Happy spring break guys! Because I’ve already left for home and because I haven’t taken the time to watch the newly released live-action version of Avatar, this week’s blog post will be less analytical and more so just casually talking about inspirations on the four nations. (Although, if I do get the chance to watch the live-action, know there will be a blog post dedicated to that in due time!)

Each of the four elements, while holding symbolic value in their own right, are fully representative in diverse ways to a unique set of cultures. I’ll begin in the classic order of the intro. 

Water, the element of change, comprises the Northern and Southern tribes. Its people value community and find strength in adaptability. Compared to real life inspirations, the Water Tribe was loosely based off of Inuit culture, as well as some parts of Native American culture as well. Their fighting style in particular is also representative of Tai Chi, almost commonly used for meditation but also fluid-like in fighting and requires a lot of dedication to master. 

Next, we move onto Earth. It is the element of substance, and represents the Earth Kingdom. The people are strong and enduring, as evidenced by outlasting numerous sieges on Ba Sing Se. The culture that the Earth Kingdom strongly reflects is from China, from its cities, palace, government, and even cuisine. The fighting style of earth benders is similar to that of Hung Gar, but interestingly enough, Tooth’s fighting style is in its own separate influence of Southern Praying Mantis Style. 

Second to last, we have fire, the element of power. The people make up the fire nation, and are characteristically driven, willful, and ambitious. The fire nation is inspired by various asian cultures, but mostly due to their role in the story find many similarities to Imperial Japan. For their fighting style, fire benders utilize the Northern Shaolin technique, which involves powerful and dynamic footwork. 

Finally, air, the element of freedom, is attributed to the Air Nomads. Aligning to their element, air nomads are typically removed from society and, as Iroh puts it, have detached themselves from worldly concerns in order to obtain peace and freedom. The air nomads are largely based on various spiritual groups such as Tibetan Buddhists, Shaolin Monks, Sri Lankan Buddhists, and Hinduism. Their martial art is inspired by Baguazhang, also known as circle walking. Just like curling wind, Baguazhang fighters are constantly moving and are flexible in their offense and defense, centering on agility and repositioning to gain the upper hand. 

There are so many more parallels to be drawn from the world in Avatar and its inspirations in ours that if I kept going it would make this blog post at least 10x longer. It was really interesting to see just how similar it is to us and where the show took its own creative liberties, so if you’re interested in more I strongly recommend checking out some of the links I listed below. 

 That’s about all, so I will leave you with a perfect quote from Iroh: “It is important to draw wisdom from many different places. If you take it from only one place, it becomes rigid and stale. Understanding others… will help you become whole.”

Cites:

•  https://www.baronnews.com/2020/07/22/cultures-represented-in-avatar-the-last-airbender/
• https://www.cbr.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-martial-arts-inspirations-bending-elements/
• https://collider.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-bending-types-explained/