Fans of the animated "Avatar" franchise are already cautious about having expectations for the live-action that Netflix is releasing soon, mostly because of how the film adaptation turned out. Still, the show is shaping up to be more different than we anticipated, especially with another character's personality change revealed.
Sokka Becomes Less Sexist
Upon hearing the news, the first thing that might come to mind is that the decision was on the progressive side of things. However, anyone who has seen the show from the beginning to the end might argue that Sokka's sexism was a huge part of his character.
Yes, sexism is never okay, but in this context, a bad trait just highlights the character's capacity for change, and that's exactly how it played out with Sokka. In the beginning, Sokka is a firm believer that men are the warriors and girls are just better at other things like "fixing pants."
That idea was quickly banished from Sokka's head after he had his behind handed to him by Suki, who is a member of the all-woman elite force called Kiyoshi Warriors. In that scene, Sokka starts to understand how his preconceived gender roles are misguided.
The change was revealed by the actress behind Katara, Kiawentiio, during an interview, to which she said that there were a lot of moments in the original show that were "iffy." The actor who plays Sokka, Ian Ousley, agreed with her statement as well, as per Gizmodo.
Removing that aspect from the character is a missed opportunity. If they intend to show that sexism is not okay, then what's better than seeing someone exhibit these notions only to be proven wrong in the best way possible (getting beaten up by a girl)?
In a way, these scenes were also comedic in the animated show, veiling the hard truth behind some laughs to keep the show light-hearted. However, Netflix seems to think that it is no longer appropriate and that removing it is the best option.
Other Major Changes
If Sokka becoming a born gentleman is already too big of a change for you, then maybe you won't like the story shifts that were mentioned before that. For one, the showrunners are removing Sozin's Comet from the show.
That's right, the same comet that urged the gang to work towards making Aang the master of all the four elements in the short time they have. It was established in the animated show that they only had about a year before the comet arrived, giving Fire Lord Ozai amplified firebending powers.
According to showrunner Albert Kim: "The comet was their ticking clock. We removed that particular ticking clock from our show for now because we couldn't know exactly how old our actors would be for the subsequent seasons," as per Game Rant.
Given that Gordon Cormier, the actor who plays Aang is at that age where his growth can be obvious, Kim is trying to account for "puberty, adolescence, time passing." The one-year timeline takes place across three seasons, which can be difficult to follow for a live-action series.
