I admit I still watch cartoons. I can blame it on being a mother who was concerned with what her children were watching when they were little but we all know that’s not the truth. I believe that a well-told story is as ageless as it is timeless. That’s why movies and books from before we were born still have an impact on us today. Times change, customs change, but people don’t change. There’s always a struggle to do what is right and good, no matter what era you grew up in. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a classic good versus evil tale of a young man who is the last of his kind and possibly the last hope for mankind. Drawing heavily from several Asian cultures and blending them with Western culture, Avatar has created a unique world and mythology of its own.
The people of this world are divided into four nations, with one of each of the elements as the central focus of their culture. Each generation someone (called an Avatar) is born empowered with one of the four elements — Earth, Water, Fire and Air — and through their influence, balance and peace is kept between nations. But the balance has been broken and the Fire Nation threatens to conquer all. As Avatar of Air, Aang and his companions Katara and Sokka must fight to restore the balance and stop the Fire Nation before it’s too late.
Some people might object to the watered down philosophies presented in Avatar: The Last Airbender but while the elements of Taoism, Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies are present in the show, they are uniquely blended and presented as part of the culture of this fantasy world and not as indoctrination for your children. What your children might learn from Avatar is that there are consequences to your actions, including how we treat our environment and resources and each other (Avatar won a 2009 Peabody Award for its “unusually complex characters and healthy respect for the consequences of warfare”).
Avatar: The Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons, from 2005 through 2008. Avatar’s animation style blended traditional anime with Western animation to create a unique animated experience. Each week over one million viewers of all ages watched Avatar. It won several awards during its run and garnered praise from viewers and critics alike. Alas, all good stories come to an end, and when Avatar: The Last Airbender’s end came in July 2008, over 5.6 million viewers tuned in for the two-hour series finale.
The appeal of this series wasn’t lost on M. Night Shyamalan. He took on the mantle of directing the film adaptation, titled The Last Airbender. Tentatively a trilogy, The Last Airbender is currently filming with a slated release in 2010, and is penned, along with Shyamalan, by the series creators DiMartino and Konietzko. Other encouraging names attached to production are Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy as producers (the team that brought us such films as Indiana Jones, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Sixth Sense, Arachnophobia, Back to the Future, The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and roughly six dozen more) and special effects by Industrial Light & Magic. The teaser trailer for the film was just posted and I was so excited after watching it that I’m ready to dash over to Amazon.com to buy the DVD box set (my son and I missed the last half of the third season and series finale as we spent the summer camping). I am really looking forward to this coming out. It looks amazing and, with the team that’s working on it, I can’t imagine it being anything less then great.
Check out these other related links:
The Last Airbender on IMDb
The Last Airbender YouTube Channel
Avatar: The Last Airbender Nickelodeon Website
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 1 Collection DVD
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 2 Collection DVD
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 3 Collection DVD