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pumpkinrootbeer · 1 month ago

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Aang being a shitty dad is fine, but it's the way tlok makes Aang a shitty I have a problem with. You're telling me a guy who's entire culture was whipped out and whole family was massacred wasn't overjoyed at the possibility of sharing his culture with his entire family?

Would Aang have given more attention to Tenzin? Probably, them being the only airbenders would have almost certainly fostered a complex dynamic between the two— even to the extent that it would damage the father/son relationship. I think it's also worth pointing out that Aang was raised in a culture without the nuclear family dynamic we see him participarting in with Katara and their kids, and it's not out of the realm of possibility that Aang would fall short of the expectations and responibilities being a typical father figure brings especially when he himself never experienced that dynamic. Especially, especially compounded with the task of rebuilding a struggling world and maintaining peace.

However, do I think he would neglect to show his kids his culture? Their culture? No. Certainly not the extent he did, and especially not when we see how excited he is to share it with his friends in the show. Why wouldn't he be excited to share it with his kids? With all his kids? How the writers of The Legend of Korra make him a bad dad is a complex series of failures not the least of which stem from racism, the unwillingness to even attempt an understanding of multicultural families, TLOK originally being a 12 episode miniseries that then got greenlit for another season and was suddenly taxed with building upon a world that was never intended to exist beyond its original scope, and a fundamental misunderstanding of Aang as a character.

tldr:

#he probably would have been a kinda shitty dad just Not Like That #and while were here #why is bumi portrayed as essentially cultureless? certainly there were non benders in the air nomads #and why does the show act like only Bolin is from the earth nation and Mako from the fire nation?#because these white! creators fundamentally do not understand what living in a multicultural household is like #and were completely incurious to what the experience might've been like for these characters #and again. to harp on the whole building upon a world that was never intended to exist outside its original premise thing #that's why the writing gets weaker in the second season and picks back up in the third #these writers are clearly talented but so obviously fumbled when it came to expanded on these characters #who were written for a short quick one off series and then suddenly had to exist outside of that #all of the arcs and story beats were pretty one note and quick because book 1 is a full complete story #that's why only book 1 ties into the name conventions of atla #because all of the legend of korra was originally built to just be book one #and then suddenly your stuck with this story that you had completely wrapped up #and characters who now have to be expanded beyond what they were intended to be #and the writers very clearly could not do that. that's why Aang being a shitty dad comes out of left field almost.#and why none of the villains tie into each other until the very end with a quick little explanation #and it's also why the world building is so much weaker than atla #atla was know for it's compelling world building and dynamic side characters None of which exist in tlok #or well. they do! in a much smaller diluted form.#because functionally the story is still trapped in the original confines of the first season #and also trapped in the back there is 50% less content every season #no time to experience a small village in the fire nation! we gotta get to plot!#no time to flesh out the comic relief character!! plot! gotta get to the plot!!#and they couldn't even make that plot good in the second season.#atla #tlok #aang

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