Haflway through season 1. Amon has made his grand entrance at the bending tournament.
I have to say, I haven't developed any kind of attachment to any of the characters yet. Amon reminds me of a less cheesy/more successful Cobra Commander..
Would respectfully disagree - as I appreciate what Amon represents when it comes to the reasons why revolutions occur - as well as the ways that others may choose to go about it in the wrong way to achieve noble ends in ending inequality. Amon was very complicated and I appreciated the way they developed him....truly epic, IMHO. As another pointed out wisely,
"Amon was the villain to end all Avatar villains. Not only was he a multidimensional character with layers and a thorough backstory, but he also proved to be incredibly dangerous for anyone that stood in his way."
I appreciated what
this review had to say on the direction of the show based on where Amon took it:
The struggle between the haves and the have-nots was, at a roughly analogous time in real-world history, a huge geopolitical theme, and tying that so deftly into the bender v. non-bender struggle down to the aesthetic of the propaganda posters, the methods of secret meetings, and the rhetoric used by the non-bender parties was (and again, I say this as a giant history nerd) amazing. And, as a friend pointed out to me while I was complaining to her that I had no idea what to write besides THIS WAS SO AWESOME copy-pasted over and over, its deliciously morally gray.
Amons justification for his vendetta a firebender destroying his family is the same backstory thats shared by both Sokka and Katara in the original series, as well as Bolin and Mako in the current series, with a side-order of Zuko-esque angst because a firebender also destroyed his face. Its also hard, even going into the series as biased as we are towards benders, to really fault him. The people he targets are people like gang leaders, who objectively have used their powers to oppress non-benders. Theyre not sympathetic innocents. The other thing thats interesting about this presented struggle is how much more faith it displays in the maturity of the Avatar audience. The first series started as a pretty black and white struggle: firebenders are bad, they must be stopped. Any nuance that was added to this struggle was something the audience was methodically lead through. But the bender v. non-bender struggle is, off the bat, a much more mature conflict for the audience to grapple with. In fact, the whole tone of the series is much more mature, which is a pretty smart move. Clearly no one expected that Avatar would be as popular with older audiences as it was, and on top of that, fans of the original who perhaps started in the target demographic have grown up since the show began.
In the show, the secondary villains arent allowed to steal the show from Amon (even though I appreciate them as well ) and Amon is both clever and powerful enough to be convincingly threatening. Moreover,
he also has a point is anybody on the city council not a bender? And yes, the degree of worship centered around bending athletes are problematic, especially when you see the attendant bullying tied in there. Additionally, benders are allowed to defend themselves with their powers...but teaching chi-blocking is illegal, flat out? I can see assaulting somebody via chi-blocking being illegal, but the skill set entirely? There were some BIG themes in the show that needed to be tackled and yet were not considered in
The Last Airbender
'The Legend of Korra' Takes On Redistribution was truly bold - as it challenges something Aang never seemed to deal with in his time - how to deal with inequality for NON-Benders and how will non-benders respond in the place of lacking powers to make up for the need for power in the Avatar universe? ... The Redistribution dynamic does seem to be very interesting when considering the ways it often seems to follow right alongside the concept of Revolution....specifically in cases where people wishing to have redistribution open the door for others to use the same language and yet do so in the name of a positive while promoting a negative---similar to the Communist Revolution where others were fighting against tyranny in one form of government but opened the door for others
to use the movement that was started to address an issue...and in the process, hijack a movement for their own ends in the name of good.
Other revolutions have experienced the same realities many times and it's an ever present danger---as redistribution
can be either good or bad depending on the people involved.....and it's a never-ending battle that's tricky to navigate - but on the issue, there are thankfully types of media that do help to get the point across.
These are real life issues and I was glad that
a cartoon show managed to bring about a good and necessary discussion on issues of disparity and mistreatment..as well as politics and privilege .....and the mature development of the show were necessary to make more realistic in how cultures evolve. So glad
the Legend of Korra Tackles Class and Urbanization
For good review, one can go
here or here:
His rebellion is actually similar to certain points in Asian history when it comes to religions rebellions (even as seen in how He calls his followers brothers and sisters, not comrades).
As another noted:
Please read this first:
Taiping Rebellion (1850 to 1864, present day Nanjing) was led by Hong Xiuquan, who claimed (through visions) that he was the younger brother of Jesus. He founded the 太平天囯 Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, which led to the (failed) Taiping Rebelling against the Qing government, and cost 20 million civilians their lives.
Now, while I still think that the Equalist movement is paralleling the Communist Revolution, especially with the oppression of the non-benders and their demands of equality, there are points to be made for the Equalists and Amon, to be a mash up of both i.e. the Communist Revolution AND The Taiping Rebellion.
Noteworthy things:
- There is the character 平 is used by both, by Hong Xiuguan and Amon.
- Then there is the way the Equalists get addressed at the rally: As Brothers and Sisters. This is not a Communist greeting, that would be Comrade. Brothers and Sisters does, on the other hand, do have a religious ring to it. Amon also, so far, has not called for a redistribution of wealth.
- Amon calls the rally Revelation. And while that fits the episode i.e. him revealing his (potential) Energybending powers, it also has a very Christian Revivalist ring to it.
- Amon claims to be in touch with the Spirit World i.e. he claims the spirits taught him energybending. The Avatar is the religious aka spiritual leader of their world, meaning that Amons claim does have, once again, a religious ring to it.
Amon - Equalists vs. the Anti-Equalist Task Force
Real Life parallels: Kuomintang vs. Communists
The Equalists, their rhetoric, outfits and posters are strongly influenced by Communist rethoric and themes. Compare the propaganda posters, that Amon promises Equality for the oppressed non-benders, their goal of overthrowing the existing power/government structure and last, but not least him claiming to come from humble farmer origins, like Mao Zedong.
Now, lets talk about this new task force.
Who are they, what do they want?
- Protect the existing order
- Protect the Republic i.e. the existing political system
- Led by the rich and privileged
Historically, in the 1920, two main forces tried to get political control of China: The Communist Party and the Kuomintang (Nationalists) and the show seems to strongly parallel those two groups, their symbolism and ideals, in the two factions that we see: Equalists and Task Force.
I think the airbender cast was just more likable. Though Lance Henriksen as
Amon's Lieutenant is awesome. He did such a great job as General Tesler on the animated Tron: Uprising series so it's nice to see him doing voice work again.
The Lieutenant was very amazing - although Amon seemed to be more powerful, IMHO. But again, the Lieutenant was very impressive in the way he pledged his life for a cause to address inequality even though he was harming/demonizing all benders for the acts of others who were oppressive....very amazing insight into human nature.
As it concerns the Airbender Cast, there was more time to develop relationship with them - but I actually found myself liking the
Team Avatar from Korra's cast better - at least in realizing they are in vastly different era than Aang's time.
Airbender seemed to imply that benders were rare, or at least secluded so
the dramatic advance in technology makes a lot of sense...non-benders compensating. And the integration/diversity in the city would also make sense once the nations united
Indeed - and the benders being the ones powering much of that technology gives an excellent twist to that dynamic..
As a side note to Watership Down again, when the first war ends, integration doesn't work out either. The Cowslip warren rabbits prefer to strike out on their own after they try to merge. The slaves from the Efrafan warren are too traumatized to trust their newly found freedom. Honorable Efrafan soldiers have difficulty adapting to reduction in structure and the corrupt soldiers become outright thugs. It's nice not to see "happily ever after"
True...
It's more real not having "happily ever after" moments - as it's more accurate to have bittersweet ordeals.
