Migration in “Avatar: The Last Air Bender”

by Theodora Charalambous

Avatar: The Last Airbender (also referred to as ATLA, Avatar and Avatar: The Legend of Aang), is an animated television series produced by the Nickelodeon Animation Studio and first aired in 2005. The series is set in a fantasy world, heavily inspired by Asia cultures, in which “benders” can manipulate the four elements; air, fire, water and earth. The avatar, whose role is to maintain harmony among the four nations, is the only one capable of bending all four elements. The story follows Aang, the current avatar and last surviving air bender, together with his friends Katara, Sokka and Toph, in their quest to defeat Fire Lord Ozai and end the Fire Nation’s war, while avoiding capture from the exiled Fire Nation’s prince Zuko as he seeks to restore his lost honour. 

Despite ATLA being a children’s show, it has cultivated a fanbase of all ages and is described by many to be one of the greatest animated television series of all time. Blurring the lines between adult and youth entertainment by including adult themes, such as genocide, imperialism and war, contributed to the series wild success. 

In my blog post I will discuss how migration is portrayed in ATLA throughout the four Nations.

The Air Nomads 

The Air Nomads had no permanent home but rather they moved between the four air temples, that were located in each corner of the globe. Those who defied the pacifist and peaceful way of life of the Air Nomads were forced in exile and would often permanently settle in another nation. Such are the cases of the monk Kelsang and nun Jesa (The Rise of Kyoshi, 2019). 

After the Air Nomad Genocide caused by the Fire Nation, most air temples remained abandoned, while the Northern Air Temple became occupied by Earth Kingdom refugees. (ATLA S1, E17)

Aang lived most of his adult life traveling in order to fulfil his air Nomad duties. The Air Temple Island, which is located off the coast of Republic City in Yue Bay in Western Earth Kingdom, became the permanent home of his family and the place where his three children were raised. (The Legend of Korra S1, E1)

The Fire Nation

Fire Nation colonies were established in the Earth Kingdom far before the Air Nomad genocide, under the rule of Fire Lord Sozin. His plans were temporarily paused, after he was confronted by Avatar Roku, however the piece didn’t last long as the Fire Nation started expanding its colonies soon after the Air Nomad genocide took place.(ATLA S3, E6)

During the Hundred Year War, Fire Nation citizens were permitted to travel between the homeland and the colonies. Consequentially, many Fire Nationals decided to leave the Fire Nation and settled in the colonised territories in the Earth Kingdom. As seen in Season 3: Episode 2, “The Headband” the returnees were looked down upon by the homeland inhabitants and were considered to lack proper etiquette and education.

The Water Tribes 

The Water Tribe consists of the Northern and Southern Water Tribes, which reside near both poles. As migration between the two regions is very common, many tribe members have friends and family on the other side of the globe and the two tribes reunite during the New Moon Celebration. Additionally, Northern tribe women would often migrate to the Southern regions, in order to escape their tribe’s patriarchal social traditions, which prohibited women from learning water bending (ATLA S1,E18). During the Hundred Year War outbreak many Southern Water Tribe water benders were taken as prisoners  and were forcibly moved to the Fire Nation to be used as slaves.

Alongside the Northern and Southern Water Tribes exists the less known Froggy Swamp Tribe. This tribe consists of descendants of Southern Water Tribe members who migrated to the Froggy Swamp, a wetland in the southwestern Earth Kingdom, prior to the Hundred Year War. Due to the harsh environment of the swamp, the Froggy Water Tribe developed a new water bending style, swamp bending. Moreover, they are culturally distinct from the two other water tribes and their speech is often described as less sophisticated (ATLA S2, E4).

The Earth Kingdom

The most prominent example of immigration in ATLA finds itself in Book Two: Earth, the second season of the show. As previously mentioned, the Earth Kingdom was heavily colonised by the Fire Nation years before the Air Nomad genocide. A new wave of refugees seeking sanctuaries in other regions of the Earth Kingdom, predominantly the city of Ba Sing Se, ensued from the outbreak of the Hundred Year War. In order to provide transportation to safety for the refugees, hidden stations and transportation hubs such as the Full Moon Bay were established throughout the Nation. However, escaping the colonies was not an easy task for everyone, as the immigrant relief system had its own biases as to who is worthy enough to be saved. The national immigration officials would only allow those with official documents to board the ferries. Those of elite status were able to surpass the regulations and were immediately granted access on the ferries. The show illustrates this in episode 12 of season 2, when Toph was provided with not one but four tickets due to her elite status as a member of the Beifong family, one of the wealthiest families in the East Kingdom. Contrary to Toph’s special treatment Aang, who didn’t own a passport, was immediately refused a ticket. The officer proclaimed “If I gave away all the tickets there would be no more order, no more civilisation.”, once again revealing the systematic classism which the refugee transportation hubs and the city of Ba Sing Se operated under. Less fortunate refugees with no official documentation were neglected by the state and forced to travel through a dangerous route known as the Serpent’s Pass. The lucky few who survived this alternate route were granted asylum upon their arrival at Ba Sing Se. Refugees traveling by ferry had to undergo less than ideal circumstances themselves, having to sleep on dirt and provided with meals consisting of expired and rotten ingredients, while the captain was having lavish meals. Amongst those aboard the ferries, Zuko and his uncle Iroh were forced to flee in the Earth Kingdom disguised as refugees, after being labeled as traitors to the Fire Nation.

Despite the impenetrable walls of Ba Sing Se signifying hope for the refugees, the life they were offered was one of poor quality and discrimination. The inhabitants of Ba Sing Se were divided into three walled ring districts, based on their social and economical status. The Lower Ring consisted of the majority of the city’s population, those are mainly the poor classes, newcomers and the refugees. Due to the Lower Ring being the most dense populated the housings were very small and the crime rates significantly higher then the other two Rings. The Middle Ring housed the middle class population as well as contained the city’s shopping district, whereas the Upper Ring is the place of residence of the upper class including government and military officials. If granted permission citizens of the Lower Ring were allowed to travel to the Middle Ring, however lower class citizens had no access to the Upper Ring and therefore the poor were completely separated from the rich. In his attempt to conceal the war from Ba Sing Se, the Earth King employed Dai Li, an elite secret police force, to micro-surveillance all refugees and punish anyone who goes against the code of silence (ATLA S2, E14). 

Conclusion:

At a first glance migration may not seem to be a major theme in ATLA, nevertheless the series has done an excellent job at exploring the different reasons as to why people choose or are forced to migrate. ATLA reveals the very true and dark reality that many had and still have to experience due to war.

References: 

Avatar: The Last Airbender. Created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. Nickelodeon Animation Studio. (February 21, 2005 – July 19, 2008)

Yee, F. C. (author), DiMartino, Michael Dante (author). (July 16, 2019). The Rise of Kyoshi. Amulet Books.

Hughes, Kiku (writer), Beck, Sam (artist), Ng, Killian (colorist), Betancourt, Jimmy; Starkings, Richard (letterer). “Clearing the Air” (August 14, 2021), Dark Horse Comics.

“Welcome to Republic City”. The Legend of Korra. Book One. Air. DiMartino, Michael Dante, Konietzko, Bryan (writers) & Dos Santos, Joaquim, Ryu, Ki Hyun (directors). Nickelodeon Animation Studio. (April 14, 2012).

Orientation in “The Arrival” – paths of the past and the future

Photo albums combine immediate proximity and boundless distance. They are tangibly close, but suggest an intangible vastness. Photo albums are timeless and yet they capture a concrete time. At the same time, they recall a past, a snapshot that awakens a memory, but are seen through the eyes of the present. A photo album is able to tell a story that depicts the past and foreshadows a future, a future that one seemingly inhabits whilst viewing the album. Photographs are silent, yet they express numerous characteristics. Although they may appear highly specific, the observer perhaps lacks the context that memory has lost, allowing only fragments to be grasped.

Figure 1

Shaun Tan, author of the graphic novel The Arrival, asserts that photo albums “inspire[es] memory and urg[e] us to fill in the silent gaps, animating them with the addition of our own storyline” (Essays – Strange Migrations – Shaun Tan). Originally planning a picture book in which an elderly migrant reflects on his past experiences, Tan discarded this idea in favour of a silent protagonist who migrates to a distant, new and distant place with fantastical attributes (Ling 46-47). Whilst the sepia tones are the main feature to allude to the nature of old photographs, the foreign land involves Tan’s own interest to “depict figures in alienating landscapes” in his illustrations (45), as well as a presumably autobiographical related curiosity. As Tan writes on his website, the alienated place where he spent his childhood gave him “a feeling of being somewhere and nowhere at the same time” (Essays – Strange Migrations – Shaun Tan).

Given the seemingly opposed yet unitary nature of a photo album’s ability to evoke a sense of a liminal place, of the old and the new, of the then and the now, of the silent and the speaking, Tan’s wordless graphic novel The Arrival illustrates a mode of photo album that both builds and defines upon a pair of directions: that of the past and that of the present/future. More precisely, The Arrival formally elucidates the two tendencies by visually placing distinct references to them. In this respect, the title page’s opening gives a visual reference (Figure 1). Standing to one side, the strange and nameless protagonist, his face covered by his hat, directs his gaze to the left and stares back. Similar to the other examples of single panels in the graphic novel, the title page, a replica of a panel reused from another page, demonstrates that the left-facing protagonist turns to face the past.

Figure 2
Figure 3

By the stranger looking behind or casting his gaze to the left, the panel implies that the past that is left behind creates a distance that is at the same time tangible, though no longer accessible. Tan connects a quick sequence here that shifts the direction to the opposite in the subsequent panels, thus making the (then) past yield to what lies ahead, what is directed to the right, what is the future. Just as in the first page, featuring a rightward-facing origami figure in the first panel (Figure 2), upon turning left the stranger encounters a crowd of strange-looking birds that resemble the origami figure (Figure 3). They jointly fly away towards the right, the future, whom the stranger later encounters again in the new land.

To this end, Tan repeatedly deploys these specific alignments of the characters. When the unknown protagonist bids farewell to his family, he tilts his head downwards, puts on his hat, as he faces the left side in the panel. After five additional panels, he bends down again, only this time to receive the suitcase that the daughter hands him. Unlike before, the protagonist is now oriented to the right. With the view into the future, the suitcase stresses the journey into the distant and foreign as a token of movement (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Furthermore, the visual announcements of the various flashbacks in Arrival, which portray the experiences of migration of various characters as they meet the protagonist in the new land, illustrate a glimpse into the past. An example of this is the character exchanging views with the protagonist and looking to the left. As with the previous examples, the panel concentrates only on the character, then zooms in closer with each subsequent panel. Direction of viewing plays an important role in Tan’s Arrival, placing the past and the future in immediate proximity. Similar to a photo album, the old is seemingly situated not that far back, but the new lays ahead as well – in Tan’s Arrival, the fantastically new. According to Golnar Nabizadeh, these fantastic aspects sustain “hope for the future […] through surreality that resides within the recognisable past […]” (Nabizadeh 204).

Figure 5

Accordingly, the last page of the graphic novel accentuates the direction of hope. In the one-page panel, the unnamed proagonist’s daughter, who has arrived in the new land, meets a rather perplexed looking migrant. With a suitcase on the ground and a map in her hand, the migrant gets assistance from the daughter on finding her way. Like the magical being accompanying them, the two look to the right while the daughter points her finger in that very direction – towards the future for the arrived migrant (Figure 5).







Works Cited

Ling, Chuan-Yao. “A Conversation with Illustrator Shaun Tan.” World Literature Today 82.5 (2008): 44-47
Tan, Shaun. “Strange Migrations.” n.d., www.shauntan.net/essays.
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Melbourne. Lothian, 2006.
Nabizadeh, Golnar. Departure and arrival: loss and mourning in literary migrant narratives. 2011. University of Western Australia, PhD dissertation. research-repository.uwa.edu.au/en/publications/departure-and-arrival-loss-and-mourning-in-literary-migrant-narra

Migration and Identity in Persepolis

The graphic novel “Persepolis” by Marjane Satrapi presents the theme of migration and identity in a funny yet thought-provoking manner. I had read the novel a long time ago, but I decided to give it another read after I left my own country, in pursuit of a better education, and a better life. I wasn’t surprised when I could relate more to Marjane and her experience as a foreigner in Austria, far away from home and everything she had found comfort in. The crisis of searching for one’s own identity and roots in an unknown land is portrayed light-heartedly, but those panels weigh more than what meets the eye.  

The novel follows the life of a young girl named Marjane as she navigates her way through a changing world, and the impact that migration has on her sense of self. The story begins with Marjane growing up in Tehran, Iran, during the 1970s, a time of relative stability and prosperity. However, as the political situation in Iran becomes more and more volatile, Marjane’s parents decide to send her to Austria to attend school. This decision represents a major turning point in Marjane’s life, as she is forced to confront the challenges of living in a foreign country and adapting to a new culture.

Marjane struggles to find a sense of belonging in Austria, as she feels alienated from both her Iranian heritage and her new Austrian surroundings. She faces racism and discrimination from her classmates, who view her as an outsider. We see how she was treated as an outsider and exploited even by people who she thought cared for her. Later, a panel shows her recalling how she was called a “dirty foreigner” by an old man in the metro. Marjane’s parents, on the other hand, try to maintain her connection to her Iranian roots by sending her care packages filled with traditional foods and clothing. This leads to a sense of confusion and dislocation for Marjane, as she struggles to reconcile her Iranian identity with her experiences in Austria.

As the story progresses, Marjane returns to Iran after the fall of the Shah and the establishment of the Islamic Republic. She is initially excited to be back in her home country, as she says “…and so much for my individual and social liberties… I needed so badly to go home”, but soon realises that Iran has changed in ways that she did not expect. The strict dress codes, the suppression of women’s rights, and the violence of the Iranian regime all contribute to Marjane’s growing disillusionment with her homeland. She becomes increasingly critical of the government and its policies, and begins to see herself as a rebel and a non-conformist.

Throughout “Persepolis,” Marjane’s experiences of migration and displacement shape her sense of self and her understanding of the world around her. Her story highlights the complex ways in which identity is constructed and negotiated in the context of migration. As Marjane moves between different cultures and contexts, she is forced to confront the limitations and possibilities of her own identity, and to negotiate the tensions and contradictions that arise from her experiences of migration and displacement.

 Marjane’s story highlights the challenges and opportunities that arise from migration, and the ways in which it can shape an individual’s sense of self and understanding of the world. By exploring these themes through the lens of a young girl’s experiences, Satrapi offers a unique perspective on the complexities of migration and identity, and the ways in which they intersect and shape one another.

Dichotomy in “The Fall of the Jade Sword” and the reflection of hybrid identity experiences

Introductory notes

Hybrid identities often live in worlds full of dualities, worlds full of contrasts and opposites. Stephanie Lai’s short story The Fall of the Jade Sword (2017) tells the story of young Mok- Seung who spent her childhood in China but who has moved to a colonial Melbourne with her family. Her aunt and mother teach her at home, but Mok-Seung wants to explore; in the night, she sneaks out onto the rooftops and roams about the city. Meanwhile the tabloids follow the adventures of a new local superhero who they call the Jade Sword and report of the progress of colonization and its side effects. One day, Mok-Seung receives a visit from a family friend who reveals herself as the real Jade Sword and asks Mok-Seung to become her apprentice.

Relevant aspects of dichotomy

One aspect that quickly comes to mind when thinking about dichotomy in the story are the newspaper headlines recited throughout it. The Chinese broadsheets hung all over the teahouses and readers’ homes follow the good deeds of the Jade Sword, proudly claim them as one of their own, and as a master of wushu (for example p.125), while also reporting of the general good and the bad happening in the community. The Times, however, portrays the Jade Sword as a Western magical hero, a tall white man that assists the ‘civilized’ people of Melbourne (p.125). It twists things to paint a bad picture of the Chinese and Indigenous and describes them as wild and dangerous (p.130, 131). Moreover, it actively neglects to report of fates like those of the Chinese settlers attempting to return their loved ones’ bodies to their homeland but are being denied permission for transport (p.130); instead, it focuses on white deaths and white tragedies.

The overall theme of migration in Lai’s story brings more contrasting aspects into play: Mok-Seung sometimes thinks of her memories from “back home” (p.127), already implying that Melbourne does not feel like home in comparison. She also admits that she hopes something good will come out of their stay, since she does not quite understand why they moved in the first place (p.130). At home, she is taught in classical and traditional arts connected to her culture, including cultural knowledge and etiquette (p.132), and her family friends and relatives who moved to Australia as well seem firmly rooted in the culture they left behind (“Can Sin-Man is austere and serious, uninterested in what Australia has to offer […]”, p.127). Melbourne is portrayed as a fast-paced progressive city with flourishing steampunk-esque innovations like augmented bicycles, carriages fueled by steam, and airships (p.125), but it also contradicts its progressive reputation with its regressive thinking: deep-seated racism and discrimination issues. Public establishments are free and normalized to ban who they please from entering (“[…] pokes her head in every restaurant, every sporting club, every place that doesn’t have a sign over the door banning her entry.”, p.130) and Chinese settlers and indigenous people are deliberately blamed for setbacks of the white colonizers (p.125, 126). Still, the young girl is fascinated by the new technologies and wants to utilize them to explore the unknown (p.127).

Connected to that, Australia itself is also described as a dichotomous continent, being a mix of the colonized modern cityscapes that Mok-Seung knows and the ‘wild’ desert that she reads about in the news and wants to see for herself (p.131). This also flows over in Mok-Seung possessing a hybrid identity: she combines two heavily different cultural influences in herself due to having moved in some of her most formative years. Can Sin-Man notices how she not only knows the ‘old styles’, she is also able to adapt to new ones more easily and therefore has an advantage (p.132) since a warrior ought to be adaptable (p.133), which makes Mok-Seung a more than suitable apprentice for the Jade Sword.

Afterthoughts

Mok-Seung as a young first-generation settler to Australia experiences two contrasting cultures at once and unlike her older relatives, represents a transitional generation, being connected to her heritage while also open to and influenced by her new surroundings. She is not only influenced by her traditional upbringing and childhood in China, but also by the new impressions from Australia. This is clearly reflected in her surroundings in The Fall of the Jade Sword, with Melbourne representing technological progress and regressive way of thinking at the same time, as well as colonial civilization in contrast to the ‘wilderness’ outside the cities. Mok-Seung’s two worlds are mirrored and literally represented in two competing newspapers that respectively focus on mostly their own communities, instead of one newspaper reporting neutrally about Melbourne’s citizens as a whole.