Campus Location
Abilene Campus (Residential)
Date of Award
5-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Department
Literature
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Committee Chair or Primary Advisor
Jeremy Elliott
Second Committee Member or Secondary Advisor
Shelly Sanders
Third Committee Member or Committee Reader
Leslie Reed Senter
Abstract
Taking Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008) seriously, Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places explores the animated children’s series and how it is understood through the monistic Nahua (Aztec) concept of teotl. Relying on James Maffie’s text Aztec Philosophy: Understanding a World in Motion (2014), this thesis determines that Avatar: The Last Airbender benefits from monistic analysis. This analysis results in a breakdown of the show into four body chapters. These chapters respectively explore Aang’s role as a monistic representative, the differences between the physical and spirit worlds presented in the show, the kind of relationships that appear in the series, and the function of death and time in the Avatar: The Last Airbender universe.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Morrison, Makenzie P., "Sacred Connections in Cartoonish Places: Exploring the Implications of Teotl in Avatar: The Last Airbender (2008)" (2025). Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 894.
https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/etd/894
Included in
American Popular Culture Commons, Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, Other Film and Media Studies Commons