Americans do not know much about Asian philosophy and religion, though most have scavenged bits and pieces of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and Confucianism from pop culture. The Beatles had their Hindu phase, martial-arts films have long dabbled in Chinese philosophy, and now we have M. Night Shymalan's hit summer movie Avatar: The Last Airbender, based on Nickelodeon's popular animated series. The film is a catch-all of confusion, seemingly contrived for the very purpose of annoying anyone with serious knowledge of Asian culture. But even with its manifold problems, Airbender can teach American viewers something truthful and authentic about Eastern thought.
The creators of the narrative, Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, constructed Airbender from a hodgepodge of Asian cultural concepts and images. Hindu and Buddhist ideas of reincarnation are paired with Indian-style architecture in a landscape that looks like the famed Karst mountains of Guilin, China. The ancient Chinese notion of yin-yang "” a polarity of complementary forces and figures in the cosmos "” makes an appearance in the movie as a pair of fish gods (one of which, in a peculiar twist, is killed by the movie's villain, as if one might be rid of half the universe). And ch'i, the ethereal life force that surrounds and moves through all things in Chinese thought, has a central role too. For good measure, the movie also throws in the occasional Inuit and Scandinavian folk theme.
An overarching Tibetan story line attempts to lend some coherence to the proceedings. The film's world is divided into four nations, each with its own elemental power: earth, water, fire, air. Within each nation are a few rare individuals who can control, or "bend," its respective element: earthbenders, waterbenders, firebenders, and airbenders. The Fire Nation is attempting to dominate all the rest and, as a part of its tyrannical campaign, has killed off all but one of the Air Nomads: a 12-year-old boy named Aang, who is not only an airbender but also the avatar, the reincarnation of a messiah-like spirit being who can bend all four elements. The stage is thus set for a fairly standard battle of good versus evil.
How true is all of this to its Asian sources? In Tibet, as well as in Japan and some other Buddhist cultures, there are five (not four) basic elements of nature: sky (or space), air (or wind), fire, water, and earth. The Chinese version is five-fold too, but it includes metal and wood rather than sky and air. As for the avatar himself "” the reincarnated heir of a line of spiritual leaders "” he would seem to be modeled on the Dalai Lama. His community, his appearance, and his retreat into meditation all suggest Tibetan Buddhism. But young Aang is also highly proficient in the martial arts, something uncharacteristic of a spiritual leader of the highest order. There are indeed "fighting monks" in the Tibetan tradition, but they generally hold a lower status than the Dalai Lama.
The movie, in short, is a jumble of somewhat contradictory Asian cultural motifs. But so what? It is, after all, a children's movie "” an entertainment. And truth be told, even with its many flaws and misrepresentations, Airbender provides a decent enough starting point for a more informed journey into Asian thought.
It is not difficult to imagine how the movie might pique the curiosity of a 10-year-old viewer. Impressed by the four elements of Airbender, our young moviegoer might go online to dig deeper, discovering that there are, in fact, five elements instead of four, with Tibetan and Chinese versions that capture important differences between those cultures. Having encountered ch'i as the ostensible source of the "bending" superpowers that make Airbender an action movie, he might go on to learn about its crucial place in Chinese philosophy, medicine, and martial arts. And he might also draw from the narrative a few key social ideas, like Confucian filial piety.
A lifelong interest in another culture can be sparked by all sorts of superficial interactions. I still remember The Story About Ping, an innocuous children's book with a family-friendly Confucian theme, as one of my earliest exposures to Chinese images. It wasn't authentic or comprehensive, but it encouraged a continuing engagement with China. Ping was not the reason for my eventual academic pursuit of Chinese studies, but it was, in its way, the imaginative first step.
There is a danger in glib popularization, of course. Too many viewers may walk away from Airbender believing that they have gained a real understanding of Asian culture. Buddhism, Taoism, and other Eastern religions and philosophies are complex and subtle systems of thought. They are too easily transformed into facile New Age platitudes or Kung-fu Panda caricatures, drained of their more challenging prescriptions for how to live a good life. Ancient Asian ideas are valuable to modern American society because they provide serious alternatives to more familiar ways of thinking and behaving. When we measure Christianity against Confucian moral rationalism, for example, we might find new grounds for our own beliefs or an entirely new avenue for personal understanding in a tradition that requires no reference to God. Either way, the necessary starting point for such an exercise is an accurate understanding of Asian thought.
I can bring myself to give one cheer for Airbender. For most moviegoers, its clutter of Asian ideas and motifs will provide a few harmless hours of entertainment. And for a few of the more curious among them, it will serve as a call to explore the depths of the Eastern mind and soul.
Sam Crane is a professor of political science and Asian studies at Williams College. He blogs about ancient Chinese thought at The Useless Tree.
Nice article. I took my nine-year-old daughter to see The Last Airbender (we were both big fans of Avatar on Nick) and was prepared to loathe it, thanks to all the negative reviews. But my daughter was absolutely enchanted "“ it was her favorite movie of the summer "“ and I was pretty entertained, myself. I agree with the critics who bemoan the dark muddiness caused by their retrofitting of the movie for 3D. It could have been so much more beautiful to look at had they left it alone. And some of the acting was wooden. But I thought, all in all, it was an exciting story with some meaningful philosophical underpinnings. And I think you're right that it's intriguing enough to inspire some children to pursue a deeper knowledge of Asian thought.
I'll give the movie three cheers even though I never saw it and it was probably as awful as most reviewers say, because it took in enough money and "buzz" to convince Nickelodeon to greenlight a new animated Avatar series by the original creative team.
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