Avatar: The Last Airbender - Netflix's Huge Sokka Change Has Fans Divided
Netflix's live-action "Avatar: The Last Airbender" releases on February 22. With its premiere just under a month away, Entertainment Weekly published an extensive behind-the-scenes preview, during which actor Ian Ousley discussed one way his portrayal of Sokka differs from his animated counterpart. "I feel like we also took out the element of how sexist [Sokka] was. I feel like there were a lot of moments in the original show that were iffy," he said. However, several fans think Sokka's sexist attitude is integral to a character arc that ultimately sees him change. As a result, those people are unhappy about this change.
"This is such an important part of Sokka's character, embracing & supporting the strong women around him & losing his small-minded views could be a huge thing to see on screen," wrote @SerialSteve on X, formerly known as Twitter. This sentiment is one of numerous posts taking issue with the alteration.
For example, X user @ScottNiswander argues that a character's problematic opinions do not make their portrayal inherently problematic. "Sokka was sexist specifically to learn not to be," he wrote. "Isn't it cool that writers have the ability to use a character's flaws to teach lessons to the viewers? To say, 'this character is wrong.' I think that stuff is neat."
Fans of the original Avatar cartoon are wondering how changes to Sokka might alter the series
In another response to Ian Ousley's comment about Sokka's sexism, X user @NeoWokio pointed to an early episode of the "Avatar: The Last Airbender" cartoon in which Sokka (voiced by Jack DeSena) thinks he's stronger than a tribe of women he and his companions encounter — only to learn that his abilities don't stack up. This arc will no longer work, they argued. "I also wanna point out a lot of Sokka's character isn't sexism for the sake of sexism but rather a consequence of him being the oldest male in a community where all the men went to war, so he has a child-like understanding of masculinity and what it means to be a man," wrote @DiscordantDiver in a reply.
Meanwhile, @WellHiddenKai pointed out that Katara (Mae Whitman) directly accuses Sokka of sexism in "Avatar" Episode 1, indicating to viewers that they're not necessarily meant to agree with him.
Virtually nobody disagrees with the notion that Sokka is sexist. It's the removal of what many fans feel is an intentional flaw that's sparking controversy, given that overcoming that failing is a key component of his character's complexity.