The Ecopsychological World Of Avatar: The Last Air Bender
Many characters in the universe of Avatar: The Last Airbender can employ a technique to manipulate one of the four classical elements, or all four in the case of the Avatar. These characters have a personal connection to nature due to this ability. As stated in an essay by ST, an intellectual mind on Academia: concentrate and focus your inner energy. Allow the element to move in reaction to the qi, or life force.
The concept of bending is central to this immensely successful television show. The choice of the wording in itself is worth observing, ‘bending nature’s elements.’ In a sense, exploiting the foreign alien nature.
Notably, bending entails working with an element in the series, fusing it to the bender’s actions through martial arts or, less frequently, to his or her thoughts through psychic bending. There are five bending styles based on the four classical elements of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire, as well as the human body’s energy.
Only the Avatar, reborn every generation to maintain the world’s balance, can manipulate all four elements, such belief forms the ideology of the one perfect heroic figure who can rid Nature of the oppressors by using nature-given qualities.
In other words, it is nature that governs it all as the surrounding medium and humans either balance out their elemental use and coexist or suffer the consequences of the backfiring element of exploitation that will not go unpunished. Non-benders cannot use bending.
In fact, according to the series, even the root of bending lies in nature. Sky Bisons were the first Air benders, the Moon was the first Water bender, Badgermoles were the first Earth benders, and Dragons were the first Fire benders. Humans acquired how to bend from these masters over time. They learned and became closer to nature without losing their humanity, allowing the show to sidestep a familiar cliche.
Swamp benders are Water benders who live in a swampy environment, whereas Sand benders have adapted their Earth bending to exist in a challenging region. These individuals have learned to adapt to and coexist with their surroundings. This philosophy of living with nature, rather than against it, has insights into contemporary society.
Also, Toph Beifong, one of the main characters and the prodigy of Earth bending, invented Metal bending; she is blind and learned from the Badgermoles how to sense Earth vibrations with her feet and metal particles with her hands. As a result, she has a solid connection to balance with the Earth.
According to Chinese and Japanese thinking, benders seek balance with their elements by connecting their chosen element with their qi. This energy permeates through every component of nature. If the benders are out of balance, they cannot use their element effectively. Michael Dante, DiMartino, and Bryan Konietzko, the show’s creators, wrote that one of the series’ ideas is that humans are neither inherently good nor evil but in or out of balance.
As ST elaborates on the used philosophy, it becomes clear that it offers a fascinating and worthy perspective on human nature that might be applied to individuals rather than condemning or praising them based on moral ideals of badness or goodness. It also considers how some characters in the series regard nature. Those who are in balance respect it. Those who lack balance destroy it.
An example illustrated by ST, Hama, a Waterbender imprisoned by Firebenders, invented Blood bending to exact revenge on the Fire benders. Blood bending includes bending the Water in a person’s or animal’s blood and is most potent during the Full Moon; the other characters in the show see Blood bending as immoral and imprison Hama for her deeds.
This indicates that benders only sometimes use their skills in a balanced manner and can occasionally lose touch with nature. Thus, the series avoids the possible pitfall of depicting bending as a mystical, ideal relationship with the natural world.
According to “The Ecocritical Narrative Within Avatar: The Last Airbender (Part I)”, set in the year 2020, we can learn more about how Katara, Sokka, and Aang embark on a journey that will help them grow into responsible adults.
Toph, the strongest Earth bender, joins the cast later in Season 2 to round out the main four. To put it simply, it is a story about growing up. Aang and his companions, a flying bison also known as Appa and a lemur, travel across the world, engaging in battle and romance while meeting friends and foes before finally facing the Fire Lord and his army in a showdown that will decide the fate of their world.
The people of Avatar’s world are carbon copies of our own. They make their home and income there. Some have plenty of money, while others are poor, sick, and eventually die. The elements, however, are subject to their control. Indeed, a good number of them, at least.
It is possible to control the elements of Air, Water, Earth, and Fire in this fantastical world. They share a bond with the natural world and are, in turn, a part of it. As many benders come from such different cultural backgrounds, it stands to reason that conflict would flourish in this context.
Among all people, the nomads of the sky have the highest spiritual standards. They prioritise spiritual development and put less value on material possessions than other societies. They are pacifists and consider themselves autonomous from the rest of society.
The two Water-bending tribes can be found in either the far north or the far south. They have managed to keep their tight-knit community and sense of unity intact. Since their dwellings and palaces are constructed entirely out of ice, they have a deep and meaningful connection to the elements of Water and ice. Water is a transformative element, making Water benders highly adaptable by nature.
The Earth Bender kingdom is vast, housing countless settlements and nobility. In terms of social and political culture, agriculture is central to the world of Earth benders. Their people are vigorous, grounded, and powerful.
The Fire benders are ruled by a single royal family headed by a Fire Lord. They are hardworking and forward-thinking people. Will and ambition are qualities associated with Fire.
Wars and conflicts have broken out every few decades because every nation wants something different. However, even in the darkest times, the Avatar served as a beacon of hope, and the universe was eventually brought back into harmony. A person eternally reborn into a new culture can develop and acquire command of every element and see the world through the perspectives of all people.
The Avatar’s power comes from his or her command of the four elements and familiarity with each of the four nations. As the young Avatar is presumed dead after missing for a century in the main story, harmony cannot be re-established. This significantly impacts the other three countries and the balance of nature.
The Air Nomads have been wiped out entirely, many Water benders are in servitude, and the Earth Kingdom is constantly at war with the Fire Nation. Such conflicts are reflected within Avatar as the character Aang comes to appear.
Such a world governed by nature is and will always be in conflict with its own inevitably overlapping elements, not to mention its humans who are in conflict within themselves, in turn, reflect nature as nature reflects them.
