Netflix's Avatar Must Not Copy Aang's Origin (To Avoid A Movie Mistake)
Netflix's reboot of Avatar: The Last Airbender needs to avoid the mistake with Aang's origin made in The Last Airbender. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, The Last Airbender was completely catastrophic as an adaptation of the beloved Nickelodeon anime-inspired series. Among the many problems with The Last Airbender was its rushed story structure, mainly regarding the young Avatar Aang's (Noah Ringer) severely limited backstory that is integral to the original story.
The Last Airbender adapted the first season, or «Book One,» of Avatar and condensed the 20-episode story into 103 minutes. The end result was a movie that played as a hurriedly scribbled version of season 1, including its presentation of Aang's origin as a monk of the Southern Air Temple frozen in ice for a century. In re-introducing Aang (Gordon Cormier) in live-action, Netflix's Avatar can't simply retread the ground that The Last Airbender did in how Aang's story begins. Fortunately, it can significantly change up how Aang's origin is shown.
RELATED: Avatar Theory: Kyoshi Is Aang's Mentor In Netflix's Last Airbender Reboot
Rather than starting with Aang being thawed from his suspended animation by the highly-talented Waterbender Katara (Kiawentiio Tarbell) and her brother Sokka (Ian Ousley) as depicted on the original show and in The Last Airbender, Netflix's Avatar can compartmentalize Aang's origin in a more non-linear fashion. As an 8-episode series, the Avatar reboot has plenty of breathing room and the freedom to choose a new starting point — showing Aang already aligned with Katara and Sokka and opposing the Fire Nation's conquest of the Four Nations. Aang's origin as the Avatar could also be something the show could approach more
Read more on screenrant.com
