In this day and age, there are many reboots, remakes, and adaptations of childhood shows everyone used to watch. Unfortunately, the majority of the popullation believes some originals should’ve been left alone and not changed too much. “They should be fine as long as they stay true to the original series’ heart ” said CHS sophomore Logan Ford.
The original Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) was an American animated fantasy action television series written by Michael Dante Dimartino and Bryan Konietzko, and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) is a live-action adaptation of the beloved global phenomenon Avatar (2005) developed by Albert Kim for Netflix.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) starts with a young boy who leaves the people for 100 years and comes back known as the Avatar, Aang (Played by Gordan Cormier), must master the four elemental powers, Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water to save the world with Team Avatar, and fight against his enemy Prince Zuko (Played by Dallus James Liu).
The representation in this adaptation’s cast is an important step forward for Hollywood. Many are proud to see a series defined by its Asian roots finally get portrayed accurately with an Asian majority cast. The main characters are played by some of the most popular Asian actors in Hollywood including Prince Ozai( Played by Daniel Dae Kim), Uncle Iroh (Played by Paul Sun-Hyung), Commander Zhao (Played by Ken Leung), and Azula (Played by Elizabeth Yu). “I really enjoyed the actors for Jet and Sokka, they’re conventionally attractive and good actors,” said CHS junior Fernanda Chavez.
Alongside the Asian representation, is the care and respect for Indigenous people to make the characters inspired by them accurate. Costume design for the show was organized by Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh, who commissioned nine Indigenous artists to make the show’s costumes come alive. She collaborated with them and was happy to accurately portray the Water Tribes’ inspiration for Inuit and Yupik culture, instead of doing generic “native costumes” she saw that would rub her the wrong way.
Avatar: The Last Airbender (2024) has much more care and effort put into it, so it stays true to the original animated Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) and the culture it’s built on.
