Katara vs. Pakku, ATLA vs. ATLA, a Case Study
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- Опубліковано 20 тра 2024
- I got a weird feeling watching some of Netflix's new Avatar: The Last Airbender fight scenes, so I decided to compare one of them to a fight from the 2005 Nickelodeon animated series "Avatar: The Last Airbender" in an attempt to figure out what problems exactly I had with the scene.
Song list:
A Way With Animals (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Superslide (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Just a Simple Monk (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Agni Kai (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Roku Destroys the Temple (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Bink's Sake piano cover by Jordan D Piano
• One Piece - Bink's Sak...
Aftermath (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
YuYen (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
The Spirit World (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Banished (Avatar: The Last Airbender OST)
Outro: Personal cover of Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari by Supercell
All songs used: • Songs Used
Twitter: / zoomertalk
0:00 Intro
0:40 Scale and Weight
6:23 Reaction Shots and Momentum
10:17 On Adaptation Discourse - Фільми й анімація
Ah yes, Katara, also know as "the girl", Sokka, also know as "the guy", and Pakku, also know as "the old guy".
don't forget the bald kid!
I like when Sokka is the unfortunate young man
Long ago, the three genders lived in harmony,
You forgot the arrow kid! Wha... what's his name again?
@@chryysanth😂😂😂 I love it
it’s time hollywood acknowledges that animated projects are not less than “live action”
And depending on the story you want to tell, it can be superior to live action.
they should realize they're better
I don’t know if it’s solely through Hollywood’s doing and handling, I think it’s ingrained culturally. Americans/westerners don’t look at animation and think of it as “adult” (as a lover of animation myself).
Animation is not a genre but a medium of art and expression. Japan understands this more than the west. Just ask Miyazaki. Hollywood fails to get this. ❤😊
@@CaulkMongler this changes with the younger generations who grow up with shows like Avatar but also foreign shows like Anime, etc.
What you say about Americans/westerners is true for (most of the) 40+ people.
And the old people club Hollywood always takes a little longer to adjust to change. But it will change over time.
Instructions unclear, I went outside and threw ice at an old man
That poor guy in the crowd that got hit. Hope he's okay.
Rumor has it he died that day.
Loll sokka is def alive😭😭😭. At least in the show
"You know it's really unclear"
@@eghoseisiramen1892dead
@@christianbell8347 that wasn't him! That was his girlfriend, a few days later.
Live action Katara's face the whole time : 😐
exactly. no anger, no rage
I don't blame the actress though. I feel like the directors are doing a poor job directing them sometimes
She can defeat the face stealer lmao
Katara in the live action probably had the same director as captain marvel.
@@t.wayne21that made me think.. since aang in this show is also pretty :| right. how are they planning to tackle that scene.. it had power in the animated show bc aang was a very, well, animated emotional person, so it took him a LOT of effort to pull that off.. aang in the live action show seems like he could do it no problem
The way her hair just flops open in the live action cracks me up! It just doesn't feel real
It’s literally impossible to open like that lol. They literally go from braid to open (and perfectly neat as if combed, might I add) in one second. I’ve got that hair length almost exactly and it takes me at least a minute to undo my braid, not to mention combing it. Granted, the original also has her hair fall open very effortlessly, but I can forgive that because a) it’s animation and animating two different styles of hair is easier and less prone to continuity errors than gradually having it fall apart shot by shot, b) it’s off screen instead of glaring into our faces and c) it signals her losing her stance, her necklace and also the fight! In the animated show, the next thing that happens is Paku trapping her with icicles. In the live action, it happens in the middle of the fight for no goddamn reason
I wanted exactly to say I hate that it's "Oh look icy wind knocks down her hair, it's soooo strong-- look at how actually feminine she is with her hair down and able to fight!!" In the animated version to me when characters tend to have their hair knocked out it's overall meant to convey something more than just wind. The attack looked physical and strong. Her hair came loose but it was in a scene where she look a huge hit being knocked down and losing her necklace and seems as if she had lost. It was a sign of defeat and while Katara can/has fought with her hair down there often is a reason it's pulled back like many of the other characters. As someone who does actually fight there is a reason most of the time if its long it's pulled back and I enjoy that quality most of the characters having it styled in a way that makes sense for action in the animated whereas in this it just felt like it was trying to do a media troupe where a women's hair is down because now she's feminine AND powerful.
For reallll
Ugh yeah what was that
@@zoeschmitt1624its not really impossible.
In the original series, Katara taught a generation of girls that we don’t have to put up with this kind of behavior from men who will actively try to put down our dreams.
Whereas live action Katara doesn’t have a moment where she teaches Pakku he was wrong by touching his heart. She doesn’t have a moment of anger where she decides she’s done with Pakku’s shit. It’s not raw talent versus an actual master. It’s just generic fighting with no emotion, stakes or anything.
And that’s the entire problem with the new series: it’s spectacle over emotional payoff.
It's not even a good spectacle though, it's like almost no thought was given to how to frame or pace the spectacle.
Exactly. "The new series has spectacle" even when being used as a con is just plain false. The OG had spectacle, some of the shots still make me hold my breath and shit like Iroh deflecting Azula's electricity makes me flip my shit.
Maybe that's just me, but I could go on. It's not like the OG's fight scenes get boring to watch AT ALL, and there's a lot of them, pretty sure nearly every episode has 'spectacle' in the form of bending and martial arts.
It’s not “Pakku’s shit” nor is it an instance of men trying to put down her dreams. This thinking is incredibly toxic imo.
He is the product of a strict cultural tradition that delineates specific gender roles for their people.
This tradition has existed for generations, if not, hundreds of years.
It doesn’t make it “right” per se, but I often find that Americans (assuming you’re one) see this tradition as some sort of personal sexist slight against Katara when they have no idea what it’s like to live with strict cultural rules and how hard it is to deviate from them especially in the heart of the city that created them in the first place.
Though we don’t see this happen in the show, there is very much the opposite side of this tradition to consider in that any male that wants to be a healer would be just as readily denied.
Ultimately, we see Katara challenge and eventually break this tradition with strength, determination and heart, but a lot of the cultural nuance is lost on you.
@@KevinOnEarth_ No it is not lost on me. I'd be more than happy to discuss it.
You are however missing the point of what I'm saying. I am approaching this comment from a writing perspective of how the live action failed to make this showdown between Pakku and and Katara as meaningful as it is in the original series. Rather than committing to Pakku being the multilayered character he is where he and Katara are both humbled by each other and having Katara consistently stand up to the beliefs where she can't be his student whether it's showing up on training day and him rejecting her or her trying to learn from Aang or her blowing up at him when the chief tries to force her and Aang to apologize.
Because this entire fight in the live action has none of the build up, pay off, or emotional catharsis of Katara breaking through Pakku's mindset. It has no emotion. It has none of the raw aspects of what Katara has had to put up with in regard to Sokka at the beginning of the series to the actual person who would help her harness her skills as a water bender. None of that translates to the live action because it's not interested in exploring Katara as a complex character or showing Pakku in a more nuanced light like he is in the original series. This is a man who not only becomes Katara's teacher but her grandfather. None of that is earned in the live action series.
And whether you look at this fight from a cultural perspective or not, the fact is that Katara did teach a generation of young women that we can be more what is expected of us from certain men. That fact is not untrue. Just as it's true that that fight in the live action has none of the nuance, heart, emotional payoff, or anything in relation to power that it does in the original series. They ruined Katara, Pakku and this entire storyline.
@@KevinOnEarth_ you seem a little angi, be more like katara animation than katara live action
Team Avatar vs. Northern Water Tribe. Starring:
The bald guy
The girl
The guy
The old guy
How did you forget the avotar’s name?? Ong!!!! He’s Ong the Avotar!!!
One thing about the cheering crowd reaction shot. This fight is over whether or not women are allowed to practice bending. Katara (the girl) is an outsider while Paku (the old guy) is a cultural leader. The fact that people in the vicinity are cheering for Katara over Paku shows that her fight is righteous. She has the people on her side because her struggle against Paku is the same struggle as theirs against patriarchy. Like it's very important for Katara as a character that she is fighting, not only for herself, but for other oppressed people. That's her thing.
very good point taking in more of the context around the fight! it's cool how they're able to get that across with such a short shot during the fight and without taking away any momentum from the scene (if anything, adding momentum to it)
@chryysanth yeah! If nothing else, the remake really helped illustrate just how efficient the original was with its time. Really helpful point of comparison. Great video BTW!
Apart from that they’ve probably never seen a girl fight. It’s natural for people to cheer for the underdog especially when putting up a good fight
Normally I hate down with the Patriarchy messages. But Even if I hate that I would cheer for Katara just because she deserves it.
@@arnowisp6244 Why would you hate that in general?
I hated how they got rid of the necklace plot point. I wanted to scream. I kept hoping that it would happen until the ending credits and then wanted to throw my TV into a lake.
Yeah, I kept waiting for that too! The necklace point was one of the only things I remembered from watching the original over 10 years ago. Hearing you had the same reaction just now made me wonder why the necklace is so memorable and important?
I just finished watching the animated show last week, and katara’s mother’s necklace was a surprisingly important emotional symbol throughout the show.
Up to this point in the show, the necklace represented the toll of war on innocents in general, the deeply personal loss katara and her family experienced and continued to struggle with and process throughout the show, the insult added to injury when the fire nation prince used it to track them and put them in danger again. Here in this episode it surprises you with a pure, positive connotation-that it’s a formal symbol of promise, hope, and love, changing the tone and the audience’s preconceived notions. The necklace revelation suddenly made Pakku more real to Katara and all the viewers, and it changed his heart too, in a deep, important way.
@@sunnylilacsthis is such a beautiful analysis. chills
Oh same and my dad was confused why I was so upset they cut it out
Also the croud cheering is significant because KATARA is fighting to prove their culture wrong, which means people from that culture are on her side, implying not everyone is happy with it.
Well, notice how most if not all the people cheering her are children, that speaks louder to me. It means Katara was inspiring the new generations right there. I don't think that Paku wouldn't have taught Katara if he didn't realize she was Kanna's granddaughter; however, Katara planted the seed for new generations, and ultimately Paku did change both from realizing that uptight tradition drove away the love of his life and from seeing Katara become a master herself, defeating the rest of the students with ease.
"The next shot shows how this is a *big splash of water*"
And that's all it is. None of the attacks seem to have any weight to them.
This is also a mayor piece of worldbuilding , because up to this point we have seen what a proper Air , Fire and Earth masters can do , but all the water bending we have seen , its been from a rookie at best , we know katara can more or less handle herself in a fight but we have yet to see true water bending , Pakku show us the real deal and more important the massive gap katara still had to walk , that the north pole was nothing else than the starting line for her water bending journey
Also in the animation Pakku didnt even break a sweat during the fight , he looks unbothered for most of it (as someone of his level should be) until the very end when katara get way to serious and he has to stop her , while katara is at the edge of her emotions fighting with everything she can to no avail and crosses the line by actually trying to hurt/kill him , while on the LA katara is far more calm and pakku more emotional
Thank you. I saw a comment where people argued that she had been training through out, and I get it, she was practicing. But Paku is a master. It's not just a title you earn in a few months. Even azula in the animated series was learning. In the battle against the 6 of them she had to take out iroh while he was distracted because she knew she couldn't beat him(and also it will cause a distract tion with Zuko). She was still learning from the two ladies, as phenomenal as she was. Yet katara trained herself and was more in control of a battle than Paku, a man with years to him. She even took on Zuko and won(sort of). I tried not to be picky but somethings just eyebrow raising.
Daily reminder that animation is a artform to be revered, not replaced.
The settup to the fight already messed up imo. Katara lost all her sass, all her anger in the live action. And the fight feels more like a contious decision vs. just Katara getting enraged and letting it all out in the animated show ("Someone needs to slap some sense into that guy"). The live action settup somehow felt far less dramatic, and also far less natural. It kinda felt like they needed to get the fight scene in there because it is an important scene, but they also wanted to continue to portrait Katara as less angry and sassy, as they did in the entire show, so it just seems weird.
I think that's where a lot of the live action series fell short. Nothing against the actors themselves, but it felt held back.
Katara wasn't allowed to be pissed off. Pakku was only allowed to be a mildly sexist jerk. Sokka had very little growth unlike in the cartoon version, where he went from being sexist, to accepting that women can fight and learning from them. Even Zuko. In the animated version he was much more angry. Here he feels just, whiney.
@@cjxgraphicsThey basically just filed everyone down to a dull shell of what they were. Probably to make it palatable to as many people as possible, which ironically made it palatable to nobody. I wish studios remembered what a target audience was. You can’t make everything for everyone.
Weird detail, but I like that you don't use the character names. It makes your observations clearer, and for me it helps remove the bias I have towards the shows. It feels interchangeble, like this could've been about any other media and I appreciate that.
Nicely said
One of the major problems I had with the Netflix series which I haven't heard anyone talk about is the seeming lack of Appa and Momo screeen-time for a large part of the show, making them feel like less important characters than they were in the original. I can't help but think how this unfamiliarity with the animal characters is going to come back to bite them in Book 2, where important moments such as Appa getting stolen and being missing for a long time and Aang killing that buzzard-wasp for grabbing Momo are going to lose a lot of emotional tension and significance to the viewers.
I completely agree! I honestly barely cared at all when live-action-Momo almost died, he hardly showed up or mattered at all until then.
@@naiyadyani2466 I completely missed when momo died, I was too busy being annoyed at how much exposition there was in the last two episodes. I only realized when I read people talking about it
Thank you for telling us an important moment of when Aang used an offensive air attack that did unsubscribed their life that is other than that air vacuum or sucking ones oxygen technique.
Which is crazy because Appa LITERALLY carried the cast
Tbh, I'm kinda doubtful that plot point will be followed.
I watched the first episode of the live action and this is why I didn’t continue: the bending is tiny, SMALL. In the animated you feel how big the bending is, bending is supposed to be super cool, grand, larger than life and beautiful. The live action captured nothing.
I disagree, tbh. The bending is arguably the most true to source part. The action choreography and the CGI are very well-done.
Now the camera work is not very creative, as we can see from this video, and that probably takes away some of the magic. And the writing is also lacking.
@@luckas221ayeah I think visually the bended elements were great they just needed to be more ambitious like attempting the walls, the ice sliding, overall the choreo was a little too realistic for me and didn’t have that martial art aspect. They were using ki blasts, essentially
@@luckas221a The best bending in the show is the fire bending. Every other element suffers from the same thing most elemental magic outside of animated Avatar suffers from: most of it just looks like telekinesis or Mortal Kombat magic.
Characters just chuck elements at each other. Most of it doesn't have great choreography outside of a few key scenes (the earth bullets looked really cool when the bender cocked his hands before firing). They don't look like extensions of martial arts. They're not even in sync with the movements of the characters. Aang just blasts air or hovers with no wind-up a lot of times.
I'll say, again, that fire bending was generally good to watch. Zuko's especially. I'll even say it added something. Zuko's clicks felt quick, snappy, and energetic. It replaced the focus on breathing, which I think wasn't the best choice, but it added a Roy Mustang-esque attitude to his bending. And he's like an inexperienced Roy in this version. He has the single best bending in the live action because it has character. I can tell when it's him versus others of his element. The camera work isn't the issue with the others.
@@luckas221a Did we watch same video lol? Watch this video again so you can have a good opinion for once in your life.
@@nailinthefashion it probably wasn't realistic enough
I completely agree with the technical presentation you mentioned. The scale and awkward shot placements made the live action one pale so much.
But at the end of the day, no matter how epic and grand they made it, I couldn't stand just how anticlimactic the fight itself is.
In the cartoon it was a breath-taking, natural culmination of the conflict that had been bubbling between Katara and Pakku.
- 1) Pakku initially denys Katara of training. She's utterly baffled, but backs off for now for Aang.
- 2) Pakku denies Katara again when he catches her secretly training with Aang.
- 3) Pakku denies her yet again taunting her to apologize, really gets on her nerve, triggering her strong emotional water power.
- 4) Pakku denies her YET AGAIN when she challenges him, dismissing her to go the huts where she belongs.
- 5) Katara finally gives him a water whip, suitably starting the iconic battle.
Feels very earned, doesn't it?
But in the live action it's just like "No women fighting allowed" "What?? Sokka, I'm pissed what should I do? Ok I'll go kick his butt. PAKKU! WE BATTLE!" (not to mention just how timid and emotionless the delivery of that whole thing was. When she said "Is that all you've got?", felt nothing.)
I'd also add how her having to run to Sokka for confirmation ironically makes the scene genuinely sexist; why does KATARA of all people need to turn to a guy to tell her to go kick a sexist asshole's butt?
@@kylepangilinan9075 Honestly, most of the female characters feel like sexist, drowned out versions of their characters now. Suki was made.. weird for some reason, Azula was just mad with nothing else to her character, Katara felt like a pick-me girl or sort of a y/n, I'm honestly scared for Toph at this point.
They took all the “stereotypes” out of the cartoon series (sexist older brother. Sassy angry spitfire sister, etc for fear of offending people) and in turn ended up being more offensive. They make katara lifeless and a Mary sue. No growth. No passion and just getting everything without effort. Giving story plot and growth to sokka and taking it from katara. They also made all the women the pursuers … suki creepily following sokka around, June thinking iroh is cute, yue turning down that one guy for sokka. They neutered all the female characters or took away certain characteristics for the sake of male characters. Trying not to be “sexist” and still end up being more sexist 💀
I can confidently say we'd all appreciate in depth analysis of different scenes. Not enough people make video essays really breaking down the intricacies of the fights in ATLA.
When I clicked on this video I definitely didn't expect such an in-depth analysis, it turned out really great!
glad you liked it!
One of the strengths of animation is the focus on timing. The vast majority of animation starts off with storyboards where key frames and shots are planned in advance. Then, of course, key frames set up a lot of the timing. Everything is deliberate. You have to be VERY precise with timing so that everybody on the project knows exactly what's meant to go down. It's why animation errors are rare little nuggets you find, rather than littering most projects. It's one little error, usually of miscommunication, that gets lost in the mix and isn't found until it's too late.
While I'm not going to claim the live action didn't use storyboards, there's less of an emphasis on refining them for live action productions because, well, it's not just real people involved. It's real human actions being recorded, called out, observed in real time, etc. Avatar was such a powerful animation BECAUSE it played to the limitations and strengths of the medium. Timing is one of the biggest things in the series. By placing an emphasis of martial arts training, the key movements in attacks can function exactly like key frames. Making elements, which would lag in real life, match the timing of attacks adds an innately supernatural element to a sequence while maintaining the idea of mass, volume, and inertia. Animation, despite what many might think, is heavily rooted in physics.
3D animation is already hard, and SFX are just as, if not even harder. It's a LOT harder to make something look 3D against a real background, exaggerate its properties, and still remain believable. Because we don't understand physics enough in 3D to replicate them perfectly on instinct, but we can DEFINITELY tell when something doesn't look right. You can blur, stretch, and smear Katara across the screen to make her look fast, and it'll only last a few frames, but it is extremely difficult to pull that off with a real human body without it looking like rubber.
This is why animation is such a powerful medium. It's believable because it's an additive process. You can convince the audience to believe something exists in space with physics in a 2D image since you're establishing the rules for them. I don't want to say live action is subtractive, but it kind of is in this case. You're needing to balance how much of reality the audience is willing to give up on order to accept what they're seeing. And because you can't fling an attress however fast you want just for a shot, there's going to be limits as to how fast the average performer can pull off a move.
This is why I'm a huge proponent that any adaptation of my favorite fantasy books should be animations. Animation just works so much better for fantasy. It's not even close. Sometimes live action can approach decent animation, but that's rare, and it never gets close to the best.
The thing about storyboards is sometimes live action fights are storyboarded. I think live action stuff should bring on anime fight scene storyboarders to assist with choreography.
the avatar fandom watches a guy overanalyze every episode of the show; if you break down every shot people will definitely watch
Absolutely
You can't do that with John wick because the writing, directing and cinematography is on point. Not perfect, just detailed.
I was on my way to suggest the same thing
Yes we need that video
It’s the power and scale of that first scene that makes me enjoy the animated one better cuz it’s not just a small stream of water that “oh no can get her hair wet “ , he’s spinning a large current of water the size of a person that could send her within in and have her spinning, possibly injuring herself , then switching to katana sending the blast of water into another direction . So cool
The thing about avatar is that what makes the fights so good is how smooth they move, and not how strong or epic in proportions the combat becomes. Everything in the animation flows. Idk if it’s due to a lack of technology to make the live action special effects better, but lots of things just doesn’t flow.
Water itself doesn’t pack much of a punch just feels and looks like water being thrown by hand at times. The cold wind for example shouldn’t have exhausted her, unless we saw resistance from Kataras side slowly slipping away due to loss of stamina. If anything, it should have knocked her back or fragile ice shards should have shattered on impact as she tries to block it.
Anywho, the main issue I had with Kataras fight isn’t the combat, those were ok to say the most, but her expressions? Look at the animation and how many expressions she goes through, now look at the live action, this isn’t a girl that looks like she’s reveling against the ways of the tribe. This looks like a girl who’s insecure about her desires, whose shy, and submissive. Those eyes don’t show exhaustion, it shows passiveness.
The worst part about the live-action fight scene between Master Pakku and Katara, for me, was how incredibly slow and silly riding the water/ice looked. Riding the water/ice should add momentum to the movements, not detract from them. If it’s going to be a hindrance to one’s speed (without offering any strategic tradeoff), it’s not a move worth using.
Also, I found it quite disappointing that, at the end of her battle with Pakku, Katara didn't struggle against her icy restraints with the same level of fervor as her animated predecessor.
There are more issues, of course. Those were just the two things (outside of the story itself) that particularly irked me about this readapted scene.
What you said about the ice riding is actually exactly what made me start writing this at first. It was really the first thing that stood out to me as feeling particularly bad, and then after going back I was able to notice more similar issues.
I recently rewatched the animated fight and one thing I noticed was how most of katara's shots were like a single stream of water that's easily redirected by paku whereas his shots were either multiple streams or a stream that looks very chaotic/hard to redirect. Gave the feeling that Paku has been fighting waterbenders for a while whereas katara is only getting a feel for it now. So good
Also the live action makes the scenario feel small. I know the sets ARE small because its green screen, but you can disguise it, this show instead highlights it
Yeah, because of the size of the sets, the camera angles get SUPER limited, which leads to a _lot_ of the boring, uninspired flow to battles.
Indeed, but they should make what can only be shown interesting. Make the water bigger, the ice sharper, the sets dramatic.
In the animated fight, I can certainly say I will be thrown about and maybe even break few bones if I'm hit by any of the attacks. The live action just looks like I'd be inconvenienced and probably just get a cold if I'm hit.
I think with animation they design bending to be martial arts and they act as it is, while in live action bending is like magic since the actors couldn’t perform it as martial arts, so it looks less like a fight and more like a performance.
Yeah. The bending in the animated show are based on only a handful of martial arts experts performing moves for reference, sometimes impossible moves (i.e combining two actions into one when animating)... how the hell are character actors supposed to do that??
Exactly!! It bothers me so much to see ice coming out of the bender's hands in the live action. In the animated series it was very clear that benders manipulated the elements in the environment around them (I guess with fire being the exception to that). For me, it loses the hard-magic system with details like ice coming out of hands.
@@cloverbun2574 Uhm they could study?
I personally don’t like the wind in the live action version. Water-benders can’t also bend…air. I also feel like the music is lacking in the live action, especially in this fight scene. On top of it appearing too choreographed.
I hate how slow the water movements too in the live action. Youre right about the snowy wind, it was so stupid
To be fair, even in the animation waterbenders could manipulate airborne water molecules (mist, clouds, steam, etc.) at high speeds to make "wind", but I don't think the live action conveyed it well at all.
@@zionalbina691I don't remember any scenes in the animated series where they did this though? The closest might be Katara making mist when she presented to be a ghost or stopping rain mid-air, but none of those things give the illusion of "wind"
Keep in mind that on green screen transparent effects like water don't play well on it. So they probably changed some of the effects that interacted with characters due to difficulty of editing them. But yeah, didn't make a whole lot of sense.
@@mist3995when they bend clouds
"I would like to compare them shot by shot, but nobody would like to watch that-"
Me, who would like to watch that: darn
I found your reluctance to call any of the characters by their names very funny xd great video btw
Great analysis of how the live action fight felt so much less dynamic
my question is:
why was the old man air bending?
Yes! This exactly! He's supposed to be a water bender. Why is there a gust of wind?? Throwing ice shards/daggers, I can see, but there should not have been any air pushing Katara back in the live action. 🙄
@@danibee at that point I was officially done with the show and just started my own "mystery science theatre" and started throwing popcorn at the screen in my own home.
that, and "but...WE'RE the 41st division" and I was completely divorced from the story
@@dontworry4945 but that part was good
@@cristianb9557 It's good in theory, but ehhhh in execution. Having them basically exposit "But THATS US" straight to the camera instead of letting the idea simmer for longer before revealing it without words really undercuts the emotional impact.
I also noticed in the first bit when the animated show has the girl redirect the water by taking advantage of the flow, the live action has her interrupt, and go against the flow.
Look at the animation shot at 1:15 to 1:17 - her motion acts like putting down a piece of wood in a river to redirect the flow into a channel. None of the momentum of the water is lost and energy is conserved.
Then look at the live action shot at 1:30 to 1:33 - her motion takes out all of the energy from the whirling water. It's going clockwise around her, and she stops it, pulls it partway counter clockwise, and then adds energy to fling it OVER her shoulder, despite it being at shoulderheight, only to drop it on the floor.
Even if we look past the entire culture and magic rules of waterbenders about using the flow of combat to enhance your abilities - it simply just looks so clunky in the live action where she forces the animation to stop, move opposite it's original direction, and then move up only to go down. The motion of the shot is so obstructed and the power of the water is completely lost.
Excellent video! It's always nice to see a detailed breakdown that puts in words why the animated show is so great. 😀
I generally think the camera work in the animated show is actually underrated.
For example Avatar manages to bring so much plot, character development, world building & clever hidden exposition in 25 minute episodes.
And a big part of this is the camera work.
- Like Iroh telling Zuko "have you forgotten what happened the last time you duelled a master" and the camera moves over Zuko's scar.
No one explains it in a long dialogue, but within just a few moments people suddenly know a lot of Zuko's backstory, but are also so intrigued enough that they want to know more.
- Or child prodigy Azula wants to show off her skills, and the camera focuses for a moment to a smile on Ozai's face. Then Zuko wants to do the same and the camera shows the smile turn to a frown. Those two short shots show us all we need to know about Ozai's relationship with his kids. 2-3 seconds tell the whole story without long dialog or any other exposition.
There are countless examples in every episode, and IMHO that's one of the reasons why the animated show can do so much more in the same amount of time than the Netflix version.
im saving this video to win any argument against adaptations with the llast 5 minutes of this video. amazing analysis and you got yourself a new sub.
Me too! Subscribed!
I could listen to you analyze bending fight scenes all day
Yeah... Katara not having her temper and passion really killed this scene for the live action.
Plus her actual motivation was gone. She wanted to be taught by a master in the original, in the live action she had much less of a motivation because the modern feminist writers made her nothing but a girlpower character instead of everything else that she was in the show
@@AgentMercer and her bond with Aang was killed as well. It was through learning water bending together why the "we're family" line worked there. And they also gave most of her scenes to Gyatso.
He's a good character but what was important was Aang looking into the future, not being stuck in the past.
The live action really need better people who knows how to adapt stories.
Thank you for the video essay, and exactly. The netflix series' battle looks messy and all over the place. Goddammit.
The animated version can get away with not getting the characters look really wet aftef getting hit with water bending but with the live action it would be very noticeable. 😅
2:30 huh, kinda like water. it ebbs and flows, is adaptable and capable of turning someone's energy against them. it's like the creators really put thought into how the fight scenes are connected to their respective elements or something.
great analysis btw!
Also, how does Pakku make that ice wind in the live action version? Kinda feels like airbending and waterbending mixed.
It boils down to their use on the giant green screen dome, they use it as a crutch depending on it too much. It worked for the most part in mandolorian but it had limitations.
Nice Bink’s Brew background music. What I love about the animated version is that you can feel the intensity. We know that water is the element of change it shows in this fight.
not using the characters names actually makes it like 100 times easier to understand the points you're making. Now I wish every media analysis channel ever did things this way, it just makes learning so much easier when you aren't focused on the specifics of the character
Katara was was so beaten up in this battle in the animated too. Like her hair ends up down because shes been so tossed around but in the live action, Paku blows icy air at her (can we talk about this is an airbending thing and not a water bending thing) and it looks like a hair tie comes loose and she easily falls. In the animation home girl is thrown and entirely ingulfed in water multiple times and that's why her hair is a wreck in the end. We also get shots of animated katara huffing and puffing cause shes literally out of breathe which just shows how hard shes working in this fight. Live action Katara doesn't get those shots and it makes the battle feel less fierce because we don't see her actually expending a lot of energy.
They are bending water and attacking each other with water but no one gets wet? Both in cartoon and live but in cartoon at least we see a great fight whereas live action falls flat
If I see one more mid-body shot I'm gonna die.
As someone making their own series this sort of breakdown of action is invaluable
i like that lesson you gave about adaptations. whether there are changes or it is faithful to the original, it should still be good or even better. great video
lol "then her legs get tired"
it's bending, not magic! it's a physical force that should be affecting her externally, why did it become a psychic attack 😭
Also, in the original series the "audience" reacts differently- They are concerned, but also cheer and look proud/ amazed.
In the live action, they mostly look concerned, which makes her look less strong and more in need of help
Nice to see this video! You did a great job analyzing the two scenes and it was super interesting to see the stark differences between the two. I haven't watched the original avatar animated series for almost a decade but this video makes me think I should give it another go.
Very glad you thought the video was interesting! And yes you should totally give a rewatch a go
The original is a masterpiece, a 10/10 up there with breaking bad for me
A rewatch once you are older hits different.
You def get another angle on some of the subjects (grief, parental abuse, war and refugees etc...)
Book1 still feels a bit childish but the next 2 are seinen worth.
I really like the emphasis on the use of shots and framing in the show because it shows how the issue with the live action isn’t just that it isn’t animated, but that it’s just not very well-made and lacks the detail and care of the original. (That being said, I think any live action adaptation feels necessary considering just how perfect the original show is. Every detail is so intentional and careful, from the writing to the music to the worldbuilding, and it’s just not replicable.)
Whenever I watch the cartoon and I watch this fight I think of surfing or snowboarding. The fast pace and flow of both options always felt natural like those shots. These live action shots feel kinda stationary and stiff.
I'd watch a shot-for-shot analysis of a scene, fight- or no.
Great breakdown. A good adaptation can make tons of changes if it wants. But if those changes are detrimental to the characters, world and enjoyment from the audience, what's the point?
The lack of clear communication of stuff like the power of the moves, the awkward reaction shots, the weird camera angles, and everything else wrong with the live action version makes me wonder if they would’ve benefited from strong storyboards like animated shows use. I looked it up and apparently live action media only tends to use storyboards as guidelines for the general vibe of scene, but then shot composition is left up to director, which means if is director doesn’t have a clear vision for what they want, this is the stuff we get
Best part is how it isn’t even mentioning how the character motivation (or just general character) differences also impact the scene. (Not that they need to be the same because their is plenty of motivations and character aspects that ca do great work)
i kept pointing out during the last few episodes of the season that katara simply isn’t fierce. there’s very little determination or drive to her in the live action version-she just seems like a nice, pleasant girl
@khephrenchambers878 fr. The only reason she has gotten to that point is because its been given on a silver platter. Her words at the end of the first episode reflect this.
Weak sause v_v idk how they got it so wrong on adapting or just a base level
9:19 This was also just such a clean back and forth and it really showed the difference between master and prodigy. He never lost his cool and just turned her attack into more transversal. I didn't watch the Netflix, but at least from the clip that's what's missing. The fight doesn't feel like it's between two water benders one of which is an experienced master. It feels like they're bending separate elements in a turn based RPG.
i legit started lauging at the snow wind attack. i thought u live on the south poul and that snow/wind attack is just an every day moment there
if you make more of these I will watch every single one probably multiple times and send them to other avatar fanatics. and if I know my people they will be doing the same lmao
Your videos are always so refreshing man, thanks for the good times!
This is the best thing that came out of the atla live action.
Excellent analysis! And yes we'd be interested to watch more breakdowns of the fights
Wowwww thanks for this im always mindblown at how much thought and care went into almost every single frame of the original!!
This is a great breakdown of not only of the show but action sequences in general. I am definitely going to consider these things when I think about why I find some action sequences better than others.
I love this analysis, there are millions of videos about avatar's writing but not as much with how brilliant the directing is too!!! Amazing amazing video
This is a masterfully crafted video
Ayo bro you got my sub, I want the anlysis of each and every single frame of this fight in exchange
this is insightful please need more of this
Please, analyse away! I really liked your breakdown.
I like how he refers to Sokka and Aang as "this dude" and "the bald kid" 😂
I like the way the water is reused and there is constant motion in the animated version. When it is in tne live action, it is constantly using new water. There should be more of this reuse of material, it shows how quickly they think and their battle prowess.
"I don't think anyone would want that."
Dude, I came here precisely for that!
pretty good comparison and analysis, perfectly cut into a single scene without context that could even be useful for people who know NOTHING about avatar, great video!
the live action fight feels like a choreographed dance whereas the animation feels like an actual fight
I like this sorta break down I feel like it’s a good, succinct way to explain things
You put into words all the reasons I didn't like the sequence but couldn't verbalize why. I'd watch you break down the entire series this way.
2:31
i feel like you said this on purpose, but when you described the *waterbending* fight with the words “push and pull” it was a nice detail 👍
nice catch
I would love more frame-by-frame analysis comparing scenes between the original and remake
great video! I noticed that I didn't like the fight scene but didn't know why exactly
I just noticed it now... Did you change the name of the channel?
Anyway, you always make good analysis of scenes in media. The fact that you had an "easier job" on this case (because you "just" had to compare the power and movement of action scenes in between past animation and present live action), just proves how bad they messed this crucial moment in the story.
Like you said, there were moments where the audience should feel as the characters felt during the whole fight: confident or threatened, smiling arrogantly or exhausted, running with effort or consolidating ground. Such a missed opportunity.
yes i changed the channel name lol. but also thanks very much for the comment, i'm glad you found this analysis interesting
Great video!
The katara actor has an acting range of a teaspoon
She is sleepwalking through all her scenes😮
my husband made that comment and i was like "i don't really agree" but then i saw a clip on twitter of kyoshi fucking shit up, the 4 reaction shots of different people looking on in terror and awe... and then katara looking like she's watching someone make a bagel
The worst part is how much personality she has out of character, if you watch cast interviews and the like.
It's not her fault. It's the fuckin' director
I disagree.. go watch her audition. The writers/directors are to blame for her incredibly bland performance.
@@PickJames Oh yeah, don't even get me started on her script 💀
It was fine except Pakku not finding the betrothed necklace. That was a missed event.
Yes I would want to watch a video where you compare everything ❤
Great video! I obviously thought the animated scene was much better, but i couldnt have put into words all the points that you made as to why its so much better. I like the point you made about the cutaways to the crowd. In the new version, it felt like i was missing part of the fight every time they cut to the bald kid and the guy. I will say that i laughed my ass off when Pakku blew all that snow wind at Katara and her hair came undone. I'm 90% sure that wasnt meant to be played for laughs though. Actually all of the funniest parts of the live action weren't meant to be played for laughs.
Edit: also if you do make shot for shot analyses of ATLA, i WILL watch them. I'm subscribing so i'll know if you upload more of these
I am seeing two very similar fight scenes except the live action has a smaller scale. i appreciate the dedication to detail you have that i care less about tho 😂
I would absolutely watch a video analysing every shot
Half because I love learning how to best make art
Half because I love long youtube videos when I am working on mundane tasks
the last half is hell yes
This wide variety of shots is actually a big strength of animation since it's not much harder to do in comparison to the difficulties of live action in this.
I was rewatching the Pirates trilogy a couple nights ago and this made me realize how those movies made excellent uses of wide shots and panning shots, it is quite possible to do well in live action, unfortunately Netflix didn’t bother
@@AgentMercer I mean yeah ofcourse it is absolutely possible in live action, especially with modern techniques. But you aren't nearly as limited by time and budget constraints in animation when doing this compared to live action.
I know that water is actually clear, but I wish they had given a small tiny bit of color in the water in the live action.
When you started talking about reaction shots in anime, I immediately thought of One Piece. It is one of the biggest offenders of this for sure. And then you start playing Bink's Sake in the background! Love that little nod
nice catch
THANK YOU!
I was so annoyed at that scene in the live action.
And even more annoyed at people claiming that both versions were „identical“ and laughing at people who were disappointed (by the like 80 things the live action did worse)
GURREN LAGANN MENTIONED RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH
WHAT THE FUCK IS A LIMITATION 💪💪💪🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
ngl i'd watch the hell out of a scene to scene analysis if you made one
Oh heck yes I’d love a blow a blow breakdown! Instead of this fight though, maybe do a comparison of Zhao and Zuko’s Agni Kai. That was such a good fight.
Wait, what episode in the Netflix version was that in?