Avatar and Kungfu Movies

[subdereality]

I'm a relatively new fan to ATLA, and after I watched the entire cartoon series, I was struck by how much of ATLA was inspired by Wuxia epics and Hong Kong kungfu movies from the 80's and 90's. While awaiting 'The Legend of Korra' to be released next year, I thought I'll write a post on the different kungfu styles and inspirations in ATLA.

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Comments

[hedgehog39]

Can't think of any off the top of my head, but your research in finding all these clips was awesome!

[subdereality]

LOL! Most of them are from memory anyway! :) I used to watch a lot of wuxia-genre movies/tv dramas when I was a kid, and all those memories came rushing back to me when I watched ATLA. :)

[aerodactylus]

Wow, these are really cool. Jet Li is probably my favorite action movie star, so watching him "waterbend" and "airbend" is just crazy awesome.

And I found this video a while back: It features a guy doing Hung Ga battling a guy using Praying Mantis style. Before you get too excited though, it's Northern Praying Mantis, so no Toph analogues.

[subdereality]

It's a pity that Jet Li stopped making epic wuxia movies after 'Fearless', and I grew up watching his movies (Once Upon a Time in China, Fong Sai Yuk, Tai Chi Master, etc).

[yukinoomoni]

Very neat! I like learning about how many different archetypes and traditional story-telling methods are used in ATLA. Awesome finds!

[subdereality]

Most of the elements in ATLA are found in many classic wuxia movies/novels -- stuff that I grew up on. I still have a lot of recommendations, but a lot of the epic wuxia novels-turn-tv dramas are like... in the region of 30-40 episodes. As for movies, there are some really good ones out there.

[alania]

I like the last video best, that was awesome. XD

[subdereality]

That was from the golden era of kungfu/wuxia movies. :) The newer wuxia movies are too full of special effects and CGI. They really fought fist to fist there. lol.