Sokka may not be a misogynist, but the Netflix live action ATLA is:
There really is no cartoon/anime for female empowerment like the OG ATLA and LOK cartoons.
The creators of ATLA wrote the manifesto on how to create a masterful series on female empowerment and equality that is not cheesy or hocky.
In this show, women and girls are not a monolith but immensely diverse. There's no correct way to be a powerful, talented and bold woman or girl within the avatar universe.
You can be hyper-feminine like Ty Lee and Asami.
You can embody more traditionally masculine qualities like Korra and Toph.
Or you could just be a typical woman or girl falling more in between like Azula, Mai, or Suki.
You see the exact same thing for the male characters. There's no right way to be a man. There's many ways to be a man, and this idea flies in the face of patriarchy.
I say that the Netflix version is misogynist, because it's not enough to be a powerful woman. One must be allowed to be unapologetically, unabashedly and boldy powerful.
Which is what happens in the OG ATLA. Sokka's misogyny was actually a part of his character arc, because every time he was misogynist his misogyny was met with the answer that women and girls are phenomenal, that women and girls are living their lives and largely unconcerned with the opinions of men.
If you read the Kiyoshi novels, you learn that surprisingly enough, the least patriarchal amd misogynist nation in all of Avatar is the fire nation, and the misogynistic nation in all of Avatar is the northern water tribe.
The reason I say that the women in these shows are unabashedly powerful is because aside from Sokka and the master from the Northern Water tribe, no one ever questions why or how they are powerful. They expect it.
Zuko is Ozai's first born son, yet Azula is his pride. When Ozai imagines the future, he imagines it with Azula as the fire lord. He names her after his father. He trusts her to go find the avatar once he knows the avatar has returned.
Sokka and Katara effectively lost both of their parents, but Katara the youngest steps up as the mother and becomes the glue of the group. She's the one who becomes both an immensely powerful bender and healer.
Suki loves Sokka, but when we are introduced to her. She is unconcerned with him. Her and the other Kiyoshi warriors are the protectors of the village who go out into the world to do good into the world.
We see the revseral of all of these tenants in the Netflix show.
Ozai has hope for Zuko at the expense of Azula who he sees as a nuisance. She is no longer am obvious prodigy.
Katara is seen as a child who will not grow up by her brother who is now behaving as a father figure.
Suki is infatuated with Sokka and she follows him around Kiyoshi island when he arrives.
These woman are powerful but restrained and undermined in this power. Suki becomes concerned with the opinions of a man, and a random man at that.
What the OG ATLA taught to all women, girls, boys and men is that you never have to apologize for being powerful, intelligent, kind empathetic.
This is a very critical point that cuts to the heart of the OG ATLA that Netflix has missed.
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dont even get me started on how they reduced mai and ty lee as blind followers of azula that showered her with praise. or how they made zuko look like her example to follow when it was his banishment that made azula look down on him. or how they randomly tried to show ozai's care for zuko and a bit of a soft spot or care for his family. or how they made zuko fight him when the point of the scar scene was that he got it because he refused to fight his own father.
better yet, i could begin talking of how they took away katara's maternal attitude because it wasn't “fitting” for a girl her age and instead gave the role to sokka, who angrily tells her to grow up at one point, when it originally showcased the effects of the loss of her mother by trying to assume the position she left empty, while in the original show sokka did the same trying to fill hakoda's absence.
let's also talk about how they made hakoda look horrible when he criticised sokka's actions behind his back instead of supporting him with the idea of improvement to instead make ozai look like a better father. Or hey, wait, the scenes where everyone keeps blaming aang for having “abandoned” (even kyoshi) the world for some freaking reason???
suki head over heels for sokka right off the bat and stalking him around. june incessantly flirting with iroh. the whole cave of two lovers lore completely butchered. the omission of plot points to give priority to unnecessary scenes. the avatars being a bunch of a*holes that bully aang instead of guiding him. that random miniplot of roku with the small replica of the mother of faces????
what a ride
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