Tonight on "Phrases that inspire absolutely zero confidence in the viewer"
Back in November my partner and I discussed this with our friends. The big issue with them shifting the story is that it seems like they're losing a ton of key components to the character's arcs and development. Obviously this is all speculation, but we'll see.
Something that has often been ignored or not discussed much is language within the Avatar Universe. Today, @xaibaugrove and I would like to discuss this in depth and share our theories and opinions on the matter.
There’s a construct of universal language within television and movie media, this means that all of the characters understand one another through a specific language, English in this case. This obviously is the case due to Avatar being an American animated series. But if we truly broke this down, English would not be the canonical universal language in the Avatar Universe. So what would be?
To tackle this question, we need to first figure out what languages would be spoken in specific nations and areas. So let’s do that.
There are some easy assumptions, such as Japanese for the Fire Nation and Tibetan for the Air Nomads. For the Southern Water Tribe, they would both be speaking a form of Inuktitut. Within each of these nations, there would be dialects and unique subsets of languages depending on the area they’re from.
The area that would have the most diverse language differences within their own nation would be the Earth Kingdom. Due to its size and diverse subsets of people, we believe there would be a large variety of dialects/languages within, but all would be forms of Chinese. In Ba Sing Se the predominant language would be Mandarin. For the large majority of the other areas, the language would be Cantonese. But then we have to break down that other areas such as the Si Wong Desert and Foggy Swamp would also have their own language/dialect. Something that is interesting and present in real world China is that there are over 200 different dialects/languages and it’s not just Chinese and/or Mandarin/Cantonese as many would assume. So we can easily apply this same idea and concept to the Earth Kingdom.
So this brings us back to our original question, what would the Universal Language in the Avatar Universe be? We believe that it would be a form of Chinese, mainly leaning towards spoken Mandarin due to the superiority and monarchy of Ba Sing Se. The next most predominant language would be Japanese due to the colonization during the Hundred Year War. People may ask, then why isn’t Japanese the most predominant? And the answer is this, the war was only 100 years. It would have taken much longer to spread their language to the extent that Chinese has already been spread due to the size of the Earth Kingdom. On top of this, Chinese is the language that is most seen canonically in writing. But we also have to break down that even within the series we see the Fire Nation making posters with Chinese, but again, this show is an American animated series, so it was easiest to have all of the writing done in Chinese.
The thing that supports different languages the most within the Avatar Universe is naming. We can look at the names of each character and where they are from and from this we can see patterns related to language. Names stem from specific languages, thus being more supporting evidence for the specific languages for each nation.
So technically every character within Republic City (from TLOK) and throughout the majority of the Earth Kingdom would be speaking Mandarin Chinese. But on top of this, many characters would be bilingual. Korra’s native language would be Inuktitut. Asami’s native language would be Japanese. Tenzin’s native language would be Tibetan. And an interesting case would be Mako and Bolin only knowing one language, Mandarin Chinese and not Japanese due to their parents being killed at an early age.
Due to the array of languages, the Avatar, master of all four elements, would also need to be a master of languages. This means that as the Avatar their training would include language classes. This also means that Aang actually would have struggled to communicate with Sokka and Katara, honestly everyone that he met due to having a short period of formal language training. This could even be seen when Aang would use certain terms such as “Flameo Hotman” and Sokka/Fire Nation People being confused by this outdated term.
In the case of Korra, she would be able to speak fluently in at least Inuktitut and Mandarin. Korra could also have a cute accent when speaking Mandarin. But we also assume that she would know the basics of multiple other languages. It’s fun to imagine that Korra would go back to her roots when highly agitated or when extremely happy due to not being able to express herself properly in a second language. This is even more interesting when you break down the issues of communication between her and Mako. Mako would have been monolingual and not completely understand the nuances of being multilingual, which could then lead to even more misunderstanding and frustration. In the case of Asami, the idea of going in and out of two or more languages would be more easily understandable.
From a viewer standpoint, the idea of multiple languages tied to each nation adds depth to the Avatar Universe. It also brings together the overall influence and inspiration of the surroundings/environment that the creators had put together. It adds nuance to character relationships and the society that they live in. Finally, it’s a different perspective that widens the lens of viewers that Chinese would be the universal language along with their native languages and it’s just been translated to English so that WE can understand what is occurring.
Water... Earth... Fire... Air...
Avatar Zodiac: Year of the Boar-Q-Pine
Just a friendly reminder that there’s an awesome and totally super cool server on Discord just for ATLA/TLOK!
Join here! https://discord.gg/f6PkAVj
Come join us in Ba Sing Se where there are no wars or secrets.
Seriously though, come join 190 others on Discord to rewatch ATLA/TLOK this month and just chill and get to know people in the fandom. We’ve got multiple rewatch times to accommodate all timezones and the people are all amazing. It’s a great community and you’re all missing out!
Discord Link: https://discord.gg/t83WgYa
Event calendar
You all can still join the Avatar Rewatch Discord. I just had the honor to join the moderator team for it and added Avatar Emojis. The community is great and active, even when the rewatches aren’t happening. There are also multiple rewatch times to accommodate timezones. @avatarrewatch
Everyone should join the ATLA/TLOK Rewatch Discord! Join the many members of the fandom in chatting and reacting when live watching the two series this month and next month.
This is a great way to get to know others in the fandom or if you’re not in the fandom yet, come join us and watch the amazing show and get to know some other people. There’s already some well known bloggers, fanfic writers, fanartists, and others in the Discord already!
I do agree with you about Zuko, but I also think that there're some double standards between him and Azula. I feel like he creates most of his misery with his short temper and entitlement. He is the one who decides to go after the Avatar. Also I didn't like him helping Katara in her revange for the sole purpose of her liking him. It's her decision but he does encourage her in doing the one thing that she can't come back from. Sorry, I like knowing people's opposite view, I hope you don't mind.
I don’t mind. I also like to hear other people’s views on things. I agree and disagree with some of the things you’ve said here.
1) Zuko’s search for the Avatar stemmed from his abuse from his father. He wanted to earn his father’s respect and regain his rightful place as the crowned prince. He was forced into an agnai kai by a grown man and then banished. His only way back into the only life he knew, was to find the Avatar. It wasn’t his choice. He also was only 16 and grew up with a father that lashed out at him. Again, his father was the source of his short temper and aggression. And yes, he was entitled. He was a prince growing up with major privileges.
2) I’m not so sure there was a double standard when it came to Zuko and Azula. They were both cases of extreme abuse and Azula went further into mental illness because she was subject to it longer. She was kept in the bubble that was the Fire Nation. She didn’t have the support that Zuko later found. There’s a reason why she was the one to finally break.
3) I haven’t watched ATLA in a while. But I remember not liking the episode where Katara is encouraged to take revenge. I can’t recall if Zuko’s reason for this was to get Katara to like him, or if it was because he wanted to gain her trust as well as felt empathetic toward what she was going through. I do know that, Zuko’s way of solving problems is through retaliation. It’s through revenge, an eye for an eye. That’s how he was raised. That’s how the Fire Nation was. I do agree that that was not good of Zuko, but it did elevate Katara’s character and showed her strength when she doesn’t take revenge.
Why do people have to lable themselves with everything? It is a show with mostly asian influences/eskimo influences. Some have light skin in the show some don’t. Aang has grey eyes, black/brown hair and light skin, that can be both considered asian or white. But his character and culture is based on the tibet monks so it is more asian based. But why do people have to make a big deal of it I wonder It’a a show with fantastic characters. Isn’t that the most important thing? This is no hate btw :)
It’s not about labeling, it’s about representation. In America we grow up watching tv, watching/reading the news, and being surrounded by social media. In these formats, we mainly are shown white heteronormative people. And when we do see POC, we see them as criminals, as the one black friend or Asian friend of the group, as stereotypes that hinder our people rather than bring light to their strengths. But ATLA/TLOK doesn’t do that. It takes the Asian culture and highlights it. It elevates it.
That would all be different if it was white people (especially Aang). It would once again bring in the ‘white savior narrative.’ That’s the idea that a nation isn’t at it’s best until a white person comes into play. That they can’t solve their own problems on their own because they are primitive. That their culture isn’t best until a white person comes to make it better. This can be seen in Glory (1989), Dangerous Minds (1996), Amistad (1997), Finding Forrester (2000), The Last Samurai (2003), Half Nelson (2006), Freedom Writers (2007), Gran Torino (2008), Avatar (2009), The Blind Side (2009), The Help (2011), The Great Wall (2016), and many many more.
I’m going to assume that you’re white, since your bio says ‘Dutchie.’ So let me ask you this; If you grew up only seeing POC on television and seeing a white person as the background character, maybe only having two lines an episode. If that white person was at the end of most jokes because of their skin color or culture. If that white person was the stereotypical frat boy or dumb blonde every single time. If you grew up seeing everything good related to darker skin, to the point that you would use skin darkeners, or curl your hair every single day. If you grew up wanting darker eyes because that was what was beautiful. If there was a show full of white people, then it would be amazing to you. It would represent you in a place that usually doesn’t have space or respect for you. It would be exciting and validating. So take everything that I just said there and flip it. That’s what we POC see in ATLA/TLOK. It represents us, it validates us in a society that often stresses beauty in paleness. A society that is gradually accepting differences (also remember that ATLA aired in 2005, which means it was super progressive). We live in a society that loves to label. That’s why we have race in the first place. So when people say that it’s not important or that there are white people in the series, we do get defensive. Because when people deny that ATLA/TLOK are all Asian, it is damaging. It is hurtful. It makes us question why it’s so bad that they are all Asian.
And yes, ATLA/TLOK are amazing shows without race/ethnicity in question. They address genocide, violence, child abuse, mental illness, death, physical disabilities, classism, racism, fascism, dictatorship, gender, sexuality, and so much more. But what elevates the show and is important to many people is that it is a full cast of POC people. It’s an added element to an already amazing show.
If people are curious; I wrote a post about how characters in ATLA/TLOK are Asian even with the ambiguous art style: click here.
Maybe she is not woc just because of her name, she looks nothing like an Asian woman, her eyes are green, wide and her hair is wavy, there's nothing wrong with her being white, it doesn't make her less lgbt, white lesbians exist and are also valid you know
Wow, okay. Since this isn’t as mean as that last ask, I’m going to answer this seriously and not be a sarcastic ‘stupid bimbo bitch.’
(1) She’s Asian. (2) TLOK can be considered an ‘American’ series influenced and inspired by anime , this means that the art style is ambiguous in a way. Meaning that people are drawn and may not ‘look’ Asian, but are. (3) Many of the names in ATLA/TLOK are based on Asian names. They come from China, Japan, and Korea mostly (not including the Inuit based characters). (4) All of the bending and majority of society of ATLA/TLOK are based on Asian culture. If these people weren’t Asian, then the whole series would be a slew of cultural appropriation. (5) Her being Asian, does not invalidate white lesbians. White lesbians are represented in media a hell of a lot more than POC queer folk. (6) Claiming that she’s white, invalidates queer POC. (7) She’s bisexual, not lesbian. (8) Finally, people have such misconceptions about what an Asian person looks like. So I’m going to put this straight and maybe some people will understand that Asians are extremely diverse and beautiful people.
(A) Asians can naturally have green or blue eyes. It’s a genetic mutation, so it’s present in their genes, even if rare due to dark eyes being a dominant trait. Green eyes are usually more hazel, but it’s animation, meaning they can press for the more vibrant colors.
(B) Asians can have naturally wavy and curly hair. But they can also style it and curl with a curling iron. I would not put it past Asami to use one… she does already spend time on her make up and appearance is obviously important to her. She may also get a more long term Asian perm too due to having the money to get this done regularly. The first two images are short term styling, the last one is a long term Japanese perm.
(C ) Asian eyes can be wide. They can be larger and rounder. They aren’t all the misconstrued idea that they’re slanted and narrow. They can be and that’s just as beautiful as wide open eyes. But again this also goes down to the art style and freedom with animation. If you look above, their eyes are fairly wide, especially the female on the left. And below are some examples of the varying shapes and sizes.
(D) You didn’t mention this, but Asians also can be dark, light, in between, etc. Their tone of skin can vary greatly. This map shows how skin color in Asia is very diverse.
As a final note, this isn’t me calling you out or anything. This is me trying to educate you and the other people who deny a canon fact. All of ATLA/TLOK are people of color. And you denying that is more detrimental to POC than it is to white people when people stand by that the characters are POC.
