Moral ambiguity and the philosophy of balance in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender’

Abstract

According to creators Bryan Konietzko and Micheal DiMartino, the televised series Avatar: The Last Airbender was built on a core philosophy of Balance; drawing inspiration from Eastern philosophy and Japanese anime (Vasconcellos, 2012). These claims were investigated through interdisciplinary fields across various mediums to inform a culminative Textual Analysis of the series. This study sought to determine the value of complex subject matter in children’s programming, explore preconceived notions of morality in Western kids’ cartoons from the lens of heroism and villainy, as well as pinpoint the Eastern philosophical and cultural influences within Avatar’s narrative structure. The findings proved a motif of Balance in the series’ moral thesis and worldbuilding, which has roots in Buddhist concepts, most prominently those of Yin and Yang. Moreover, character and story arc analysis evoked moral questions, subversive juxtaposition of heroes and villains, as well as mature yet child-appropriate themes. Several lessons were deduced from the text ranging from the human-oriented concepts of trauma, identity conflict and redemption to the more adult themes of the geopolitical and cultural ramifications of war.