Avatar: The Last Airbender

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Introduction The first season of The Legend of Korra, sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, showcases an antagonist known as “Amon” – the Leader of the Equalists. In this paper, I will first set the stage with a brief history of what occurred in Avatar: The Last Airbender, followed by the current situation in The Legend of Korra. I will argue that due to institutional anomie, the Republic City was a conducive environment for Amon, a destructive leader, to lead the Equalist rebellion with the help of his susceptible followers – the Equalists. In order to fully substantiate my argument, I will refer to specific course concepts and theories in the following major parts of this paper:
1) Rise of “Institutional Anomie” in Republic City
2) Leading …show more content…

Benders have control on either one of the four elements – Air, Fire, Water and Earth. However, only the Avatar can master control on all four elements. When one Avatar passes away, a new one is reincarnated in one of the four tribes/nations. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, Aang in the Avatar and the last living Air Bender. As it is to be expected, with bending comes desire to gain more power, which therefore, fuels wars and internal conflicts. In Aang’s case, the Fire Nation has taken control over the world and begun to repress all the other nations, and even managed to drive the Air Benders to near extinction. Following the events of the first series, Aang and his friends are able to stop the Fire Nation, and restore …show more content…

Moving forward, the Republic City qualifies under the four factor criteria of a “conducive environment” as per Padilla, Hogan and Kaiser’s “The Toxic Triangle”. For one thing, there is “instability” even before Amon’s Equalist movement takes shape. The local crime lords and gangs are stealing money from the poor, and easily escaping from the police. Since there is no one to enforce justice and law effectively, Amon is able to take advantage of the situation by staging his “revelations” and attacks to manipulate the public’s opinion on bending and even the Avatar. (Padilla et al., pg. 185) The “perceived threats” in this case have to be the Non-Benders’ “feelings of mistreatment” by the hands of the corrupt Benders, poverty and hunger as the crime lords take money away from the them, and force them to leave their businesses. (Padilla et al., pg. 185). The “cultural values” that Amon endorses to lead this rebellion is “restoring balance”, a prosperous future where there are enough resources for the Non-Benders, and there is absolutely no discrimination between Non-Benders and used-to-be-Benders. (Padilla et al., pg.

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