leaf in the wind

unbowed, unbent, unbroken

4 months ago · December 26, 2012 · 368 notes

#legend of korra #Asami Sato #hiroshi sato

4 months ago · December 24, 2012 · 431 notes

#Avatar The Last Airbender #toph #aang #sokka #the blind bandit #gif

agentsokka:

notablyindigo:

For you to treat our tattoos like a part of some costume…! My culture isn’t a game!

Gene Yang has done a lot of very strange/generally incorrect things with The Promise, but this is something I’m glad to say he got very right. Culture isn’t a costume, and wearing traditional dress or images from an unaffiliated culture simply because you’re a “fan” is inappropriate.
This is how I feel every time I see bindis included in magazine spreads, or decorating the foreheads of celebrities and schoolgirls. It gets taken up by fashion and becomes “cool”…as long as it’s not being worn by my mother or my grandmother or, for that matter, me. I’m not cool when I wear a bindi—a real one, the red, thumbprint-sized one. I’m ‘ultra-Indian’. I’m conservative, traditional, demure. I am all the stereotypes that the West has ever imposed on Indian women. I’m not fashionable or modern or admired.
Tread lightly where other peoples’ cultures are concerned. There are ways to appreciate them without appropriating.

# not everyone got it though # ive seen people in the tags going on about how much of a ‘jerk’ aang was
Noticed this too, but I can guesstimate as to why they’re sayin’ that. Despite Aang obviously bein’ in the right, there’s a sort of negative image associated with its projection. The whole theme of the comic revolves around “embracing and combining other cultures/peoples”—such as Zuko being ‘right’ about his demands for his people to stay, despite the numerous socio-economic problems plaguing the city through the Fire Nation’s imperialist influence. Throughout the thing, its intention seems to try n’ depict Aang as ‘living in the past’, and that he has to embrace a new world where cultures go hand in hand. Being ‘too focused’ on the separation of nations in an era where cooperation is a necessity to rebuild the world.
Immediately after Aang storms out, Katara is repeating what Guru Pathik preached—that everything is one and the same. He admits to being confused about his principles because they’re in conflict with how he’s expected to deal with the situation at hand. With his initial desire to have the nations separate and to keep the air nomad philosophy ongoing, he’s asked if all he’ll do is live the hermit’s life to do such. Zuko doesn’t side with him on the prospect obviously—but in a large sense, neither does Katara, as she wants the familial components to stick despite different heritages. The ones that do want separation, like Kuei’s Earth Kingdom troops and the Freedom Fighters, are shown to be ‘radical’, leaning towards violence to enforce separation rather than embrace a mixing of cultures. Not the sort of crap you’d want a good message to be associated with, in other words.
Throughout the volumes, no one really sides with Aang on this stuff. He’s kind of shown as an isolationist with the idea of solid separation, disregarding Zuko’s “right” ideologies. Zuko’s not with him; Katara’s not wholly with him either; the people that do concur on separation are violent and unwilling to wait for peaceful diplomacy. Aang’s always being shown as “too harsh” against the modernizing and joining of cultures, and here, Yang’s portraying him as overreacting in a sense. Maybe that wasn’t the intention, but with all the negative atmosphere surrounding Aang’s desires throughout these comics, it’s easy to mistake this scene as “Aang just being a jerk”. Zuko’s arguments are bolstered, while Aang’s are taken as unreasonable and archaic.
I dunno, I just got that vibe after reevaluating the thing as a whole. Aang is most certainly right here, but I’m not sure if we’re supposed to think he’s right. Seems to me that Yang meant for us to support Zuko while Aang in a way is condemned ideology-wise.

5 months ago · November 26, 2012 · 3,617 notes

#the promise #Avatar The Last Airbender

5 months ago · November 20, 2012 · 237 notes

#iroh #general iroh #lu ten #fire nation #Avatar The Last Airbender #gif #i keep finding things to make myself sad

6 months ago · November 11, 2012 · 1,417 notes

#zuko #azula #ozai #fire nation #Avatar The Last Airbender #gif #*

6 months ago · November 11, 2012 · 404 notes

korraspasm:

I’m the Art Show, Deal With It! is a Legend of Korra art show being held by the PixelDrip Gallery in LA with over 50 artists from around the world, including myself. These are the people who brought us the amazing Six Seasons and a Movie art show back in June. This collective of artists will produce some amazing work for the show.
They need help funding the show though! If you could donate, no matter how small an amount, to their Kickstarter, that would be fantastic. And then signal boost this post! Share the Kickstarter page on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, where ever. We need your help to get this show going.
Visit the Kickstarter here!

6 months ago · November 09, 2012 · 182 notes

6 months ago · November 08, 2012 · 323 notes

#the boy in the iceberg #sokka #katara #the southern water tribe #Avatar The Last Airbender #gif #*

kataang memories

6 months ago · November 03, 2012 · 1,589 notes

6 months ago · November 02, 2012 · 359 notes

#azula #firebending #Avatar The Last Airbender #atla #gif #epilepsy warning #this is crappy but w/e #*