WHILE FICTIONAL FANTASY SERIES TRANSW port viewers to impossible worlds full of magic and mysticism, they also tend to look an awful lot like medieval Europe. The Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Witcher and many of the most famous fantasy films and TV series explicitly pull from Western folklore and mythology, meaning that even worlds that are designed to stretch the bounds of our imagination are Eurocentric at their core.
And then there's Avatar: The Last Airbender, the fiercely beloved animated Nickelodeon series from 2005. Avatar, not to be confused with James Cameron's film series, depicts an epic power struggle between four nations who channel the elements of water, fire, air, and earth, respectively, in battle. And although Avatar was an American production, its creators forged a distinctly Asian world, with influences from monastic Tibet, Thai kingdoms, and Japanese villages, as well as Arctic Indigenous communities.
This unique approach was not lost on the TV writer Albert Kim when he watched the series with his daughter. "It was incredibly rare back then - and frankly even now-to find this epic fantasy world that draws its influences from Asian and Indigenous cultures," he says. When the pandemic hit in 2020, Avatar saw a massive resurgence, topping Netflix viewership charts. Now, Kim is the showrunner of a live-action series adaptation, which arrives on Netflix on Feb. 22 facing enormous expectations from the show's faithful fan base. As Kim navigated Avatar's nuanced character arcs, turbulent sociopolitical themes, and ambitious visual tableaus, he made it a priority to center Asian cultural specificity, in order to ground the characters, deepen the world's lore, and provide badly needed representation.
この記事は Time の March 11, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は Time の March 11, 2024 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
As employers embrace Al, workers fret-and seek input
THE SWEDISH BUY-NOW-PAY-LATER COMPANY KLARNA has become something of a poster child for the potential benefits of generative artificial intelligence.
Claudia Sheinbaum
A first for Mexico
Afghan women defying the Taliban
WHEN KABUL FELL TO THE TALIBAN, RETURNING Afghanistan to the fundamentalist group's control, women who did not flee faced a reality in which they could no longer be who they are: journalists deleted evidence of their work, artists destroyed their creations, and graduates set fire to their degrees.
The way to a truly restful vacation
TRAVEL CAN DO WONDERS FOR YOUR well-being: expanding your mind, bonding you to loved ones, and connecting you with nature.
SHARING GRIEF AMID WAR
Spring and early summer are difficult times for both Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli Jews move from Passover, the holiday of freedom, to Holocaust Memorial Day, to Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terror, to the triumphant celebrations of Independence Day. The days pass with rituals intended to give us a shared meaning as a society and to inculcate and frame Israel's official narrative.
WESTWARD HO, AGAIN
Kevin Costner's risky western epic, Horizon, celebrates the height of the genre without quite getting there itself
DO LESS. IT'S GOOD FOR YOU
Unproductive moments can boost health and happiness
'I don't have faith in doctors anymore!'
How women get pressured into long-term birth control
Strait Talk
TAIWAN'S NEW PRESIDENT LAI CHING-TE IS TAKING A HARD LINE ON CHINA. BEIJING IS NOT AMUSED
How U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is navigating America's AI future
UNTIL MID-2023, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE was something of a niche topic in Washington, largely confined to small circles of tech-policy wonks.