Damn this new journal entry layout is sexy.

But that's not what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about this: [link]

It's been known since last year that Avatar: The Last Airbender (which, for people who don't know, is awesome) would be turned into a trilogy of live-action movies directed by M Night Shlayman, or however you spell his name.

Though the creators were being involved heavily, the news was not well-received by the fandom. Personally, I don't see the point of making a NON-animated feature film based on the series-especially if it does indeed turn out to be season 1 (a.k.a Book 1: Water) in a nutshell.

Then we got the above news just recently.

It doesn't exactly make me feel better.

"the film's religious subtext was what drew him to the project. "It has to be something I see God in," he said."

I acknowledge that there is indeed something of a religious subtext, since the main character is an incarnation of what can be seen as something of a major deity (hence 'Avatar' and he has to save the world ('from the forces of evil' doesn't exactly merit mention, since the 'bad guys' are not totally bad, especially in Zuko's case). However, beyond that, it's not so much religious as spiritual, given that spirits and the spirit world have shown up in the story, as well as elements based on Eastern spiritual teachings, such as chakra. It makes me wonder if Shlayman's going to tack some Christian moral onto the story, which really doesn't fit with the Eastern themes of the show.

And then this:


""I have a low action-fatigue level," Shyamalan said after the event, when asked to explain why he hasn't made many films outside his trademark thriller genre. "It can't be 'I want to hurt you.' All the fighting has to have a reason behind it.""

Big fat problem: Avatar, though not Fist of the North Star by any means, has lots of fights in it. The fight scenes are also amazing, since they're not always standard kicking-and-punching. Though they aren't mindless with no motivation, I don't think Shlayman will see them that way. Plus, "I want to hurt you" is a legitimate reason for some of the characters *cough*Azula*cough*.

Yea, so I'm more than a little concerned, especially considering that this will be the first major Avatar thing that will be noticed by the general public, and not just the ones who watch TV. It could do what the Pokemon anime did for its franchise and make everyone believe it's childish and silly.

Which it most certainly isn't.

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