#MeiThoughtsAbout “Avatar The Last Airbender”
Before this series made by Netflix came out, a live-action version of the Avatar film was released several years ago. But I don’t know why I’m not curious at all. There’s too much difference from the Avatar that “grew up” with me back then.
It really feels like meeting up again with your childhood crush! Super emotional turmoil appears from the first second of watching. A pleasant feeling that I haven’t felt in a long time. I recommend using a headset or turning up the speakers for those planning to watch this series.
I’ve re-watched the Nickelodeon cartoon version of Avatar several times. But this was the first time I felt very emotional, even (….almost) crying in some parts. I wonder if it’s because it was packaged in such a way and played directly by humans or because I watched it again at an age where I was sensitive about various things, which made me feel more relatable to the struggles of each character.
It may sound very subjective if I discuss how this series is packaged by Netflix, and I don’t think it’s my place to discuss this in more depth. I really appreciate everyone who worked hard behind the scenes to create these 8 episodes for Book 1 (because I expect another book will be coming^^). The details of the clothes they wear and the settings that appear make many people’s imaginations about the Avatar cartoon come true. And I cried out loud when I saw our beloved flying bison, Appa, look natural and want to be owned even more!
As usual, rather than reviewing the contents of the series as most reviewers do, I will draw more threads from various points I discovered while watching it.
Everyone is fighting against their respective struggles.
This series is identical to the problem of Aang returning after hundreds of years of absence, abandoning his responsibilities as an Avatar. I wasn’t too detailed in seeing Aang’s emotions when watching it in the cartoon. I just watch the broadcast every morning quietly while eating breakfast. But in this series, from the start, we are shown how Aang is scared to death and, like a child, flatly refuses the enormous responsibility that is suddenly bestowed upon him.
Aang and the characters around him are breathing to face different struggles. Sokka has to take over his father’s responsibilities as a warrior in his village. At the same time, people only see him as a child playing around. Another thing is that Katara lives behind the shadow of her mother; she has no one to support her in honing her water control skills. Fighting her curiosity, Katara grew up forced to forget the abilities she believed could protect her loved ones.
There’s also Zuko. In the cartoon, I only saw him as an angry and arrogant boy who disobeyed his parents. But sympathy for Zuko grows 1000 times greater in this series than it should. He is just a child learning and trying to express his opinion. Fill his mind. However, because he was born as the son of a king who was obsessed with dominating the world, his way of thinking was considered a weakness. After being kicked by his father, Zuko tries desperately to prove he is worthy of returning to the Kingdom.
Everyone wakes up to carry the burden on their shoulders again. You and the chicken porridge seller you met this morning also have invisible burdens on either side. The most cheerful kid you know in class, the co-worker who always looks focused on everything he does, even the online driver who keeps saying funny sentences. Everyone carries that invisible burden, wading through the day to fall asleep soundly at night.
When you face a problem yourself, it doesn’t mean you are alone.
Again, everyone has their own struggles. Everyone has tangled threads in their heads and chests that they desperately try to sort out. Sometimes, you may feel lonely because you have to face all your problems alone. But that doesn’t mean you are alone. You still have people around you who will provide support when needed.
In various problems that only we know how to solve, we need someone not to interfere but to accompany us. Just being present to say that we are not alone, can also be heard, that we don’t have to be suffocated alone because we cry in silence.
You will know who can be that kind of friend in many friendships you make throughout your life.
Don’t blame yourself for what happened in the past.
Aang returned with great regret within him. He feels that everything happening now, how the world has fallen under the rule of the Kingdom of Fire, is his fault. Because of his childish decision to leave where he lived. However, as Gyatso and everyone else have said, this is not Aang’s fault. That’s how the world should run. Aang could have died in the massacre if he had been fast asleep that night. He could have died like his other friends because, at that time, he was just a clueless child who was so shocked to hear that he was the next Avatar.
Just like Aang, what happens in your life is meant to happen. It’s not your fault. It’s not anyone’s fault. Continuing to dwell on regrets from the past will not make the world a better place.
You can romanticize all your anxieties in the past, but you have to know when it’s time to wake up and face today. Tomorrow. The days when you can breathe a sigh of relief when you look back at the past.
