10 Lessons The Live Action Avatar Series Could Learn From The 2010 Film
It was a disaster, so let's hope lessons have been learned second time around.
A live action series of Avatar: The Last Airbender has been in the works for a while now, according to Netflix. This is a brave decision, when we consider what happened when M. Night Shyamalan gave it a go back in 2010.
Fans of the original series were displeased (to put it lightly) to see their beloved world desecrated, and newcomers were left confused.
It was as if Shyamalan just whizzed through the first season to get the plot, ignoring all nuance, tone, and characterisation.
There were so many things wrong with the film, it's no surprise the planned sequels were cancelled. In fact, it's probably a good thing they were. It would have been near impossible to salvage the mess of the first film with any more.
However, with every failure comes a lesson - if we're to be optimistic. It's been ten years now, which is hopefully enough time to think about why the series was so majestic, and the film so... well, whatever the opposite of majestic is.
Let's have a look at the lessons that Shyamalan's train-wreck provides for those behind the new series, in the hope that it's done right this time. Our fingers are tightly crossed.
10. Get The Dialogue Right
The film had some of the most unnatural dialogue imaginable; it was the opposite of the beautiful, funny, and meaningful conversations and turns pf phrase in the cartoon.
Dialogue reveals who characters really are, and their relationship with others. It's a glimpse into their persona. Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies once said that "dialogue is just two monologues clashing."
Meaning everyone is inadvertently trying to be heard, rather than listen. It's an uncomfortable truth, but acknowledge it and you're on your way to writing a great and naturalistic script.
M. Night Shyamalan evidently didn't heed these words when writing The Last Airbender. Almost every bit of speech in the film is for the purpose of exposition. The characters don't speak their thoughts - they don't even speak for each other - but they speak for us, the audience. It's all about filling us in on the political situation and history of the world.
It results in painfully two-dimensional characters, and a waste of great acting talent like Dev Patel and Shaun Toub.