At a time when episodic releases were the norm for shows aimed at children, Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino opted to make Avatar: The Last Airbender a serialized show. And despite being made for children, adults too could find meaning in the series, thanks to the creative duo’s perfection, as it went on to become a phenomenon for an entire generation.
Among the many aspects that added greatly to the show’s quality, its rich world is arguably the most impressive, for which DiMartino and Konietzko went to extensive lengths to make it feel alive. Nothing displays the duo’s desire to go the extra mile more than the city of Ba Sing Se, which has some horrifying real-world roots.
Real Chinese Labor Camps Inspired Ba Sing Se’s Lake Laogai
While entirely fictionalized, the world of The Last Airbender takes heavy inspiration from real life, similar to its fauna, which too is based on real animals. One prominent example is Ba Sing Se, also known as the impenetrable city. For the capital city of the Earth Kingdom, Michael DiMartin and Bryan Konietzko took inspiration from Beijing during their trip to the Forbidden City prior to the production of season 2. And while the Great Wall served as their reference for the city’s enormous walls, for Lake Laogai, they took inspiration from China’s labor camps.
In Season 2, Episode 17, viewers are introduced to Ba Sing Se’s brutal prison camp, named Lake Laogai, whose real-life roots involve China’s labor camps, which share the same name. During the ’50s, laogai camps were introduced throughout the People’s Republic of China, which was infamous for forcing inmates into forced labor in order to reform them. Before the Chinese government abolished this system in 2012, one report suggested the country had around 1000 working laogai camps.
Following the horrifying history of its true world counterpart, it comes as no surprise why Ba Sing Se is considered among the most terrifying places in the universe of Avatar.
Furthermore, it also serves as a testament to the lengths DiMartino and Konietzko were ready to go for the show.
Michael DiMartino on Why the Duo Parted Ways With the Netflix Adaptation
Before Albert Kim was brought on board to steer the ship of Netflix’s live-action adaptation of the acclaimed series, Bryan Konietzko and Michael DiMartino spent two years developing the project. However, the duo eventually decided to part ways and cited creative differences as the reason, which is visible with the final release, as it takes its fair share of creative liberties with Season One.
In an open letter (via EW) published by the duo, DiMartino explained:
“In a joint announcement for the series, Netflix said that it was committed to honoring our vision for this retelling and to supporting us on creating the series. And we expressed how excited we were for the opportunity to be at the helm. Unfortunately, things did not go as we had hoped. Netflix’s live-action adaptation of ‘Avatar’ has the potential to be good… But what I can be certain about is that whatever version ends up on-screen, it will not be what Bryan and I had envisioned or intended to make.”
With the second and third seasons being confirmed for the live-action series, fans will hope it’ll do justice to DiMartino and Konietzko’s iconic work moving forward.
Avatar: The Last Airbender is available to stream on Netflix.
