This is just my opinion, and you can feel free to disagree, but I don’t think Shyamalan was intentionally trying to be racist or offensive. I think he’s just such a terrible director that the movie accidentally came out as offensive.
Uhuh, all these things just accidentally happened. Words magically transformed into gibberish, the WTs magically are cast that way, the FN is magically devoid of anything Asian that is not India … Did you even read one single thing I wrote?
Did YOU know that 2532 people re-bloged this piece of fetishising bullshit?
Isn’t it just lovely that so many people joined the ‘hey, look at those quaint people over there, with their lack of our morals’ fucktardery?
Yes, the post is wrong, so wrong it fucking hurts.
And why, YES I am pissed off.
If you are going to make a condescending post about other people’s traditions, fucking check your facts. Or are your wiki-fingers broken, assholes?
The Mosuo(also known as Na) have large extended families, and several generations (great grandparents, grandparents, parents, children, grandchildren, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, etc.) live together in the same house. Everyone lives in communal quarters, and there are no private bedrooms or living areas, except for women between certain ages (see the section on “coming of age,” below) who may have their own private rooms.[9]
All on-going sexual relationships in Mosuo culture are called “walking marriages.” These bonds are “based on mutual affection.”[8] When a Mosuo woman or man expresses interest in a potential partner, it is the woman who may give the man permission to visit her. These visits are usually kept secret, with the man visiting the woman’s house after dark, spending the night, and returning to his own home in the morning.[9] Mosuo women and men can engage in sexual relations with as many partners they wish.[11]
While a pairing may be long-term, the man never lives with the woman’s family, or vice versa. Mosuo men and women continue to live with and be responsible to their respective families. The couple do not share property. The father usually has little responsibility for his offspring.[9] “It is the job of men to care more for their nieces and nephews than for their own children.”[4] A father may indicate an interest in the upbringing of his children by bringing gifts to the mother’s family. This gives him status within the mother’s family, while not actually becoming part of the family. Whether or not the father is involved, children are raised in the mother’s home and assume her family name.[9]
Myths
Although sometimes believed otherwise by outsiders:
- Mosuo women should not be considered promiscuous
While it is possible for a Mosuo woman to change partners as often as she likes, few Mosuo women have more than one partner at a time. Anthropologists call this system “serial monogamy.” Most Mosuo form long-term relationships and do not change partners frequently.[8] Some of these pairings may even last a lifetime.
- Fathers of children are commonly known
The large majority of women know their children’s fathers; it is actually a source of embarrassment if a mother cannot identify a child’s father.[8] At a child’s birth, the father, his mother and sisters come to celebrate, and bring gifts. On New Year’s Day, a child visits the father to pay respect to him and his household. A father also participates in the coming-of-age ceremony. Though he does not have an everyday role, the father is nevertheless an important partner.
I will say this only once, since I am really getting sick of this:
Republic City is not set in the West.
Yes, this is an American show and there are plenty American pop-culture references and jokes, but that does not make the universe they created a western one. On the contrary, they went out of their way to research and construct a Sino-centric universe for ATLA.
One reference does not mean the whole universe is based on that on fact. If that were true the ATLA universe was Star Wars (see ep. The Library and Star Wars jokes).
As for points people have brought up:
Melting Pot does not mean New York: There are plenty of melting pots all over the world, Hong Kong being one, so is London, Rio, Singapore, Macao to just name a few.
Skyscrapers do not mean New York or the West: Do I seriously need to point this out?
The US was not the only place Jazz was popular in during the 1920s, it was a worldwide musical trend.
The mob is called the triads (Chinese mob).
Please stop taking ONE thing/building etc and then make the assumption that RC has to be that one city.
The show does not have a ‘West’. Real life western inventions, like the hot air balloon (France), are invented in the show by non-westerns i.e. in this case the Mechanist and Sokka. We have to assume that all other inventions are paralleled in the same way. Since there is no West.
The ATLA Universe is a Sino-centric Universe
- most of the people are Asian
- all the writing is in Chinese
- the majority of the names are Chinese
- a lot of the four nation’s culture is based on Chinese culture
- the buildings have elements from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand and First Nation
- the eating utensils (chopsticks) are Asian
- the clothes are Asian
- the history of RC parallels Hong Kong
- the mob is called the triads
- the bending is based on Chinese martial arts
- there are references to Chinese history all over the show
On a last note: If you feel like arguing with me about this: Bring facts in the form of links screenshots.
Edited to add: This was brought to you by the huge number of idiotic messages I’ve gotten in the last 24 hours. Not by any one person.
Ozai’s Court Warlocks
At the end of the episode ‘the Northern Air Temple’ the Fire Nation recovers the hot-air balloon from the forest. We see three officials present. Two of them are wearing 术士冠 shu shi guan.
Guan are headgear (usually for men) that used to denote station or rank in China.
术士冠 are worn by warlocks/alchemists. Yeah, yeah, alchemists is probably the better translation, but let’s be honest, is having court warlocks really OOC for someone who declares himself Phoenix King? See! Don’t judge, warlocks are awesome :P
Fire Nation names can be sorted into six groups of origin:
Chinese, Japanese, both, questionable, other/fantasy land and words that sound like Japanese words, but are not.
Since I do not speak Japanese, obviously that portion was not done by me. My thanks go to my friend Nele in Kyoto.
This collection of Fire Nation names was taken from the Avatar Wiki.
The hands down majority (21 Chinese to 5 Japanese) of Fire Nation names have a Chinese origin.
The good: There has been an enormous amount of support from you guys and I have received some lovely and encouraging comments and pms. And I would like to thank you all again for them.
Sadly I’ve also received notes of a rather different kind:
The bad: As odd as it must be to some of you, I actually kinda do know what I am talking about. I provide links and quotes to back up my points. If you want to argue with me why I am wrong I expect you to do the same. Facts are for winners.
The ugly: Still feel the need to talk out of your ass?
Next time you feel the need to pm me to tell me that obviously all characters are Japanese because Chinese names do not have two syllables, or rant at me why I am wasting my time writing this blog, or feel the need to tell me that the Fire Nation is Japan which you know because of your anime learnings..
I will copy-paste your incoherent, ignorant bullshit and post it for all to mock you.
-Jin
*takes a deep breath*
That said: I would love input on topics I know little about. Posts guest-starring references to Japanese, Korean, Thai etc. culture are more than welcome and encouraged as long as they follow the general idea of the blog i.e. provide pics and links to back things up.
Sozin’s throne room and more facts why the Fire Nation is not Japan.
The carved gold dragon behind Sozin’s throne resembles a Chinese Imperial dragon, like the one © that decorates the throne room in the Forbidden City. Sozin’s throne also resembles the Dragon Throne (B).
The carvings on Sozin’s throne are also stylized Chinese Imperial dragons (D).
As a comparison (A) the b/w picture on the left shows the Japanese Imperial throne which was destroyed in WWII. As you can see, there is no similarity between that throne and Sozin’s.
And as a final note: The official art book states: “For her -Elsa Garagarza- first assignment, the Fire Lord’s throne room, she was given three words: Egyptian, Chinese, scary.” (p. 61)
On clothes and why the Fire Nation is not Japan:
We see all the Fire Lords, Uncle, Zuko, Ursa and Azula as well as Roku wearing hanfu:
Hanfu 汉服 or Han Chinese Clothing, also sometimes known as Hanzhuang (漢裝), Huafu (華服), and sometimes referred in English sources simply as Silk Robe (especially those worn by the gentry) refers to the historical dress of the Han Chinese people, which was worn by men and women for millennia before the conquest by the Manchus. (Manchus = Ba Sing Se in Atla)
Tthe qipao, is a Manchu NOT a Han garment, which is erroneously assumed to be the solely recognizable style of “traditional” Chinese garb.
Hanfu has a history of more than three millennia, and is said to have been worn by the legendary Yellow Emperor.
To sum it up: As discussed before the Fire Nation hairstyles we see are Three Kingdom inspired, their armor is influenced by the Tang Dynasty and they are wearing hanfu. All of the above are Chinese, not Japanese.
See also: The Tibet-Air Nomads parallel.
