Avatar: The Last Airbender: Is Redemption Possible? (Spoilers and too many gifs ahead)

When I was growing up, I thought the only people who watched Avatar: The Last Airbender were nerds. Truly... nerds.

It was probably a coping mechanism to deal with the fact that I had no way to watch the show. My parents never had cable growing up, so I never saw a lot of things. Spongebob, Drake and Josh, Pokemon... the number of inside jokes I missed out on.... rip

BUT I've been told many times that I would like Avatar. "The storyline," they would say, "the character development," blah blah blah. They're probably just nerds.

On top of that, I didn't have a way to watch it, so I was safe from anyone really expecting me to. I just said, "yeah we didn't have cable growing up," shrugged and moved on.

Then, this summer, Avatar went on Netflix. Since 2020 seems to be the year of nostalgia-based coping mechanisms, many of us have gone back and watched old movies or shows.

In light of that, this summer, a cute boy asked me to watch Avatar, and after years of fighting and pushing it away, I simply said.... "okay💛"

Soon, that cute boy was forgotten as I found an even cuter boy:

Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, but KING of the redemption arc.

(a man trying his Best ™)

From episode 1, Zuko began as an antagonist for the main characters. He constantly hunted them, repeatedly trying to hurt and/or capture them. However, as time went on, he began to question his purpose and examine how his actions fit into his idea of honor.  

With the help of his pure--but not perfect--Uncle Iroh, Zuko realizes that he gets to choose his own destiny, and takes steps to correct the mistakes he made

Do I feel so ridiculous for loving this sweet, sensitive angel of a fire-bender so much (even 15 years past the show's original air date)? 

Possibly. 

Do I regret it? 

No. 

Imagine a more troubled, capable, and powerful man.

I, for one, cannot.

Honestly, redemption arcs hit different. They really do.  As I watched this one, I thought about what a redemption storyline in media means for our ability to redeem ourselves in real life. Can we truly change? Can we truly be forgiven? 

At times, today's cancel culture can tend to think negatively about redemption.

One possible reason for the shift in how we handle public mistakes is that many people were not being held accountable. So many things were just getting slipped under the rug. Yet, in correcting our course, it seems that we swung in the opposite direction, prioritizing accountability at the detriment of redemption and forgiveness.

It can be difficult to obtain forgiveness in today's cancel trigger-happy world. On one hand, I agree that we need to hold people accountable for their actions. On the other hand, I also believe that true redemption should possible and available to those who work for it.

I hope one day our society can find the balance between accountability and forgiveness. 

Until then, send Zuko memes pls