one of the things the atla universe writers can never do properly is write about the entire bender vs non bender situation lol. they consistently have plots where non-benders want recognition and justice because they feel like they're being mistreated by the benders, and the writers always make them out to be the villain. i still think in the original show they dealt with this topic fairly well, but the legend of korra and the movie is where it really just falls flat in the face. both the movie and tlok constantly sideline and neglect their non-bending characters, or just not have any (except the ONE token non-bender!), and then try to act like the in canon non-benders are stupid for saying they're being mistreated. like you are LITERALLY proving their point !!!!!!!! for example, the movie essentially making sokka entirely useless (except giving him a flying bicycle for one hype aura moment which inevitably leads nowhere), and then erasing almost ENTIRETY of it's other non-bending cast, just makes me think, hey maybe the denied have a point actually. i understand that it's a movie and they can't bring in every single side character, but was suki not a part of the main gang by the end of the show? was sokka not a leader, a strategist and eventually a politician? why couldn't we hear sokka's thoughts on the denied? i understand that the denied are violent and have disruptive ways of being seen and heard, but isn't their core principle right? are the non-benders not treated worse?
this isn't even a new point that was first mentioned in tlok. you see it in the original show. except they never spell it out for you. you see it in the way sokka feels about himself, you see it in the way toph initially treats sokka and assumes he's useless because he can't bend. the boiling rock episodes aren't just fun, but they're such good examples of sokka, suki and hakoda, (and mai and ty lee!!!!) who are all non-benders, doing most of the heavy lifting to get them out. sokka with his brain, suki with her fearlessness and dedication to her art, and hakoda with his strength. the atla universe always comes so close to addressing this issue with maturity and dignity and then just backtracks when it realises it can't give it too much time because it isn't as cool as bending. it just makes me angry.
