brighterthanflame

[brighterthanflame]

i realize you probably dont care about the upcoming netflix adaptation but the cast pretty much got confirmed and people are talking about it again so, whats your take? are you lookin forward to it or dont care for it?

Usually I wouldn't care about this, and I have said before to please not involve me in discourse i haven't already talked about, but I was going to make this post anyway so

*cracks knuckles*

Alright children, it's come to my attention that some people don't know their etiquette regarding Indigenous peoples and are making themselves look a fool.

First: you are not entitled to anyone's family history under any circumstances, save perhaps them paying you to do a family tree.

There is an aspect of this specific to Native people. I don't know how it works for Native folks in Canada but in the United States, when you are born Native your parents do some paperwork and the Beaureu of Indian Affairs gives you a Certificate of Indian Blood, stating exactly how Native you can be proven to be based on how Native your parents can be proven to be. The Certificate of Indian Blood is often called a pedigree with bitter irony because in essence, that's what it is. We come with papers like fancy show dogs, just instead of it qualifying our "breed" it's qualifying our right to be enrolled in tribal membership.

I keep my pedigree with all my other important documents, like tax information, birth certificate, social security card, that sort of thing. I inherited a total blood degree of 1/4 Eskimo from my mom and thus qualify for tribal membership. Past a certain point, I wouldn't be considered "Native Enough" based on blood alone and i'd have to get a special dispensation to be legally recognized as an Indigenous descendant. It doesn't matter what my tribe or nation's traditional customs regarding kinship and identity were, by United States law, I could be declared "Not Native Enough" no matter my connection to my culture, no matter how accepted I was by my Native family. Kinda fucked up, isn't it?

Oh, and the Beaureu of Indian Affairs is part of the US government. They ran the schools where kids got beat for not speaking English. We have to tell them we are members of this marginalized group that seems to keep demanding safe drinking water and the right to not be kicked out of our homes at the expense of oil companies if we want access to healthcare and scholarships we may not otherwise have access to because of our "unique situation" (systemic disadvantage). This marginalized group that faces police brutality and wrongful arrests for peacefully protesting our right to live in the few places we have been allowed to live. So if the US government decides Native people are a problem, they have a registry of us. Kinda fucked up, don't you think?

So with that all in mind, do you see how uncouth and just plain nasty it is to demand proof of someone being "Native Enough" or "The Right Kind of Native"? If some freak tries to dig up this info and he's more mixed than some have deemed acceptable (so 1/4 or less) or god forbid doesn't even have his papers or tribal membership for any reason (justified paranoia, clerical error, any degree of negligence on the parents' part) he gets to look forward to being treated even more like a pretendian than the fans have already seen fit to treat him as. How fun.

Every day I wake up I am made to remember that I'll never look "Native Enough" to a huge swath of people who may not have even talked to one of us face-to-face. And it's only a matter of time before one of them sends me a message, written to sound like they're crawling on their belly because they have nothing but respect for "Real Natives" but if they saw me in the regalia my older cousin in Nome made for me so I could graduate high school in regalia, they'd throw a fit. If they saw me after I eventually get my tavlaģun, all pale skinned and blue-eyed, they'd treat me as a study in cultural appropriation, as if i'm not trying to learn whatever variation of my ancestral tongue I can get my hands on.

I can totally understand why he or anyone else might have thought it was better not to specify. Like my first reaction (and this isn't necessarily correct nor something i'm proud of, just the first thing that came to my mind) to seeing Katara was cast as that Mohawk girl from Anne with an E was "they couldn't even get a real eskimo?" I'm guessing others felt similarly. If he didn't wanna deal with that, I can't blame him.

If you think he doesn't look brown enough to convincingly play someone native to the tundra, i recommend the following: go on youtube, look up "inupiaq" and watch at least five of the videos that come up to see how varied we are.

Don't watch this live action adaptation if you don't want to, but if you refuse on the grounds of "the actor's not native enough :/" and go on to ignore actual Native media, that's some performative shit if I've ever seen it. Seriously, how many of the people complaining have watched Smoke Signals? Dance Me Outside? On the Ice? How many were hyped over Reservation Dogs (first two episodes are on Hulu as I'm writing this post)?

Anyway, I'm tired. I'm probably not gonna watch the live action series, but that has nothing to do with Sokka's actor not being "brown enough" to be seen as one of the red and brown. I'll finish off this post with a 1491s video so everyone can get a taste of Native media and maybe elevate it more than discourse over who gets to play a Fantasy Eskimo who was originally written and played by white guys with no Actual Eskimo input:

[brighterthanflame]

If you're still taking requests, Toph w/ Aang 😊?

This is what came to mind! 🌪⛰

[brighterthanflame]

the world building of this fic is just exquisite. it single-handedly converted me into an official azulaang stan that it’s got me reading the comics so i can use my shipping goggles in every panel the two of them interact. 👀 

if the atla fandom were more dynamic and exciting, there would be more fics written about azula and zuko fighting over aang. this is licherally canon. but no, instead we get the same ol’, same ol’. 

maybe one day i will step in and fill this void just for my own sake.

The tavern like many other structures in this region had its kitchen outdoors, tucked in the corner of an open courtyard. Chickens peck peaceably among the flagstones, occasionally squawking in outrage when one of the children breaks away from their peers to chase down a bird. Amid the bustle and cooking, Azula finds Aang seated on the steps with a group of children hanging on his every word, showing them how to fold scraps of paper into tiny animals. A little girl around six years old is balanced on his lap, her face scrunched in concentration while Aang issues instructions over her shoulder. Careful and attentive, his hands guide her smaller ones in shaping the paper into a butterfly. Warmth drenches Azula from head to toe, but it’s an exhilaration edged with panic. She isn’t ready yet to consider why seeing Aang with children affects her so strongly.

“May I join you?” she asks with a touch of stiffness, holding her bowl and cup. His eyes glide over her, warm and appreciative. She’s reminded of another sunny day four years ago, of Aang looking at her as though she were outlined in gold.

just wanted to do some shameless self-promo on this azulaang fic i started writing a year ago that took me on a journey, pushed me to grow as a writer and cemented my love for this show and these characters even more deeply than i thought possible. if you enjoy some courtly romance, worldbuilding, avatar lore, azula redemption healing, and adult aang finding his place in the world, then i humbly offer this 48k post-war fic no one but me and five other people asked for that i’m nevertheless inordinately proud of, a thousand little faces, recently completed on ao3!

[brighterthanflame]

In the ATLA artbook, Bryke mentioned that a huge inspiration for Aang’s playful personality came from a particular segment from a “Shaolin Monks: Wheel of Life” performance. If you start at 9:10, you’ll see the young martial artist who inspired Aang. I believe he’s performing Monkey Fist Kung Fu (Hóu Quán/猴拳).

[brighterthanflame]

always remember that, despite the insistence of a certain groups of fans confined to niche fandom spaces such as tumblr and the depths of twitter, aang is a beloved character. 

that despite the constant efforts of this aforementioned group of fans (a group of primarily adults who spend their time hating on a fictional 12 year old) to degrade his character, all because of bitterness over a canon romantic relationship, the atla fanbase at large knows who the protagonist is and understands his importance. the vast majority of viewers use the actual show as a means to understand and appreciate his character, not metas written by embittered fans, who instead of focusing on emphasizing the merits of their beloved otps as they stand on their own, opt to bash a character they deem as a threat to their non-canon pairing in ways that to anyone that isn’t deeply entrenched in their fandom understand have no merit in canon and are, frankly, just plain ludicrous.

enjoy fandom. find your group of like-minded individuals and curate your spaces. but always remember that online fandom isn’t in any way a representation of the whole fanbase of any mainstream work of media. being louder online doesn’t translate to actual mainsteam popularity, don’t forget.

[brighterthanflame]

Bitter weirdos that right horrible meta using fan fiction as their foundation for discourse rather than canon at that.

avatar: the last airbender: *is a show about the titular character grappling with what it means to be both the avatar AND the last of his people*

bitter weirdos fifteen years later refusing to understand what the show is actually about:

[brighterthanflame]

the way olivia rodrigo sampled avatars love at the end of hope ur ok....omg kataang supremacy

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Bumi I meets Bumi II

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I will never, ever turn my back on people who need me!

[brighterthanflame]

you clearly missed this scene where katara very clearly states that she’s carrying the whole gaang’s whole weight on her shoulders!! they are obviously just burdens for her, who don’t understand her trauma about losing loved one at all. 

where’s the evidence that zuko helped katara with all her chores? this man was taking palanquin rides and ordering servants to fetch rose petal pastries for his gf two days before joining the gaang yet we’re supposed to believe he’s gonna be mr house husband? based on what exactly? where are the receipts luv?

[brighterthanflame]

they gather pieces of me that
no longer fit
together

[brighterthanflame]

Who do you ship Katara with?

a more interesting fandom

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how aang changed them

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this is messy as heck but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

[brighterthanflame]

[brighterthanflame]

I feel like a piece of my own body has just been ripped out. I can’t remember a time in my life when Appa wasn’t by my side

The Earth Kingdom Chronicles Collection

(via magasparin)

[brighterthanflame]

can we take just a moment to appreciate this blink and you’ll miss it bit from the painted lady? aang, still under the impression appa is sick, making sure he’s close by even in his sleep to care for his oldest best friend.

so of course, as soon as he’s awaken by “the painted lady”, his first immediately chases her around to ask for her aid to heal appa.