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.