict number balance is that the roles for women are very, very good. The show is set in a fantasy world in which combat is a critical part of cultural identity and power, but if anything the women are more precise and technically proficient at fighting than the men. There is even an early scene where a blustering male fighter spars with an expert female warrior, assuming he’ll have to go easy on her, and she deliberately and calmly takes him apart. In the ‘enemy’ family, the sister has a greater knowledge and tighter focus of their family’s technique than anyone else.
Another thing it does well is to show real martial arts, and how women can be just as effective at them without falling into the typical trap of only being given the soft and gentle styles. In this story the arts are learned by tribe, and if either men or women show talent then they can perform them. So the main young woman in the group does Tai Chi (thought of as soft by anyone who hasn’t had to go up against it, seriously, bloody hell) but all the men of her tribe do too. In fact, she encounters prejudice from a teacher who won’t train her because he doesn’t see it as a woman’s role – so the show certainly didn’t assign her the style because it sees it as soft and feminine.
The other girl in the main group (and I mean girl, I don’t think she’s a teen yet?) knows the style which is the heaviest and most unmovable, based on rock. When you have a mixed group like this the female roles often just happen to result in “Invisible Woman with passive/protective powers”. Healer girlfriend, in other words. Not here – these female characters are determined, immensely capable in attack, and in some cases the most ruthless people in the show. The camera doesn’t cut away from the effects of their rage or violence either, as we’ve seen a trend recently where women aren’t shown equally during violent scenes. The fighting is an extension of their character, even their soul, so is shown in great detail because it is relevant and part of the storytelling.
The series is also very good on race. The “Tribes” are roughly based on Asian countries, with Japan, China and Tibet being obviously represented. The Water Tribe live at the poles (on the ice), and are darker skinned than everyone else. This is never once commented on: they are the Water tribe, of course they’re the colour they are. While there’s plenty of tension between the groups, there’s absolutely no racial hatred. Characters acknowledge that one of the tribes is being warlike right now, but they know that all four make up the world and never treat anyone as lesser based on skin colour. Those planning the long-term subjugation of other tribes are shown to be dangerously out of control and out of balance.
(This became a sore point when M Night Shyamalan made a Hollywood movie of the series and cast predominantly white actors as the all-Asian characters. And a British-Indian actor as the baddie, who ironically is the palest person in the cartoon series).
Most of all I recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender to everyone because it’s just so full of joy. The comedy is genuinely funny and never gets old; the sentiments are exactly what I want kids to be learning from TV. The characters are deep, flawed, and have development arcs, the women are not sidelined even though the cultural and fantasy setting could have made that easy and even likely. It celebrates establishing yourself but doesn’t glorify violence. It’s just superb, frequently beautiful and very admirable.
I’ve seen quite a lot of the anime series and movies which are popular in the West. I’d put this up as one of the best children’s shows I’ve seen in any format, an anime which holds its own alongside more famous adult fare such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell and Neon Genesis Evangelion etc.
It’s critical that we teach equality to our children from an early age and TV is still the best medium to reach the most people. I think this is a series you can choose without hesitation. Look for it in the post-Christmas sales!
There’s more good news too: a sequel series, The Legend of Korra is underway. The Avatar is reincarnated (and can contact their past incarnations, who are men and women of all the tribes). This sequel stars the next Avatar to be born – who is Korra, a teenage girl of the Water tribe.
Promo Image for The Legend of Korra, copyright Nickelodeon productions.
Despite running for several seasons and finishing a few years ago, Avatar: The last Airbender is still surprisingly unknown in the UK compared to the US. Have you seen it? Did you like it, from a feminist perspective? Share your thoughts with us!
The Legend of Korra looks really cool from that still.
I want to watch the initial series, too! But Korra looks really cool. And I’m glad that they made the main character a young woman/girl for the followup series. I hope it’s as good as Avatar seems to be!
This looks brilliant. Will definitely investigate, thanks for sharing!
Congratulations for describing the show in a non-spoilery way, but especially in a coherent way. I can’t talk about Avatar without descending into incoherent squee. The girls! The boys! The bad girls! The bad boy!
The excellent redemption arc!
The girl so unconventionally powerful that the play-within-a-play casts her as a large man!
The non-magical characters who can hold their own against the superpowered magic!
The disabled characters who both acknowledge their disability and have other personality traits – even the one who could so easily be that magical ‘disabled but not’ thing.
The overarching pacifist message!
The giant flying bison.
And most importantly; the uncle.
I think that’s the most telling part. Not that I can barely type an article without descending into “IT’S BRILLIANT, IT’S SO BRILLIANT, OMG”, but that there is a two-minute sequence of an old man singing a song which will make me cry *every single time I see it.*
Also, flying bison.
Zuko’s uncle!! That old man wins at life. <3 <3 <3
I loved Avatar. Seriously! Big fan. Spoilers below…
It’s not totally beyond critique. Katara can fall into both the ‘girl healer’ and the ‘team mom’ stereotypes at times. Toph can balance this out, though (IMO) she could use more screentime.
Toph’s disability is treated quite well, although she is a good example of the way that, when writing a disabled character, writers like to give them ‘compensatory’ skills.
The end of the series is interesting. Status quo is restored when Zuko’s sister, who goes quite literally mad with power, is chucked off the throne, and Aang (as Avatar) and Zuko (as Emperor) stand together united on stage at his coronation.
There had been female avatars in the past, I like that we are shown that, but would they have made a series about one?* Or had a man and woman/two women authority figures standing on stage at the end? The series IS named after Aang. I agree that the “male hero and some sidekicks” dynamic is not truly at play, but I almost feel like they had to make the series LOOK like it was going to be that, and introduce more female characters slowly, to get onto TV…. what’s the cliche? Young boys want to read/watch fiction about boys, girls will read about either boys or girls so if you want a large mixed-gender audience, make everything revolve around the boy?
Anyway, this is all by the by as it’s far better than anything else I’ve seen aimed at kids lately! And I as an adult enjoyed it a lot, I was so sad when I got to the end!
*No I can’t wait for Korra, why do you ask.
The series is named after Aang, but Aang is a *child*. And a very asexual one, for the most part. I think connecting him to male and female previous incarnations was vital – everyone is everything, all the elements, both the sexes.
I’d totally agree that they probably had to make the series look that way for advertising, yep. I think they snuck in a TREMENDOUS amount of pacifist equality goodstuff under the radar of what was probably sold as a kung-fu show.
I can’t quite work out whether Katara taking the healer/mother role was a cliché, a valid expression of the water tribe personality, or her actual chosen personality. And there’s enough of her which is angry, determined and warrior-like that I don’t mind if they genuinely wrote the rest of her that way. Yes, it’s there, but it didn’t set off any of my alarm bells.
Also, looking at Katara being allowed to be caring while Sokka is all macho posing, the show clearly says that he’s doing it because that’s what society tells him to, and it’s foolish. It’s because he thinks that’s what a warrior looks like, but from episode one the show demonstrates that it’s *not*.
Aang’s gentleness and calmness by comparison allow him to “have feelings too”, straying into dangerous “like a girl” territory in a way which doesn’t emasculate him. Possibly because he’s so neutral to begin with, and y’know. A monk. A bald, child monk.
But yes, it does suffer from network tv’s mantra of needing a white-looking male lead (because otherwise you’re that Brave Show with the Alternative Lead which is about something that no-one else pays as much attention to as the fact you have a Female Lead etc. I’m not disputing that!)
Know many other people that like the show too, but definitely think I will try and get hold of it to watch now. Great review. :-)
I do enjoy a bit of Avatar :) Iroh is great, the story and
characters are great, and the humour is fantastic – I love how
childish Aang is at the start “The don’t like it when you ride
them, but that’s what makes it fun!” I also like how *every* main
character, and a lot of the others, grow up during the story,
without ever losing track of themselves.
Absolutely brilliant show and good review. On the subject of Suki, got to remeber the great quote from the 4th episode (yes, after the opening 2 partet and the follow up pisode they already have the ‘girl power episode’ that most shows would probably wait half a season before putting in):
Sokka (the group’s ‘manly man’): I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior.
Suki: I am a warrior but I’m a girl too.
In lots of shows the female fighters might all have be like Toph (cool though she is) as overly masculine girls or as overly femine characters with more stereotypical powers like talking to animals or healing. Avatar shows that the female characters can still kick just as well as the boys without having to give up being female. Snaztastic.
Last Airbender is an awesome cartoon… The only case of
gender imbalance I can think of is in the Order of the White Lotus
(Iroh, Bumi, Pakku, Jeong Jeong and Piandao – five guys kicking
ass). On the other hand, it’s a beautiful example of age balance –
the main group are all young, and suddenly these five show that age
can bring wisdom and strength. Or, maybe that’s just how I saw it
;)
This series is not feminist. This series has nothing to say, has no philosophy behind it, or anything to prevent it from being a vapid mess.
All the women are either generic tough girl tropes or goddam fucking evil. Feminists really need to demand more than this.
Interesting :) While I think it steps back from forcing a philosophy (although it IS strongly anti-war) I would say that it’s surprisingly careful in terms of gender politics. That might be what you see as vapid or uninspired, but being genuinely neutral takes deliberate effort.
And I can think of several examples I’d call feminist: women being confronted with outdated expectations and reacting angrily, and refusing to play, and this being shown as an unequivocally good thing. Personal freedoms being valued. Women being vital to the success of the mission, saving men’s lives, keeping the group together. Tough or evil aren’t the only options, and I think even the “evil” is done with humanity and tragedy.
But I’m glad to see some opposing points of view!