The Other

atla-annotated:

I will say this only once, since I am really getting sick of this:

Republic City is not set in the West.

Yes, this is an American show and there are plenty American pop-culture references and jokes, but that does not make the universe they created a western one. On the contrary, they went out of their way to research and construct a Sino-centric universe for ATLA.

One reference does not mean the whole universe is based on that on fact. If that were true the ATLA universe was Star Wars (see ep. The Library and Star Wars jokes).

As for points people have brought up:

Melting Pot does not mean New York: There are plenty of melting pots all over the world, Hong Kong being one, so is London, Rio, Singapore, Macao to just name a few.

Skyscrapers do not mean New York or the West: Do I seriously need to point this out?

The US was not the only place Jazz was popular in during the 1920s, it was a worldwide musical trend.

The mob is called the triads (Chinese mob).

Please stop taking ONE thing/building etc and then make the assumption that RC has to be that one city.

The show does not have a ‘West’. Real life western inventions, like the hot air balloon (France), are invented in the show by non-westerns i.e. in this case the Mechanist and Sokka. We have to assume that all other inventions are paralleled in the same way. Since there is no West.

The ATLA Universe is a Sino-centric Universe

- most of the people are Asian

- all the writing is in Chinese

- the majority of the names are Chinese

- a lot of the four nation’s culture is based on Chinese culture

- the buildings have elements from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and First Nation

- the food is Asian

- the eating utensils (chopsticks) are Asian

- the furniture is Asian

-  the clothes are Asian

- the history of RC parallels Hong Kong

- the mob is called the triads

- the bending is based on Chinese martial arts

- there are references to Chinese history all over the show

On a last note: If you feel like arguing with me about this: Bring facts in the form of links screenshots.

Edited to add: This was brought to you by the huge number of idiotic messages I’ve gotten in the last 24 hours. Not by any one person.

This needed to be explained to people? Seriously, the ignorance of some folk. This need for whitewashing everything has go to stop.

velocicrafter:

purdaldoo: pensive-harpy:

WHAT’S THAT?  YOU WANT ME TO PICK TOYS FROM MY PAST LIVES TO PROVE I’M THE AVATAR?  OKAY, I’LL PICK A TOY.  IT’S CALLED “FUCK THAT NOISE, I’M GOING TO BEND THE SHIT OUT OF THESE THREE ELEMENTS RIGHT FUCKING NOW.”

THERE.  AVATAR. 

FUCK YOU.

reblogging for flawless commentary

I love that her first line in this scene is, “I’M THE AVATAR! DEAL WITH IT!” & then this happens.  ^^