UHM, GUYS AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER WAS AMBIGUOUS~
I MEAN HELLO, IT IS AN ANIME AND ALL ANIMES ARE AMBIGUOUS.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "CONTEXT" WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. WHY WOULD THE "DEFAULT" RACE CHANGE WITH THE PLACE IN THE WORLD IN WHICH THE ART PIECE WAS MADE? ART AND LETTERS AND CULTURE AND CRAP DOESN'T MAKE IT LESS AMBIGUOUS!!!!1111
DUH, AANG REFLECTS WHATEVER YOU WANT HIM TO BE, GAWD.
I MEAN, HE'S A CARTOON. THE PEOPLE WHO INVENTED ANIME MADE THIS MEDIUM TO BE UP FOR RACIAL INTERPRETATION.
JESUS.
***This Whole Post Brought to you by: Statire, Annoyance, One too many people telling me Anime is AMBIGOUS~ and the letters F and U.
In actuality:
All the characters are based directly off of Asian/Inuit (and in one small case Mesoamerican) cultures. Aang? His look is based off of a real person- a young boy who happens to be Chinese. The creators have said over and over that the nations are supposed to be a fantasical "Asian" world. It's a fantasy Asia. Just because they didn't label the Earth Kingdom as "CHINA" and the Fire Nation as "JAPAN" and parts of the Earth Kingdom as "KOREA" doesn't make them any less based off of those places.
You could claim they're not "Asian" but they write in Chinese (both ancient and classical), eat with chopsticks, adhere to Buddhist philosophies, deal with Confucian beliefs (He’s bowing to his Father), worry about "Honor", write with brushes and ink, use twin dao swords, iron fans (or for that matter, wear Noh/Chinese Opera inspired makeup), believe in reincarnation, wear robes that fold like kimonos, wear hanboks, wear topknots that denote rank, use chinese opera masks to disguise themselves, wear white when in mourning, learn about their chakras, practice several different styles of Kung Fu and Martial Arts- including, but not limited to: Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Northern Shaolin, and Praying Mantis; adorn the insides of their buildings with Chinese Paintings, have kings that live in clones of The forbidden city complete with replica of the throneroom, have monks who not only shave their heads as part of their tenets but also wear yellow and saffron (like Tibetan monks do), to say nothing of theChinese “Lung” Dragons have their Haiku readings
While you don’t have to do any of that to be Asian, I’m going to make an educated guess and say they’re certainly not white.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS "CONTEXT" WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT. WHY WOULD THE "DEFAULT" RACE CHANGE WITH THE PLACE IN THE WORLD IN WHICH THE ART PIECE WAS MADE? ART AND LETTERS AND CULTURE AND CRAP DOESN'T MAKE IT LESS AMBIGUOUS!!!!1111
DUH, AANG REFLECTS WHATEVER YOU WANT HIM TO BE, GAWD.
I MEAN, HE'S A CARTOON. THE PEOPLE WHO INVENTED ANIME MADE THIS MEDIUM TO BE UP FOR RACIAL INTERPRETATION.
JESUS.
***This Whole Post Brought to you by: Statire, Annoyance, One too many people telling me Anime is AMBIGOUS~ and the letters F and U.
In actuality:
All the characters are based directly off of Asian/Inuit (and in one small case Mesoamerican) cultures. Aang? His look is based off of a real person- a young boy who happens to be Chinese. The creators have said over and over that the nations are supposed to be a fantasical "Asian" world. It's a fantasy Asia. Just because they didn't label the Earth Kingdom as "CHINA" and the Fire Nation as "JAPAN" and parts of the Earth Kingdom as "KOREA" doesn't make them any less based off of those places.
You could claim they're not "Asian" but they write in Chinese (both ancient and classical), eat with chopsticks, adhere to Buddhist philosophies, deal with Confucian beliefs (He’s bowing to his Father), worry about "Honor", write with brushes and ink, use twin dao swords, iron fans (or for that matter, wear Noh/Chinese Opera inspired makeup), believe in reincarnation, wear robes that fold like kimonos, wear hanboks, wear topknots that denote rank, use chinese opera masks to disguise themselves, wear white when in mourning, learn about their chakras, practice several different styles of Kung Fu and Martial Arts- including, but not limited to: Tai Chi, Ba Gua, Northern Shaolin, and Praying Mantis; adorn the insides of their buildings with Chinese Paintings, have kings that live in clones of The forbidden city complete with replica of the throneroom, have monks who not only shave their heads as part of their tenets but also wear yellow and saffron (like Tibetan monks do), to say nothing of theChinese “Lung” Dragons have their Haiku readings
While you don’t have to do any of that to be Asian, I’m going to make an educated guess and say they’re certainly not white.