#but why Varrick of all wealthy people?

[yell0wsalt]

It’s a common idea in the world of Avatar that people of status and wealth Avatar will have a last name:

The Beifongs, Satos, and even Varrick, too

But then there’s Zhu Li Moon

With a last name serving as assistant to Varrick, I can’t help but wonder:

What’s her back story? If following the trend of people of wealth having last names, then why would she work for Varrick in the capacity she does? What kind of path did she want to make for herself and what would she have to gain as Varrick’s assistant of all people?

[army-of-mai-lovers]

tbh I think watching lok b1 fucked up my brain permanently because it’s been months since I finished the show and yet every night before I go to sleep I start thinking about these very plot-relevant questions like “are nonbenders in Republic City systemically oppressed? how so? were they able to vote in local elections? it seems like they weren’t able to because there are no nonbenders on the Council. but wait, Sokka was on the Council, and he was a nonbender. so between Sokka’s death and the start of lok, did nonbenders lose their right to vote? or did they always not have the right to vote, but benders just voted for Sokka in the Council elections because they liked him? why would a nonbender not be allowed to vote but then be able to run for office? was Sokka given special treatment because he was friends with the Avatar and the Firelord? did Sokka further the systemic oppression of nonbenders? but why would he do that? how would he do that? what did systemic oppression of nonbenders look like prior to the start of lok? clearly, Tarrlok rounding up nonbenders was supposed to parallel instances of authoritarians scapegoating racial and ethnic minorities in the real world, but there had to have been some kind of buildup to that, probably in the form of legal and social disenfranchisement of nonbenders by the government. but we, the audience, never actually see the  effects of that disenfranchisement. Both Asami’s mom and Mako and Bolin’s parents are killed by benders (specifically Firebenders) and there’s that scene in the beginning where the Triple Threats are antagonizing local businesses, but do any of these actually indicate systemic oppression of nonbenders? those are definitely evidence of certain individuals using their power to hurt other individuals, but you can’t really chalk that up to a coherent system of discrimination, especially since none of those people were connected to a government body. and yeah we see the government antagonize nonbenders in lok b1, but it’s after Amon’s already risen to power, and so one would assume that the government has already antagonized nonbenders enough that they’re willing to follow essentially a cult leader because of their dissatisfaction with their station in life, allowing tensions to grow to the point that Tarrlok can use nonbenders as a scapegoat without much pushback. but, while there aren’t actually very many nonbender characters in lok, those who are in the narrative are all immensely successful people (Hiroshi Sato and Varrick are both wealthy industrialists, Bumi is a military leader, etc). but this is probably just a symptom of lok’s obsession with rich and powerful people at the expense of the everyman, so I probably shouldn’t assume that the status of these nonbenders reflects the status of every nonbender in Republic City. but if we look at atla, benders were never treated as better than nonbenders on a systemic level, except maybe in the Fire Nation, and actually we have evidence of benders being treated worse than their nonbending counterparts as a result of Fire Nation imperialism in both the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribes (not to mention the decimation of the Air Nomads, who according to canon are all benders.) so is bender supremacy a result of Fire Nation colonialism? but then why are Earthbenders and Waterbenders treated well under this system? further, wouldn’t Asami’s family have some kind of privilege as Fire Nationals, despite their status as nonbenders? is that why they were able to get rich in a world that’s hostile towards nonbenders? plus, Amon is one of the villains of this season, but if he’s trying to fight for a group that’s been systemically oppressed in Republic City, wouldn’t he be a good guy? but taking away people’s bending is wrong, plus he bloodbended Korra, so obviously we’re meant to interpret him as a villain. he didn’t even get a redemption arc like Kuvira did, so I guess he must have been really bad. so was it just that people didn’t like his methods, or did they genuinely not believe in his cause of fighting against bender supremacy? if they just didn’t like his methods, did anybody start working on some plans to address disparities between benders and nonbenders after they defeated Amon? did President Raiko solve the issue of bender supremacy? how did he do that so quickly? if bender supremacy was such an issue on an individual and systemic level, why did they never talk about it again? were nonbenders allowed to vote in that election? was this just a Romeo and Juliet situation where both sides had equal power and hated each other for no reason? but no, if that were the case then nonbenders would have had enough institutional power in Republic City to not be rounded up when Tarrlok decided they were a threat, and there probably would have been at least one nonbender Council member in Korra’s time. did they ever talk about the fact that a government body rounded up all the nonbenders in the city? were there reparations? did Korra and the rest of the krew assist in giving out the reparations? was there nonbender housing discrimination?” and before you know it I’m screaming and tearing my hair out demanding bryke let me see the Republic City constitution because why didn’t anyone sue the government what the fuck is this plot--

[ask-comrade-kuvira]

You are listening to Earth National Radio.

We are pleased to present this very special announcement from the Great Uniter herself, Comrade Chairman Kuvira.

Good evening, people of the Earth nation. It is I, Kuvira, and I have come to speak to you tonight not merely as a general, a revolutionary, and a patriot, but as a scholar and a teacher of revolutionary science. A subject we must never forget lest we succumb to baser emotions, the project of our liberation - of the world’s liberation - is a work of science and reason. Our labor of love is also a labor of history. We are not merely artists sitting in front of a blank canvas - we are the auteurs of a delicate and ancient struggle. The struggle I am referring to, of course, is the class struggle.

In all of history, we have striven to overcome our fellow man in the name of our class interests - representatives of our communities, our faiths, our cultures, and even of our prestigious families. All people in history have understood intuitively that for a nation to “thrive” it is necessary for that nation to steal and to exploit - to take from others. And whomever you take from, you give back to your class in equal measure, returned to palatial estates that grow in size and power with the wealth they extract from others. The ultimate expression of this power, the ultimate goal of all who have partaken of this historic struggle, is known as the rule of Government.

For most of history, a cycle has prevailed over the fate of all people. The cycle of dynasties, of the rise and fall of empires, and of the destruction of old land and the sowing of new. Long-dead places where ruins stand were once the province of power - and with time, they, too, did succumb and crumble. And all along this cycle has been characterized by the same thing: the class struggle, the rule and the conquest of man by man.

But in our modern era, a miracle has occurred. We have developed a power our forebears could only dream of: the awesome power of industrial civilization. Suddenly, the productive forces that were once the domain of precious few craftsmen and laborers have become the domain of the merchant class - those who live by trade and commerce. To own factories is to own the means of advancing every aspect of society, of annihilating Want and Need where one wills, and of accumulating incredible wealth. This ownership class, these bourgeoisie - they are the masters of our industrialized world.

Does one require proof? Look at the other nations of the world. A hundred years ago, the Great War set aflame and burnt to ashes the last vestiges of the ancient orders. The Fire Nation, ruled by a feudal emperor, could only resolve the contradictions between its nascent bourgeoisie class and the aristocratic class by joining them in an alliance against the other nations of the world.

Ask yourselves, what did it mean that the Fire Nation discovered such powerful technology before the rest of the world? I’ll tell you: it meant that there came to be in the Fire Nation a class of wealthy shippers, owners of fabulous navies that could move against the winds and currents with the power of fire, whose commercial exploitations around the world brought wealth and power back to the Fire Nation. Make no mistake, this is the development responsible for the rise of the Fire Nation. And this development introduced in turn a struggle for power, between those traditionally powerful aristocrats - and the newly powerful bourgeoisie.

This conflict could only be resolved one of two ways: one class destroys the other and claims the Fire Nation for itself - in the process tearing their nation asunder. Or, the two classes join as one, under the aegis of the Fire Lord, and resolve as allies to plunder the rest of the world together. And this latter case is what came to pass.

The resulting Great War all but annihilated the old order, and ironically the Phoenix Lord did not rise from the ashes, but the rule of the bourgeoisie did. The Air Nomads and their ancient order - destroyed, represented now by a reclusive and valuable colonial estate in Republic City harbor. The Water Tribes - driven to the brink, now ruled by Varrick Global Industries. The Fire Nation - ostensibly defanged, but preserving all of its commercial attachments to its far-flung colonies, and now sitting comfortable, distant, and aloof among its ill-gotten gains.

And what was the Earth Kingdom left with? A pathetic government that preserved the status of a corrupt aristocracy at the expense of the entire nation’s self-determination. For the past two hundred years, our nation has been beaten down into the mud. And even when the Great War ended, no reparations came and no justice was forthcoming. Our people had been taken into slavery and brutalized by the merciless, exploitative colonizers of the Fire Nation, and the reward our people had for their diligence was to be forced to allow the Fire Nation settlers to continue their business. How many thousands of Earth Kingdom families were forced out of their homes, keys still in hands, to make way for Fire Nation colonizers? How many of those Fire Nation colonizers ever paid back what they had stolen? As shameful as it is, this is our history. It seems only too fitting the final Earth monarch was killed in her throne room by an unhinged maniac.

However, the antidote to the shame of our nation is not the same vulgar pride the foreign imperialists cultivated. It is humility, for through humility do we recognize the true cause of this shame. In fact, the Fire Nation is not composed of a superior breed of people. That conceit is nothing more than the arrogance of petty conquerors. And the fall of our Queen was no reflection on our people: it was merely a reflection of the decrepit standing of her waning, soon-to-be-irrelevant class.

Look at how the foreign nations took responsibility when she was killed, and anarchy ruled our fates. All they cared about was lining their pocketbooks, and maintaining their precious business relationships. The richest woman in the Earth Kingdom, Suyin Beifong, elected to recline within her metal domes to continue profiting off of trade with the outside world. None of these events are rooted in anything supernatural, or uncanny, but in the simple, base reality of the historical class struggle. It was the class struggle that placed the Earth nation in this position, and that is why our true struggle is not against the people of the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, or the colonized territories, but against the bourgeoisie.

It is the international bourgeoisie that we stand against, ultimately. After all, it was the international bourgeoisie that sought to use the fall of the Earth Kingdom as an opportunity to crowbar in their own business interests. They were happy to support the pacification of the Earth Kingdom insofar as the minerals they sought kept flowing into the factories spread throughout the colonized territories. Any detail was perfectly irrelevant to them as long as it did not affect the bottom line. President Raiko, Varrick, the White Lotus - all content with the project of our liberation while it seemed they could profit from it. Suyin Beifong, alone, opposed it - perhaps out of distaste for a little competition.

Keep in your mind that the moment we demonstrated the remotest inkling that we sought the liberation of our people for our own good, their knives were out. All of a sudden, they spoke of a Second Great War, of regime change, of the “good” of the “global community.” The only good they spoke of, my friends and my comrades, was their own good. The good of the international bourgeoisie.

It is this enemy we struggle against, and this enemy over which we shall triumph as a united, liberated, and decolonized people. We are all out of time for tonight, but please tune in tomorrow, when I will be answering questions that listeners like you would like to Call In over the radio. After all, we now have electricity and telephone service here in Ba Sing Se, the proud achievement of our comrades at the newly nationalized Ba Sing Se Telecom & Electrics Utility Corporation. Why not treat yourself to a little of it?

[lokgifsandmusings]

Earth kingdom people are generally meant to be Korean? I don't know anything about how the avatar verse does race, could you link where that info comes from? It'd be interesting to read about that

EK is a closer allegory for China in most cases, with the FN loosely being Japan, the Air Nation being Tibet, and the Water Tribes representing Inuit cultures.

Nothing is exact, and bending is often used as the allegory for exploring racial issues over nationality, but we can at least loosely look at the influences. The wiki is pretty comprehensive: http://avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Influences_on_the_Avatar_series

With regards to Korea, it’s more that when we hear Korean names or see influences (Song wears a Hanbok), it’s almost always within the Earth Kingdom rather than anywhere else. So I would expect a “Moon” to be from the Earth Kingdom over anywhere else in the world.

threehoursfromtroy said to lokgifsandmusings:

"Really, with regards to her background, the only hint we have is “Moon.” That’s generally a Korean name, which generally means EK. But the Avatar-verse is also globalized." --you What do you think of the headcanon that 'Moon' is a stand in? The only last names we see in the entire show other than this are Sato, Beifong, and Varrick, and all they have in common is being super wealthy. Perhaps a certain amount of property or noble blood 'earns' a last name, and 'Moon' was a ceremonial stand in?

I’ve wondered about this for a while. I have to assume the last names only belonging to richer characters has to be intentional, if nothing else to make them sound stately, right? It could be a stand-in (though why would this be in a ceremony if most people didn’t have it?), or maybe it’s becoming more of a common thing and she got one for herself (through purchase of some kind). I think it could also work that she comes from a more affluent background, but followed Varrick because she truly thought of him as a genius and fell a bit in love with his ideas.

So the headcanon works, but there’s a host of other options too. This is the longest I’ve spent thinking about Zhu Li to be honest, so I have no strong opinion, lol.