Thread by @amnaisfake, I heard ATLA twitter is finally taking the voices of POC seriously [...]

I heard ATLA twitter is finally taking the voices of POC seriously so i wanted to make a post about some issues i found in ATLA as a South Asian Muslim... I sure hope this gets just as much attention.

First of All, i want to mention how severely underrepresented brown asians are in ATLA. Majority of the asian represention is only based on China and Japan. those aren’t the only asian countries that exist.

- the sandbender stereotype. we all know that sandbenders are supposed to be representation of Arabs/muslims. Did no one ever find it odd how they were shown as heartless barbarians? this is a trope that has been criticized since Aladdin (recognized as one of the most racist -

- animated movies) and should not be excused whatsoever .

Secondly although the original representation of Guru Pathik was acceptable, creators of ATLA decided to make a laughingstock of our culture by adding Guru Pathik in Aang’s daydream singing “chakra sandwich”, and gave him a bunch of arms in the mockery of the Hindu God, Durga.

This is more minor but he also holds a sitar in this daydream. I also didn’t understand the point of Onion Banana juice, but it seems to almost be a mockery of south asian curry ( we often mix sweet fruits with savory vegetables, like Mango Chutney). - again, this is more minor

I would also like to point out every other asian culture they chose to represent was extremely minor or dead (Vietnamese swamp benders and Tibetian Air Nomads).

Issues of underrepresentation and misrepresentation is HUGE in media, so I hope you all take this seriously and recognize it. As someone from the background I am from, i’m often told it’s not that serious or that I’m reaching and I always feel bad about mentioning it.

but I decided to chime in today after hearing about the recent events in the ATLA twitter community and I hope this is took just as seriously as the other issues, because SA,SEA, and MENA people’s concerns are almost always waved off

If anyone else wants to add any other concerns please feel free to reply with them. If we’re going to support POC opinions in this fandom we have to support all of them.

https://twitter.com/dykeslexia/status/1291626791078170624?s=21 https://twitter.com/soontobedeletd/status/1291626791078170624