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Avatar The Last Airbender

Restoring the Balance of the World:

Avatar the Last Airbender and Human Dignity

by Arda Kölemezli and Ceren Atik

Avatar: The Last Airbender might be among the most acclaimed animated tv show ever created. When you first start watching the show you might think it is created for kids but if you keep on watching you will learn that it is a show for all ages. Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated TV series created by Bryan Konietzko and Michael Dante DiMartino and aired on Nickelodeon between 2005-2008. In this universe, there are 4 nations: Air Nomads, Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, and the Fire Nation. The main plot of the show is that our main character, Aang, who is the current Avatar, a person who is combined with the light spirit Rava, must master all 4 elements- air, water, earth, and fire- and bring balance and peace to the world. The only thing is, Aang has been missing for the last 100 years.

When you watch a cartoon show whose main focus is action and comedy, you would not think that it would show the worst human tragedies ever happened such as genocide and brainwashing. As the title of the series says, Aang is the only living Air Nomad left because the Fire Nation has committed genocide and killed every Air Nomad citizen to become the only power in the world. To summarize, the Fire Nation is this universe’s Nazi Germany. At the start of the 100 Year War, the leader of the Fire Nation, Fire Lord Sozin wanted to expand his nation’s borders, and in order to do that he must kill the next Avatar, who is going to be an Air Nomad Avatar. With the help of a comet, he, and his army destroyed an entire nation.

We witness another human tragedy when the Team Avatar enters the capital city of Earth Kingdom, a big city surrounded by a big wall, to gain allies to end the war, they see a different city. Ba Sing Se, the Earth Kingdom capital, is laid out as a district. The city gets poorer when you move further from the center, which shows how the city takes care of its people. The king thinks that he is running the city, but it is being run through corruption and torture by the king’s guards, Dai Li Agents. There is a war going around for 100 years and these Dai Li Agents will capture, torture, and brainwash anyone who talks about the war’s existence. They want their citizens to behave as they want to by using fear.

Avatar The Last Airbender is a great example of storytelling. This is a show that can mix comedy and drama, tackling issues such as prohibition of torture, integrity of a person and humans right to life perfectly, and makes the audience learn that even in a universe like this human dignity is inviolable and should be respected.