Hello! I just wanted to say that I’ve really admired your blog (and the greater atla community on tumblr), esp in the explicit commitment to being anti-racist and feminist, and conscious of the intersections of other identities, in your analysis of the show.

avatar, the culture and philosophies of the shows’ fictional universe felt very comforting for me as young south asian girl (raised Hindu/Buddhist) in a predominantly white town. And LoK, felt v validating in my identity as a bi woc. Through tumblr, and the atla and lok renaissance esp, i’ve seen how it’s helped so many other people feel something similar (even if for different reasons).

With the announcement of the new avatar studios, i was wondering how you felt about the universe being expanded on an artistic and corporate scale? I’m sorry if this isn’t the place to share, but I found myself getting sort of nervous that in the ways other big fictional universe studios get marketed (Marvel, Star Wars), the cultures, beliefs and identities the show is premised upon might become... commodified, whitewashed or appropriated for mass appeal? Like the way new age spirituality adopts pieces from bipoc/poc practices and markets it. I hope I’m making sense.. lol n e ways

I know there’s been discourse about the show and appropriation before, and I can only speak for myself, who found that the show incorporates a lot of different ideas and elements from other cultures without necessarily diluting them. I was just curious if you or others had any similar anxieties or thoughts about this expansion? Or anything similar, surrounding this news?

Also to clarify, I’m also very excited and looking forward to it! I don’t feel entirely one way about it. I know the creators have walked away from projects they didn’t like before, so I have faith in the world they’ve created. I’m also just ~skeptical~ of capitalism’s role in media and how noninclusive the industry itself can be (Bc I study it, but it honestly just makes me overthink my favorite childhood show lmao). Sorry Ik this was super long-winded, so no pressure to reply obvi. thanks again for your blog and creating this great community! 🌙

thank you for this message! (even if it was initially blacklisted in my inbox for containing the words “marvel” and “star wars”) i appreciate your reaching out on this matter, because it’s something i think about a lot. 

i’ve never been the type of person who enjoys franchises, or even sequels. i was apprehensive about legend of korra, and frankly, pretty much all of my doubts were confirmed throughout the show, while also creating new flaws in the storytelling i couldn’t have even predicted (did someone say giant robot??? or wait, no, no one said that??? oh...) like. lets not kid ourselves. that show was a hot mess. (that said, i also completely feel you on the impact that show has on queer / disabled women of color and i am extremely grateful for lok in many ways, and while i often critique its writing, that is only because it means so much to me on a personal level. anyway!)

so yes, of course i have apprehensions about more expansions upon the avatar universe. on one hand, the kyoshi novels were really good! on the other hand.... gestures vaguely to the comics. i think you’re right to bring up the corporatization of avatar, but honestly, it’s already a franchise, and has been a pop cultural media staple in the zeitgeist since the bush administration. any successful piece of media is going to be given the same treatment under capitalism; that’s just one of many unfortunate byproducts of this system. just because a show is actually good doesn’t mean it’s immune to commercialization. 

(although when the fanbase does inevitably expand, and new material is fed to us in great doses, i may have to retire this bloggue. just bc like. the netflix revival was awful enough i can’t imagine having to deal with a fanbase reacting to actually new content. 🚬😑fuck me haha)

anyway, like i said recently, i think it would be an extremely missed opportunity if bryke does not put their money where their mouth is with these new creative projects and actually hire writers who know (preferably firsthand) the impact of colonialism, imperialism, genocide, and also are truly knowledgable about the spiritual & cultural references within the worldbuilding. to be clear, i think atla handles these topics well for the most part, but the comics and lok are explicit proof of where white american writers can fall flat when confronting these issues. so hopefully they use this as an opportunity to rectify their mistakes, instead of repeating past disasters. and if they do fail, at least we still have atla as a self-contained text; at the end of the day, that’s what matters.