10 Unpopular Opinions About The Live-Action Avatar: The Last Airbender Series, According To Reddit
Avatar: The Last Airbender has a complicated relationship with adaptation. The dismally received 2010 film The Last Airbender was so hated by fans that it's essentially become a movie non grata in online communities. There is no live-action film in Ba Sing Se, or so they say. Given that track record with live-action material, Netflix's announcement of a live-action series was met with a heavy dose of skepticism from the outset.
Moderating that skepticism was the assurance that Avatar co-creators, Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante Dimartino, would be involved with the project in a creative oversight role. Unfortunately, the two have since left the production team citing a lack of creative control. Their departure sent fans into a flurry of discussion, with some heralding doom, and others holding on to cautious optimism for the fate of the live-action series.
10 It's Not Looking Good
An unofficial poll conducted by the users of /r/TheLastAirbender suggests that fans are, generally speaking, not optimistic about Netflix's live-action adaptation. Of 322 respondents, the majority expressed extreme pessimism that the show will be good, with only 16 reporting confidence in the product, and the rest remaining cautiously optimistic.
It seems that going into things, the cards are stacked against Netflix's project. Perhaps it was inevitable that another live-action project would evoke memories of the movie-that-shall-not-be-named, or maybe it's that the announcement of another animated project from the newly-minted Avatar Studios swallowed most of the hype.
9 Netflix Will Force Fans To Realize How Good Korra Was
There are several endless debates to choose from in Avatar fan spaces. Should Aang have killed Ozai? Is Zutara shipping to be tolerated? Do the Lion Turtles make sense? But perhaps the most controversial topic out there is that pertaining to whether or not The Legend of Korra, Avatar's sequel series, is any good.
Dissecting Korra discourse will require a separate article, but there are some fans out there with hot takes about Korra's relationship to the upcoming live-action project. Some have suggested that if the live-action series is bad, then it will retroactively make fans like Korra more. Is there a conspiracy among Korra fans to sabotage the live-action show so as to finally end Korra discourse forever? Unlikely, but not impossible.
8 Netflix's Track Record On Animation Adaptations Is Questionable
Fans of animation generally do not hold the very concept of the Netflix adaptation in high regard. This attitude is so pervasive that "Netflix Adaptation" has become a punchline in many a meme template lampooning an apparent lack of understanding of a show's source material. Fueling this animosity are adaptations like Death Note and Winx, which most fans argue failed to capture the appeal of the original works.
With a track record like that, many fans are concerned that Netflix will opt for a similarly "adult" or "edgy" approach in Avatar, which, if executed improperly, will be at once a lackluster adaptation and an embarrassing product in its own right. It's possible that the Avatar adaptation will be the one to break this cycle, but many fans remain skeptical.
7 Aaron The Last Airbender
Among the more egregious mistakes that the original live-action movie made was the baffling decision to just, kind of turn everyone white. Except for the Fire Nation. Aside from the immediate confusion that arose from seeing white Sokka galavant about the Avatar setting, many longtime fans felt that casting white actors in a setting inspired in large part by East Asian aesthetics and culture clashed heavily with the presentation of the story, to say nothing of representation concerns.
Some fans, then, are happy to hear that at the very least Netflix doesn't seem bent on making that same mistake. Casting a more appropriately diverse set of actors is certainly a step in the right direction, with the next step being that the showrunners learn how to properly pronounce the characters' names.
6 Canonize Zutara
Shipping naturally becomes a part of the fandoms for every popular film or TV series, so it's worth mentioning that the specter of shipping indeed haunts the Netflix project too.
The rumor that Netflix planned to age up some of the cast, namely Katara, led to renewed hopes among the Zutara faithful that the age change was preparing the grounds for an explicit commitment to the imaginary relationship between Zuko and Katara. Some even went as far as putting together petitions aimed at the showrunners, which certainly shows dedication, among other things.
5 It's Not The End Of The World Either Way
Regardless of whether or not the show is good, it's likely to provoke some pretty intense reactions. A fandom as large as Avatar's is prone to heated discourse by nature, and on a subject as sore as Avatar's relationship with live-action adaptations it's unlikely that cooler heads will prevail going forward.
Still, some have pointed out that the Netflix series will in no way harm the original show. That story will always be there, and it will probably stay beloved going forward. Furthermore, even if the Netflix series winds up being terrible, it will inevitably become the source of endless meme material, which is far from the worst possible fate imaginable.
4 Live-Action Simply Doesn't Work For Avatar
There are those out there for whom any live-action project will inevitably fail to capture the spirit of the original series. A big part of the appeal of the show is its animation, and it's hard to see how certain action sequences or visual gags would work out had they been presented in another medium.
Furthermore, the track record regarding live-action adaptations of animated media has historically not been very good. Adaptations of animated classics like Disney's Aladdin have been met with mixed reviews, with most agreeing that they fail to capture the charm of the original work. Can live-action work for Avatar? It hasn't in the past, but perhaps with the project in different hands, it might turn out differently.
3 The Show Might Still Be Good
In the midst of the relentless pessimism that erupted following the departure of the original Avatar co-creators from the Netflix show, there were still those that expressed cautious optimism about the project's future. Cautious optimism is optimism nonetheless, so it's good to know that there are fans out there that haven't given up hope.
Provided that Netflix doesn't commit a serious transgression like fielding an all-white cast or insisting on the consistent mispronunciation of every character's name, there is at least some possibility that the live-action project can present the Avatar story with its own identity, perhaps in a more mature light as well.
2 The Sacrifice Of Netflix So That Avatar Studios May Live
Many fans lost their optimism for Netflix's live-action project when the co-creators of the original series announced their departure from the production, leading many to fear that the "creative differences" cited as their reason for departure represented some serious red flags for the direction the series was taking.
That disappointment was later pacified when Nickelodeon announced the formation of Avatar Studios, a production studio headed by Avatar's co-creators that would be tasked specifically with creating new media in the Avatar universe. With the studio's upcoming animated film generating a lot of buzz, some fans have taken to seeing their loss of faith in the live-action series as a fated occurrence -- Netflix lost Konietzko and Dimartino so that Avatar Studios could be born.
1 Make It As Different From The Original As Possible
One of the biggest complaints about the 2010 live-action film, aside from the writing, effects, casting choices, acting, and name pronunciation, was that it seemed to fundamentally misunderstand certain elements of the original Avatar TV show. Things like bending, the rules of the Avatar Cycle, and many nuances of the setting were either lost or reworked in the process of adaptation.
Many hope that the upcoming Netflix project will right those wrongs and present a more faithful retelling of the Avatar story, but there are others that hope for a looser adaptation that seeks to stake out its own identity. It certainly does seem like one-to-one live-action adaptations of animated works fall flat (see Lion King, for example), so perhaps it's best for Netflix to take some liberties.