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In the “live” adaptation of the Nickelodeon animated series on Netflix, the character of Sokka will be slightly different from the original.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, actors Kiaventio Tarbella (Katara) and Ian Usley (Sokka) revealed that the sexism of the original Sokki was heavily discussed during the development of the adaptation and was ultimately intentionally removed from the character’s portrayal.
“We removed an element of how sexist Sokka was. I feel like there were a lot of questionable moments in the original show,” Chiaventio says, something Usley agreed with.
There are separate threads on Reddit dedicated to discussing Sokki’s sexism, specifically mentioning how in the original he made comments like “girls are better at fixing clothes than boys; while boys are better at hunting and fighting.” At the same time, some comments point out that in this way the creators remove an integral feature of the original character, which shows Sokka as “a person who inherited the overly simplistic views of his culture, but is able to evolve when faced with reality.”
At the same time, the Netflix adaptation brought changes not only to the image of Sokki. Earlier, showrunner Albert Kim said that the beginning of the show will be radically different from the animated version. The series will also cover the theme of the “genocide of the airbender nation and the rise of the fire nation” in more detail.
“It’s a conscious decision to show people something different from the animated series,” Kim said. “We had to sometimes unravel the storylines and remix them in new ways to make sense for a serialized drama. Therefore, it is interesting to see how they will react to it.”
Original series creators Brian Konecko and Michael Dante DiMartino spent two years developing the live-action adaptation for Netflix before announcing their departure from the project due to creative differences. Kim, who remains the sole showrunner, said it was “absolutely difficult” to continue making the show without them.
“You’d have to be an idiot not to be a little bit scared,” Kim said. “My first reaction after ‘Oh, shit!’ was “Damn! Do I want to do it? Is there a way to improve the original? Anytime you take on something that’s already been enjoyed by millions of fans, you have to ask yourself these questions.”
All 8 episodes of the first season of Avatar: The Legend of Aang will be released on Netflix on February 22.
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