Day 205: Will we ever see a good live-action ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’?

Lee Ngo
Lee Ngo
Jul 25, 2017 · 3 min read

I know I said in a previous article that I didn’t want to tear anymore works down, but it’s unanimous recognized at this point that M. Night Shyamalan’s failed to successfully adapt one of the greatest cartoon sagas ever made.

While binging on YouTube videos about philosophy and better storytelling, I saw three videos by Just Write about A:TLA that harshly critiqued Shyamalan’s choices with his live-action adaption yet gave him the benefit of the doubt when it came to certain aspects of the source material.

Here are some reasonable challenges to adapting Book One: Water.

So. Much. Content.

It’s no easy task adapting 12 hours of content into a 2-hour live-action film and maintain the same level of character development, cohesion, and continuity.

Many great moments were cut, such as the Kiyoshi Warriors, encountering Jet’s gang, meeting the first firebending teacher, and (tear) re-connecting with Bumi at Omashu.

Would it make more sense for each film to be three hours, much like Lord of the Rings? I saw a suggestion to adapt the show into a ten-episode live-action miniseries, much like HBO or other streaming shows do nowadays. Could that work as well?

Special effects are never simple.

We were all spoiled with the way A:TLA could animate bending with ease. In a live-action environment, re-creating Aang’s floating air ball or Iroh’s fire breath is a challenge. Doing it at the frequency that we’re accustomed to from the cartoon is another thing entirely.

Still, I wish Shyamalan invested much more into making this aspect of the film work. Much of the distinct magic of A:TLA derives from the possibilities of bending, and it would have been a far better investment to create beautiful yet realistic visuals versus … filming in Greenland.

Everything (that matters) happens near the end.

Shyamalan complained repeatedly that the last two episodes are so climactic that the overall arc of Book One: Water is weighted in a way that works in an episodic format but complicates matters in a feature-length film.

Some critical decisions need to be made here from a plot standpoint. If the narrative aim of Book One is for both Aang and Katara to master waterbending, then they have to get there as quickly as possible. Learning with Master Pakku also needs to maintain the same dramatic turn that it did in the cartoon (sexism provided a great source of conflict).

Everything before that needs to facilitate that end goal. That might mean shuffling some of the waterbending stories such as The Swamp and The Scroll to Book One and the Kiyoshi Warriors and Bumi to Book Two: Earth.

But… what’s the real purpose of Book One?

It’s not just about learning waterbending. In the cartoon, Aang struggles to fully accept the responsibility of the role, especially against a mighty foe like the Fire Nation. Aside from his usual cheery demeanor, we see the pain of losing a father figure, the vanity of celebrity, and a spiritual vengeance that extends beyond his own corporeal existence.

The film must be entirely driven by character development and borrow heavily from the source material. Aang must start as a 12-year old joy-seeing child, Sokka a chauvinistic teenager, Katara an ultra-mother figure, and Zuko a tormented victim seeking redemption. Not easy to cram all that in two hours, but…

It’s not impossible, M. Night Shyamalan.

— Lee

Lee Ngo

Written by

Lee Ngo

Write with intention. Think with compassion.

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