Which cultural influence surprised you the most? Do you prefer The Last Airbender or Korra's time period? Let us know! Thumbnail by Cosmodore: ruclips.net/user/okaymeis7
A lot of asian aspects I liked about Avatar! Tibetan/Chinese/Korean/Indian cultural influences, Hindu/Buddhist practice influences and in Korra, early western world influences as well :D
I feel like people really miss out on the fact that there is a much more heavy emphasis on Indigenous reference in these series, you mentioned slightly more than others but only slightly. the main character is a genocide surviving nomad flying around on a bison...
It gets mentioned very less often. But many of avatar's spiritual names are Indian. Avatar, agni(means fire), bumi(means earth), chakras, the elements(there are 5 elements in here. Air, water, fire, earth and space - I think space refers to cosmic power only accessible by the avatar), Raava and vaatu ARE based upon ragu and ketu(two snake like creatures associated together) and so many more
@@hannaittihadiyah5264 They are Sanskrit origin yes. Also the 5 Indian elements are water, air, fire, earth, and ether. The exact same elements in the show.
If you don’t know, asian culture is often very mixed with one another Like for example I’m Indonesian and there are words that’s borrowed from sanskit and still being used today (ex: bumi, guru, etc)
Ugh I'm happy to see the people who helped make the fight techniques in the cartoon acurrate and unique are going to be helping live action actors and actresses
THANK YOU! It’s amazing how so many people gloss over the heavy South Asian aspects prominent in ATLA. I know the creators have given credit to South Asia for certain concepts, but nobody seems to remember it/care. They only focus on the Inuit/East Asian influences.
@@s29nv1sr1 Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with the this obsession Americans have with Japan and "eastern" culture. It's funny b/c Buddha was also Nepali//Indian.
K D Yeah, I agree. A lot of people are attracted to East Asian culture without noticing the roots that East Asian culture has in South Asia. Not just w/Buddha being South Asian, but also the fact that many Japanese gods are versions of Hindu gods and that the core principles of Buddhism come from the philosophies and dharma of Hinduism. It can get a little frustrating sometimes, NGL
K D And what I hate the most is when you call people out for not giving credit where credit is due, you’re dismissed as policing/gatekeeping/being a jerk. God it feels to nice to find someone who gets it :)
Almost all of East Asia used to write in classical Chinese in ancient times (China, Japan, Korea, etc), so that part makes sense. It was kind of like the Latin of the time.
Fire nation: japanese imperialism + Tang/Sui + somewhat between Thai and Viet (Siam? Annam?) Earth Kingdom: Ming/Qing and maybe Song Water tribe: Inuit + Venice + Mesoamerica? Kyoshi: Japan + Ryukyu + Korea Air Nation: Tibet + Bhutan? Sun warriors: Khmer + Aztecs
@@davich_c.p9938 The Fire Nation is Japan, Earth kingdom is China, Air nomads is Tibetan/Indian monks, and as said in the video, Water tribes are Inuit
I think Republic City is inspired by British Hong Kong, with the Western influences on their cultures. Also, the Triads in Korra seem to be based on the real-life triad crime syndicates in China.
I was about to say that...with all this research,I was surprised that he hasn’t heard of the real life triads whom are the biggest crime syndicate in the world...
I love that you're going nuts over these themes in Avatar, but.....did you really forget when the creators said they based Republic City off of 1920s Hong Kong? Even the images of the spirit vines in book 3-4 was like the Night City complex up until the 50s-70s?
The core of the Fire Nation may be based on Japan, but the weaponries they use are actually Chinese-inspired. The broad swords used by Zuko are called "Dandao"(单刀）, and the swords forged by piandao may be inspired by "Longquanjian"(龙泉剑). They are traditional Chinese weapons.
リンチエン the idea of reincarnation stems from Hinduism which Buddha was inspired by heavily. And it’s not Tibetan/Buddhist culture its just Buddhist culture. Buddhism did not stem from just Tibet it was a huge thing in that whole area back when there was no set countries.
@@sthapa116o6 My alt account here: I was referring to the comment which you replied to homie xD. Thinking that Buddhism was its own hing entirely when Buddha himself grew up in a Hindi society. Pakistani here btw.
Air nomads are Tibetians Fire nation are japanese early japanese culture heavily resembles tang dynasty culture of China Earth Kingdom a mixture of various Chinese dynasties including the Song Ming and Qing Water tribe are inuits and various Mesoamerican groups I belive the Kyoshi are probably korean or perhaps taiwan? Could the sun warriors be Austronesian?
@@tyronechillifoot5573 as i said i based it off of those few things, thank you for the information who knows maybe they combined them little bit. now all they need are obsidian weapons (that is literally the only other thing i know about them).
In Korean culture (I’m half korean) we have a ceremony on the first birthday; similar to when Aang has to pick objects. It is the same concept but with career/life path. :) I chose the money
That's not the point in Avatar it's Tibetan culture when the dalai lama was reincarnated he did the toy thing as well to know if he is the dalai lama but it wasn't toys it was his past life's random objects
There's always a place where reality and fiction meet. Nothing can ever be 100% real or entirely fictional, and It's up to us to search for that thin line splitting the 2.
I kinda wanna emphasize that the inspiration for each nation/tribe/kingdom isn't limited to one culture 😅 unfortunately, there are debates surrounding these With the water tribe, I'd like to add that there are also hints of Asian (specifically Mongolian and some southeast Asian) influence on these but they seem to be overlooked by the fans 😅😅😅😅
What are the Mongolian influences? Curious because virtually all Mongolian-inspired aesthetic in American pop culture is based on the 13th century Mongolian Empire, and I was wondering if Avatar pulled from other time periods.
@@latrodectusmactans7592 you can see the influences on the clothes they wear beneath their coats, and it's mostly seen in the Northern Water Tribe though. I couldn't quite pinpoint the era though, sorry 😅
@@latrodectusmactans7592 Ghazan THE LAVABENDER from Legend of Korra is CLEARLY Mongolian inspired, since he resembles Shang Yu from Mulan lol. Also his name comes from a Islamic empire that followed Genghis Khan called the Ilkhanate, from the 13th to 14th century.
Fun fact: The fire nation also is inspired by Southeast Asian culture as you can see in the Ember Island episode and in Korra where she gets lowered in the big water pit.
@@shazmeentandel.-. It’s trash. As a full-blooded Asian myself, it seems way too modern and thus dilutes from the beautiful ancient Asian culture that was in the first series
Painting your face isnt exclusive to native americans, ancient Iron Age European and Asian cultures did it too and still its done in many areas of Africa and Polynesia.
Man I watched these shows when I was younger and now I want to watch them again with this newfound knowledge. Thanks for making this show better for me and everyone else!
I think it was inspired by indian culture more ..... like the main theme of the story...avatar...four elements...chakras lots of Indian words too..like AGNI, BUMI, CHAKRAS ...
True bro... We indian can only understand this or the one who knows hindu and seen this show.. except martial arts everything is of hindu.. spritual world, the gurus the opening of 7 chakras to become avatar n all
Thats because Indian culture leaked into East Asian culture. The show is inspired by East Asian, Central Asian, and Inuit culture, and Indian culture has a lot of influence on those.
Jandro Santos no a core of the show is literally Hinduism and Buddhism. Also if the monks were portrayed how they actually look in real life they would look a lot different. A lot of monks from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India are brown skin.
@Kleco102 actually, air nomads in legend of korra are brown skin because they actually belong to earth kingdom...while real air nomads(Tenzin and fam),are fair...
Sidhant Thapa Like I said, south asian culture leaked into east asian culture. Thats why south asian culture is present in the show. Buddhism came from India and its very popular in East Asia. Monks from Tibet are heavily influenced by South Asia. What I’m saying is South Asia has a heavy influence on East Asia IN REAL LIFE. Since the show takes influence from East Asia, they are also inadvertently taking influence from South Asia since South Asia influence the East in real life. Also, Tibet is part of China. They’re considered East Asian, regardless of skin tone, just like how people from Bhutan are considered South Asian despite their light skin and monolids.
I mean... Assuming that them writing in Chinese is weird is a bit hypocritical if you think about it, since a lot of fantasy world's have all English speaking people, plus Anime dub has the same English speaking, Asian writing to it, it's as realistic as that, which I guess brings up the idea of more diverse media needing to be introduced, there's more to the world that we have yet to explore and it's so worth it to do so
And there's some influence of North Africa and Middle East as well. As the sandbender tribes were based on the Bedouin and they made and entire episode of the library of Alexandria :) Nice video!
Personally I have NEVER seen or thought of the Legend of Korra settings to be Western at all because they all just looked like 1950s China, Japan, and Korea (Asia in general). I mean look at the design of the whole city! And YES people wore clothes like they did back then because we were all becoming modern and colonized. But good research so far before the modern-day Avatar world.
Hey guys what do you think inspired Omashu. It is quite a unique city so I was wondering. It also may have an elected monarchy so that is very interesting as well.
Artist: So now we're gonna design the Fire Nation's geography! Perhaps we can base them off of China, or Korea, oh, and Japan of course! Developer: How about.... Iceland? Artist: wha... why? Developer: Why not?
Just in case no one else covered it: anarchism, aka libertarian socialism/communism, is basically the idea of extending democracy to all spheres of life, and wherein democracy is understood in its most “direct” forms (as opposed to the “representative” forms we know). Thus, Zahir’s “anarchism” is shallow and only accounts for tearing down authoritarian forms, but doesn’t analyze what constitutes authority or suggest alternative models. But this fits with his name: “zahir” in Arabic means “outside” or “external,” and is often used in Arabic-language philosophy to indicate that which only accounts for externality and/or shallow aspects of life. I’d argue that the later Zahir episodes, when Korra visits him as a teacher, he has begun to understand where he went wrong and is deepening his ideas.
You made me laugh! (esp your bit about the villains in Korra (blowing hot air guys, but at least your jaw-lines are defined, eh? ;) Your commentary is fun.
1:50 Some of the characters I can tell do resemble actual Chinese characters. I am sure it is actual Chinese, but I am not used to reading actual handwriting, but the top left looks like: 史心的X了XX 得X再X X将军 Translation line by line: History Heart of (I think his son) Unsure Army Officer I believe what is written is Lu Tin's epitaph, or inscriptions of notoriety done during his life.
Speaking of Iceland's influence on the Fire Nation landscapes, I gotta say that...doesn't make sense that they did that. At least, not for the eastward island arc we tour with the Gaang. Iceland is a hotspot that just happens to be situated over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Whereas the "elephant's trunk" of the Fire Nation is created by subduction of one plate beneath another. The Fire Nation's landscapes should bear far more resemblance to the geology of Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. I know Iceland looks super cool and everything, but it doesn't actually make any sense to model a volcanic island arc after a spreading ridge hotspot. But then, this is the same logic that decided that it would be cool and heroic for Avatar Kyoshi to leave the Earth Kingdom to deal with their Chin problem, while she went off and did some catastrophic plate tectonic stuff that would have 100% triggered wide reaching tsunamis, acid rain, a major volcanic eruption AND global cooling and subsequent famine for at least the next several years, if not decades. And I don't know what Kyoshi learned in her crash course on politics that made her decide a power vacuum in the face of global famine was somehow "a new era of peace," but I really hope the novels address that.
References to real-life political ideologies are also pretty interesting. Constitutional Monarchism, like the Earth Kingdon, Absolute Monarchism, like the Fire Nation, Presidential Republicanism, like the URN, Communism, like the Equalists, Fascism, like the Earth Empire, Anarchism, like the Red Lotus. And there are wars that are heavily referenced in the Avatar Universe, the 100 Years War, a mishmash of the real-life 100 Years War between France and Britain where an island nation was the aggressor in a conflict that lasted an entire century, and World War II, where a Fascistic nation, or three nations IRL, attack smaller nations, leading to the rest of the world declaring war on that nation. Then there's that Equalist Revolution, a reference to the Russian Revolution, where a bunch of oppressed underclass people rose up against the wealthy elite. The Water Tribe Civil War, sort of a reference to the US Civil War, where southern dissidents hated being under northern control, and they also had some, nefarious motives to also freely oppress others. It's like I'm watching a Jreg video, except with more nuance, and less satire. I can't imagine another world where this could work.
Wow imagine making this video and completely ignoring south asian culture + Hinduism. The show wouldn’t even EXIST without it. The word avatar (ya’ll pronounce it the white washed way) literally comes from Sanskrit and is based on the Hindu concept of reincarnation. There are so many other influences such as chakras, the lion turtle, the third eye of Shiva, the ELEMENTS (Aryuveda) and so many others. Not loving the erasure of South Asian culture here.
@@RikoSato It isn't just based on Manhattan the whole city is literally 1920 New York it actually isn't really that based on Shanghai and Hong Kong especially since when this show was made Shanghai and China weren't even that much of a power house that it is today.
Austin Blackburn it’s a fictional world so it doesn’t matter what the state of those cities was back then. That’s why you say “based” on something. Not carbon copies. Republic City clearly is mostly based on New York, but not everything. The arena for example is modeled after buildings in China. And Hong Kong was a British colony, giving that city a mix of eastern and western cultures on its own. This has come right out of the creators mouths. Hard to argue with them when they are the ones who created the world and know where they got the inspirations.
@@RikoSato Ok I was over zealous with my statement yes their are other influences other than New York I went a little overboard in my statement because the first comment completely left out New York when that was clearly the main influence.
@@isadora6092 They're not. Elements of Fire Nation dress are derived from that of China, with noblility and royalty wearing robes largely resembling Chinese Hanfu, and their signature shoulder pads likened to traditional Burmese clothing. Fire Nation military garb appears reminiscent of army uniforms from China's Song and Tang dynasty. It is Kyoshi Island which has most of its elements derived from Japan, as the Kyoshi Warriors wield traditional katana and don armor near-identical to that of samurai, buildings being reminiscent of architecture seen in rural Japanese villages.
Saying LoK adopts wester politics ignores the complicated factors of the Chinese Civil War that happened right before WW2. Also bending becoming a sport sounds just about right with the turn of the century martial arts movements and commercialization, but still being used in constructive ways, ala Wong Fei-Hung. Also, you did not mention it, but I know it's a common complaint about LoK, and that is Vaatu & Raava: I recommend anyone who says it's "god and satan" to really really look into Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and Hinduism, and with Hinduism, really consider the relationship between humans and naga.
Anarchism is not a hard concept to grasp: It is a system without central leadership. Despite what people think, anarchism is _not_ a state of dog-eat-dog lawlessness seen in Mad Max films. You can still have laws, policing and a legal system; its just highly decentralized and authority being more horizontal than vertical was with most systems. Judges in this system, for example, would not be government appointed officials but instead are mutually agreed upon arbitrators. Also, a bit of trivia: Zaheer was voiced by Henry Rollins, an old-school punk-rocker from State of Alert and Black Flag. Punk rock was a music genre that supported anarchism and violently opposed fascism in all forms. They often got into fistfights with neo-nazis who wanted to hijack punk rock to their own twisted end.
Northern water tribe is more Petersburg, russia than Venice. Petersburg is called the Venice of the north. Even tho Russia is half European (including Petersburg), I always interpreted water tribe as Russian inspired
Aang and his journey around the pacific rim!! mexican desert grand canyon the table tops and buttes of the wild west the giant redwood forests of california the swamps of washington. they start using ancient history after that. but definitely looks like northwestern canada the aleutian islands and probably kamchatka peninsula after that.
I just find it soooo interesting how many Zivilisations were embedded in ATLA Fir example the face stealing spirit koh's name is indian (the southasian one) and means literally "steal"
I don't know if I would describe kuvira as fascist. If anything, she has a lot more to do with communism than amon. She talks a lot about fairness and equality and redistribution of wealth. She took over the city of Xiaofu (a thriving capitalist economy) because she said it was hording it’s resources, and before she came into power wealth inequality was a massive problemas the earth kingdom. Putting dissenters into prison camps is also something that China and the Soviet Union has a habit of doing.
@Art Ust Same. I’ve never really understood why people automatically think of Japan when they think of the Fire Nation besides the imperialism. To me, the Fire Nation is much like the Mongol Empire, especially in their treatment of women. All throughout Japan’s history, women have been treated as second class citizens. An example of this is how men would ban women from playing female roles in theatre plays. But in the Mongol Empire, women could own land, divorce their husbands and serve in the army. In ATLA, we see that the Fire Nation arguably treats women the most fairly out of the 4 nations and this reflects the treatment of women in the Mongol Empire
@@LM-ix7pk its thought of japan because 1. Japan's history and culture is more popular to the west than the mongols, and 2, it actually is inspired by japan. even the concept of the fire lord is taken from the various war lords in japan during the warring states period, and the history of the fire nation resembles that.
I loved it. Someone actually plugged english into google translate and got actual chinese rather than the regular racist chicken scratch. Also I loved that Kuvira was based off of the facistic Chinese Nationalist party.
Which cultural influence surprised you the most? Do you prefer The Last Airbender or Korra's time period? Let us know!
Thumbnail by Cosmodore: ruclips.net/user/okaymeis7
Last Airbender all the way. I felt they handle that with some Grace.
A lot of asian aspects I liked about Avatar! Tibetan/Chinese/Korean/Indian cultural influences, Hindu/Buddhist practice influences and in Korra, early western world influences as well :D
@@truthseeker8200 and Japanese too.
I feel like people really miss out on the fact that there is a much more heavy emphasis on Indigenous reference in these series, you mentioned slightly more than others but only slightly. the main character is a genocide surviving nomad flying around on a bison...
cultural *appropriaiton
The research and thought was done so well. Well, then everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked
the fire nation = the 2010 movie that shall not be named
It gets mentioned very less often. But many of avatar's spiritual names are Indian. Avatar, agni(means fire), bumi(means earth), chakras, the elements(there are 5 elements in here. Air, water, fire, earth and space - I think space refers to cosmic power only accessible by the avatar), Raava and vaatu ARE based upon ragu and ketu(two snake like creatures associated together) and so many more
Is it sanskrit??
@@hannaittihadiyah5264
They are Sanskrit origin yes. Also the 5 Indian elements are water, air, fire, earth, and ether. The exact same elements in the show.
If you don’t know, asian culture is often very mixed with one another
Like for example I’m Indonesian and there are words that’s borrowed from sanskit and still being used today (ex: bumi, guru, etc)
@@Anthonyfirgo cause Sanskrit was used in South Asia during reign of some great Hindu Kings .....
@@jaiprakashsingh3347 yep my point is asian cultures always have correlation to one another no matter how small
It’s crazy to me how much South Asian/Indian influence this show has, yet there is only one obvious Indian in the entire show.
Who is the indian then?
@@vidishasingh3115 Guru Pathik.
Some of the Air Nomads appear to be a mix of East Asian and Indians.
The influence coming from southeast asia, which is also influenced by india, but they took the reference from southeast asia
What about the guy that blasted Avatar with his third eye. He seems like Lord Shiva (albeit Lord Shiva is a good guy)
Ugh I'm happy to see the people who helped make the fight techniques in the cartoon acurrate and unique are going to be helping live action actors and actresses
Sifu Kisu
Kinda annoying how people exclude South Asia from "Asian". The literal concept of Avatar and the 5 elements is South Asian in origin.
THANK YOU! It’s amazing how so many people gloss over the heavy South Asian aspects prominent in ATLA. I know the creators have given credit to South Asia for certain concepts, but nobody seems to remember it/care. They only focus on the Inuit/East Asian influences.
@@s29nv1sr1 Yeah, I think it has a lot to do with the this obsession Americans have with Japan and "eastern" culture. It's funny b/c Buddha was also Nepali//Indian.
K D Yeah, I agree. A lot of people are attracted to East Asian culture without noticing the roots that East Asian culture has in South Asia. Not just w/Buddha being South Asian, but also the fact that many Japanese gods are versions of Hindu gods and that the core principles of Buddhism come from the philosophies and dharma of Hinduism. It can get a little frustrating sometimes, NGL
@@s29nv1sr1 Yeah super invalidating and honestly, appropriative at times :(
K D And what I hate the most is when you call people out for not giving credit where credit is due, you’re dismissed as policing/gatekeeping/being a jerk.
God it feels to nice to find someone who gets it :)
Sparky sparky boom man in avatar is actually based on Hindu God lord shiva who has a third eye!!
Nooooo
I meant the third eye concept..
What about 二郎神
Almost all of East Asia used to write in classical Chinese in ancient times (China, Japan, Korea, etc), so that part makes sense. It was kind of like the Latin of the time.
@TOUCHPAD1x note that I said "almost" and "east Asia"
Salisbury Tibet is east Asia, also Chinese have same origin with Tibet language.
@@quanyuan6760 note that I said "almost"
Fire nation: japanese imperialism + Tang/Sui + somewhat between Thai and Viet (Siam? Annam?)
Earth Kingdom: Ming/Qing and maybe Song
Water tribe: Inuit + Venice + Mesoamerica?
Kyoshi: Japan + Ryukyu + Korea
Air Nation: Tibet + Bhutan?
Sun warriors: Khmer + Aztecs
Ok but Aztecs are Mesoamerican
Water tribe is Siberian, not Inuit
No...fire nation is china
air bender are Tibetan
China attack Tibet and kill million people
Firenation attack air bender
1 1 no. they’re inuit. Thats just the truth.
tsering Tsering fire nation is obviously japan lmao
Do people forget that Asia is huge and not just Japan, China Korea it spands to India to Philippines its a contente
But this series is mostly based of east asian culture with a slight thai influence has nothing to do with philipines..
@@Anti-communist1989 The Fire Nation looks a lot like Southeast Asia to me
@@davich_c.p9938 yeah it does. specially the agni kai. which resembes a muai thai fight
@@davich_c.p9938 The Fire Nation is Japan, Earth kingdom is China, Air nomads is Tibetan/Indian monks, and as said in the video, Water tribes are Inuit
Include Middle east too.
I think Republic City is inspired by British Hong Kong, with the Western influences on their cultures.
Also, the Triads in Korra seem to be based on the real-life triad crime syndicates in China.
The creators said it was inspired by Shanghai, Hong Kong, Tianjin and Manhattan.
I was about to say that...with all this research,I was surprised that he hasn’t heard of the real life triads whom are the biggest crime syndicate in the world...
And the white lotus is also based on the real life white lotus that takes place in china.
You mean the triads who literally had italian accents 😅
Maura_The_Rose a show catered to the US has characters speaking English? Wow, who would’ve thought. Use your brain, kid
Watching this videos and now knowing more of the culture makes me love this show more than I already do if that's even possible
As much as this show was inspired by India's culture , I wish they had put more Indian characters in the ATLA AND LOK
I love that you're going nuts over these themes in Avatar, but.....did you really forget when the creators said they based Republic City off of 1920s Hong Kong? Even the images of the spirit vines in book 3-4 was like the Night City complex up until the 50s-70s?
Fandom Cake the creators said it was like a hong Kong mixed with 1920's Manhattan.
@@RikoSato as well as Shanghai
@@RikoSato “...mixed with 1920s Manhattan”
No wonder I hated The Legend of Korra
And the Dalai Lama's name? Tenzin Gyatso.
Blake Clark 🤯
That would mean that he lives where the guru pathik used to
Yes.. and fire nation and china both are depicted by fire breathing dragons
@Tenzin Chosang Hey even you have the same name:)
I watched korra once, and it was VERY...okay.... currently re watching avatar for the 5th time in the past 3 months
The core of the Fire Nation may be based on Japan, but the weaponries they use are actually Chinese-inspired. The broad swords used by Zuko are called "Dandao"(单刀）, and the swords forged by piandao may be inspired by "Longquanjian"(龙泉剑). They are traditional Chinese weapons.
Michael Zhao their fashion also based on chinese han ethnicity
@@rianda1181 The architecture is also Thai and some areas have a south east asian lifestyle
@@bmona7550 thai culture to be precise.
@@bmona7550 Definitely. Specifically, the ember island.
Architecture is also chinese with the temples and the FN capital city!
Also! The Dalai Lama's name was..
*TENZIN GYATSO*
Reincarnation is based on hinduism
Agni kai and boom boom sparky man too
Reincarnation is way more based on tibetan/Buddhist culture since people that are reincarnated is a thing
リンチエン the idea of reincarnation stems from Hinduism which Buddha was inspired by heavily. And it’s not Tibetan/Buddhist culture its just Buddhist culture. Buddhism did not stem from just Tibet it was a huge thing in that whole area back when there was no set countries.
Kidd Pirates One Piece Reviews how so
@@sthapa116o6 My alt account here:
I was referring to the comment which you replied to homie xD. Thinking that Buddhism was its own hing entirely when Buddha himself grew up in a Hindi society.
Pakistani here btw.
Yeah ! COME ON .......
AGNI !!
Air nomads are Tibetians
Fire nation are japanese early japanese culture heavily resembles tang dynasty culture of China
Earth Kingdom a mixture of various Chinese dynasties including the Song Ming and Qing
Water tribe are inuits and various Mesoamerican groups
I belive the Kyoshi are probably korean or perhaps taiwan?
Could the sun warriors be Austronesian?
the sun warriors could be based on the Aztecs, but i'm not to sure other than the sun as a god, their buildings, and their attire.
@@C.G.Gaster reason i say Austronesian is because the resemble typical Austronesian attire but Andean/ Mesoamerican could work
@@tyronechillifoot5573 as i said i based it off of those few things, thank you for the information who knows maybe they combined them little bit. now all they need are obsidian weapons (that is literally the only other thing i know about them).
I'm pretty sure Kyoshi island is based off of Japan. Hell, even the name is Japanese.
@@corki9930possibly the Ryuku Kingdom?
In Korean culture (I’m half korean) we have a ceremony on the first birthday; similar to when Aang has to pick objects. It is the same concept but with career/life path. :) I chose the money
this is a chinese tradition too. we pick different things to figure out future career.
That's not the point in Avatar it's Tibetan culture when the dalai lama was reincarnated he did the toy thing as well to know if he is the dalai lama but it wasn't toys it was his past life's random objects
Why’s it weird for them to use Chinese writing when fictional worlds use English all the time ?
Ikr
There's always a place where reality and fiction meet.
Nothing can ever be 100% real or entirely fictional, and It's up to us to search for that thin line splitting the 2.
I kinda wanna emphasize that the inspiration for each nation/tribe/kingdom isn't limited to one culture 😅 unfortunately, there are debates surrounding these
With the water tribe, I'd like to add that there are also hints of Asian (specifically Mongolian and some southeast Asian) influence on these but they seem to be overlooked by the fans 😅😅😅😅
What are the Mongolian influences? Curious because virtually all Mongolian-inspired aesthetic in American pop culture is based on the 13th century Mongolian Empire, and I was wondering if Avatar pulled from other time periods.
Hugin Mayday it also has stupas which are Nepali Buddhist temples
@@sthapa116o6 what a shame that nobody really knows this tho
@@latrodectusmactans7592 you can see the influences on the clothes they wear beneath their coats, and it's mostly seen in the Northern Water Tribe though. I couldn't quite pinpoint the era though, sorry 😅
@@latrodectusmactans7592 Ghazan THE LAVABENDER from Legend of Korra is CLEARLY Mongolian inspired, since he resembles Shang Yu from Mulan lol.
Also his name comes from a Islamic empire that followed Genghis Khan called the Ilkhanate, from the 13th to 14th century.
Fun fact: The fire nation also is inspired by Southeast Asian culture as you can see in the Ember Island episode and in Korra where she gets lowered in the big water pit.
Aside from the abrupt difference in enthusiasm when you got to Korra, this was a great video.
Eh if Korra wasn't trash I'm sure that wouldn't be the case
@@klaidas7409 It's not trash...Stop hating it .It's good in its own ways.
@@klaidas7409 not trash
@@shazmeentandel.-. It’s trash. As a full-blooded Asian myself, it seems way too modern and thus dilutes from the beautiful ancient Asian culture that was in the first series
Painting your face isnt exclusive to native americans, ancient Iron Age European and Asian cultures did it too and still its done in many areas of Africa and Polynesia.
It's so sad that we can't get any mythos perfection like Avatar, I am proud of being born on 2002. Sad for those in the 2010s
:((.
damn you young xD. 1999er here.
@@mianzahid8744 then I'm probably too young...; 2007
Wow props to the people who worked on this and how much time and research was dedicated to this show
"Get over your Nemo" 😂 I died
Man I watched these shows when I was younger and now I want to watch them again with this newfound knowledge. Thanks for making this show better for me and everyone else!
I think it was inspired by indian culture more ..... like the main theme of the story...avatar...four elements...chakras lots of Indian words too..like AGNI, BUMI, CHAKRAS ...
True bro... We indian can only understand this or the one who knows hindu and seen this show.. except martial arts everything is of hindu.. spritual world, the gurus the opening of 7 chakras to become avatar n all
Thats because Indian culture leaked into East Asian culture. The show is inspired by East Asian, Central Asian, and Inuit culture, and Indian culture has a lot of influence on those.
Jandro Santos no a core of the show is literally Hinduism and Buddhism. Also if the monks were portrayed how they actually look in real life they would look a lot different. A lot of monks from Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and India are brown skin.
@Kleco102 actually, air nomads in legend of korra are brown skin because they actually belong to earth kingdom...while real air nomads(Tenzin and fam),are fair...
Sidhant Thapa Like I said, south asian culture leaked into east asian culture. Thats why south asian culture is present in the show. Buddhism came from India and its very popular in East Asia. Monks from Tibet are heavily influenced by South Asia. What I’m saying is South Asia has a heavy influence on East Asia IN REAL LIFE. Since the show takes influence from East Asia, they are also inadvertently taking influence from South Asia since South Asia influence the East in real life. Also, Tibet is part of China. They’re considered East Asian, regardless of skin tone, just like how people from Bhutan are considered South Asian despite their light skin and monolids.
Tysm for this video this helped me with my project where a huge part of it was to compare avatar to real-life.
there is nothing wrong with wanting equality
If ewery one was equall than no one is special and people would become a hive mind
@@cosmicdoggo9296 you can have equality and individuality
this is helping me in college for my essay, thank you. do you have any of your main sources by chance lol
I mean... Assuming that them writing in Chinese is weird is a bit hypocritical if you think about it, since a lot of fantasy world's have all English speaking people, plus Anime dub has the same English speaking, Asian writing to it, it's as realistic as that, which I guess brings up the idea of more diverse media needing to be introduced, there's more to the world that we have yet to explore and it's so worth it to do so
Do more avatar videos please!!
And there's some influence of North Africa and Middle East as well. As the sandbender tribes were based on the Bedouin and they made and entire episode of the library of Alexandria :)
Nice video!
If you look at the architecture of the Fire nation, it resembles nations like Thailand more than it resembles Japanese architecture
Are you american? Because you don't seem to understand the depth of communism other than equality.
It makes me respect both tv shows so much
King bumi is an earth bender and in Tamil earth translates to Bumi!!!
Yay Avatar videos!!!
My favourite line is "not to different from our own" as mongoose lizards yeet themselves over the water. Love the video!
Personally I have NEVER seen or thought of the Legend of Korra settings to be Western at all because they all just looked like 1950s China, Japan, and Korea (Asia in general). I mean look at the design of the whole city! And YES people wore clothes like they did back then because we were all becoming modern and colonized. But good research so far before the modern-day Avatar world.
Its the dalai lama.. same name gyatso
China and fire nation, both depiced by dragons
Tibet has mountains.
Everything makes sense.
World free tibet
You haven't seen the dragon prince?
Hey guys what do you think inspired Omashu. It is quite a unique city so I was wondering. It also may have an elected monarchy so that is very interesting as well.
Artist: So now we're gonna design the Fire Nation's geography! Perhaps we can base them off of China, or Korea, oh, and Japan of course!
Developer: How about.... Iceland?
Artist: wha... why?
Developer: Why not?
Just in case no one else covered it: anarchism, aka libertarian socialism/communism, is basically the idea of extending democracy to all spheres of life, and wherein democracy is understood in its most “direct” forms (as opposed to the “representative” forms we know). Thus, Zahir’s “anarchism” is shallow and only accounts for tearing down authoritarian forms, but doesn’t analyze what constitutes authority or suggest alternative models. But this fits with his name: “zahir” in Arabic means “outside” or “external,” and is often used in Arabic-language philosophy to indicate that which only accounts for externality and/or shallow aspects of life.
I’d argue that the later Zahir episodes, when Korra visits him as a teacher, he has begun to understand where he went wrong and is deepening his ideas.
Perfect
3 views
6 likes
Mom RUclips is drunk again! 🤢☠️
P.S. I really loved EVERYTHING else you said though ❤️👍🏼💜
You made me laugh! (esp your bit about the villains in Korra (blowing hot air guys, but at least your jaw-lines are defined, eh? ;) Your commentary is fun.
1:50
Some of the characters I can tell do resemble actual Chinese characters.
I am sure it is actual Chinese, but I am not used to reading actual handwriting, but the top left looks like:
史心的X了XX
得X再X
X将军
Translation line by line:
History Heart of (I think his son)
Unsure
Army Officer
I believe what is written is Lu Tin's epitaph, or inscriptions of notoriety done during his life.
忠心的儿子 路腾 Loyal son Lu Teng
@@quanyuan6760 Thank you Quan! I am still learning Chinese DX
I think republic City was based on Hong Kong and Shanghai as Shanghai was dubbed "Eastern Paris"
ATLA and LOK were great. I just wish they would make The Search and Smoke and Shadow into a fourth season/chapter of The Last Airbender.
I wish they make another avatar series. That would air on nickelodeon like the old times
Hallo
Malachite
Hallo
it's sad how they're making a live action but in netflix
You forgot that the Fire Nation is also has Korean inspiration
Speaking of Iceland's influence on the Fire Nation landscapes, I gotta say that...doesn't make sense that they did that. At least, not for the eastward island arc we tour with the Gaang. Iceland is a hotspot that just happens to be situated over the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Whereas the "elephant's trunk" of the Fire Nation is created by subduction of one plate beneath another. The Fire Nation's landscapes should bear far more resemblance to the geology of Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines. I know Iceland looks super cool and everything, but it doesn't actually make any sense to model a volcanic island arc after a spreading ridge hotspot. But then, this is the same logic that decided that it would be cool and heroic for Avatar Kyoshi to leave the Earth Kingdom to deal with their Chin problem, while she went off and did some catastrophic plate tectonic stuff that would have 100% triggered wide reaching tsunamis, acid rain, a major volcanic eruption AND global cooling and subsequent famine for at least the next several years, if not decades. And I don't know what Kyoshi learned in her crash course on politics that made her decide a power vacuum in the face of global famine was somehow "a new era of peace," but I really hope the novels address that.
Man I love avatar
References to real-life political ideologies are also pretty interesting. Constitutional Monarchism, like the Earth Kingdon, Absolute Monarchism, like the Fire Nation, Presidential Republicanism, like the URN, Communism, like the Equalists, Fascism, like the Earth Empire, Anarchism, like the Red Lotus. And there are wars that are heavily referenced in the Avatar Universe, the 100 Years War, a mishmash of the real-life 100 Years War between France and Britain where an island nation was the aggressor in a conflict that lasted an entire century, and World War II, where a Fascistic nation, or three nations IRL, attack smaller nations, leading to the rest of the world declaring war on that nation.
Then there's that Equalist Revolution, a reference to the Russian Revolution, where a bunch of oppressed underclass people rose up against the wealthy elite. The Water Tribe Civil War, sort of a reference to the US Civil War, where southern dissidents hated being under northern control, and they also had some, nefarious motives to also freely oppress others.
It's like I'm watching a Jreg video, except with more nuance, and less satire. I can't imagine another world where this could work.
Zaheer was literally the best villain of both series
You got jokes
2:53 *Northern
Happy to know that we have avatars
What song is this 11:02
Wow imagine making this video and completely ignoring south asian culture + Hinduism. The show wouldn’t even EXIST without it. The word avatar (ya’ll pronounce it the white washed way) literally comes from Sanskrit and is based on the Hindu concept of reincarnation. There are so many other influences such as chakras, the lion turtle, the third eye of Shiva, the ELEMENTS (Aryuveda) and so many others. Not loving the erasure of South Asian culture here.
@Eustass D. CAPTAIN Kidd ooo Nice
Republic City is also based on Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tianjing.
Elementer the creators have said they mixed Manhattan in there too.
@@RikoSato It isn't just based on Manhattan the whole city is literally 1920 New York it actually isn't really that based on Shanghai and Hong Kong especially since when this show was made Shanghai and China weren't even that much of a power house that it is today.
Austin Blackburn it’s a fictional world so it doesn’t matter what the state of those cities was back then. That’s why you say “based” on something. Not carbon copies. Republic City clearly is mostly based on New York, but not everything. The arena for example is modeled after buildings in China. And Hong Kong was a British colony, giving that city a mix of eastern and western cultures on its own. This has come right out of the creators mouths. Hard to argue with them when they are the ones who created the world and know where they got the inspirations.
@@RikoSato Ok I was over zealous with my statement yes their are other influences other than New York I went a little overboard in my statement because the first comment completely left out New York when that was clearly the main influence.
tbh fire nation looks like a western stereotype of China from clothing, reds, fires, and even architecture.
but the attires are heavily japanese inspired
@@isadora6092
They're not. Elements of Fire Nation dress are derived from that of China, with noblility and royalty wearing robes largely resembling Chinese Hanfu, and their signature shoulder pads likened to traditional Burmese clothing.
Fire Nation military garb appears reminiscent of army uniforms from China's Song and Tang dynasty. It is Kyoshi Island which has most of its elements derived from Japan, as the Kyoshi Warriors wield traditional katana and don armor near-identical to that of samurai, buildings being reminiscent of architecture seen in rural Japanese villages.
&waterbending is based on Two chi. 😇
Avatar actually is one of my inspirations for getting into history. That and call of duty world at war
Lul re watching avatar and yesterday i ended season 2 now to watch season 3
Saying LoK adopts wester politics ignores the complicated factors of the Chinese Civil War that happened right before WW2. Also bending becoming a sport sounds just about right with the turn of the century martial arts movements and commercialization, but still being used in constructive ways, ala Wong Fei-Hung. Also, you did not mention it, but I know it's a common complaint about LoK, and that is Vaatu & Raava: I recommend anyone who says it's "god and satan" to really really look into Taoism, Zoroastrianism, and Hinduism, and with Hinduism, really consider the relationship between humans and naga.
Anarchism is not a hard concept to grasp: It is a system without central leadership. Despite what people think, anarchism is _not_ a state of dog-eat-dog lawlessness seen in Mad Max films. You can still have laws, policing and a legal system; its just highly decentralized and authority being more horizontal than vertical was with most systems. Judges in this system, for example, would not be government appointed officials but instead are mutually agreed upon arbitrators.
Also, a bit of trivia: Zaheer was voiced by Henry Rollins, an old-school punk-rocker from State of Alert and Black Flag. Punk rock was a music genre that supported anarchism and violently opposed fascism in all forms. They often got into fistfights with neo-nazis who wanted to hijack punk rock to their own twisted end.
I think Kiyoshi Island feels a bit like a Taiwan parallel.
Did you forget the earth bending wrestlers in ATLA?
i was dreamng aang when i sleep and i wake up i search aang i thought theres portal-
Ok ok but let's not act like they weren't doing straight capoeira in book three
The great cuck god that’s a lot of different types of cultures into a true melting pot
No one was denying that.
Even in the real world, there’s something always fantastical.
I believe that the Water Tribe is inspired partially by the Southern Filipino tribes.
what parts specifically? I’m super interested in the Filipino influences!
isn't it mainly inuit with some native american elements?
Gringos talking about politics are so cute, you believe you know so much but know so little in reality
They can say what they want
@The God Of Manga so you can say whatever you want, but the whites cant?
2:52 he says southern but it's northern
Northern water tribe is more Petersburg, russia than Venice. Petersburg is called the Venice of the north. Even tho Russia is half European (including Petersburg), I always interpreted water tribe as Russian inspired
This the only show that can mix a bunch of different cultures and not look stupid 👌🏽 periodttttttt
How to tell if it’s an anime . Do they take their shoes off inside ?
If it's made from Japan or not
@@user-kj6cf7wf3f its made in korea
I always thought the avatar was based on the buddha itself
Why did i discover this guy only now... HE'S SO COOL WOWIE😂
Technically Airbenders since they can’t bend oxygen then they could pet the oxygen in somebody’s won’t pull it up and put bit them technically
The northern tribe has the canels not the south
Lol that Obama joke cane outta nowhere!! 😂😂
hmm Kioshi island seems more japan then the fire nation. mostly because the Kioshi warriors they use katanas and have samurai armour
The Firs Nation always struck me more as Mongolian. Their armor just screams Mongol
Yup
Aang and his journey around the pacific rim!! mexican desert grand canyon the table tops and buttes of the wild west the giant redwood forests of california the swamps of washington. they start using ancient history after that. but definitely looks like northwestern canada the aleutian islands and probably kamchatka peninsula after that.
...maybe the arid climate was supposed to imitate the Gobi Desert?
why can't water benders hot water and ice bend (so hot it burns)
More mentions of the indigenous cultural references, but only like an iota...
I Love avatar aang more than any avatar
Malachite Quartz
Korra for life
Hallo
KYOSHI GANG RISE UP.
I just find it soooo interesting how many Zivilisations were embedded in ATLA
Fir example the face stealing spirit koh's name is indian (the southasian one) and means literally "steal"
I don't know if I would describe kuvira as fascist. If anything, she has a lot more to do with communism than amon. She talks a lot about fairness and equality and redistribution of wealth. She took over the city of Xiaofu (a thriving capitalist economy) because she said it was hording it’s resources, and before she came into power wealth inequality was a massive problemas the earth kingdom. Putting dissenters into prison camps is also something that China and the Soviet Union has a habit of doing.
Fire nation really like Mongol Empire
@Art Ust Same. I’ve never really understood why people automatically think of Japan when they think of the Fire Nation besides the imperialism. To me, the Fire Nation is much like the Mongol Empire, especially in their treatment of women. All throughout Japan’s history, women have been treated as second class citizens. An example of this is how men would ban women from playing female roles in theatre plays. But in the Mongol Empire, women could own land, divorce their husbands and serve in the army. In ATLA, we see that the Fire Nation arguably treats women the most fairly out of the 4 nations and this reflects the treatment of women in the Mongol Empire
@@LM-ix7pk its thought of japan because 1. Japan's history and culture is more popular to the west than the mongols, and 2, it actually is inspired by japan. even the concept of the fire lord is taken from the various war lords in japan during the warring states period, and the history of the fire nation resembles that.
I loved it. Someone actually plugged english into google translate and got actual chinese rather than the regular racist chicken scratch. Also I loved that Kuvira was based off of the facistic Chinese Nationalist party.