Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender Ruins Gran Gran

Gran Gran’s insensitivity toward Aang and lack of scenes with her grandchildren make her a much meaner and less likable character. And that’s without going into her hiding her waterbending scroll from Katara for most of her life — a decision understandably based in fear, but which still feels incongruous with her original characterization. Again, changes are inevitable and necessary when adapting anything, but Netflix’s live-action “Avatar” makes too many beloved characters unnecessarily cruel.

We see this again with King Bumi (Utkarsh Ambudkar), who’s downright derisive of Aang despite their past friendship. In the cartoon, he’s a firm believer in neutral jing, the idea that you shouldn’t force a fight until the time is right. In the Netflix version, he rants to Aang about war and challenges him to a duel to the death.

Avatars Kyoshi (Yvonne Chapman) and Kuruk (Meegwun Fairbrother) offer Aang very little sympathy, despite their own trials and the fact that his disappearance wasn’t his fault. Even Sokka and Katara’s father Hakoda (Joel Montgrand) is shown to be kind of mean. For as much as the Netflix adaptation seems interested in toning down characters’ more problematic qualities, it’s curiously willing to make those same characters vaguely unfeeling.

ncG1vNJzZmhqZGy7psPSmqmorZ6Zwamx1qippZxemLyue8yoraKdXa%2B8r7GOp5ytnpyexbR5wK%2BYrZmiYsGpsYylmKysXZa2s67Ep5ueql2nwqq60maeq5meYrSzrc1o