I can't speak for your friends or for Asian people more broadly but I'd assume that a generally-positive representation of Asian cultures which isn't repeating the worst tropes in western media that have been a mainstay since like the 1980s and, especially, which depicts Asian cultures as diverse rather than as one homogeneous blob would be well-recieved because it's undeniably progress.
Also having an Asian fantasy setting in the west is pretty uncommon and even moreso when there's a noticeable absence of a white saviour or a Dances with Wolves-style protagonist who "does a better job of being Asian than the Asians", which is epitomised by The Last Samurai.
That being said, it's my opinion that ATLA has a really serious problem with a Western Gaze and it's more a reflection of western preconceptions of Asian cultures than it is representative of something more developed and nuanced.
Take the Air Tribe for example. It's basically a gish gallop of all the western preconceptions of Tibetan Buddhism that they could cram in, to the point that they even had a character named Gyatso.
Or there's the whole scaremongering about Ba Sing Se with propaganda and brainwashing, two tropes that are invoked constantly in western discourse when talking about the East to the point that I'm surprised that people still buy into it after so many decades. Obviously today this is mostly focused mostly on China now but in prior generations it was the Vietnamese who were propagandised and brainwashed (and brainwashing Americans) and the same could be said for Koreans around the time of the Korean War (and for the DPRK even today) as well as Japan in WWII. Basically any time the west has an Asian enemy of the state there's a flurry of discourse around how their people are propagandised, brainwashed, and are attempting to brainwash good, honest westerners. So to me it was really disappointing to see this subplot in Ba Sing Se.
I guess I should be glad that they didn't have a subplot about how the good guys were simply trying to engage in honest trade with the people of Ba Sing Se to meet their demands and the leaders of Ba Sing Se cruelly and viciously attacked these traders which caused an escalation leading to a war where the good guys were simply trying to defend their trade routes but, at the same time, I wouldn't have been surprised if they did consider making that a plot point at some stage.
It's been a long time since I've watched ATLA but I remember wincing often throughout the show. I'm sure there's more that I'd be able to criticise if I did a rewatch but this comment is already pretty long.
I think two things can be true at the same time.
I can't speak for your friends or for Asian people more broadly but I'd assume that a generally-positive representation of Asian cultures which isn't repeating the worst tropes in western media that have been a mainstay since like the 1980s and, especially, which depicts Asian cultures as diverse rather than as one homogeneous blob would be well-recieved because it's undeniably progress.
Also having an Asian fantasy setting in the west is pretty uncommon and even moreso when there's a noticeable absence of a white saviour or a Dances with Wolves-style protagonist who "does a better job of being Asian than the Asians", which is epitomised by The Last Samurai.
That being said, it's my opinion that ATLA has a really serious problem with a Western Gaze and it's more a reflection of western preconceptions of Asian cultures than it is representative of something more developed and nuanced.
Take the Air Tribe for example. It's basically a gish gallop of all the western preconceptions of Tibetan Buddhism that they could cram in, to the point that they even had a character named Gyatso.
Or there's the whole scaremongering about Ba Sing Se with propaganda and brainwashing, two tropes that are invoked constantly in western discourse when talking about the East to the point that I'm surprised that people still buy into it after so many decades. Obviously today this is mostly focused mostly on China now but in prior generations it was the Vietnamese who were propagandised and brainwashed (and brainwashing Americans) and the same could be said for Koreans around the time of the Korean War (and for the DPRK even today) as well as Japan in WWII. Basically any time the west has an Asian enemy of the state there's a flurry of discourse around how their people are propagandised, brainwashed, and are attempting to brainwash good, honest westerners. So to me it was really disappointing to see this subplot in Ba Sing Se.
I guess I should be glad that they didn't have a subplot about how the good guys were simply trying to engage in honest trade with the people of Ba Sing Se to meet their demands and the leaders of Ba Sing Se cruelly and viciously attacked these traders which caused an escalation leading to a war where the good guys were simply trying to defend their trade routes but, at the same time, I wouldn't have been surprised if they did consider making that a plot point at some stage.
It's been a long time since I've watched ATLA but I remember wincing often throughout the show. I'm sure there's more that I'd be able to criticise if I did a rewatch but this comment is already pretty long.