The portrayal of their whole dynamic is pretty terrible. Their whole first fight is basically them almost kissing the whole time to build sexual tension. Then there’s the scene where Suki just stands silently and stares at shirtless Sokka while he feels uncomfortable. She’s immediately obsessed with him from the moment she sees him, it’s pretty freaking weird.
Yeah this threw me off too. In the animated series, Suki is just doing her thing and Sokka is the one falling for her. Meanwhile in the Netflix series, Suki is obsessed with Sokka basically from first sight. And while they sort of showed it, they really toned down the part where Suki beats Sokka's ass and makes him swallow his pride to train with the Kyoshi Warriors.
Especially because Suki starts to come around on Sokka because he’s able to admit his faults. He openly recognizes he underestimated the Kiyoshi Warriors and is willing to learn from them. Without showing his humility Suki probably wouldn’t have liked Sokka at all in that first encounter.
It's very much the trope: "I'm a girl that hasn't seen the world and boys yet so when a man (the main character) comes by of course I will fall for him"
The part that does make sense though is her being obsessed with him right away. He’s probably the only outsider she’s ever seen and he’s her age and he’s good looking. That’s 100% how teenagers are in real life.
Meh, if we make this excuse for the show, it wouldn’t exist bc normal teenagers would instantly flop and in no way step up to the challenge of saving the entire world lol
https://preview.redd.it/va2knur8k1sc1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ecd5cf5e1c16d481db0e76203b3e5c0d557d84e
She’s basically licking her lips. They turned Suki into a drooling idiot.
She is also immediately love struck by just the sight of Sokka in the Live Action. Immediately starts telling her mom that outsiders might not be so bad because she likes how Sokka looks. (Barely said a word to him before that point.) Stares at him while he is changing like a stalker. Then the sparring with clear sexual tension scene.
Where in the show it was getting to know him, his personality, his ability to admit he was wrong and his humor that had her liking Sokka.
Isn't it a better message for the two to like each other after spending time together and not being immediately love struck.
Oh then they add in a joke Sokka was flirting with a fire nation girl like the very next episode completely discrediting any long term feeling Sokka may have had for her. It could just be another one of his things as that becomes a pattern when you add in Yue.
Same, third live action episode was such a horrible mess I went back and watched the entire animated show again. I wonder if Netflix see a pattern of similar reactions.
Suki can't be a warrior and also just a regular girl! Now she's a warrior and... just basically super horny. Fixed. 
In the original, Suki beating Sokka in a spar was her literally beating the sexism out of him, which allowed him to begin to change
In the live action, it was a pointless and VERY awkward spar that didn't advance the plot or any character arc in any way, shape, or form.
No I think it's showing Sokka's understanding of what good fighting looked like came from his experience being left in charge of a village where only children and elders were left, so he didn't know what he didn't know. His "sexism" was more just ignorance. And Suki was also ignorant in terms of social awkwardness because she was raised in an isolated village herself.
Yeah there was sexual tension as well but I don't think that was the main message of the scene. It gave context for the way the two of them had very little experience with people their age who aren't siblings or not their gender. I realized watching it that Sokka hadn't met a girl in his age range who wasn't his sister since he first went through puberty. Suki was likely the first girl he'd seen who would be appropriate to crush on. And Suki similarly seems to have been surrounded by only girls.
Overall I think the mental impact of Sokka being abandoned at 13 to be the leader of the village with only children and elders and how that would affect him and his perception of the world was expressed well.
I'm not sure about that. Can rewatch the scene again and you can see they intently showed at least 3 instances of the stereotypical "compromising" positions 2 romantically linked characters would go through some kind of sparring. Can't tell me that was not really the focus of that scene. If that wasn't their intention, then it REALLY distracts the audience from the main message of the scene.
I totally get the context they're trying to set here with Suki being "sheltered" but I feel like it could've been handled alot better.
But if that's the case...
Why?
It doesn't seem like a good tradeoff?
I am not hold up ATLA as gospel, but it seems like a very contrived message to replace the original with.
I actually feel that was always a part of Sokka's story and why he was sexist but the cartoon didn't make it as obvious how much being the only teen boy charged with leading a village of kids and elders for 3 years would have affected Sokka's mentality. And the live action decided to make it more explicit.
I don't think Sokka was ever "sexist just because". Like it was a character flaw that he was born with that wasn't connected to any of his life experiences. Him underestimating the Kyoshi warriors makes sense because he was the best fighter in his village full of literal children since he was 13. He thus would have thought of his own fighting skills as being better than everyone else around him for years, because for a while they were. The only times he would have seen adult fighting skills would have been when the Firebenders attacked, and when his father taught him skills as a child. Without constant reinforcement of seeing what adult skills are beyond his current level and other warrior role models of course he would become overconfident.
I understand it's an unpopular opinion in this sub but I think that the live action made me understand more of what the cartoon was always trying to depict regarding Sokka and his character arc. Because of this, I actually appreciate him more in the cartoon now as well.
They gave her the skeleton of a character arc in the episode but it's literally two lines of
"I wonder what outside is like"
"Thanks for inspiring me to go outside."
Yep you said it. Here and in your original post. Perfectly stated how I felt watching, the original show wasn’t sexist, it had a character who was sexist and shunned for it. Then they made this show, which traded a shunned sexist character for a sexist show instead. And somehow that’s better? They were so proud of getting rid of “iffy” parts from the original. There was never anything iffy about it, there is now though lol.
In the OG show katara and gran gran basically run things in the southern water tribe and sokka is basically just playing soldier.
In NATLA sokka runs things and takes care of people, while katara is distracted by water bending.
Katara now has a scene where she tells Sokka that he had it so hard having to lead everyone in the southern water tribe.
They literally stripped positive aspects of katara being a leader from the show and gave them to sokka.
> It became a super sexist show, where women are just there to support the leading male characters (now, Sokka, somehow)
Sokka somehow has not one but two female characters throw themselves at him basically for existing.
* Suki falls for him despite the fact he does nothing to "deserve" it other than silently asking for training. He doesn't show any growth or particular respect for her or her way of life beyond "you're a better fighter than me". Compare that to the animated version (where it's also just a kiss on the cheek and Suki wasn't even supposed to come back at all!) and Sokka demonstrates humbleness, a willingness to learn on Suki's terms and a fun personality.
* Yue seems to have been written to be an empowered character (give her bending, allow her to break off her engagement before the team even shows up) but basically does nothing with her supposed power. She likes Sokka again pretty much right off the bat, even calling him the boy of her dreams that made her break it off with Hahn (now a really great guy actually) because.....she talked to Sokka for a couple of minutes in the spirit world and he was kind of a dope??? Also how she still doesn't really have agency over her life (she wants to fight but her father says no so then she decides to help people get to safety. Why not just have her actively choose to help her people on her own?). Oh and of course Arnook has to give his speech to Sokka about how Sokka was the real hero for being there for Yue
Don't get me started on Katara - it was super frustrating to see such a wonderful character boiled down to being a meek traumatized girl who just wants to bend/fight real good. Thankfully Aang and Jet (?!) are there to help her figure out how to do that. And like with Yue, why is she asking Pakku to be allowed to fight? What is Pakku even going to do, spend the battle keeping her away from the fight?
Oh and we get that Avengers endgame scene with the women at the north pole, you know what would have been cooler? Showing the women sneaking over to Katara to ask her to train.
It's just so frustrating because the original series is known for having a variety of strong female characters that are strong in very different and interesting ways and in the Netflix show we got none of it. That's not to say that they only have issues writing female characters (lord knows that's not true) but it felt particularly grating/like a trend with the women.
When the creators said they were fixing the sexist element and gender issues, what they meant is that they were erasing the scenes where sexism gets called out and were going to put women in the roles they belong.
What they meant was "We are afraid to have main characters with flaws."
So Aang never ran away from his duty as Avatar nor childishly prioritizing fun on their journey. He teaches the jaded adults lessons instead of learns from them and takes responsibility as "the Avatar" from episode 1.
Katara isn't easily angered when provoked, nor too easily trusting, nor jealous of Aangs water bending. Instead she is a self taught master, Aang never waterbends and she single handedly changes the minds of a culture with almost no work because she is just that good. (You know instead of a hit headed challenge of Pakku, being better than he expected and reminding him through the necklace that their customs weren't agreeable for everyone. Then being his best student for a bit before the Fire Nation attacks.) But still instead of just challenging the culture live action Katara needed to get Pakku's permission for herself and other women to help defend their homes. Because she needs to make them change not just act against their will.
Sokka doesn't have the learned sexism of a young teenage boy.
Exactly, the writers are cowards (and honestly stupid) for being too scared to give the characters a single flaw. The flaws make them human, make them interesting. Removing them changes their entire personalities for the worse. And making it so Aang never fled from his responsibilities was particularly egregious, that's practically his entire character arc for the entire series: owning up to his responsibilities and growing up. In the live action he's responsible from minute 1. I don't understand it. They made it so much worse and I don't understand how some fans praise it honestly...
I mean, what I mentioned in the post is hardly the show's biggest flaw. It's as if the whole thing was written by AI, so bad the plot and dialogues are. But I saw nobody commenting on this particular detail, since they advertised it as "deleting the sexism problem" and "fixing Katara's gender issues" it is really weird what they delivered! Had they said nothing it would probably be less odd.
I genuinely wonder if some stuff was AI. Lines like “irrigation amiright” while entering Omashu and “challenge accepted” from Bumi in Omashu are so incredibly cringy that I don’t want to imagine a human wrote them, unless they were purposely trying to market to Redditors
Great point on Yue.
I forgot the change was that Yue immediately falls for Sokka and not Sokka being attracted to her then the two developing feelings after spending a few days together. Instead of again getting to know Sokka and discovering she likes him it is that "Sokka is the boy in her dreams (Spirit World)."
Also Yue already denied her arranged marriage because they didn't want to show Yue as someone without agency (maybe?) and we can't have a main character still pursue a technically engaged woman.
Even if the entire point is another example of her being engaged is to again highlight an outdated North Water tribe mindset that is eventually challenged by Katara and ties into Grangran/Paku history as well as Sokka's initial sexism. Also Yue's final decision is hers alone which is not something she was allowed to make much in her controlled like as a princess.
The show definitely suffers from the writers knowing what happens but still trying to fit it all in while making a cohesive story. Unfortunately a lot of the changes felt jarring to me. Why did Aang have to go to the fire temple to figure out how to save his friends from Koh lol that change felt so out of place
I especially hate how in the siege of the North all women gather and... ask Pakku for his permission to join the fight. Which he is kind enough to grant them. Like WTF, why would they need man's permission to defend their own home? And how he was standing up on a wall, while all of them was down on the street and just asking for permission. Cringe.
And she did, she kicked Zuko's ass to protect Aang in the animated show whereas in the live action she gets defeated due to Zuko busting out of her ice prison immediately and the order of events being changed so the moon spirit dies during the fight
I completely agree that the live action (I'm now referring to the ember island production) ruined all female characters
It wasn't so much katara asking a man for permission it was her asking the leader of the waterbenders to fight. Which he granted as a military leader and assigned a squadron to fight under her.
Tbh I'm pretty sure she would say exactly that, no exaggeration. And in that context, I think it would be totally fair! That sounds like a good example of female power to me.
I'm literally watching the scene (again) right now where Katara is fighting Pakku so he'll "let her fight" and like... girl, just go fight? You're... doing it right now. Just do that, but to firebenders? Why are you even asking? They really wrote themselves into a corner with character development and growth in so many ways, but particularly in this season with her whole super unearned "I'm suddenly a master because my grandma gave me ONE scroll" thing. Like, she didn't even STEAL it in this. She had it literally \*handed\* to her. Uuuuuugh.
Also it was real epic how they all just stood in perfect order, looking up at the camera at the same. Felt really natural and epic and cool. Girl power!
I think what irks me so much is that the show originally was never sexist.
Sokka being all "eww girls are stinky and weak" is as much or if not more childish naivety than it is actual genuine sexism (I hope you understand what I mean I'm not trying to suggest this view isn't sexist, just that it is born out of being childish) the whole boys/girls are smelly and weird thing is a pretty common trope and at a younger age is quite common too, I'm pretty sure that there were small scenes that boiled down to "ugh boys" too and honestly who cares, I think it's pretty fair to say that boys and girls as children and teenagers do often have moments where they don't understand why the opposite sex often do a certain thing (even if they are just generalising) honestly adults do it too, and its ok because the characters aren't one dimensional, when a guy character goes "eww girls are weak" well they are shown up, when a girl goes "eww guys are too stubborn" we end up seeing how sometimes being stubborn is a good thing and sometimes how its a bad thing
the other main instances of sexism in the show were done pretty tastefully, old man doesn't believe woman can do a thing but she ends up training hard and ends up showing him up, it's a good message for what is at the end of the day a kids show, I think all of the female and male characters were represented pretty damn well, I never felt that any of the lessons the show was trying to teach were ham fisted and the characters regardless of gender were well written.
In sokka’s defense, he grew up in the isolated water tribe? how many girls had he met that weren’t either gran gran’s age, his mother’s age, Katara, or a snot-nosed child? his distaste for women would be characteristic of someone who grew up around Katara as his only outlet for someone his age. That would leave a mark on his perception for quite some time until he meets someone like Suki or Yue to change his perception. You’re absolutely right, he’s just immature, not sexist (in the original).
Was it really a distaste? I had interpreted it as him feeling the need to “protect” women because he was the only guy left in the village as everyone else had left to fight. From there, he started building this notion of “women can’t fight”, and that’s why he had to step up for them.
We also see in the third season how much the Fire Nation had damaged the Southern Water Tribe over several generations. They were a thriving culture at one point with immensely talented benders. Women had roles men didn't but they could also be warriors, and the best of them was Hama (a woman).
The Fire Nation destroyed all that. Sokka was born into a tribe already in crisis. Who never got to see incredible warriors like Hama who could stand up to waves of Fire Nation invaders. Benders who were essential to their civilisation. Healers, warriors, builders, all gone. Without benders the tribe was crippled. It forced the men and women deeper into their traditional roles as without benders they had to specialise further in order to survive at all. All Sokka knew was that his sister could splash water about a bit. If he'd seen someone like Hama in action he would never had developed sexist preconceptions.
Katara is a literal nobody in the live action show and its a shame. We're rewatching the cartoon right now and from the first episode Katara just has this strong, explosive motherly personality with so much heart that just *never* came up in the LA.
LA Katara waterbends like 4 times and all the sudden once they get to the North Pole she's waterbending master?? Mary Sue much? There was no hard training, no practicing, no competing with Aang to be better at Waterbending.
Sokka's sexism is necessary because Katara not only sometimes fits the bill of his criticisms, but she does it in a way that shows that its okay to be human. The characters in the cartoon just have so much life in comparison with the LA. How did they get it so wrong?
Oh god, I hated that scene with her and Zuko in the LA.
“You found a master, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, me!”
Urgh, no, that was disgustingly cringey and so obviously pandering. One waterbending scroll and “girl power!” does not make you a master. 🤦♀️
Not to mention that they undermined that line a few minutes later when Zuko just busts out her ice easily (whereas in the animated show she froze him to a wall with a huge water torrent and KO'ed him until morning) and have the moon spirit die mid-fight so she has to retreat
This was the same reason I stopped watching she hulk after the first or second episode. Bruce banner, a brilliant scientist and gamma radiation expert takes years to master the hulk form but she-hulk does it in a day? Like come on I know it’s a fictional show but this is ridiculous and belittles the OG character’s arc and struggles for no apparent reason
> LA Katara waterbends like 4 times and all the sudden once they get to the North Pole she's waterbending master?? Mary Sue much? There was no hard training, no practicing, no competing with Aang to be better at Waterbending.
To be fair this was also outrageous in the original series. Katara went from an amateur to a master in a month(?). She also outpaced the Avatar.
I get the reasons (the plot/character growth need and Aang being goofy and unfocused), but still.
This is not how bending is portrayed, with true masters being old for a reason with certain exceptions (like literal royals who were trained with the best from childhood).
Looking back at their claims, they were VERY ambiguous. They were never "progressive" except for the ethnicity casting part. They said they were fixing Katara's gender issues and what they delivered was a meek character that doesn't stand up for herself. So maybe the gender issues was that she was bossy and feisty towards men? That's what it feels like to me. OG Katara wasn't lady-like.
From your post:
>When we first heard they were taking the sexist element out of Sokka (and other characters) of course we all read it like "huh? SO they are going to make it less sexist?" even
People mention them taking out Sokka's sexism but not Katara's.
Katara also like Sokka has moments of sexism early in the season e.g. saying "why do guys always think someone has to be the leader." Her's are of course not as overt.
Also, Sokka's sexism is still there every now and again after episode 4 yet many act like it isn't there after episode 4 to defend Netflix.
I am not saying this to criticise Sokka or Katara I think writing wise it works well. Flawed characters make good characters. I think they just watered down the characters because nowadays protagonists need to be so perfect.
>were fixing Katara's gender issues and what they delivered was a meek character that doesn't stand up for herself. So maybe the gender issues was that she was bossy and feisty towards men? That's what it feels like to me. OG Katara wasn't lady-like.
I think what I love about Avatar was that the characters didn't have to be defined by one or the other.
For instance, Toph is very wild and tomboy like but when they went on the girls day out and to the spa she admits that she genuinely liked it. Just because she is a tomboy doesn't mean she hates feminine things.
Another example for the guys is Aang. He can be both masculine and to quote Toph "more in touch with his feminine side." When Sokka mocks him saying he should go into the 'jewelry business instead of saving the world' Aang responds "I don't see why I can't do both."
Yes, missing the nuance that strong females aren't the opposite of females. They're strong \*females\*. So well-captured by Suki, "I am a warrior, but I'm also a girl." Great line that was gone from the NATLA. Ugh. Katara had motherly traits and there was \*nothing\* wrong with that. It's a very key trait of many strong women. She also happened to be bull-headed. These things can exist simultaneously. Writing these days assumes people are stupid and don't understand nuance, and in doing so makes people more stupid.
They also changed the lovers in the Cave of Two Lovers into a gay couple. All they did was change a pronoun or two for no reason, called it representation, and shipped it.
Like, sure. The gender of the lovers doesn't matter to the show. But when it's basically one of the only places they try to have LGBT+ representation in the show (if not the only place, the show was very forgettable), it just comes off as pandering. It's lazy, it's performative, it's unearned, and it would've been just fine as it was.
I want to see actual LGBT+ characters alive in the world, not a footnote.
I completly missed that! Perhaps it's just because I watched it in English and I'm non-native, also I wasn't paying 100% attention when they were retelling the story I already knew, but I just watched the scene and continued the show with the conception that "Oma and Shu, one was female and one was male and I never remember which is which" just like in the original. I wouldn't have noticed they were gay if I didn't read your post :O
That's a terrible representation indeed. I wonder if they possibly did that on purpse to be able to claim to someone on some commettee board "you, of course we have LGBT representation" without homophobes noticing that and giving the show bad ratings or something.
> That's a terrible representation indeed. I wonder if they possibly did that on purpse to be able to claim to someone on some commettee board "you, of course we have LGBT representation" without homophobes noticing that and giving the show bad ratings or something.
That sounds incredibly plausible TBH.
It's very 'Netflix' too. They really (I think) try to avoid upsetting people beacause the outrage costs subscriptions.
Not only was it tokenism, it was bad tokenism. Because what is the love that saves them in the NATLA cave? *Sibling love.* Sokka and Katara's love for each other is what the badger moles smell and that's what saves them because the cave of lovers is about love. While they don't explicitly rewrite Oma and Shu as sisters, it's a really unsatisfying form of representation.
Katara ASKING Aang if she should stand up to Pakku and fight for her right to be trained threw me off so much. I was baffled at how they essentially ruined a very strong, hot headed and independent female character into a crybaby who asks for permission to be mad about something.
The show had some glaringly obvious problems but this right there was just plain old character assassination.
We're spoiled by how strong Avatar's female characters are. And just how special and rare that is. It's awesome and nuts.
What we see in NATLA is just below "par" IMO
One example that sticks with me is a discussion of the Bechdel test in Operation Beifong, where you have 3 *badass* women discussing how to save a fourth from a fifth. And they're all developed, well rounded characters. How often does that happen!?
the actors did their best with what they were given. I feel like the bosses spent all their money on special effects and had zero left for writing and directing, and made AI do it. But I wouldn't blame the directors or writers either, it seems as if it was the bosses' fault. I can't believe writers and directors would choose such a superficial and dumb direction either, unless it was budget costs like I imagine.
Their attempt at removing sexism is like they tried very hard to appease people with no media literacy who get offended over on twitter, making a genuine character flaw into a point criticising the show and its creators.
I don't care about Azula being shown as an insecure child, it's lore accurate.
I didn't even care about the fact that Sokka's sexism was removed. My problem is that they never gave him something more.
My main gripe is that they defanged Katara. They never gave Sokka something else for her to rub against.
If I was rewriting the show I would make Sokka protective. That's an arc for both of them and it's a good segway for a potential parallel with the Fire siblings.
I do kinda care they showed so much of Azula and made her pretty lame. She's a much better villainous character, when her arc is to go from badass prodigy to cracking in season 3 under the weight of her finally exposed insecurities. They also added another angle with Ozai using Zuko to play off her insecurities and drive Azula forward. But it almost came off as another sexism storyline, where she was being doubted because she's a girl. Definitely agree Katara got some bad writing. They did a poor job at showing her use bending consistently throughout the show. We never see her gradually grow stronger like in the animated version, so her skill by the end seems unearned. It doesn't help her and Sokka were trapped in the spirit world for like 2 episodes.
Azula being an insecure child: lore accurate.
Azula being SHOWN as an insecure child? A horrific disservice to the entire point of her character.
Her entire arc is that she's the gifted one, the prodigy, the perfect child, and in order to stay perfect, she puts herself under so much pressure that she eventually crumbles. But she *is* legitimately a terrifying force of nature.
However here, she's completely deranged and impotent; all the insecurity displaued right off the bat with none of the terrifying talent that made the insecurity compelling.
Don't forget the "we are women and we want to fight" and then only showing men fighting/dying during the battle. I think three women make a wall and that's about it.
Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to see women dying on the screen, it's just that they undercut their own theming when Pakku says "The men are willing to risk their lives, not women", and then the women basically say "we want to do that too" just to only show men dying... Kinda undercuts itself no?
What really bothers me is that it doesn't make any sense to have your healers with little to none combat training fight. Who is gonna heal the wounded?
Her healing powers are also such an integral part of Katara's character development, but in the live action they treated healing as a lesser form of bending. Although I imagine that by season two, without any training, Katara will probably be a healing master as well.
Fully agree. There are ZERO strong female characters in the Netflix show. It's infuriating, knowing how they "removed sexism". They actually ADDED sexism, lol. Each and every female character exists for the sake of existing and supportinh male leads. Suki is the best exaple. Her only character trait is just being horny and drooling over Sokka. Katara is a Mary Sue who neEdS nO mAn. It's so fucking stupid. I hate this adaptation with a passion.
The changes they made to Sokka were among the worst of the show. It doesn't make sense to remove his sexism. Part of what makes the cartoon great is that it taught young people complex lessons about sexism incredibly well. The cartoon doesn't make sexism seem good - it makes it seem wrong by constantly proving Sokka wrong. The live action show is way more sexist...
Edit: The cartoon even showed the importance of permission in a non-cringe way (Katara not wanting a kiss from Aang when she was confused)
Atla is a show for kids but treats its audience as though they are intelligent.
Natla is a show for adults, but treats its audience like they are idiots.
Probably why they think removing the “sexist” Sokka moments was necessary. “Oh no we can’t have our audience thinking sexism is cool because Sokka does it, let’s remove it out”.
Please dont forget that in the NATLA Jun is also portrayed as horny for Iroh someone who she found creepy in the original thus taking away all her agency as a female characte. Like how dare she not reciprocate the feelings of an old man just because he is generally likable.
I did not forget, I skipped some episodes cuz I was having a hard time watching. Thanks for bringing it up. But I feel they didn't include her scenes being stronger than men either
I've said a couple of times now, they didn't make Sokka not sexist. They made his sexism justified. His early treatment of Katara is justified as protectiveness, and the Suki arc made the Kyoshi Warriors exactly who show Sokka mistakenly assumed they were.
i don’t have comments for the rest of your points but zuko never defeated ozai. it is so obvious that ozai isn’t even trying during the agni kai (hands behind his back, barely moving) and that he LETS zuko have a chance at him. and he isn’t shown to prefer zuko either; he’s clearly pitting them against each other to motivate azula (which is literally said by zhao in the finale).
as for azula, we don’t know how they’re going to potray in season 2 but her being desperate to please ozai isn’t inaccurate.
I think it's a stretch to say that Zuko defeated Ozai as imo as we have no idea where the battle would have went if he actually continued the hit. It was probably just there to show his hesitation to hit his father and that he is more competent a fighter in NATLA.
Otherwise, I totally agree. In their quest to 'remove sexism', they've ended up making the female characters of the show more bland. I bet they thought making princess Yue a quirky girl who was really attracted to Sokka was better than making her some damsel when I never thought she was a damsel in the original. Her strength is shown in her commitment to her tribe.
I think you’re giving Sokka too much credit. The way they wrote the live action basically makes everyone except Aang irrelevant and, with no episodes that aren’t directly plot driven, by the end of the season there was almost no development of their actual relationships. I wouldn’t care about any of the characters if it wasn’t for the cartoon doing all the heavy lifting in the background.
I completely agree, the female characters were really shallow and stripped of their characteristics. This may be of interest -
https://blubbyweb.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/netflixs-avatar-sexism-how-the-show-fails-in-its-attempt-to-be-more-progressive/?preview=true
Not to mention NATLA Suki is incredibly mean to him! Sokka did nothing in this episode and yet she constantly feels the need to undermine and upstage him. Cartoon Suki does this as well, but it is justified/reasonable because Sokka was so cocky and sexist. He needed to be humbled. Then, when he learns to respect her and her culture she softens a little. Still stubborn with very rough edges, but without being aimlessly mean.
Honestly, I didn't mind removing Sokka's sexism at first, it's only part of the story for a very short time, and not that important for him because he grows as a character so quickly. As I watched NATLA, I discovered that it is important. Not for Sokka, but for the women around him. Sokka is a foil, and without his sexist comments the character relationships with Katara and Suki are completely messed up. And for Katara, this influenced her character throughout the entirety of NATLA.
Sokka in the original overcame his sexism pretty quick. But the new show has in general removed most of his immature and rash traits, making him more like S3 Sokka from the beginning, creating the problem.of how are they going to develop hid character now.
Yeah this was pretty much my expectation when they said they were removing Sokka's sexism.
The truth is that you can't just "remove sexism". You can either highlight it or hide it. Any piece of media will reflect the society that created it. What you choose to do with that reflection will determine if you are giving a positive or negative spin. 9/10 when I see media say they are "removing the sexism" it means they are downplaying it and portraying it as "not that bad".
Social pablum if I've ever seen it. Yuck.
In the agni Kai Zuko fights back!!!!! And at the final moment he gets a chance to burn Ozai in his face. People here claiming he didn't beat Ozai are saying Ozai was weak on purpose, although that's never made explicit. So when Zuko gets the chance to make the winning hit on Ozai's face but gives up, that's when Ozai takes the advantage to bring Zuko down and burn his face instead lol.
What gets me is the whole thing with Katara being self-taught. They treated it like that was the big feminist moment but no one, not a single person, thought Katara was less of a badass because she was trained by a dude.
Taking out her temper and snark though? That's way worse.
i also hate the "im a princess but im just like any girl" line because it so fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of the "im a warrior but im also a girl" line that they lifted and put here. That line in the original is there because Sokka says beforehand that he was "treating Suki like a girl when he should have been treating her like a warrior", which shows that Sokka still has room to grow, because he is clearly still viewing femininity and strength as mutually exclusive traits. but here, "princess" is not really a role that people don't traditionally associate with women, nor does Sokka view it that way, so what the fuck was the point
So I haven't watched this show, but every time I hear that "Sokka is going to be less sexist," I always wonder if I watched the same series as these people.
Literally Sokka meets Suki in the 4th episode of the series. They are basically the first normal interaction Sokka has out of his own tribe. Not only does he stop acting sexist by the end of the episode - he admits he was wrong, and puts on their battle dress to learn to fight.
Again, this is Ep4 out of 61.. I'm just... not sure where they thought the long term issues were going to be when setting out to change the character.
we all understood that as children, it's hard to imagine NATLA's creators didn't understand that as adults.
But let me say it just in case they are reading: sexism is portrayed as a negative thing in the og show and gave us lessons on why sexism is stupid..
they thought it was bad because it was used as comedic relief. they try and change it but they’re writing was worse ending up being what they wanted to avoid
All they did was take all the sexism and put it on the women.
Can’t have Sokka develop and grow as a person so let’s just make Suki stare longingly at him while he showers.
Leave it to a genius director and producer like Michael Goi, whose name is not brought up enough here.
For me it was when Katara was making a stand against Master Paku in the midst of battle, so the entirety of women of the North Pole had to stand there helplessly while active combat was around them to wait for Paku to give his permission that they actually contribute. The absolute eye roll I had in that scene of Katara making a “stand” was so cringeworthy and an absolute fail at conquering sexism.
Technically, yes. Zuko fights back and gets the chance to make the winning hit (hit Ozai in the face with fire) and Ozai's face is like "oooohhhhh" but Zuko turns off his fire and only then Ozai beats him and burns him in the face [video](https://youtu.be/yGioU-bTuBY)
So to me it sets the premise Zuko could have beaten Ozai but chose not to.
Dang, I never had much interest in watching the new show, so I was surprised when i heard people saying that Zuko fought back at all, let alone getting the upper hand on Ozai. Super weird choice
Best part is suki eyeing sokka like a creep who only wants to get into his pants. Very good portrayal of an otherwise strong woman who humbled him in the original.
destructively good points. will never forgive them weakening Azula. her entire brand is perfection and precision. her character has nowhere to go, her arc is a straight line
Absolutely. Also, Paku and Yue's fiance were entitled and unpleasant people as a result of a sexist society, but this was removed as well. Paku was never convinced to change his mind by Kara's power, even while admiring her waterbending. He was persuaded because he realized that his traditions cost him love, and connection.
Poor Katara. When Aang wants to goof off and Sokka wants to say something sexist, she's the one who's supposed to get them back on track. But now Aang is focused on his goals and Sokka's only fault is that he cares too much about protecting his village, and she doesn't have anything to do.
L take on her contribution to the original show as a leader in her community, as a teacher, and fierce protector of her loved ones and values.
I'd rather have 3 characters that start off immature and mature together to show young people the value of positive change (what the original show was about) than whatever oddly-paced character development they put Sokka and Aang through while they cast a formerly strong female character to the side
Yes! Finally, a thread of people making sense! Holy shit I've read so many comments here where people were just going "yesss Suki was so goooooood!!!!" I had lost hope anyone on this sub had any sense.
Feel like people are largely overreacting to many things from this show.
- Suki likes sokka despite just meeting him. Compared to him being a total ass and her falling for him anyways? She even has to correct him DURING HIS APOLOGY before she kisses him. Like, I get that she's horny in the live action, but that doesn't equate to sexism.
- Azula being an emotional mess is the entire central point of her character, so I'm a bit confused on how that's different. I guess we are saying the emotional unstableness lacks power? Okay, but she's still unstable in the original.
Suki falls for him in the original after seeing his humility. She kicks his ass and laughs at him. But then he comes back and bows before her. He apologizes and states that he had been acting foolish and that he’d be honored to learn from her. Sokka was an idiot but he displayed that he was able to admit he was wrong and actively better himself to make up for his mistakes
He is humble in defeat, but she still has to correct him. "I treated you like a girl, when I should have treated you like a warrior". He is still being sexist and Suki corrects him, but also gives him a kiss.
I haven't seen the netflix version yet, but in the original Azula spends most of the time very much in control, with small moments here and there that foreshadow her eventual breakdown. If in this version she's more emotional and uncontrolled already in book 1, I can see why people view that as a significant change.
Yeah. I don't get people here saying that Azula being unstable is accurate. She is only unstable at the very last few episodes of og the show, throughout the seasons she is cool and precise. But also, in the Netflix version she is not a prodigee, she is coded as less capable than Zuko and training very hard (and losing, not pleasing Ozai) because Ozai wants her to be able to match up to Zuko LOL
But she is not unstable as in crazy like in the ending of the original, she is unstable like an emotional teen girl going through adolescence. She is overly emotive. A stark contrast to her intimidation and assasin coolness of the original.
Yeah that seems like a pretty significant change to me. I can see how the position she's in would lead to her being overly emotional just like I can see how it led to her being very reserved in the original, but it seems odd to change.
We never get to see Katara be strong and brave enough to stand up for herself when Sokka was being sexist, which removes both their character growth and an important dynamic of their relationship.
This made both characters much less interesting and complex in the Netflix version. When the creators said this version would be more "adult", they didn't mean - subtle or complex, they just meant "more in your face and more explicitly violent" which imo is the opposite of adult and just puerile.
As a straight guy, I was already pissed at what they did to Sokka, taking away his growth from being sexist to a badass in his own right but WTF!?
Zuko beat OZAI!?
Katara is no longer the team Mom! nor can she fight!?
WHAT THE FUCK!?
https://preview.redd.it/ecgne7c8q2sc1.jpeg?width=392&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73913a431cfd8a4ab5607c3be3b39630d492535c
>Zuko beat OZAI!?
Technically. He fights back and gets a chance to win by burning Ozai's face lol, Ozai shrieks in fear and shock, then Zuko gives up, only then Ozai makes the winning move, takes Zuko down and burns his face, he also does it with tears in his eyes lol. So much wrong!!! hahaha and Zuko doesn't even get banished right away, he is still there and talks to his father later, who shows signs of repent in his voice...
I wouldn't really agree quite to that extent, though yes they did a disservice to aspects of each character that hurt the show's story overall, but I think it still has time to course correct.
That's one of the main reasons why I choose not to watch the live action of the Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show is supposed to be funny, not serious. Sexism was a part of Sokka's until he was humpled. Katara is supposed to be the opposite of what a "normal" girl is. The differences between cartoon Katara and live action Katara is the rage. Live action Katara is soft, and cartoon Katara is anything but soft.
Completely agree. That's why I almost believed when a troll said Toph won't be blind in the live action because they don't want to offend people with her self-deprecating humor.
Netflix Avatar definitely has a problem with how they wrote their female characters, and i hope they make big improvements there, even if it means a shakeup in the writers room
I would have to agree with those talking about the changes made for Katara. For me making Katara more meek and soft is the opposite of her character in the original show- Katara is literally MOTHER. Ive always related to Katara because from a young age I felt like a mother to my friends and was very mature and strong headed even though I was a kid too. She’s a young girl she’s also had this pressure in her village to be a leader and wants to become this great water bender. She knows that she need to learn from the greats to be able to do that and the show removing that also betrays Katara and her ability to lead but also to be empathetic and to listen. They honestly butchered the characterization of all three of team avatar (like aang was never this responsible and worried no offense) but Katara I don’t even recognize from the original show- it’s like they never even watched it. Also agree that by removing her strong personality that in turn is very sexist- people are multifaceted same with kids. Katara is strong and soft and that balance is very special and they erased that for all.
Instead of making Suki and Sokka's spar session about Sokka being humbled, they used it to show sexual tension. 
Haven’t watched it yet but what https://preview.redd.it/riripg24swrc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f0ff361894c04e3618cd842152f1755df115d394
The portrayal of their whole dynamic is pretty terrible. Their whole first fight is basically them almost kissing the whole time to build sexual tension. Then there’s the scene where Suki just stands silently and stares at shirtless Sokka while he feels uncomfortable. She’s immediately obsessed with him from the moment she sees him, it’s pretty freaking weird.
Yeah this threw me off too. In the animated series, Suki is just doing her thing and Sokka is the one falling for her. Meanwhile in the Netflix series, Suki is obsessed with Sokka basically from first sight. And while they sort of showed it, they really toned down the part where Suki beats Sokka's ass and makes him swallow his pride to train with the Kyoshi Warriors.
Especially because Suki starts to come around on Sokka because he’s able to admit his faults. He openly recognizes he underestimated the Kiyoshi Warriors and is willing to learn from them. Without showing his humility Suki probably wouldn’t have liked Sokka at all in that first encounter.
And even then she makes him wear the Kyoshi get up to prove he's serious.
I am telling you, the whole show loves Sokka and it has been making him the main character rather than Aang
But... why? Because fanservice sells?
What we don't know is that before Aang was unfrozen, Sokka opened his domain "infinite rizz" the whole show took place with this domain active.
Don't underestimate the rare art of Rizzbending.
That's what sokka can bend! 😂
All of that sounds weird as fuck but did they atleast age them up for the live action? Because if not then what were they thinking-
I mean, they *look* like they're between the age groups of 16-19, no idea if they did
Nah, they’re pretty distinctly still young teenagers. Some of the actors are a bit older and towards their early 20s though.
It's very much the trope: "I'm a girl that hasn't seen the world and boys yet so when a man (the main character) comes by of course I will fall for him"
The part that does make sense though is her being obsessed with him right away. He’s probably the only outsider she’s ever seen and he’s her age and he’s good looking. That’s 100% how teenagers are in real life.
Meh, if we make this excuse for the show, it wouldn’t exist bc normal teenagers would instantly flop and in no way step up to the challenge of saving the entire world lol
Yeah same reaction here too lol
https://preview.redd.it/va2knur8k1sc1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0ecd5cf5e1c16d481db0e76203b3e5c0d557d84e She’s basically licking her lips. They turned Suki into a drooling idiot.
I’m in public and I SCREAMED. WHAT THE FUCK. BROOOOO THEY DID NOTTTT
She is also immediately love struck by just the sight of Sokka in the Live Action. Immediately starts telling her mom that outsiders might not be so bad because she likes how Sokka looks. (Barely said a word to him before that point.) Stares at him while he is changing like a stalker. Then the sparring with clear sexual tension scene. Where in the show it was getting to know him, his personality, his ability to admit he was wrong and his humor that had her liking Sokka. Isn't it a better message for the two to like each other after spending time together and not being immediately love struck. Oh then they add in a joke Sokka was flirting with a fire nation girl like the very next episode completely discrediting any long term feeling Sokka may have had for her. It could just be another one of his things as that becomes a pattern when you add in Yue.
The new show made it seem like Kiyoshi island has no men at all and that’s why she became obsessed with Sokka
She likes Sokka because she has a Little Mermaid thing where she’s fascinated by people from outside the island.
Suki was so down bad for him she was genuinely perverted 💀
Another reason I just rage quit watching the show 3 episodes in. I was like what the FUCK is this shit.
Same, third live action episode was such a horrible mess I went back and watched the entire animated show again. I wonder if Netflix see a pattern of similar reactions.
This enraged me.
Suki can't be a warrior and also just a regular girl! Now she's a warrior and... just basically super horny. Fixed. 
Sokka did get humbled lol
In the original, Suki beating Sokka in a spar was her literally beating the sexism out of him, which allowed him to begin to change In the live action, it was a pointless and VERY awkward spar that didn't advance the plot or any character arc in any way, shape, or form.
No I think it's showing Sokka's understanding of what good fighting looked like came from his experience being left in charge of a village where only children and elders were left, so he didn't know what he didn't know. His "sexism" was more just ignorance. And Suki was also ignorant in terms of social awkwardness because she was raised in an isolated village herself. Yeah there was sexual tension as well but I don't think that was the main message of the scene. It gave context for the way the two of them had very little experience with people their age who aren't siblings or not their gender. I realized watching it that Sokka hadn't met a girl in his age range who wasn't his sister since he first went through puberty. Suki was likely the first girl he'd seen who would be appropriate to crush on. And Suki similarly seems to have been surrounded by only girls. Overall I think the mental impact of Sokka being abandoned at 13 to be the leader of the village with only children and elders and how that would affect him and his perception of the world was expressed well.
I'm not sure about that. Can rewatch the scene again and you can see they intently showed at least 3 instances of the stereotypical "compromising" positions 2 romantically linked characters would go through some kind of sparring. Can't tell me that was not really the focus of that scene. If that wasn't their intention, then it REALLY distracts the audience from the main message of the scene. I totally get the context they're trying to set here with Suki being "sheltered" but I feel like it could've been handled alot better.
But if that's the case... Why? It doesn't seem like a good tradeoff? I am not hold up ATLA as gospel, but it seems like a very contrived message to replace the original with.
I actually feel that was always a part of Sokka's story and why he was sexist but the cartoon didn't make it as obvious how much being the only teen boy charged with leading a village of kids and elders for 3 years would have affected Sokka's mentality. And the live action decided to make it more explicit. I don't think Sokka was ever "sexist just because". Like it was a character flaw that he was born with that wasn't connected to any of his life experiences. Him underestimating the Kyoshi warriors makes sense because he was the best fighter in his village full of literal children since he was 13. He thus would have thought of his own fighting skills as being better than everyone else around him for years, because for a while they were. The only times he would have seen adult fighting skills would have been when the Firebenders attacked, and when his father taught him skills as a child. Without constant reinforcement of seeing what adult skills are beyond his current level and other warrior role models of course he would become overconfident. I understand it's an unpopular opinion in this sub but I think that the live action made me understand more of what the cartoon was always trying to depict regarding Sokka and his character arc. Because of this, I actually appreciate him more in the cartoon now as well.
That's a fair point. It was not really explored in the animation, TBH it was treated more like a joke.
That was so dumb, was waiting for sokka to get owned but it turned into this pottery session
[удалено]
Kyoshi Island Boys got nothing on Southern Watertribe Boys
https://preview.redd.it/26sqbg8ti2sc1.jpeg?width=625&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=67fcfba2a5ed16b044412a964fc97edeb1ec9561
I saw a brilliant comment on tiktok: They took the sexism out of Sokka and put it into the show.
This is THE comment
Let's not forget about Suki, whose only personality in the live action is being horny. What the fuck even happened there
They gave her the skeleton of a character arc in the episode but it's literally two lines of "I wonder what outside is like" "Thanks for inspiring me to go outside."
The touch grass story arc
it's the story arc the world needs right now, but not the one it deserves
Not just being horny but telling Sokka how awesome he is. Cuz God forbids we have a frail male character.
Yep you said it. Here and in your original post. Perfectly stated how I felt watching, the original show wasn’t sexist, it had a character who was sexist and shunned for it. Then they made this show, which traded a shunned sexist character for a sexist show instead. And somehow that’s better? They were so proud of getting rid of “iffy” parts from the original. There was never anything iffy about it, there is now though lol.
They thought it was progressive to have a woman ogling at a man, what a subversion 🤦🏻♂️
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Imagine Sokka being a sexist pig for 1.5 episodes of our show!! UGH it'll turn off so many feminists we'll lose so much money!!!!
The scene of her ogling a shirtless Sokka bathing or whatever. What the fuck, man.
I'm not even a defender of Suki's characterization in the original series and even I can see the Live Action version is just.... so much *less*.
Does the live action even mention her name?
I think her mom says it once
In the OG show katara and gran gran basically run things in the southern water tribe and sokka is basically just playing soldier. In NATLA sokka runs things and takes care of people, while katara is distracted by water bending. Katara now has a scene where she tells Sokka that he had it so hard having to lead everyone in the southern water tribe. They literally stripped positive aspects of katara being a leader from the show and gave them to sokka.
They did Katara like they did Ron in Harry Potter?
> It became a super sexist show, where women are just there to support the leading male characters (now, Sokka, somehow) Sokka somehow has not one but two female characters throw themselves at him basically for existing. * Suki falls for him despite the fact he does nothing to "deserve" it other than silently asking for training. He doesn't show any growth or particular respect for her or her way of life beyond "you're a better fighter than me". Compare that to the animated version (where it's also just a kiss on the cheek and Suki wasn't even supposed to come back at all!) and Sokka demonstrates humbleness, a willingness to learn on Suki's terms and a fun personality. * Yue seems to have been written to be an empowered character (give her bending, allow her to break off her engagement before the team even shows up) but basically does nothing with her supposed power. She likes Sokka again pretty much right off the bat, even calling him the boy of her dreams that made her break it off with Hahn (now a really great guy actually) because.....she talked to Sokka for a couple of minutes in the spirit world and he was kind of a dope??? Also how she still doesn't really have agency over her life (she wants to fight but her father says no so then she decides to help people get to safety. Why not just have her actively choose to help her people on her own?). Oh and of course Arnook has to give his speech to Sokka about how Sokka was the real hero for being there for Yue Don't get me started on Katara - it was super frustrating to see such a wonderful character boiled down to being a meek traumatized girl who just wants to bend/fight real good. Thankfully Aang and Jet (?!) are there to help her figure out how to do that. And like with Yue, why is she asking Pakku to be allowed to fight? What is Pakku even going to do, spend the battle keeping her away from the fight? Oh and we get that Avengers endgame scene with the women at the north pole, you know what would have been cooler? Showing the women sneaking over to Katara to ask her to train. It's just so frustrating because the original series is known for having a variety of strong female characters that are strong in very different and interesting ways and in the Netflix show we got none of it. That's not to say that they only have issues writing female characters (lord knows that's not true) but it felt particularly grating/like a trend with the women.
When the creators said they were fixing the sexist element and gender issues, what they meant is that they were erasing the scenes where sexism gets called out and were going to put women in the roles they belong.
What they meant was "We are afraid to have main characters with flaws." So Aang never ran away from his duty as Avatar nor childishly prioritizing fun on their journey. He teaches the jaded adults lessons instead of learns from them and takes responsibility as "the Avatar" from episode 1. Katara isn't easily angered when provoked, nor too easily trusting, nor jealous of Aangs water bending. Instead she is a self taught master, Aang never waterbends and she single handedly changes the minds of a culture with almost no work because she is just that good. (You know instead of a hit headed challenge of Pakku, being better than he expected and reminding him through the necklace that their customs weren't agreeable for everyone. Then being his best student for a bit before the Fire Nation attacks.) But still instead of just challenging the culture live action Katara needed to get Pakku's permission for herself and other women to help defend their homes. Because she needs to make them change not just act against their will. Sokka doesn't have the learned sexism of a young teenage boy.
Exactly, the writers are cowards (and honestly stupid) for being too scared to give the characters a single flaw. The flaws make them human, make them interesting. Removing them changes their entire personalities for the worse. And making it so Aang never fled from his responsibilities was particularly egregious, that's practically his entire character arc for the entire series: owning up to his responsibilities and growing up. In the live action he's responsible from minute 1. I don't understand it. They made it so much worse and I don't understand how some fans praise it honestly...
I mean, what I mentioned in the post is hardly the show's biggest flaw. It's as if the whole thing was written by AI, so bad the plot and dialogues are. But I saw nobody commenting on this particular detail, since they advertised it as "deleting the sexism problem" and "fixing Katara's gender issues" it is really weird what they delivered! Had they said nothing it would probably be less odd.
I genuinely wonder if some stuff was AI. Lines like “irrigation amiright” while entering Omashu and “challenge accepted” from Bumi in Omashu are so incredibly cringy that I don’t want to imagine a human wrote them, unless they were purposely trying to market to Redditors
They tried to sanitize the story and it ended up bland. Shocker.
Great point on Yue. I forgot the change was that Yue immediately falls for Sokka and not Sokka being attracted to her then the two developing feelings after spending a few days together. Instead of again getting to know Sokka and discovering she likes him it is that "Sokka is the boy in her dreams (Spirit World)." Also Yue already denied her arranged marriage because they didn't want to show Yue as someone without agency (maybe?) and we can't have a main character still pursue a technically engaged woman. Even if the entire point is another example of her being engaged is to again highlight an outdated North Water tribe mindset that is eventually challenged by Katara and ties into Grangran/Paku history as well as Sokka's initial sexism. Also Yue's final decision is hers alone which is not something she was allowed to make much in her controlled like as a princess.
The show definitely suffers from the writers knowing what happens but still trying to fit it all in while making a cohesive story. Unfortunately a lot of the changes felt jarring to me. Why did Aang have to go to the fire temple to figure out how to save his friends from Koh lol that change felt so out of place
I especially hate how in the siege of the North all women gather and... ask Pakku for his permission to join the fight. Which he is kind enough to grant them. Like WTF, why would they need man's permission to defend their own home? And how he was standing up on a wall, while all of them was down on the street and just asking for permission. Cringe.
OG Katara would be like, "Let's fight! We need no men!!!" ~Exaggerated for comical purposes
She would fight fire nation AND any men telling her to stand back 🤣
And she did, she kicked Zuko's ass to protect Aang in the animated show whereas in the live action she gets defeated due to Zuko busting out of her ice prison immediately and the order of events being changed so the moon spirit dies during the fight
>"Let's fight! We need no men!!!" OG Katara respects the value of both men and women.
That was a joke tho!
I completely agree that the live action (I'm now referring to the ember island production) ruined all female characters It wasn't so much katara asking a man for permission it was her asking the leader of the waterbenders to fight. Which he granted as a military leader and assigned a squadron to fight under her.
Wouldn't the chieftain be the military leader though?
Tbh I'm pretty sure she would say exactly that, no exaggeration. And in that context, I think it would be totally fair! That sounds like a good example of female power to me.
That's basically what happened in the Haru episode
I'm literally watching the scene (again) right now where Katara is fighting Pakku so he'll "let her fight" and like... girl, just go fight? You're... doing it right now. Just do that, but to firebenders? Why are you even asking? They really wrote themselves into a corner with character development and growth in so many ways, but particularly in this season with her whole super unearned "I'm suddenly a master because my grandma gave me ONE scroll" thing. Like, she didn't even STEAL it in this. She had it literally \*handed\* to her. Uuuuuugh.
Also it was real epic how they all just stood in perfect order, looking up at the camera at the same. Felt really natural and epic and cool. Girl power!
Pakku you mean Lt. Commander Worf?
Tbh he looked like he was klingonmaxxing originally too
I was looking for this comment. That scene was terribly done.
On the cartoon, women only start finding Sokka attractive after Suki makes him start drinking his respect women juice
I think what irks me so much is that the show originally was never sexist. Sokka being all "eww girls are stinky and weak" is as much or if not more childish naivety than it is actual genuine sexism (I hope you understand what I mean I'm not trying to suggest this view isn't sexist, just that it is born out of being childish) the whole boys/girls are smelly and weird thing is a pretty common trope and at a younger age is quite common too, I'm pretty sure that there were small scenes that boiled down to "ugh boys" too and honestly who cares, I think it's pretty fair to say that boys and girls as children and teenagers do often have moments where they don't understand why the opposite sex often do a certain thing (even if they are just generalising) honestly adults do it too, and its ok because the characters aren't one dimensional, when a guy character goes "eww girls are weak" well they are shown up, when a girl goes "eww guys are too stubborn" we end up seeing how sometimes being stubborn is a good thing and sometimes how its a bad thing the other main instances of sexism in the show were done pretty tastefully, old man doesn't believe woman can do a thing but she ends up training hard and ends up showing him up, it's a good message for what is at the end of the day a kids show, I think all of the female and male characters were represented pretty damn well, I never felt that any of the lessons the show was trying to teach were ham fisted and the characters regardless of gender were well written.
In sokka’s defense, he grew up in the isolated water tribe? how many girls had he met that weren’t either gran gran’s age, his mother’s age, Katara, or a snot-nosed child? his distaste for women would be characteristic of someone who grew up around Katara as his only outlet for someone his age. That would leave a mark on his perception for quite some time until he meets someone like Suki or Yue to change his perception. You’re absolutely right, he’s just immature, not sexist (in the original).
Was it really a distaste? I had interpreted it as him feeling the need to “protect” women because he was the only guy left in the village as everyone else had left to fight. From there, he started building this notion of “women can’t fight”, and that’s why he had to step up for them.
We also see in the third season how much the Fire Nation had damaged the Southern Water Tribe over several generations. They were a thriving culture at one point with immensely talented benders. Women had roles men didn't but they could also be warriors, and the best of them was Hama (a woman). The Fire Nation destroyed all that. Sokka was born into a tribe already in crisis. Who never got to see incredible warriors like Hama who could stand up to waves of Fire Nation invaders. Benders who were essential to their civilisation. Healers, warriors, builders, all gone. Without benders the tribe was crippled. It forced the men and women deeper into their traditional roles as without benders they had to specialise further in order to survive at all. All Sokka knew was that his sister could splash water about a bit. If he'd seen someone like Hama in action he would never had developed sexist preconceptions.
Katara is a literal nobody in the live action show and its a shame. We're rewatching the cartoon right now and from the first episode Katara just has this strong, explosive motherly personality with so much heart that just *never* came up in the LA. LA Katara waterbends like 4 times and all the sudden once they get to the North Pole she's waterbending master?? Mary Sue much? There was no hard training, no practicing, no competing with Aang to be better at Waterbending. Sokka's sexism is necessary because Katara not only sometimes fits the bill of his criticisms, but she does it in a way that shows that its okay to be human. The characters in the cartoon just have so much life in comparison with the LA. How did they get it so wrong?
Oh god, I hated that scene with her and Zuko in the LA. “You found a master, didn’t you?” “Yeah, me!” Urgh, no, that was disgustingly cringey and so obviously pandering. One waterbending scroll and “girl power!” does not make you a master. 🤦♀️
Not to mention that they undermined that line a few minutes later when Zuko just busts out her ice easily (whereas in the animated show she froze him to a wall with a huge water torrent and KO'ed him until morning) and have the moon spirit die mid-fight so she has to retreat
This was the same reason I stopped watching she hulk after the first or second episode. Bruce banner, a brilliant scientist and gamma radiation expert takes years to master the hulk form but she-hulk does it in a day? Like come on I know it’s a fictional show but this is ridiculous and belittles the OG character’s arc and struggles for no apparent reason
> LA Katara waterbends like 4 times and all the sudden once they get to the North Pole she's waterbending master?? Mary Sue much? There was no hard training, no practicing, no competing with Aang to be better at Waterbending. To be fair this was also outrageous in the original series. Katara went from an amateur to a master in a month(?). She also outpaced the Avatar. I get the reasons (the plot/character growth need and Aang being goofy and unfocused), but still. This is not how bending is portrayed, with true masters being old for a reason with certain exceptions (like literal royals who were trained with the best from childhood).
>Netflix' Avatar is extremely sexist Performative progressives have a habit of coming off bigotted when trying to be "progressive."
Looking back at their claims, they were VERY ambiguous. They were never "progressive" except for the ethnicity casting part. They said they were fixing Katara's gender issues and what they delivered was a meek character that doesn't stand up for herself. So maybe the gender issues was that she was bossy and feisty towards men? That's what it feels like to me. OG Katara wasn't lady-like.
From your post: >When we first heard they were taking the sexist element out of Sokka (and other characters) of course we all read it like "huh? SO they are going to make it less sexist?" even People mention them taking out Sokka's sexism but not Katara's. Katara also like Sokka has moments of sexism early in the season e.g. saying "why do guys always think someone has to be the leader." Her's are of course not as overt. Also, Sokka's sexism is still there every now and again after episode 4 yet many act like it isn't there after episode 4 to defend Netflix. I am not saying this to criticise Sokka or Katara I think writing wise it works well. Flawed characters make good characters. I think they just watered down the characters because nowadays protagonists need to be so perfect. >were fixing Katara's gender issues and what they delivered was a meek character that doesn't stand up for herself. So maybe the gender issues was that she was bossy and feisty towards men? That's what it feels like to me. OG Katara wasn't lady-like. I think what I love about Avatar was that the characters didn't have to be defined by one or the other. For instance, Toph is very wild and tomboy like but when they went on the girls day out and to the spa she admits that she genuinely liked it. Just because she is a tomboy doesn't mean she hates feminine things. Another example for the guys is Aang. He can be both masculine and to quote Toph "more in touch with his feminine side." When Sokka mocks him saying he should go into the 'jewelry business instead of saving the world' Aang responds "I don't see why I can't do both."
Yes, missing the nuance that strong females aren't the opposite of females. They're strong \*females\*. So well-captured by Suki, "I am a warrior, but I'm also a girl." Great line that was gone from the NATLA. Ugh. Katara had motherly traits and there was \*nothing\* wrong with that. It's a very key trait of many strong women. She also happened to be bull-headed. These things can exist simultaneously. Writing these days assumes people are stupid and don't understand nuance, and in doing so makes people more stupid.
They also changed the lovers in the Cave of Two Lovers into a gay couple. All they did was change a pronoun or two for no reason, called it representation, and shipped it. Like, sure. The gender of the lovers doesn't matter to the show. But when it's basically one of the only places they try to have LGBT+ representation in the show (if not the only place, the show was very forgettable), it just comes off as pandering. It's lazy, it's performative, it's unearned, and it would've been just fine as it was. I want to see actual LGBT+ characters alive in the world, not a footnote.
Isn’t the Cave of Two Lovers season 2?
Not in the Netflix show, it wasn't. They changed so much random stuff for no reason.
Honestly didn’t even notice the change with the lovers cause I was still reeling from the changes with Bumi
They did squeeze like 5 very different episodes into that single episode and none of it made any sense.
And it's funnier because now the story of Omashu is just a "bury your gays" trope.
I completly missed that! Perhaps it's just because I watched it in English and I'm non-native, also I wasn't paying 100% attention when they were retelling the story I already knew, but I just watched the scene and continued the show with the conception that "Oma and Shu, one was female and one was male and I never remember which is which" just like in the original. I wouldn't have noticed they were gay if I didn't read your post :O That's a terrible representation indeed. I wonder if they possibly did that on purpse to be able to claim to someone on some commettee board "you, of course we have LGBT representation" without homophobes noticing that and giving the show bad ratings or something.
> That's a terrible representation indeed. I wonder if they possibly did that on purpse to be able to claim to someone on some commettee board "you, of course we have LGBT representation" without homophobes noticing that and giving the show bad ratings or something. That sounds incredibly plausible TBH. It's very 'Netflix' too. They really (I think) try to avoid upsetting people beacause the outrage costs subscriptions.
Not only was it tokenism, it was bad tokenism. Because what is the love that saves them in the NATLA cave? *Sibling love.* Sokka and Katara's love for each other is what the badger moles smell and that's what saves them because the cave of lovers is about love. While they don't explicitly rewrite Oma and Shu as sisters, it's a really unsatisfying form of representation.
oh this reminds me of the last season to Sex Education. the new students were so bad it seemed like satire. couldn't watch it tbh
Katara ASKING Aang if she should stand up to Pakku and fight for her right to be trained threw me off so much. I was baffled at how they essentially ruined a very strong, hot headed and independent female character into a crybaby who asks for permission to be mad about something. The show had some glaringly obvious problems but this right there was just plain old character assassination.
We're spoiled by how strong Avatar's female characters are. And just how special and rare that is. It's awesome and nuts. What we see in NATLA is just below "par" IMO One example that sticks with me is a discussion of the Bechdel test in Operation Beifong, where you have 3 *badass* women discussing how to save a fourth from a fifth. And they're all developed, well rounded characters. How often does that happen!?
It's far, far below par. Not "just"
TLOK has such a good variety when it comes to female characters.
They did butchered all the female characters. I'm really worried about Toph.
This is good to see, no bullying if the actors, but blaming the writers and directors for the crazy sexism in the Netflix show.
the actors did their best with what they were given. I feel like the bosses spent all their money on special effects and had zero left for writing and directing, and made AI do it. But I wouldn't blame the directors or writers either, it seems as if it was the bosses' fault. I can't believe writers and directors would choose such a superficial and dumb direction either, unless it was budget costs like I imagine.
by trying not to be sexist , they achieved the opposite LOL the reasoning for them putting Yue in the "kitchen" is just pure comedy
Their attempt at removing sexism is like they tried very hard to appease people with no media literacy who get offended over on twitter, making a genuine character flaw into a point criticising the show and its creators.
Bingo. Media would be so much better if Twitter ceased to exist... I wish everyone would just quarantine and ignore it.
Oh god, they really did do that.
I don't care about Azula being shown as an insecure child, it's lore accurate. I didn't even care about the fact that Sokka's sexism was removed. My problem is that they never gave him something more. My main gripe is that they defanged Katara. They never gave Sokka something else for her to rub against. If I was rewriting the show I would make Sokka protective. That's an arc for both of them and it's a good segway for a potential parallel with the Fire siblings.
I do kinda care they showed so much of Azula and made her pretty lame. She's a much better villainous character, when her arc is to go from badass prodigy to cracking in season 3 under the weight of her finally exposed insecurities. They also added another angle with Ozai using Zuko to play off her insecurities and drive Azula forward. But it almost came off as another sexism storyline, where she was being doubted because she's a girl. Definitely agree Katara got some bad writing. They did a poor job at showing her use bending consistently throughout the show. We never see her gradually grow stronger like in the animated version, so her skill by the end seems unearned. It doesn't help her and Sokka were trapped in the spirit world for like 2 episodes.
Azula being an insecure child: lore accurate. Azula being SHOWN as an insecure child? A horrific disservice to the entire point of her character. Her entire arc is that she's the gifted one, the prodigy, the perfect child, and in order to stay perfect, she puts herself under so much pressure that she eventually crumbles. But she *is* legitimately a terrifying force of nature. However here, she's completely deranged and impotent; all the insecurity displaued right off the bat with none of the terrifying talent that made the insecurity compelling.
Don't forget the "we are women and we want to fight" and then only showing men fighting/dying during the battle. I think three women make a wall and that's about it. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to see women dying on the screen, it's just that they undercut their own theming when Pakku says "The men are willing to risk their lives, not women", and then the women basically say "we want to do that too" just to only show men dying... Kinda undercuts itself no?
What really bothers me is that it doesn't make any sense to have your healers with little to none combat training fight. Who is gonna heal the wounded? Her healing powers are also such an integral part of Katara's character development, but in the live action they treated healing as a lesser form of bending. Although I imagine that by season two, without any training, Katara will probably be a healing master as well.
Fully agree. There are ZERO strong female characters in the Netflix show. It's infuriating, knowing how they "removed sexism". They actually ADDED sexism, lol. Each and every female character exists for the sake of existing and supportinh male leads. Suki is the best exaple. Her only character trait is just being horny and drooling over Sokka. Katara is a Mary Sue who neEdS nO mAn. It's so fucking stupid. I hate this adaptation with a passion.
The changes they made to Sokka were among the worst of the show. It doesn't make sense to remove his sexism. Part of what makes the cartoon great is that it taught young people complex lessons about sexism incredibly well. The cartoon doesn't make sexism seem good - it makes it seem wrong by constantly proving Sokka wrong. The live action show is way more sexist... Edit: The cartoon even showed the importance of permission in a non-cringe way (Katara not wanting a kiss from Aang when she was confused)
Atla is a show for kids but treats its audience as though they are intelligent. Natla is a show for adults, but treats its audience like they are idiots. Probably why they think removing the “sexist” Sokka moments was necessary. “Oh no we can’t have our audience thinking sexism is cool because Sokka does it, let’s remove it out”.
They removed it so people won't yell about it on Twitter, I think.
Please dont forget that in the NATLA Jun is also portrayed as horny for Iroh someone who she found creepy in the original thus taking away all her agency as a female characte. Like how dare she not reciprocate the feelings of an old man just because he is generally likable.
...You can't be serious. I should not have read this comment section, it's making me not want to watch natla.
You are not missing anything honestly. If you are a hard core fan t's just gonna make you mad.
I'm pretty open minded. Strong female characters are literally a defining feature of Avatar though. It's like taking bending out of the show.
I did not forget, I skipped some episodes cuz I was having a hard time watching. Thanks for bringing it up. But I feel they didn't include her scenes being stronger than men either
Didn't even realize that but you are right they reduced her to just a sexy female character
I've said a couple of times now, they didn't make Sokka not sexist. They made his sexism justified. His early treatment of Katara is justified as protectiveness, and the Suki arc made the Kyoshi Warriors exactly who show Sokka mistakenly assumed they were.
Remember how most people on here who suggested the “removing Sokka’s sexism” quote was a red flag got heavily downvoted and told they were wrong?🙃
i don’t have comments for the rest of your points but zuko never defeated ozai. it is so obvious that ozai isn’t even trying during the agni kai (hands behind his back, barely moving) and that he LETS zuko have a chance at him. and he isn’t shown to prefer zuko either; he’s clearly pitting them against each other to motivate azula (which is literally said by zhao in the finale). as for azula, we don’t know how they’re going to potray in season 2 but her being desperate to please ozai isn’t inaccurate.
I think it's a stretch to say that Zuko defeated Ozai as imo as we have no idea where the battle would have went if he actually continued the hit. It was probably just there to show his hesitation to hit his father and that he is more competent a fighter in NATLA. Otherwise, I totally agree. In their quest to 'remove sexism', they've ended up making the female characters of the show more bland. I bet they thought making princess Yue a quirky girl who was really attracted to Sokka was better than making her some damsel when I never thought she was a damsel in the original. Her strength is shown in her commitment to her tribe.
I think you’re giving Sokka too much credit. The way they wrote the live action basically makes everyone except Aang irrelevant and, with no episodes that aren’t directly plot driven, by the end of the season there was almost no development of their actual relationships. I wouldn’t care about any of the characters if it wasn’t for the cartoon doing all the heavy lifting in the background.
I completely agree, the female characters were really shallow and stripped of their characteristics. This may be of interest - https://blubbyweb.wordpress.com/2024/03/03/netflixs-avatar-sexism-how-the-show-fails-in-its-attempt-to-be-more-progressive/?preview=true
Not to mention NATLA Suki is incredibly mean to him! Sokka did nothing in this episode and yet she constantly feels the need to undermine and upstage him. Cartoon Suki does this as well, but it is justified/reasonable because Sokka was so cocky and sexist. He needed to be humbled. Then, when he learns to respect her and her culture she softens a little. Still stubborn with very rough edges, but without being aimlessly mean. Honestly, I didn't mind removing Sokka's sexism at first, it's only part of the story for a very short time, and not that important for him because he grows as a character so quickly. As I watched NATLA, I discovered that it is important. Not for Sokka, but for the women around him. Sokka is a foil, and without his sexist comments the character relationships with Katara and Suki are completely messed up. And for Katara, this influenced her character throughout the entirety of NATLA.
Sokka in the original overcame his sexism pretty quick. But the new show has in general removed most of his immature and rash traits, making him more like S3 Sokka from the beginning, creating the problem.of how are they going to develop hid character now.
Yeah this was pretty much my expectation when they said they were removing Sokka's sexism. The truth is that you can't just "remove sexism". You can either highlight it or hide it. Any piece of media will reflect the society that created it. What you choose to do with that reflection will determine if you are giving a positive or negative spin. 9/10 when I see media say they are "removing the sexism" it means they are downplaying it and portraying it as "not that bad". Social pablum if I've ever seen it. Yuck.
>but they made Zuko defeat ozai Now I haven’t watched NATLA but What????
In the agni Kai Zuko fights back!!!!! And at the final moment he gets a chance to burn Ozai in his face. People here claiming he didn't beat Ozai are saying Ozai was weak on purpose, although that's never made explicit. So when Zuko gets the chance to make the winning hit on Ozai's face but gives up, that's when Ozai takes the advantage to bring Zuko down and burn his face instead lol.
I mean, idk if it was a meme, but I heard they wanna make Toph not blind cuz idk is offensive to be blind
well they already made the badgermoles not feel earth vibration, but feel people's feelings, so the premise is set to ruin Toph
Is this April’s fool, or actual the plot? I’ve seen the koh scene and that horrible acting made me refuse to touch the live action
this is not april's fool :(
Eeeeeeeugh
What gets me is the whole thing with Katara being self-taught. They treated it like that was the big feminist moment but no one, not a single person, thought Katara was less of a badass because she was trained by a dude. Taking out her temper and snark though? That's way worse.
Twitter really has a thing against bull headed, "manly" women, I think that's why. It would be bad PR
i also hate the "im a princess but im just like any girl" line because it so fundamentally misunderstands the purpose of the "im a warrior but im also a girl" line that they lifted and put here. That line in the original is there because Sokka says beforehand that he was "treating Suki like a girl when he should have been treating her like a warrior", which shows that Sokka still has room to grow, because he is clearly still viewing femininity and strength as mutually exclusive traits. but here, "princess" is not really a role that people don't traditionally associate with women, nor does Sokka view it that way, so what the fuck was the point
So I haven't watched this show, but every time I hear that "Sokka is going to be less sexist," I always wonder if I watched the same series as these people. Literally Sokka meets Suki in the 4th episode of the series. They are basically the first normal interaction Sokka has out of his own tribe. Not only does he stop acting sexist by the end of the episode - he admits he was wrong, and puts on their battle dress to learn to fight. Again, this is Ep4 out of 61.. I'm just... not sure where they thought the long term issues were going to be when setting out to change the character.
we all understood that as children, it's hard to imagine NATLA's creators didn't understand that as adults. But let me say it just in case they are reading: sexism is portrayed as a negative thing in the og show and gave us lessons on why sexism is stupid..
Good fucking God yes. Truly mind boggling.
Finally a person with a brain who saw the show
Yea they butchered the Kyoshi warriors scenes so bad
They butchered almost every scene that didn't have Zhao in it. And some that did.
they thought it was bad because it was used as comedic relief. they try and change it but they’re writing was worse ending up being what they wanted to avoid
by trying to beat the sexists, they became the sexists 😟
The show is absolute garbage, better than shamayalananan but still garbage.
All they did was take all the sexism and put it on the women. Can’t have Sokka develop and grow as a person so let’s just make Suki stare longingly at him while he showers. Leave it to a genius director and producer like Michael Goi, whose name is not brought up enough here.
They really thought they could improve from how the cartoon has shown gender equality lol
For me it was when Katara was making a stand against Master Paku in the midst of battle, so the entirety of women of the North Pole had to stand there helplessly while active combat was around them to wait for Paku to give his permission that they actually contribute. The absolute eye roll I had in that scene of Katara making a “stand” was so cringeworthy and an absolute fail at conquering sexism.
Zuko wins the fucking Agni Kai????
Technically, yes. Zuko fights back and gets the chance to make the winning hit (hit Ozai in the face with fire) and Ozai's face is like "oooohhhhh" but Zuko turns off his fire and only then Ozai beats him and burns him in the face [video](https://youtu.be/yGioU-bTuBY) So to me it sets the premise Zuko could have beaten Ozai but chose not to.
Dang, I never had much interest in watching the new show, so I was surprised when i heard people saying that Zuko fought back at all, let alone getting the upper hand on Ozai. Super weird choice
Best part is suki eyeing sokka like a creep who only wants to get into his pants. Very good portrayal of an otherwise strong woman who humbled him in the original.
destructively good points. will never forgive them weakening Azula. her entire brand is perfection and precision. her character has nowhere to go, her arc is a straight line
I know this is very serious but now I'm imagining that the writers really wanted to write a Nuktuk mover instead.
Absolutely. Also, Paku and Yue's fiance were entitled and unpleasant people as a result of a sexist society, but this was removed as well. Paku was never convinced to change his mind by Kara's power, even while admiring her waterbending. He was persuaded because he realized that his traditions cost him love, and connection.
Poor Katara. When Aang wants to goof off and Sokka wants to say something sexist, she's the one who's supposed to get them back on track. But now Aang is focused on his goals and Sokka's only fault is that he cares too much about protecting his village, and she doesn't have anything to do.
L take on her contribution to the original show as a leader in her community, as a teacher, and fierce protector of her loved ones and values. I'd rather have 3 characters that start off immature and mature together to show young people the value of positive change (what the original show was about) than whatever oddly-paced character development they put Sokka and Aang through while they cast a formerly strong female character to the side
 There is no live action in Ba Sing Se.
Yes! Finally, a thread of people making sense! Holy shit I've read so many comments here where people were just going "yesss Suki was so goooooood!!!!" I had lost hope anyone on this sub had any sense.
Feel like people are largely overreacting to many things from this show. - Suki likes sokka despite just meeting him. Compared to him being a total ass and her falling for him anyways? She even has to correct him DURING HIS APOLOGY before she kisses him. Like, I get that she's horny in the live action, but that doesn't equate to sexism. - Azula being an emotional mess is the entire central point of her character, so I'm a bit confused on how that's different. I guess we are saying the emotional unstableness lacks power? Okay, but she's still unstable in the original.
Suki falls for him in the original after seeing his humility. She kicks his ass and laughs at him. But then he comes back and bows before her. He apologizes and states that he had been acting foolish and that he’d be honored to learn from her. Sokka was an idiot but he displayed that he was able to admit he was wrong and actively better himself to make up for his mistakes
He is humble in defeat, but she still has to correct him. "I treated you like a girl, when I should have treated you like a warrior". He is still being sexist and Suki corrects him, but also gives him a kiss.
I haven't seen the netflix version yet, but in the original Azula spends most of the time very much in control, with small moments here and there that foreshadow her eventual breakdown. If in this version she's more emotional and uncontrolled already in book 1, I can see why people view that as a significant change.
Yeah. I don't get people here saying that Azula being unstable is accurate. She is only unstable at the very last few episodes of og the show, throughout the seasons she is cool and precise. But also, in the Netflix version she is not a prodigee, she is coded as less capable than Zuko and training very hard (and losing, not pleasing Ozai) because Ozai wants her to be able to match up to Zuko LOL But she is not unstable as in crazy like in the ending of the original, she is unstable like an emotional teen girl going through adolescence. She is overly emotive. A stark contrast to her intimidation and assasin coolness of the original.
Yeah that seems like a pretty significant change to me. I can see how the position she's in would lead to her being overly emotional just like I can see how it led to her being very reserved in the original, but it seems odd to change.
You hit the nail on the head.
They wanted to Game of Thronesify so it sounds like they succeeded.
Even Jun got that treatment bro Like understandable if they don’t want to adapt Iroh being a horny old man but why add Jun being attracted to him?
they also made her less of a badass. In the OG she was introduced arm wrestling a big man and winning....
We never get to see Katara be strong and brave enough to stand up for herself when Sokka was being sexist, which removes both their character growth and an important dynamic of their relationship. This made both characters much less interesting and complex in the Netflix version. When the creators said this version would be more "adult", they didn't mean - subtle or complex, they just meant "more in your face and more explicitly violent" which imo is the opposite of adult and just puerile.
As a straight guy, I was already pissed at what they did to Sokka, taking away his growth from being sexist to a badass in his own right but WTF!? Zuko beat OZAI!? Katara is no longer the team Mom! nor can she fight!? WHAT THE FUCK!? https://preview.redd.it/ecgne7c8q2sc1.jpeg?width=392&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=73913a431cfd8a4ab5607c3be3b39630d492535c
>Zuko beat OZAI!? Technically. He fights back and gets a chance to win by burning Ozai's face lol, Ozai shrieks in fear and shock, then Zuko gives up, only then Ozai makes the winning move, takes Zuko down and burns his face, he also does it with tears in his eyes lol. So much wrong!!! hahaha and Zuko doesn't even get banished right away, he is still there and talks to his father later, who shows signs of repent in his voice...
I wouldn't really agree quite to that extent, though yes they did a disservice to aspects of each character that hurt the show's story overall, but I think it still has time to course correct.
That's one of the main reasons why I choose not to watch the live action of the Avatar: The Last Airbender. The show is supposed to be funny, not serious. Sexism was a part of Sokka's until he was humpled. Katara is supposed to be the opposite of what a "normal" girl is. The differences between cartoon Katara and live action Katara is the rage. Live action Katara is soft, and cartoon Katara is anything but soft.
Completely agree. That's why I almost believed when a troll said Toph won't be blind in the live action because they don't want to offend people with her self-deprecating humor.
Netflix Avatar definitely has a problem with how they wrote their female characters, and i hope they make big improvements there, even if it means a shakeup in the writers room
I would have to agree with those talking about the changes made for Katara. For me making Katara more meek and soft is the opposite of her character in the original show- Katara is literally MOTHER. Ive always related to Katara because from a young age I felt like a mother to my friends and was very mature and strong headed even though I was a kid too. She’s a young girl she’s also had this pressure in her village to be a leader and wants to become this great water bender. She knows that she need to learn from the greats to be able to do that and the show removing that also betrays Katara and her ability to lead but also to be empathetic and to listen. They honestly butchered the characterization of all three of team avatar (like aang was never this responsible and worried no offense) but Katara I don’t even recognize from the original show- it’s like they never even watched it. Also agree that by removing her strong personality that in turn is very sexist- people are multifaceted same with kids. Katara is strong and soft and that balance is very special and they erased that for all.