A big part of my quarantine was binge-watching the animated series “Avatar the Last Airbender ” created in 2005 it resurfaced onto Netflix and was in the top 10 for at least 2 weeks. It is about a dystopia where the world is divided into four factions, the Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads, with each representing an element in nature. In these factions there are benders and non-benders, benders are people who have the ability to manipulate the element of their faction. For example, Katara is a waterbender so she can manipulate water around her. Yet, only one person is able to manipulate all elements, this person is the avatar and the main character. In the series, the avatar has vanished and the fire nation is trying to take over all of the other factions. Throughout the show, we are waiting to see if the avatar will be able to defeat the fire nation and bring peace to all the factions once again. Now, the idea that America is the fire nation is not original and honestly, the ideologies of the fire nation can be linked to any country that participated in colonialism and imperialism. But, the reason so many believe it is America is because of the hidden messages towards social justice issues, inequalities, and problems that persist in America.
The fire nation teaches the children to be ethnocentric and patriotic with who they are, forcing them to ignore the issues in their society and instead embracing it as perfect without intent to change anything. They create a ‘new history’ and wipe out anything that links the fire nation to cruelty to ensure the children do not rebel against the system. Key similarities in the fire nation and America include patriotism, spreading ideologies, imperialism, and dominating others. These can all easily be found represented clearly in American history and can even be traced to issues prevalent in 2020.
A key historical similarity is the whipping out of the Air nomads it is in direct correlation with the ethnic cleansing of indigenous peoples in the United States, with the goal to obtain more land and gain overall dominance over a new world. The idea of creating a new and better world with the fire nation at the forefront of it aligns exactly with the ideals of pre-constitution America and the dream of making a ‘new and better’ place at the expense of indigenous peoples.
In contrast, not all the presentations of America being the fire nation are bad, and an example of this would be prince Zuko. Prince Zuko is a valid representation of what it looks like to be an ally in modern times. He not only denounced the actions of his people, but he joined and assisted Aang and the crew towards defeating the fire nation. This directly correlates with social justice movements in history/present time, where people who weren’t directly impacted protested and actively participated in high-risk activities for the rights of others. I would also like to emphasize the fact that his father is the leader of the fire nation, so he is denouncing all that he was taught from a young age. Nevertheless, prince Zuko is met with opposition when it comes to joining Aang which is common in modern times when people try to put their name onto movements that do not pertain to them. The people within the movements become skeptical as they should be because of the historical conflict that has played out between them and other groups. Anyhow, prince Zuko still tries to join their group and shows them action rather than just words. Ultimately, in due time Zuko is able to build their trust. Prince Zuko realized that he cannot understand personally the struggles of the other nations, but he acknowledges that the fire nation and their ideologies that he followed are at fault for the deaths and destruction of many.
To summarize, America and many other places could be considered the fire nation, but out of it all, there is always a Prince Zuko willing to see what’s wrong despite the personal attachments and fight for a cause that could change generations for the better.