TV Show review
February 22, 2024 · TV-PG · Returning Series
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for Avatar the Last Airbender.
Woke representation / casting
Production and marketing highlighted the all-Asian and Indigenous cast as a deliberate authenticity and representation choice to set industry benchmarks, even though selections align with the story’s cultural inspirations without mismatch.
Woke political dialogue
Minor dialogue adjustments softened Sokka’s initial sexist lines to suit live-action tone; no extended activist speeches, institutional critiques, or modern political monologues appear.
Identity-driven story themes
Retains original themes of imperialism, cultural erasure, and gender dynamics through character actions and relationships, presented as fantasy adventure rather than reframed modern identity politics.
Western institutional / cultural critique
Review
The 2024 Netflix live-action series follows twelve-year-old Aang, the last surviving Air Nomad and current Avatar, as he awakens after a hundred-year absence to master water, earth, fire, and air and stop the Fire Nation’s campaign of conquest alongside Water Tribe siblings Katara and Sokka. It adapts the core quest, world-building, and elemental action from the 2005-2008 animated classic in a visually detailed Asian-inspired fantasy setting focused on friendship, loss, and restoring balance. Production included public discussion of softening Sokka’s early sexist remarks for live-action tone and heavy emphasis on casting exclusively Asian and Indigenous actors as a representation benchmark.
Critiques the Fire Nation’s totalitarian conquest and genocide, but the conflict uses Asian-inspired parallels and focuses on universal balance and resistance without targeting Western institutions, patriarchy, or current cultural norms.
Woke character or canon changes
Sokka’s early sexist traits and related growth arc were reduced or redirected because original moments were viewed as “iffy” for contemporary viewers, removing a central development beat from the source material.
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
Clear fan and media complaints accused the Sokka edits of woke pandering that erases meaningful character development for modern sensitivities; social platforms and articles framed it as agenda-driven sanitization.
Creator track record context
Showrunner Albert Kim and director Roseanne Liang have records emphasizing diversity, equity, and Asian/Indigenous representation in interviews and industry work; original creators focused on broad thematic storytelling with milder progressive elements and limited identity activism.
Production
