The Harry Potter-ification of Avatar

Watching the Live Action Avatar, I found that my feelings of disappointment had a very strong sense of deja vu to them ...
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[@lasercraft32]

Its strange how this more "adult" focused version of the show is somehow less mature than the cartoon.

[@DeathKitta]

Yeah. Cartoon trusted kids to understand things without spelling it all out. Show was promised to be for more mature audience. And suddenly things are dumbed down and stripped of nuance and deeper themes.

[@dragonmaster1360]

@lasercraft32 That's because the people that produce "mature" and "adult" shows don't understand what mature and adult mean. It's not just more death, more s-x, more dark themes. That's, ironically, juvenile thinking. Mature can basically be boiled down to more complex, and even that isn't a fully accurate portrayal of it. The original show was actually INCREDIBLY mature. It showed very complex and dark themes, such as death, genocide, abuse, childhood trauma, loss, pain, war, discrimination, and so much more. Arguably, the only thing it didn't overtly do was s-xual abuse. Even that could potentially be hinted at with a few of the subplots and back story (like Zuko's mother), but it isn't overt like the others are. The show trusted children to understand, because they do. Kids aren't stupid like these modern writers think they are. The new show takes away all the complexity, giving us all a pale, watered down version of very complex characters. It's not dark, it's not bleak, and it's not complex. Everything is straightforward and on the nose, and it doesn't trust the audience to understand things. It has to shove it in our faces.

[@Spoogebro]

It’s crazy that this is the second time they tried to make the franchise more mature only to make it significantly less mature than the og series

[@grandsome1]

Because adults are dumb, I say that as an adult.

[@eloquitodelaesquina]

WAAAAAY less mature

[@miaththered]

I was waiting for your thoughts on this, my own are... well disappointment really.

[@lasercraft32]

At least the Harry Potter movies kinda hold their own as films... The Netflix Avatar has painful levels of questionable writing and an over-abundance of exposition.

[@AudioAlure]

HP films were really, really solid tbh. Maybe not as good as the books but certainly good in their own right.

[@Thesmus]

i may have not read the books but i did remember enjoying the hp films i've watched. as for avatar, i've watched and loved the original series, so i have more to say, but even with trying my best not to be harsh on the live action, i just can't. i didn't feel anything for anyone most of the time, except for zuko. and even then, like what has been said, they made zuko to be too sympathetic too early. like they might as well just make this show about zuko, cause his story so far seems to be the most interesting. our main crew feels too eh; zuko feels like the main character really.

[@kzma009]

Yeah the changes in the HP films arw negligible compared to ATLA 😅😅

[@lou9635]

And the movies have at least the excuse to adapt books, so it's normal a lot of things just disappeared. But for Atla, it's from show to show, there is no excuse!

[@madnessarcade7447]

Give it time to grow

[@sebastiaomendonca1477]

I couldn't believe it when I watched Gyatso and Sozin enter a wand-locking duel

[@mintman325]

“You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.” “You’re weak just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world in MY world. Prepare to join them prepare to die” Ozai is perfectly content with killing literal children. I don’t think the writing is going to cut this deep. And that makes me a bit sad.

[@androidsenpai1462]

I’ll bet you a few copper pieces that they just turn Ozai into some misunderstood sob story of a villain that gets redeemed at the end.

[@chelscara]

@@androidsenpai1462they’re already making Azula into Zuko, I could see them giving him an Azula story where at the end he’s supposed to be seen as broken and raised poorly when the reason that works with Azula is because she’s fucking 14

[@mintman325]

@@chelscara “My father says she was born lucky, he said I was lucky to be born” I’m not getting that at all here. Which is a shame because the actors look great

[@shainahiggins2217]

You hit the nail on the head. I just kept hearing the same line from Into the Woods the entire time I watched the show, "You're not bad, you're not good, you're just nice." They were so afraid to let these characters be "problematic" that they stripped out any and all nuance and complexity. Even minor characters like Han weren't allowed to be jerks. It took these incredible, vibrant, interesting characters and turned them into blandly smiling paper dolls. But then, the writing across the board was clunky, expositional, and weak. The show was such a waste of the insane amount of resources the production had to work with. Nice to look at, but hollow at the core.

[@almas4663]

There's nothing vibrant and interesting about Han, Yue, Bumi, Azula, Ozai....Netflix gave them more depth, more background, more feelings and complexeties, BECAUSE they were bland in the original

[@shainahiggins2217]

Well that certainly is...a take. Statistically, I suppose someone had to feel the way you do, but wow. Couldn't possibly disagree more, but okay. You do you.

[@almas4663]

​@@shainahiggins2217 I'm honestly dissapointed people hate on this great series, but praise REAL trash and bastardisation, like Kung Fu Panda 4, Puss in Boots 2 or Sonic Movies.... Netflix handled Avatar way better than the original creators did for the past ten years

[@unapersonav1522]

​@@almas4663Putting Kung fu panda 4 and Last wish in the same category is foul😭

[@almas4663]

@@unapersonav1522 No, taking Puss in Boots and stripping it of all of it's individuality to hop on the hypetrain of Spider-verse and ruin the foundation of Shrek franchise in the process - That's foul!

[@5my9other93half]

Not that it's an exact comparison, but wouldn't Azula most resemble Bellatrix Lestrange? They're both terrifying in their own ways, the vicious right-hand woman of the big bad, and wildly competent with their abilities and capacity to hurt our heroes?

[@racheldoesfandom]

Oh, nice catch! I guess I didn't consider it because Azula is still a child, and therefore has a shot at redemption and a lot of trauma to process, whereas Bellatrix is an adult who has fully chosen her own path of evil.

[@satan3862]

​@@racheldoesfandom very true but i like to point out that in both worlds they seem to be 'too late and to far gone to be saved' cases

[@shawnwilcowski]

@@satan3862nahh azula can still be redeemed, even the comics are shuffling the idea

[@satan3862]

@@shawnwilcowski maybe but how far are they gonna take it after all it took zuko over 2 books to do it and he had iroh next to him azula doesn't have that plus her being mental its going take all for her to change for the beter and longer

[@boshman11]

@@racheldoesfandom I‘m not sure…Bellatrix was also influenced by the rederrick of Voldemort in her actions, so both her and Azula relied on the despicable authority figures in their lives. Azkaban gave Bella NO SHOT at recuperating & reintegrating by being living hell, heck, it probably radicalized her further. I do think she could have had redemption as well, just never got the chance to because she didn‘t experience a life without Voldemort (and only went through pain and suffering in the years of his absence).

[@Radhaun]

From every single review and critique I've heard about the live action avatar, I've come to the belief that the directors and writers did love the show, but didn't understand it. They wanted to use Season 3, fully realized characters without putting in the two seasons of work it took to get there.

[@aquaarietta]

I would like to add my thoughts on Iroh, which I haven't seen anyone else talking about in the same way. What makes original Iroh so beloved wasn't solely the fact that he was just a wise loveable father figure. He also had his own subtle yet important character arc. He starts out in the animated series not having completed his character journey, but rather near the tail end of it. We are shown that he's not as gung-ho about capturing the avatar as Zuko and that he's mainly there just to look out for his nephew, but he still participates on trying to capture the avatar (literally firebending one time with Zuko at Aang as he makes an escape). We see him go from still having some loyalty to the fire nation or at least showing some ambivalence to it, to eventually revealing his deep care for his family (when he tells Zuko at the north pole he's always thought of him as a son since Lu Ten died) and his true loyalty to the world's natural balance above all else (when he unleashes his fury at Zhao when he kills the moon spirit and is *actually* mad about it). Later, we see him happily accept a simple life and start to make amends for the harm he previously caused (most importantly including guiding Zuko on the way he failed to help his own son). And lastly we see him accept his role in bringing peace to the world as the one to help free Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom. In the live action, Iroh is portrayed as already all good and with no character arc. His wise words seem too on the nose and overbearing. They missed a huge opportunity to turn what was a more subtle arc in the animated series into what could have been a greater arc of inner conflict. For example, instead of giving us Lu Ten's funeral, we could have seen a flashback comparing how Iroh raised Lu Ten to how he's caring for Zuko now, maybe even making the same mistakes sometimes. We could have gradually seen his distress and grief over how he desperately wants to help end the generational trauma of the Fire Nation royal family, sometimes still falling into the same mistakes but mostly making a conscious effort to do things differently. Either way, they didn't give him any growth at all, and it made him all the worse as a character for it. I remember how shocked and excited I was as a kid when Iroh went off on Zhao at the north pole because it was so rare to see an antagonistic character actually start to show major change like that. Like nearly all the live action characters, their casting was great, but they were sadly given such lackluster characters and even worse dialogue. It's such a shame. But at least the original is still great and will always be there to enjoy.

[@salvatoreruggiero6551]

Sorry, but what you described for the original series, happens in the live action too. Towards all of the show, we get glimpses of how Iroh takes care of Zuko and helps him in the research of the avatar, we get glimpses of iroh and Ozai relationship (which is problematic and which we don't see at all in the og), we are reminded of what Iroh has done when he was in war. We see he's loyal to the fire nation at the beginning, he is not "good" at al like you said, we see how the loss of his son made him particularly careful towards zuko. At the end we see him choosing morality and his nephew over the power. It is almost exact character arc that you see in the original 😅

[@guuuut]

I think Iroh’s true realization from the davestation of war did not just entirely come from Lu Ten’s death but also when he thought Zuko died on his exploding ship. I think that made him switch sides and decide to help end this war for good

[@lilithh2708]

The most concerning thing going forward about Ozai being the least bit sympathetic is with Aang's struggle within himself and conflict with everybody else with not killing him. This is one of if not the most powerful of Aang's character archs. Ozai being at all sympathetic or redeemable undercuts the hell out of this.

[@salvatoreruggiero6551]

Sorry, but where did you see Ozai being sympathetic towards Aang or redeemable in the live action?

[@sardonicus1739]

@@salvatoreruggiero6551 Did you even watch the video this comment is responding to or read the comment fully? The comment never said he was sympathetic towards Aang, but that him being made more sympathetic undercuts Aangs arc, and the video itself literally went into detail about how they made Ozai more sympathetic in the live action. All I can think is you clicked on a random video, never watched the video and then commented on the first thing you saw.

[@salvatoreruggiero6551]

@@sardonicus1739 I have watched the video, I simply did not understand the comment above since my first language is not English, so I taught he meant Ozai was sympathetic towards Aang, that's all. Still, I don't agree witht the takes about Ozai and Zuko's characters in the live action. Saying the zuko of the live action lacked arrogance or rage is a lie, but hei, everything needs to be "compared to the cartoon". Similarly, saying ozai is sympathetic is a lie, sinc he seemed pretty evil to me, manipulative and strong. Talking about the phisicality is also wrong since a cartoon figure is way more free than a real person, the two things cannot be compared.

[@almas4663]

Ozai not being sympathetic at all only made Aang's conflict feel like a baby tantrum. I'd argue now that Aang actually will have a point in the Live Action, it won't be as cringe and I can finally feel the reason behind his stupid decision

[@Flipitmixit]

No it doesnt.

[@Alex-tr9zv]

I didn't pay enough attention to the Zuko vs Ozai fight. While watching, I just assumed Ozai intentionally didn't give it his all. And I so didn't notice the tears in his eyes. What were the writers thinking?

[@growingupwithdisney]

I think the actor also misinterpreted Ozai, he's said in an interview that he was portraying him as a father teaching kids respect and think he's right (not a villain), etc., and thats true to Ozai, but he knows the stuff he's doing is wrong to a degree, he just doesn't care, he has power and will not let anyone disrespect that

[@marcust-kq4cv]

Even before the tears, Zuko getting the best of him weakened him tremendously. If a 13 year old, regular strength bender, like Zuko can best you under any circumstances, then you are not the big bad.

[@Zelda00Gamer]

@@marcust-kq4cvand it ruins zukos arc of having to fight tooth and nail to be even competent at firebending. This makes him seem more on par with azula which wrecks HER arc as a child prodigy who is a master firebender

[@NadiaMattson]

I'd also like to note that in the original Katara *wasn't* naturally gifted. The show explained this as we see her teaching Aang and he (who is naturally gifted) gets it super easy but it took her forever to learn this. She stays up late and works super hard to master water bending she takes it more seriously when training with Paku and that's when she surpasses Aang she becomes his teacher, because she had to work all that much harder, she had the drive to be a master water bending she was never naturally talented unlike the live action one who is just better than Aang for no reason.

[@Zelda00Gamer]

Well I’d argue she did have a level of natural talent. She’s 14. The level she’s at should be impossible even if she trained constantly imo. There has to be a level of natural talent for her to reach the peak she does. Yes, she isn’t as talented as Aang but I think she still was talented

[@NadiaMattson]

@@Zelda00Gamer I'd say she more has natural raw power but not talent. The show does make a point to show especially before they got the water scroll that she wasn't particular advanced, at least not when it came to the "theory" (as in how to apply her raw ability.) She clearly is born with natural raw water bending power as we see her destroy the iceberg that leads them to Aang and other examples, but that isn't necessarily raw talent. I get where you are coming from though, I just respectfully disagree.

[@nachofilament294]

Not super relevant to the specific comparison you're making here, but a massive tragedy is what they did with Iroh. In the original, it was clear Iroh went through his own redemption arc, like Zuko, before the show started. He is shown to feel guilt over his past, mostly in brief moments where there wasn't time to go deep into it, but you definitely get glimpses of it. In the Netflix show, they had him confronted by an Earth Kingdom soldier that was negatively affected by Iroh in the past, and Iroh gets angry and defiant rather than remorseful. The look on the actor's face is most like the look of a man having an argument with his wife, and his wife just started bringing up stuff from an old, unrelated fight that was supposed to be settled - it's the, "Why are you bringing up old stuff right now?" kind of look.

[@Ches19.]

YES OH MY GOD. this was truly unforgivable, they 100% lost me on Iroh’s adaptation in that scene

[@bakedpotato1717]

It’s pretty messed up to even attempt to sympathize a character like Ozai. That’s like sympathizing Hilter…. His actions should disqualify him from sympathy.

[@kirat2009]

not just that, it's pretty textual that he literally runs his family like his fascist imperialist government (the ozai/zuko agni kai in particular is just a microcosm of the whole fire nation Might Makes Right philosophy) so adding tears to that scene just feels really bizarre

[@renatoramos8834]

And Aang doesn't even bend water. Not even ONCE.

[@mrchandlerbong842]

Just like Harry who didn't use magic spells at all in the first movie

[@renatoramos8834]

@@mrchandlerbong842 At least he used magic.

[@blightchip4236]

I’m so glad somebody talked about the lack of “the deserter” episode it’s my favorite episode in book 1 and it’s consequences Ripple through the rest of the show, if aang never burns then why would he hesitate to learn fire bending and what will motivate him and Zuko to seek out the original fire benders

[@J_Mock92]

I didnt think it was terrible, but there were a lot if things that just didnt make sense to me from a story-telking perspective. There were lots of moments that just didnt hit the same, because we were either already told/shown the information before the emotional beat in the story, or there wasn't enough character development. Sokka was... Fine I guess, even though a lot of his major story beats were kinda taken away, but Katara and Aang were so underdeveloped.... It was mind-boggling to me that Aang didn't even attempt to learn Water-bending, throughout the whole season, and had such little growth. He kinda starts and ends the season exactly the same. Katara on the other hand was just bland I guess. I don't blame any of the actors at all, because i think they all did great and made the most out of the material they were given, but they weren't really given a whole lot to work with.....

[@dramonmaster222]

Never imagined ae Harry Potter and aTLA comparison. And I like the show better than the movie but that's such a low bar.

[@racheldoesfandom]

Haha, definitely improvement over the movie, but that's not saying much!

[@UnderdarkDrow_]

If the movie didn't exist to compare it to, we'd be tearing this one to shreds! Let's stop comparing to that low bar of a a movie

[@Zelda00Gamer]

@@UnderdarkDrow_exactly. The joke of “movie? What movie?” Should be our thought going forward. It doesn’t count. But also? It’s a MOVIE. Since when are we comparing movies to tv shows? That’s so not fair. The show had way more time to expand on everything so even if it’s not great it’s impossible for it to NOT be better than the movie! The movie is like 2.5 hours! (I think?). Some stories can be told better in a short and concise few hours and some can be told better in a long several series show. Avatar is the latter. It’s inherently going to be better in a show. No matter what. The movie never should’ve even happened there just wasn’t enough time to tell the story which is part of why it sucked

[@Vijai_Ruva]

25:09 Disney villains used to be irredeemable monsters too like scar,Jafar and even frollo It's in recent years they have started making more sympathetic villains

[@bunnyleaningonasquishedbun5542]

At least with the HP movies, the main trio actually felt like best friends from the first movie, NATLA on the other hand felt like they were colleagues than a found family like in the OG show.

[@MrCh4iN]

they went for cruel with the air nomads scene to show big bad, then they made the big bads kinda cool and "forced to being bad"

[@czms922]

Harry Potter -ifaction ran so Game of thrones influence could walk

[@thomaspalagi5850]

Also, i want to add that ozai evilness its essential because I think that the "main" members of the fire royal family are a rappresentation of the ying and yang with ursa being complete good, ozai being complete bad, zuko baing good with evil in it and azula being the bad with good in it

[@marksalmoneussorcerersupreme]

Avatar and HP are opposite of each other so their live action adaptations hit different. In the books Jk Rowling tried and failed at throwing shade at campus activism, neglecting the fact that what Hermione is fighting against what is basically Slavery. Not to mention JKR doesn't really have a problem with Snapes abuse, because she's of that generation that doesn't believe in Teacher-Student Abuse. So the makers had to rub out alot of casual cruelty and what you got is what your left with. Avatar as a animated show is frikkin Amazing and the reason why we have yet another bad live action adaptation is because people still don't respect Animation as a medium of entertainment. Remaking Avatar will always be unnecessary.

[@bethanybrookes8479]

Honestly, remaking a motion based visual media into another motion based visual media has always been stupid imo. Book into film, or TV series into book or comic into radio play or something like that, is a different matter (increased accessability of media and all that). But animation into live action TV series and vice versa has always been stupid.

[@RDrawzDragonz]

adapting animation into liveaction 9/10 is disrepsectful of the animation.

[@tjsmith5276]

I've always said the Harry Potter books need to be made into an animated series that captures every detail from the books. It should be animated in the style popularized by "Into the Spiderverse." I was thinking about how Rupert Grint said the kiss between Ron and Hermione felt kind of awkward and I say it's because the movies weren't able to set up the kiss very properly like the books were. In book 7 page 625 Hermione kisses Ron after he says something in support of protecting House elves. This is significant considering how Ron and Hermione were so divided on the subject of elf rights since book 4.

[@brialapoint2608]

A more accurate comparison would be Rings of power and live action avatar. Both of them have directors that think they know best when they don't

[@GettingRektGaming]

I think that Hakoda is mostly talking about himself when Sokka overhears him. That Hakoda regrets not being able to keep his people (and wife) safe as a leader, and the fear he must have felt now when almost loosing Sokka in the ice dodging trials.

[@ejoshcoron]

This was cathartic to watch, thanks for taking the time

[@mayae9372]

The fact that the agni kai had only five people watching instead of the entire palace was so stupid😭😭😭

[@jjurss7263]

No you don't understand! If a writer gives a character a flaw or negative trait that must mean that they endorse that flaw without question! Clearly Sokka being sexist was endorsing sexism and giving young men bad examples to learn from! Its so much better to show young men that they're already perfect and shouldn't change or learn anything from women and that doing so will make every girl instantly fall in love with them. /s if it wasn't obvious enough

[@BetterWithBob]

I haven't watched any of it but I Rachel puts so much effort into these videos and speaks so well on every topic that they're fascinating to watch ^_^

[@sorrybutwhat]

That's the problem I immediately saw with the show, that the writers were afraid to give any of the main cast flaws of any kind. Any mistake they made or potentially unsavory traits were changed or removed, I knew that's how it was going to be the second Aang said he was gonna go for a little stroll instead of run away. In the case of Sokka, it's not that they're afraid to show depictions of sexism, since they kept Master Pakku's sexism in, they just want the main cast to be perfect. Toph is going to suck so much in this show if nothing changes lol

[@satan3862]

I remember the creator of the adaptation to be a remix not a cover wich definitely explains alot of the flaws as well as the strongest point of the netflix version. I didn’t have alot of standers for the adaptation since so many tend to mess it up but the adaptation does carry the spirit of the show wich makes me alot happier then the movie

[@princembat]

it is an UTTER shame that the writing sucks, cause like you said they really nailed the visuals and the casting! i almost wish they couldve just copy pasted the scripts from the original, but i know thats not how it works

[@hirtisrandolph4843]

It feels like they stole a little bit (or a lot) from each character to pad in more energy for characterizing random OCs, Ozai, Azula and especially Kyoshi, yet still managing for fuck over those characters as well.

[@GhostEmblem]

Strange I recall the harry potter films being extremely well received.

[@thomaspalagi5850]

Episode 6 its the only one that actualy feels like avatar for the most part. And obviously its the only one actualy written by bryan koyketsu and michael dante dimartino. Yes there was a third MF writint that ep and thats probably the reason because just mostly felt like avatar

[@mylesiswhite4122]

Ironically they removed sokka’s sexism arc but the way they write some of the woman characters just fall into sexist stereotypes

[@oogabooga_001]

i like to tell my frens tht ozai is just a father with shit parenting skills now

[@madnessarcade7447]

I liked that it’s experimenting but there is also some things kept true to the source material

[@isabelstoker2063]

Verrrrrrrry astute of you loved the comparisons 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@ZeallustImmortal]

The show also has harry potter beam battles, which is funny considering the animated show NOT having that was always something that was praised.

[@shawnwilcowski]

They plan on making stupid zutara Thing watch

[@AudioAlure]

Kataang and Zutara are pretty mid tbh. But that might be just because I don't like romances in fiction and would rather have action and character drama lol

[@CaseyIshida]

The avatar showrunners did a great job at the familial/friendship dynamics. Romance is not their forte though and is hard to work into the story. It’s why aang and katara feel like an incestous and mommy/son dynamic and people end up preferring zuko and katara because they don’t have too much of a familial type dynamic and had a rocky tension in earlier seasons.

[@ThePrincessCH]

Have you ever compared the "Mo Dao Zu Shi" adaptations? It started off as a novel but was adapted into a donghua, a live action, and a manhua.

[@treethief4987]

Love this series.

[@mariaxeldridge]

Azula 😭😭😭😭 my last straw. look how they massacred my girl…

[@thomaspalagi5850]

Partialy out of topic but I want to try to share some joy since this seems like a channel for people with some culture and taste, the dragon prince on netflix is made by some ex avatar and have a lot of reference from it. If someone want to wash their tongue from the live action thats perfect

[@argisus1279]

I just started, I wanted to say this. The first two episodes were alright, I wish they did something different but I am also aware you need to change some things to make something work, but after the bumi episode personally made me drop it

[@CaptainTimeStories]

I’ve never seen any atla, but hey, love the channel. I’m also trying to study adaptation, there’s a lot of fascinating stuff there. Why do you only have like 300 views lol.

[@ashleywalker3813]

I need someone who hasn't watched the nickelodeon to watch the netflix and record their reactions. I suspect there will be similar issues as there were with HP, where cuts/changes lead to plot holes that the rest of us filled in with the benefit of the original source material.

[@JustsomeKid93]

When gran gran just started going on a long winded explanation about what happened to the rest of the airbenders, and just… telling Aang that he’s the avatar infront of everyone else, while also shoehorning in the original opening after Aang just… mentioned that there was a comet at one point, pretty much all hope I had for this show vanished

[@ninjalectualx]

She was mean! Why was she so mean

[@babayaga9805]

0:43 when you start a fire the general direction of the flames is upwards especially if the object is not moving but somehow this more mature version manages to show the flames going backwards. The comet is not real and its STEADY

[@homidjohn]

I must say, I've not been able to look at Potter films the same way ever since I'd read an opinion piece that illustrated how virtually every female character was failed by the adaptation.

[@MattJonesIsWeird]

Mai. That's all I have to say. Sad day. Accidental poem came to me.

[@Moon_light0007]

I definitely agree with you on all of this! I didn't see the connection between Avatar and Harry Potter, but I definitely see it now. I don't think its fair to draw any conclusions about Azula this early in the game though. She wasn't in the first season of the show(minus a brief cameo in The Storm, and of course her little scene in the last episode) so they could do whatever they wanted with her this season, as long as she becomes her cool and calculated self in time for next season. Its possible that they may do something with her in the first episode of season 2 that explains why she had such a sudden and severe personality shift. It isn't likely, especially with how they are treating Ozai, but I'm trying to keep an open mind.

[@mayae9372]

Katara was sad and couldn't waterbend. And then a hot boy (Jet) told her to be less sad and then she could suddenly waterbend. It was ridiculous 😭😭😭😭

[@ninjalectualx]

Jet is truly a waterbending master

[@borednow5838]

Thanks!

[@therotryzit]

One thing that irked me about Zuko's portrayal in the Live-Action series is how he is written to just be mean and condescending with none of his actual heroic and noble qualities present, while telling us the exist even though it never shows onscreen where it matters the most. The cartoon did a great job of balancing and showing Zuko's heroic and negative qualities alongside each other (like with the Gaang) giving him a much more sympathetic characterization than most of the other Fire Nation aligned characters we meet in Season 1. Also Ozai didn't really come off as more sympathatic to me because what he does is pulling a common abuse tactic of reframing his abuse as a moral lesson to teach, abusers don't just use curel physical punishments on their victims they also pull a lot of psychological abusive tactics to keep their victims from fighting back. As for Azula i'm asking where her personality is cuz i couldn't see it, probably chilling with Katara's personality in Las Vegas.

[@emilee7306]

Like Albert kim says in a article this is a remake of the cartoon it's not suppose to be exactly like the it if you don't like it you always have the cartoon to fall back to

[@Kateverone]

I think that they'll try to redeem Azula. The Azula in the live action is not evil and I can easily see her joining the Gaang down the line. This version of her just can't end up breaking down in the same way the cartoon version did unless they make some radical changes to her character. There's a big chance that her whole arc will have to change and while I wished for her to turn good as a kid, I'm not so stoked about this very real possibility as an adult. I'm also not quite sure what they're planning to do with Ozai because him actually caring for his children, even a slightest bit, changes a lot of his character, thus his story and role in it. They didn't build him up as scary and formidable, instead we see too much of him and we come to almost sympathise with him

[@lorettabes4553]

I don't know a lot about Harry Potter, but here I go anyway!

[@arnowisp6244]

This is Worst for Zuko. He's too Good in the Show, too early.

[@coreywigent7693]

They got all the characters wrong.

[@meowmachine9147]

They don't understand the story they're telling and clearly don't care.

[@SatinPolar]

Ozai is the angry austrian of avatar world. Would you also soften the mustashe man to make him more symphatetic

[@borednow5838]

Really interesting video. Actually didn’t know that the Potter films weren’t that popular with readers of the books, but then I’m not in that fandom so that might explain it.

[@dw1419]

Eh, I think it’s overstated to say book fans didn’t like the movies. More like some hardcore fans online had criticisms of them.

[@borednow5838]

@@dw1419 Can’t really comment but I will take Rachel’s word for it.

[@dw1419]

@@borednow5838 K... I was there reading the books as they came out as well as watching the movies though.

[@ninjalectualx]

Her criticisms of the movies are on point, but hers is absolutely a minority opinion. Most fans just love the movies without question

[@BradyRamaker]

I view it at Snyderification. To me Zak Snyders philosophy isnt about his violence or his grittiness. Its his reverence for the characters? What happens when you revere a character? The traits you like get exaggerated and the traits that make you uncomfortable get diminished or excised. For Snyder he just sees Batmans violence as cool and Supermans empathy as cringe. Flaws are acknowledged in the abstract. We see this reverence happen here. Aang becomes this Pure Hero, his flaws merely acknowledged in an abstract way. Kataras strengths and flaws are linked, so she gets sanded down. Likewise, Ozai is sanded down from a narcissist imperialism genocidaire to a sympathetic character whos kinda bad. People like him exist irl that dont deserve sympathy. They dont need softening. When you worship source material this is what you get.

[@madnessarcade7447]

Plz do a remember for being Erica

[@Thiida._.potato]

29:31 you said it 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🔊🔊🔊

[@callmethecommentcountess9329]

I have to agree with you

[@thebuckrogers22]

Damn u r spot on

[@brialapoint2608]

The cartoon might be meant for kids but it has many teen themes. Also live action anything is never as good as the original

[@thebossdawghomie]

But yeah, some of the best casting I've seen, Sokka, Iroh, Zuko, the mechanist, Ozai, and the actor for Zhou might have had the best execution. Could a better plot have allowed the cast to truly become these characters? Perhaps. One of the main issues with adaptions is that just because a person looks like a character doesn't mean that they are a good actor. Some of the actors were A-1, others were at least better than the movie lol.

[@evevoli]

i love how the adaptation's (extremely pointless) efforts to make avatar more Woke and Girlboss Feminist loop back around to being sexist and reductive instead lol. as others have said, they try so hard to make it dark and edgy for Grownups Who Like Grownup Shows And Not Stupid Baby Cartoons For Babies it somehow ends up being more cartoonish and immature than the fucking children's cartoon. it's actually hilarious that, despite their efforts, we can tell fans of the adaptation "if you want a more dark, mature and feminist version of avatar watch the cartoon" like it is insane how bad they missed the mark on this one. the phrase "if it ain't broke don't fix it" was specifically written about avatar

[@ninjalectualx]

29:20 hard disagree here, I did not like the CGI Appa or especially Momo. They way they moved, the way they talked, evoked the strongest uncanny valley sensation I've ever felt. I actually hated them.

[@mayae9372]

I'm so sad that they found these great actors and gave them shit writing

[@thevioletbee5879]

I kinda prefer the movies to the books… mostly because the movies don’t have a weird pro-slavery subplot.

[@sailiealquadacil1284]

At a guess, the people making the adaptation realised that this was problematic ^^ Though it was also probably cut for time. I don't think they ever mentioned in the films that Harry essentially inherited Kreacher, he's just kinda there. But, yeah, that whole pro-slavery thing is highly problematic.

[@thomaspalagi5850]

How is it pro?

[@sailiealquadacil1284]

@@thomaspalagi5850 The whole house elves thing. An entire species of sentient creatures enslaved to do their masters' bidding, who have been brainwashed into thinking that this is how it should be. And the only person who has an issue with it is Hermione, who gets ridiculed for it. Even Harry, who basically lived like a slave to his relatives, seems to have no issues with this. Hermione's attempts to affect change never go anywhere. The vast majority of the wizarding society is of the opinion that keeping house elves is fine, even if they don't own house elves themselves.

[@thomaspalagi5850]

@@sailiealquadacil1284 yes i know and where exactly are the pro slavery parts?

[@sailiealquadacil1284]

@@thomaspalagi5850 I just pointed them out for you. I cannot be bothered to do so again.

[@Grieldric]

Can’t believe i’m saying this but HARRY POTTER SWEETIE IM SO SORRY 😭😭😭😭

[@_tideaina]

I agree with your analysis on the stripping down of all the characters. Still, changes to Azula's character annoyed me the least because she's so different from her animated counterpart, it doesn't feel like the same person. So I just made peace with the fact they decided to rewrite the character from scratch and she is not meant to be compared to the original.

[@almas4663]

I'd rather take a "Harry Potter-ification" of Avatar, than an Americanization of Avatar (*Chough, cough, Korra!*) Re-watching the original season one after Netflix was painful, and I'm grateful for all the changes they've made, from Bumi to Azula

[@Chiki_uwu]

Yikes

[@hemmojito]

Even the movie Aang was much more light hearted from what I saw. A pitty they directed both to be 60ies protagonists... you know wonder boy who gets it right every time and solves problems by existing. You'd think they'd lear...oh wait what's that I hear. The showrunner didn't watch the movie? I mean I'm not surprised. Do I chalk that down to hubris or stupidity? I mean you have two blueprints of what to do and what not to do and you go hmmm ... No! Let me disneyfy this for real this time.

[@ryanappleton3653]

Still haven't seen the new series, but if you say there's some parallels with Harry Potter then we really have a problem. I hope JK Rowling isn't aware of this and doesn't file a lawsuit. The chaos of it all!

[@nervousbreakdown711]

She’s on her holocaust denial arc so I could see her trying

[@dw1419]

LOL you mean she’s on her defending women arc and refusing to be cowed by a tiny minority of cry bullies.

[@dodiswatchbobobo]

I’ve watched a lot of reactions to the show, and I have to say some of it is our fault, as in the audience of the original cartoon. If I had a nickel for every time someone reacted to our favorite characters’ flaws with outrage and dismissal I’d be rich enough to fix the script myself. Aang in The Desert and Katara with the Southern Raiders come to mind.

[@dire213]

how is it our fault that netflix did a bad job in scriptwriting?

[@dodiswatchbobobo]

@@dire213 You didn’t even read my comment, did you?

[@elin111]

2020s writers do not understand the difference between showing something and condeming something. "Sokka was sexist so it is automatically bad and must be censored" without asking why or the context behind Sokka being sexist.

[@adamdecoder1]

I'll disagree with you slightly... it's not bad, in principle, to have villains with sympathetic qualities. The important thing is choosing your moment, and allowing them to FEEL like true villains when they need to. Book 1 villain was Zuko. Book 2 villain was Azula. Book 3 villain was ultimately Ozai. As each of them is superseded in terms of their villainhood, we are allowed to see deeper into their victimhood and develop some level of sympathy towards them. But at no point are we ever left without a character to fear, who stands in stark opposition to the main characters. The live action avatar doesn't understand this. In a rush to exposit the backstories and reveal the motivations of every antagonist, we are left without a true villain. Zuko is too easy to sympathize with too early on in the series. Azula never feels half as intimidating, cunning, or dangerous as she does in the cartoon. And Ozai's villain status is undermined almost immediately when Zuko is able to put up a fight against him in their duel, and when the camera focuses on his face as he burns zuko and we see that it pains Ozai to do this to his son. In the animated show, the first shred of relatable humanity we see of Ozai is when he's visited by Zuko in prison, and it comes in the form of shame at his own fall from power. He is allowed to thrive as a villain until the very end of the series. Where the cartoon isn't afraid to leave things a mystery, and reveals important nuances only when the time is right for ultimate narrative and dramatic payoff, the show can't fucking wait to tell you absolutely everything about everyone. We lose all tension and fear and sense of urgency.

[@orissewitt4171]

Did you really just compare Ginny & Azula in the beginning

[@racheldoesfandom]

As examples of adaptations completely misinterpreting their characters, not because they are similar characters.

[@paris_2518]

How are you gonna say that the Harry Potter fandom is controversial without bringing up the fact that Rowling is a transphobe and holocaust denier for said people as well 💀

[@Dattebayo04]

What does that have anything to do with the story and characters?

[@meowmachine9147]

That's part of why it's controversial, though. That isn't what this video is about and is a topic to be discussed at length in its own right in its own video.

[@paris_2518]

@@meowmachine9147 then they shouldn’t have mentioned it , or they could have at least shortly elaborated on it before getting into what the video was about

[@dw1419]

It’s only controversial among a small group of online slacktivists. Not among the general public. See: The failed boycott of Hogwarts Legacy, the public support for JKR, the popularity of the Universal Theme Parks, and the plan to make an HP series on Max.

[@matthewLkidder]

You know I forgot Harry Potter became controversial, huh maybe they figured out to let people have their beliefs, or maybe they could not cancel JK, yeah probably that.

[@0deadx21]

The animated characters don't act like live-action people, they act like exactly what they are - cartoon characters. Different rules for different mediums, because the experiences are different. Nobody makes an animated show with any thought about live-action, or makes a live-action show with any thought about how any of it will look in animated form. NEVER ask for live-action characters to be behaving like cartoon characters. "Stick to the original, you won't regret it." What does that even mean? For people who have already seen the original, that means nothing. Seasons 2 or 3 of the live-action show are literally stuff have never seen before, and I doubt anyone is planning on skip them just to watch something they've already seen and could watch anytime. I'll definitely be checking out the execution of those seasons, and I think you are too.

[@annsh.6487]

How is real people having less flaws than cartoon characters a good adaptation?

[@0deadx21]

@@annsh.6487 That entirely depends on the specifics. Sokka's sexism meant absolutely nothing. It was just a plot tool that they got rid of at the earliest convenience, so removing it altogether for a new adaptation is not the big deal anyone makes it out to be. I seriously doubt any girl in the right mind would be falling for a guy that just belittled her minutes ago.

[@jackieroberts2625]

​@@0deadx21you do know that him being sexist is what pissed katara off so hard that she waterbended Aang out of the iceberg, literally jumpstarting the series. And even if it didn't, what is so bad about teaching people, especially boys, that sexism is bad? Especially in this world we live in, with incels and toxic men punching women for no reason. His sexism might not have spanned the entire series, which makes sense, but it was crucial plot point for not just Sokka but several characters, including the titular one. But people like you will pull any argument out your ass to defend this atrocity of a show. I hope season two and three is good, I might even watch it but as long as they keep sanitizing everything, this show will always remain a disappointment. Stay flaming 🔥

[@0deadx21]

@@jackieroberts2625 Sexism should not be fucking used as a plot tool. Oh look, they found the Avatar without involving sexism, so that makes it even more useless; the most useless thing in the franchise. Normally characters wait for a lot more episodes for their personalities and character to change.

[@mercury9765]

@@0deadx21 The issue is that they removed one of Sokka’s main flaws and didn’t replace it with anything. His sexism came from the idea he’s built of in his head that he’s the only man in the tribe, that he has to do the manly things he’s romanticized due to looking up to his father. This not only causes him to put himself on a pedestal, but to put others down around him because they don’t do the “important” jobs he does. This is central to his arc. In the kyoshi warriors episode, where he learns that he isn’t amazing and shouldn’t devalue others, the sexism is a vessel to deliver this character beat, and it’s not that serious anyhow. It’s resolved in like ep. 6 and Sokka apologizes to Suki. He realizes he was in the wrong. In the live action it’s basically just him flirting with Suki… Also, Sokka apologizing to Suki, accepting that he was wrong, and trying to grow, is what endeared her to him. Not his sexism.

[@Acucido]

But the HP books kinda sucked

[@callmeswivelhips8229]

I'm a long time fan, and I admit I had an initial positive reaction to watching the live action. I think I knew I would...the special effects were overwhelming. Especially after the disaster that was the-movie-that-shall-not-be-named. Once the novelty of the effects done well wore off, I was left with this. It's the same as the-movie-that-shall-not-be-named. But Americans seem to like it?? I don't understand why ATLA keeps getting shat on all the time like this, it's offensive at best.