The Last Airbender may showcase the quest of preteen boys using martial arts to find their inner strength - but young women of considerable skill and strength play key roles in this well-plotted fantasy.
Nickelodeon Animated Series Avatar
Based on the Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series that aired on Nickelodeon, the movie version dropped the name Avatar after James Cameron’s very different movie of the same name took an earlier release date.
The story’s theme of connections develops how individuals bond to one of four elements: water, fire, air and earth.
Those with special connections to one of these elements are able to control, or bend, the element but only the Avatar has the power to harness each of the four elements, allowing him to commune with both spirits and the people of the Four Nations.
As in the television series, 12 year-old Aang (Noah Ringer) has survived the annihilation of his air-bending people by the Fire Nation but has not yet learned how to control any element other than his natural air talent.
Katara the Waterbender
Fortunately, he is joined by Katara (Nicola Peltz), the last Waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe and the person who freed the Avatar from his century of imprisonment in spite of her elder brother's plea.
Katara's brother Sokka (Jackson Rathbone) has no bending talent but hunts and tracks, qualities which prove useful as the intrepid trio begins a rebellion while also helping Aang to find masters of the elements to train him as he contemplates taking on his preordained role.
Katara’s presence helps Aang deal with his normal confusion as a preteen while trying to become a leader who overcomes his doubts.
Katara offers counsel, comfort and a non-judgmental friendship in both the movie and the series but in a manner clearly not deferential based on reality's societal roles but instead as a respected advisor to an important world figure. In fact, Sokka has his own useful abilities but does not serve in the same extensive capacity to Aang as does Katara.
In addition to her advisory role, Katara shows her own skills as she trains in waterbending and director M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs) carefully avoids singling out her gender or that of other females in the story, instead relying on the strength of her character to tell her story.
This key interpretation sets The Last Airbender apart from other contemporary films targeted at preteen and teen girls which show passivity as a virtue or reliance on physical attributes.
The White-Haired Princess of the Northern Waterbenders
With its heavy Asian influence, the role of the moon and ocean spirits and their link to the strikingly white-haired Princess Yue offers further proof of courage by a young woman.
Without revealing too much of the relevance of these scenes in this review, Shyamalan evokes both a sense of ageless serenity and battle-fraught urgency although the animated series gives greater emotional depth and visual detail on this particular aspect.
Additional Supporting Roles for Women and Girls
Women also play smaller parts in The Last Airbender as flashbacks reveals Aang underwent airbending training with both girls and boys and his later journey leads him to ask for wisdom from Katara and Sokka’s own grandmother.
Azula of Fire Nation
Characteristic of both the television series and the film, females may have many positive attributes but Shyamalan briefly offers a glimpse of the gloriously unconflicted Azula, princess of the Fire Nation and a promising villain for future installments.
3-D and DVD Information
The Last Airbender is available in 3-D although it was not originally filmed with 3-D cameras. Because of battle scenes and resulting violence and dark themes, The Last Airbender will primarily appeal to girls and boys ages eight and above.
Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series is on DVD.
Bonnye Good - Bonnye Busbice Good received an Editor's Choice award for her article on Your Historic Home's Interior Design Secrets and has also written ...
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