There are a lot of assholish nations that could easily take that place, but imo there are enough references to Dalai lama in the show to assume that the fire nation is china

[–] archomrade@midwest.social 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Imagine seeing a brutal depiction of genocidal imperialism in media and referring to it as 'assholish'

[–] Siegfried@lemmy.world 0 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Being "just a cartoon" I never thought of the dimension of it, but they literally wiped out an entire nation. Suddenly, comparing the fire nation to any current superpower seems wrong.

[–] archomrade@midwest.social 7 points 7 months ago

?? The US famously wiped out the native population within its borders. I'm not sure what history you were taught but genocide is a very common topic.

[–] OscarRobin@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (2 children)

The Dalai Lama references are from the Air Nomads, not Fire Nation

[–] Leviathan@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Yes, that's how the metaphor follows through. The fire Nation destroys the air nomads the way the Chinese destroyed Tibet.

[–] Kalothar@lemmy.ca 7 points 7 months ago

That’s because the air nomads are basically Tibetan monks, also annexed by China in the 1950s

[–] besbin@lemmygrad.ml 2 points 7 months ago

The earth nation exists with a whole theme about being the great stagnant central state empire getting overshadowed by an upstart nation going through industrial revolution first doesn't give you any hints? Not even the queues and qibao?