Logliney Stuff:
For every generation there is an Avatar, master all four elements. Aang, an Air Nomad and the current Avatar, is barely, barely on the edge of puberty, when he gets caught in a storm and cryo-preserved (think Captain America) for one hundred years. When Katara and Sokka, two teens from the Southern Water Tribe, happen to wake Aang up, shit has gone down. The Fire Nation has spent the past hundred years attacking, conquering, and colonizing as much of the rest of the world as it could, and there was no Avatar to slow them down. Now it’s time for Aang to grow up, master his powers, and save the world.
What’s Up With That:
Three seasons of badass magical warrior teens coming into their own worldbreaking powers? An investigation of the catalyst and continuing trauma of war and, in fact, genocide? Obligation or altruism or whatever lies in between? Moral dilemmas galore?! (What do we owe to each other?) Thanks, universe!
Metatext-Type Stuff:
I think I came to the show after its first season? It was on Nickelodeon, so not really on my radar usually. Then it became MY LIFE. Also, Dante Basco (RU-FI-OOOOOOO) voices Prince Zuko. Also, I have legit used the first two episodes of this show in my lit classes, that’s how much I love it.
SPOILERS AHEAD.
Character Natterings:
- Aang
This kid. This frickin’ kid. Aang is the youngest of the group and acts like it most of the time. His immaturity gets balanced with his monkish wisdom (he was a monk-in-training, technically, before he froze), and there is always a chance he’ll go world-breaker. Aang shouldn’t have to bear everything that he does; where he ends up in this series is so, so satisfying.
- Katara
Katara so often has to play den mother to their motley crew of heroes that it’s easy to forget she’s a total badass sometimes. As one of the few water benders in the Southern Water Tribe (the extent of their destruction is never wholly clear--we see a village of children when we start off, but also the knowledge that all those of fighting age are off fighting), she carries the weight of the world on her shoulders, same as Aang. Katara is never really a kid unless Aang drags her into being-a-kidness.
- Sokka
Sokka is the sole non-Bender in our group of heroes, which easily slots him in as the Xander of the group (i.e. the comic relief). Which, to be fair, he often is! But he’s also the oldest in the group, the one struggling to establish himself as a grown warrior in his tribe, and also the only one of these kids who has any sense of, like, how to plan shit. He also learns how to do Kyoshi-style fighting (while dressed in armor designed for women) and becomes a swordmaster. Sokka is the best, guys.
- Toph
Oh wait, Toph is ALSO the best. (They’re all the best, let’s be real.) Toph is an earth-bender. Toph is the greatest earth-bender in the world. Toph is blind, so her understanding of the earth has a surprising depth--she can “see” through the vibrations she can detect in the earth. Toph was taught earth-bending as a tiny kid by the original earth-benders, giant mole-rats. Toph invented metal-bending. Toph ran away from home to join Our Heroes because her parents thought her blindness meant she was helpless, when in fact she is the most dangerous non-Avatar that ever existed.
- Zuko
Oh, Zuko. You melodramatic, honor-obsessed, heart-broken prince. Zuko’s father, lord of the Fire Nation, banished Zuko from home after disfiguring him in a duel because young Zuko dared to question a plan to sacrifice whole divisions of troops for fairly negligible reasons. Zuko spends most of the first couple of seasons trying to hunt down the Avatar in order to regain his honor. He’s under the tutelage of his Uncle Iroh (DRAGON OF THE WEST), which luckily means he’s the protege of the best strategist and one of the best firebenders alive. (There’s some drama because Zuko’s sister, Azula, is a genuine firebending savant in addition to being a total sociopath.) Zuko’s inherent decency eventually leads to him joining Our Heroes, and that is about the time when we discover Zuko is actually a total dork. I love Zuko.
- Uncle Iroh
As stated above, Uncle Iroh, THE DRAGON OF THE WEST, is the best strategist of the Fire Nation. He’s one of the best firebenders--he can breathe fire, channel lightning, and oh, he learned some firebending from the last goddamn dragons. The only stated reason Iroh is not currently Fire Lord (he’s the elder brother in the family) is because his son was killed during the war and he was in mourning. (Also, he’s inherently decent--he inherited the war, but isn’t driven by it.) Iroh is also one of the founding members ofthe Illuminatithe White Lotus society.
- Suki
Warrior of Kyoshi, badass, and eventually Sokka’s girlfriend.
- Azula
Princess of the Fire Nation. Firebending savant. Total psycho. All should fear her.
- Ty Lee
A quintuplet (I think) raised in the circus (I think). Extremely bendy. Expert at manipulating chi/pressure points--she’s able to temporarily de-power benders if she gets the right hits in. One of Azula’s buddies. Completely adorable.
- Mai
Another one of Azula’s buddies. Extremely monotone. Dislikes talking about feelings. Good with knives. Zuko’s once and future girlfriend.
- Appa & Momo
Appa is the last air bison (or so we think). Air bisons are the original air benders. Appa was frozen in time with Aang. Momo is a...lemur-thing. He steals food a lot.
Yeah, I know Aang/Katara is a thing, but it just doesn’t work for me. I mean, not when they’re that young! Aang is, like, 12. That is too old for true love, my dude.
Zuko/Katara
I’m not proud, okay? In that this is the slice of fandom best known for being REALLY INTENSE ABOUT THIS SHIP. They run along the same lines as Draco/Hermione, Buffy/Spike, Rey/Kylo, etc--the reformed evil dude who is partially redeemed because a protagonist lady is into him. Or whatever. But in this case, Zuko and Katara also seem to be a good match--they’ve got comparable levels of expertise in their roles, they feel a similar responsibility towards their people, and they seem to work together pretty well. Given they are, y’know, teenagers and all, this makes sense. (As they get older? Eh. But this makes more sense than Katara and Aang because, again, AANG IS TWELVE.)
Sokka/Suki
Their initial interactions are boringly gendered--Sokka gets all haughty because Suki is a girl, then Suki and her compatriots kick his ass because they’ve been training to fight most of their lives. Sokka gets over himself, though, and then they are cute teenagers who have crushes on each other. Teenagers in love during wartime!
Zuko/Mai
They grew up together, they both hate talking about feelings, and they have complicated feelings about family. Honestly, this is the relationship that seems most likely to last.
Sokka/Ty Lee
Look, Ty Lee thinks Sokka is cute, and SOMETIMES THAT’S ENOUGH, okay?
Live for the Memory:
Monk Gyatso was Aang’s original mentor and the one that Aang goes looking for after his century-long nap is done. Alas, the Fire Nation straight-up genocided the Air Nomads. When Aang, Katara, and Sokka go to Aang’s former home, they find Monk Gyatso’s skeleton surrounded by DOZENS of Fire Nation skeletons. It’s not made explicit but, uh, Monk Gyatso seems to have killed all those dudes by taking away all their air. That is terrifying, and also one of the only hints we get of how dangerous air bending could be, if not practiced by a bunch of monks.
In the “Blue Spirit” episode, Aang happens to be captured by a division of Fire Nation soldiers. Zuko (though we don’t know it right away) is not about to let some other dude capture the glory when he needs a win to get un-banished, so he masks himself up and breaks Aang out. It’s hella cool, but what sticks is the ending. Zuko gets knocked out in the escape, so Aang takes him to a safe spot. When Zuko wakes up, Aang asks if they could ever have been friends and OH MY HEART, y’all. It’s beautiful and rough.
The introduction of Toph in the “Blind Bandit” episode is amazing. Toph is amazing. It’s immediately obvious that Toph is amazing, but as a treat, we get to see her earthbend the crap out of a bunch of opponents. Toph Bei Fong, GREATEST EARTH BENDER IN HISTORY.
So remember how I said that Gyatso smothering all those Fire Nation soldiers was a sign of how dangerous airbending could be? With waterbending, it’s having control over blood. Katara thinks she’s found a mentor, but instead she’s found a terrifying woman who uses bloodbending to exert total control on people. It’s creepy as hell, y’all.
These kids sure do escape from prison a lot! In this case, they’re breaking out of the Boiling Rock prison, which happens to be seated within a giant caldera filled with superheated water. The whole escape sequence is awesome, but the most HOLY CRAP moment is when Azula is raging out because Mai helped Zuko escape, and then out of nowhere Ty Lee strikes! Even the framing is amazing and there’s shock all around that Ty Lee did it--even Ty Lee herself seems a bit startled that she got a hand in.
Once Zuko joins Our Heroes, he becomes Aang’s tutor in fire-bending. In an effort to gain more expertise (Zuko’s good, but not as good as his sister, father, or uncle, alas), they seek out the original firebenders, who happen to be an Aztec-type society of sun worshippers, who happen to be guardians of THE LAST DRAGONS. That’s right, guys: Zuko and Aang learn how to firebend from dragons themselves. It’s gorgeous.
“Tales of Ba Sing Se” is a series of vignettes, most of which are cute and funny. In amongst them, however, is Iroh mourning his son. It lands hard--particularly because the original voice actor for Iroh, Mako, had also recently passed away. Oof.
“Appa’s Lost Days” is so upsetting, guys. He gets kidnapped, then imprisoned, then he’s just...sad and alone.
One of the fun but often unexplored quirks about Aang is that his understanding of culture is one hundred years out of date. In one episode, as they try to blend into a Fire Nation town, Aang remains convinced, “Flameo, Hotman” is a legit greeting that the people use, and it’s absolutely clear that it is not. But we get the pleasure of seeing Aang happily traipsing through the market, nodding and greeting folks with “Hotman” and CLEARLY weirding everybody out.
“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”
“That’s rough, buddy.”
I cannot watch this exchange just once--I must watch it a dozen times in a row, if not more.
Aang defeating Fire Lord Ozai in an all-out, one-on-one battle is pretty wonderful. He’d spent most of the season knowing everybody expected him to kill Ozai, so what does he do instead? He takes away Ozai’s firebending. It’s beautiful, but also goddamn, Aang. That’s creepy.
World-building Obsessions:
The Avatar cycle opens up so many story ideas. A superhero (basically) who reincarnates every generation and, in the right circumstances, access the memories of all their previous iterations? There is so much stuff to dig into here. (Kyoshi, the Avatar from a couple of generations ago, is a fan-favorite, and has already had a couple of books written about her.)
The Order of the White Lotus! Was there an honorable dude of A Certain Age that you found memorable? He’s totally a member. The one issue is that there don’t seem to be any women majorly involved? But still, a secret society that transcends national boundaries during wartime is pretty cool.
Four nations, distinctly based on four cultures (mostly). Air nomads = Tibetan monks. Water tribes = Inuit peoples. Earth Kingdom = China. Fire Nation = Feudal Japan. The really interesting thing that isn’t made explicit in the show, but I read about somewhere is that the Fire Nation is clearly industrializing--they’ve got steamships and similar steampunk things that none of the other nations have, which implies that they started the Hundred Years’ War because they needed more resources to feed their industrial growth. Or, y’know, some reason to use their “superior” technology.
We don’t get into it very much in this series (there’s much more Spirit world in Korra), but the Avatar is able to cross into the spirit realm. It is just as spooky and surreal as you would think it is.
What the Hell, Show?:
Okay, guys, Aang/Katara, wtf. I’m never going to get over this. IT’S WEIRD. Not only is Aang too young, Katara’s a couple of years older than him? Like, as adults, it would be fine, but the difference between twelve and fourteen is VAST.
In the very first episode, it’s established the Southern water tribe is almost wiped out. But, like...really? How? This village of tiny children and elders and Sokka and Katara is the last of the civilization? Also, when we see the Southern tribe’s fighting force later on, there don’t seem to be any women? What is going on here, people?
Koh the face stealer. Of the spirit realm. It haunts my dreams.
So how is it there’s one type of bending confined to a not a geographic location, but rather a political one? (The Air nomads and Water tribes, particularly, are located on opposite ends of the map.) Is there no intermarriage? What the heck?
Capacity to Fic:
First of all, there’s a lot of fun to be had in exploring the different cultures--I love me some slice of life, guys.
Second of all, thanks to The Legend of Korra, we kind of know what happens to Our Heroes, but there’s still a lot that could be filled in. Like, Toph apparently has two daughters, with two different fathers? And we never find out who one of them is? Or, hey, Aang and Zuko found an entire freakin’ city? WHAT HAPPENED TO SOKKA besides that he grew up handsome? Anyway, as I’ve mentioned before, I have a lot of skepticism about youngsters staying together forever based on youngster romance. Like, sure, Aang and Katara eventually marry, but who’s to say Aang and Toph didn’t have a thing at one time? Or whatever. (I’m pretty sure I still owe a couple of people some Zutara fic.)
And as we should all know by now, I love me some worldbreakers.
Does This Suffice?:
I have watched this series through at least three times. I suspect it will be, if not a yearly occurrence, something close to that in frequency.
No comments:
Post a Comment