I’ve mentioned before that because I didn’t grow up watching Avatar (Michael and I did a whole podcast episode about it), the franchise misses the special nostalgia that many geeks my age have. But when a guy in my ward invited some of us over to watch the new movie, I figured I could use a guys night. Why not?
The deeper themes of the movie were probably lost on me, compared to someone who has binged the series multiple times over the course of life. However, since my spiritual pondering always seems to lead me to insights about divine identity, I latched onto Aang’s internal struggle as the “last airbender”. Naturally this is your spoiler warning for Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.
Bridging the gap between Avatar and Korra, this movie shows the formation of Republic City, as a symbol of unity. However, at the same time Aang grieves the loss of his people and the inevitable loss of the Airbender culture; the only element not thriving in Republic City is Air Nomads. So when Team Avatar finds Tagah, an airbender frozen just like the Avatar, Aang gets excited. He's not the last airbender anymore!
All the while, his true love Katara tries to get him to understand that he isn't alone, because he has his family, Team Avatar. Tagah tries to get Aang to believe the Fire Nation could never be redeemed, just as he cannot forgive the Earth Kingdom to destroying his people. He wants Aang to accept his air nomad culture as his primary identity. In his quest for revenge, Tagah uses Team Avatar to retrieve the staff of Sonam, the Avatar of his time, to create a new breed off airbender from the Denied, a disgruntled group of non-benders.
Talk about conflicted! Aang wants to preserve his culture, but he cannot agree with Tagah's methods. If franchises like Divergent have taught us anything, it's better to be a diverse portfolio of a person. By the end of the war, Aang was more than the Avatar or an airbender. It's not healthy to identity with a single label, especially one that is limiting. President Nelson said, "Labels can be fun and indicate your support for any number of positive things. But if any label replaces your most important identifiers, the results can be spiritually suffocating."
Airbender is a notable label, especially for the Avatar. I'm not sure what the comparable labels would be in the Avatar world, but President Nelson stated that our most important identifiers are child of God, child of the covenant, and disciple of Christ. Even within these three labels, you're limiting yourself if you only pick one of them. All of them matter. Any good identifier is insufficient if it's the only one (even "child of God" or "disciple").
Avatar. Airbender. Mentor. Team Avatar. Husband. Father (eventually). All of them are part of Aang.
And there's more to you than what you think.
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| “Make no mistake about it: Your potential is divine. With your diligent seeking, God will give you glimpses of who you may become.” |
- LDS Geeks Podcast #12: Getting into Avatar
Show Notes: click here
Spotify: click here
Apple Podcasts: click here
YouTube: click here - "Avatar/Korra Workout" by Spencer
- "The Truth Hurts with the Ember Island Players" by Rob
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