I really don’t understand what the creators of Avatar are doing with this show. For a show that tends to follow Eastern Philosophy, I do not understand why it is falling into the Western Dogma of Darkness being evil and Light being good.



Balance does not come from Light controlling Darkness, nor does it come from the defeat of Darkness. As the show said, one cannot exist without the other. Balance is achieved by understanding and embracing both. Yin does not survive by consuming Yang, they must coexist like Tui and La did, circling each other in balance.



The jump away from the philosophies depicted in the original series has just about turned me off from a show that has been a beautiful guide for me in a lot of ways. As much as I loved the art style and many of the directions the series has gone, I don’t know if I can continue to watch a show that spouts the same garbage philosophy of dichotomized good and evil depicted as light and dark respectively.



Beyond the ramifications of the show being damaged, let’s not forget that built into that Western understanding of light and darkness is racism - the promoting of light and white skin over dark and black skin. We also shouldn’t ignore the fact that Yang, the symbol of Darkness is also associated with women. Every time this dichotomy is pressed forward, the historical and philosophical understandings of patriarchy and racism continue to be enforced.