More Avatar:TLA thoughts (who's surprised?)

[sholio]

I rewatched the first couple episodes of A:tLA (I just went in to check a canon thing, and then couldn't stop) and it made me reflect all over again on how well put together the series is.

One of the challenging things about genre writing is working within limitations -- in order to get published, it basically has to conform to a publisher or editor's idea of what an epic fantasy or a mystery or a romance should be. Really skillful genre fiction, then, manages to succeed on two levels: on the one level, it's a romance or an action SF novel or whatever -- just entertaining, fun, and conforming to genre expectations, so that people who pick it up know what to expect -- but if you look deeper, or stick with it long enough, it turns out to be operating at this whole other level as well.

I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that quite so brilliantly with a kids' show before. American children's TV is incredibly limited as a genre; not only do you have heavy-duty content restrictions on what you can show or talk about, but there are also all these expectations that network execs have for the show, and that parents have when they tune in -- that you'll have plucky kid heroes, and comic bumbling villains, and cute animals, and happy endings all around.

What's fascinating to me is how the first few episodes of Avatar conform to all the kids'-show trappings -- the plucky kids and their cute animal sidekick(s) outwit the goofy villains -- but at the same time, it lays all the groundwork for what comes later ... and it's obvious that they knew exactly what was going to come later. These are the characters at the start of their journey, and knowing where it takes them, you can see that it was planned from the start, and you can see how the writers carefully crafted the characters to fit the formula and yet laid the groundwork for the ways it was going to break out.

It's really incredible.

Even beyond that, it's just fascinating to go back to the start and see how much the characters evolved and developed and changed. Zuko's evolution as a character hit my narrative kinks really hard, but going back and being able to compare the other characters' journeys and their evolution into the people they became is equally striking. Katara is just incredible -- the way she went from this:



... to the healer/warrior who takes out Azula all by herself:




And Sokka -- oh Sokka; I felt for him so hard in this episode, being the only "man" in the village (and really just a kid), and standing up to a whole warship all by himself (definitely a Crowning Moment of Awesome for him -- the first of many) ... and it's really amazing to think about the way he went from a 15-year-old struggling to be a warrior (so tiny and brave!), with his comic screaming charge at Zuko, getting brushed off like he was nothing ...




... to the guy who fought the Fire Nation army, and destroyed an armada of airships, full of firebenders with an army of two ...




And of course there's Zuko -- it's painful, almost, seeing him like this, so obsessed and miserable and full of rage. And yet, it's also fascinating to see how it works so well on both levels: there's Zuko the comic villain, comfortably foiled by the kids.




And yet there's also Zuko the raging anti-hero, lurking underneath -- the one who would grow from an angry, self-loathing failure into a hero, a king, and kind of a loveable doofus. He's so much more ... comfortable in his own skin, I guess, when he's finally come to terms with himself and found a place in Team Avatar. He probably smiles more in any given episode from the last half of season three than in the entire two and a half seasons preceding it.




And so much of his later story arc is just hinted at in the first couple of episodes, while never really arousing the audience's suspicions that it means anything, because you don't have the context yet. I love how there's that comment about going home, for example, after they take the Avatar on board his ship, which just sounds like what one would say at the end of a mission. And yet it means so much more, in light of later episodes. Or his uncle worrying that he's pushing himself too hard and trying to get him to go to bed, foreshadowing the genuine love and concern for his wellbeing that continues throughout the series and becomes so important later on.

... Oh, and this is just a random observation, but you have no idea how much it delighted me when I noticed it and realized what it meant: the night isn't dark! If they're in the Antarctic, and it will soon be the winter solstice on the other side of the world, then it's summer here -- and the night isn't dark. That thrilled me all out of proportion to its actual importance. And it's not just the way they depict night on this show, because when they're in the temperate zones later, the nights are dark (at least reasonably so). But this is Antarctic summer -- or late spring, perhaps -- so the sky is still blue at night and it's light enough to easily see. I just -- eeeee! When was the last time that anything actually got that right?

In conclusion: oh show, how are you so awesome? :D

Comments

[winter_elf]

I'm curious, have you seen the movie yet? It's interesting how while they have the elements, they don't have the 'life' that the cartoon does. M. Night S. turned it super dark and serious, that kind of did a diservice to the source.

[sholio]

I'm really not at all interested in the movie, from all I've heard of it -- the recasting of white actors in originally Asian/Inuit roles pretty much put me off it permanently. But it really sounds like I'm not missing much; from all I've heard it's just not a good movie. And that's so sad and frustrating that they stripped out the humor, because the humor and the sense of playfulness and fun infusing the cartoon is one of the most wonderful things about it IMHO.

[winter_elf]

yea. All my local friends refused to see it due to that. I was the sacrifice elected to take the kids - who DID want to see the movie. I did explain to them and had them talk about it a little. Mainly they were disappointed in the darkness and lack of humor. The younger one though enjoyed it.

I was asking if you'd seen it so I would have someone to discuss with. Though yea, not really worth paying money for. Some of the things they did were interesting, but the whole tone (and the casting and the bad acting!) more than killed my enjoyment of it.

The only one I really liked in the entire movie was Uncle Iroh. He was amazing, and man, I want an Uncle like him who would support me no matter what I did, and yet always do what was right.

[sholio]

That's really cool that you used it as an opportunity to talk with the kids about the issues involved. :) I hope that there were other parents out there in movieland that did likewise!

Yeah, the casting on Zuko and Iroh looked kinda intriguing, and I do regret missing out on seeing the f/x come to life (though from what I've heard, they didn't really do a good job with *that*, even!). But everything else I've heard about the movie, from the casting to the acting to the script, sounds horrible. It's really a shame that they botched it so badly, because it could have been so cool.

[winter_elf]

Well, one of the kids in our group of friends was adopted from China, so it's very important. And I took her to the movie, so I wanted her, and the rest of them to understand the issues.

I'm the one who usually takes them to the kid movies - hey, I have a thing for talking animal movies! - so that's why I volunteered to take them to this one, when the kids all wanted to see it and the adults were boycotting. They don't quite get 'you can't go because we object', but when seeing it, I could bring up the issue of casting and why and the differences between it and the anime. And seeing it made more sense for them, to SEE the difference.

[sholio]

... erk, and that's me being a complete idiot to assume that none of the kids/parents were of Asian extraction. *facepalms a lot* But anyway, I'm glad that you made sure that she and the other kids understood what had happened, and that the grownups weren't okay with it.

Kid movies are fun! :D I still really enjoy a lot of kid movies, from my own childhood as well as some of the newer ones (Pixar's movies, and the like.)

[less_star]

But this is Antarctic summer -- or late spring, perhaps -- so the sky is still blue at night and it's light enough to easily see. OMG, you're right! I hadn't caught that, but you're absolutely right, it's really awesome.

I love reading your posts on Avatar. For me, it was the show my kid watched and that I would catch scattered episodes of. Given that he's ten (and was eight when it ran here) he used to switch channels abruptly whenever anything got remotely emotional or, even worse, hinted at romance. I kind of got that it was a well-made show, but it didn't register as something within fannish reach, so to speak, until now. Your take on it has really been an eye-opener.

[sholio]

I didn't catch it on the first viewing, either; it was only thinking about the way the world was set up -- the fact that they travel from pole to pole -- that made me start wondering if the seasons are realistic in their world, and then I noticed the relative brightness of the nights at (or near) the pole compared to elsewhere in the show.

It's really a fantastic show. I've had several people recommend it to me, but had never sat down and watched it before. Once we started, I really couldn't stop; it mashed down a lot of my narrative buttons.

[michelel72.livejournal.com]

::blinks:: I hadn't processed that the night isn't dark at the South Pole. That's brilliant. (In contrast, I'm trying to reconcile when the Atlantis expedition could have been in Antarctica with the nine months or so that the continent is functionally inaccessible for winged craft, since they wouldn't have gone there until the end of SG-1 S7. Bleh.)

But I have a particular love for shows that are clearly shaped, start to finish. (I actually go into shows with the expectation they always are, for some demented reason, and am almost always disappointed.) A:TLA was so very clearly written to be exactly what it was, with no (or next to no) diversions or fillers and important pieces carefully laid out throughout. So much love!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

It's so fantastic! I keep catching things that I missed the first time around. Heck, you can just stare at a crowd scene, or a town scene, and drink in all the detail in the costumes and the architecture. I absolutely adore the obvious thought and care that they put into every aspect of the show; it's a labor of love, and it really shows.

[mirabile-dictu.livejournal.com]

they knew exactly what was going to come later

That really sums up the reason I love Avatar so very much -- it's loose and fun and silly and yet it drives like an arrow to its conclusion. I'm in awe of the writing.

And I really loved Katara. She was my favorite and watching her grow up was so rewarding.

I should re-watch, I really should.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

Katara is wonderful; I love her so much! Her character arc is more low-key than some of the others, but looking at the difference between the way she is in the first episodes versus the last few, and yet still recognizably the same character -- it's some truly amazing and impressive writing.

[gnine.livejournal.com]

When I watched the show for the the first time, Katara was my least favorite of the mains. I didn't dislike her, but I didn't LOVE her like I did pretty much all the rest, and at times/certain traits annoyed me.

But as the show went on, I grew to love her, and then on the second watching, I loved her all the way through. And see, I think the thing was, as you mentioned when you were first watching, first season is kinda lacking in female characters. Katara was pretty much the only one, and she embodied a quite a few of the stereotypical "FEMALE character traits" that bother me. Ie she's the responsible, much more serious one. She's learning the healing, she's involved in the romance, etc.

But then as the show goes along, we get Toph and Azula and Mei and Tai li and this whole span of female characters with a huge range of personalities and traits and roles. And so on the second watching, my knee-jerk reaction of "great, another stereotypical, token female" was gone and I could enjoy Katara for KATARA, and the development she goes through as the series goes along, as you outlined above.

But even more than that, those traits that sometimes bother me all made sense for her. Yes, she's the more serious, responsible one, because her mother died young and she had to take on the role at a young age and be mother to Sokka. Yes, she heals, but she'd much rather fight. She's part of a romance, but she's soooooo much more than just the hero's love interest. She becomes his master, she trains him, she is one of the team's major fighters. The romance is just one small aspect of her role in the story...and all that added together makes me LOVE HER! They gave her those traits not because she was female but because that's who she IS!

And they had this all thought out! I love that the characters, male and female, all make SENSE! What they do, how they act, there's so much continuity and logic and development. Oh show, I love you so sososo much!

...Can not WAIT for Legend of Korra!

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

*nods* Yeah, that was an issue that I had with Katara in season one -- though I liked her, I was also a little frustrated that the only major female character also had the (somewhat) stereotypical female role on the team. The plethora of wonderfully diverse female characters in season two really fixed the issue for me, and, like I said in my episode reactions somewhere, let me love her as deeply as the rest.

And I agree that the background they've given her (as well as the society she comes from) have made her personality a logical extension of it, just as Toph's rebellious/tomboyish nature is a logical extension of the sort of background she comes from.

...Can not WAIT for Legend of Korra!

Me toooo! Who do you think will come back? I'd be really surprised if there aren't at least a couple characters from the series who have cameos as old people. (Crotchety old Toph would be AWESOME! And even if Zuko's not still around, I'm sure his children or grandchildren are; someone has to be running the Fire Nation.)

[spectralbovine.livejournal.com]

Zuko especially seems like a completely different character in the beginning, yet his development is so organic.

One of my favorite "HOLY CRAP THEY HAD IT ALL PLANNED OUT" revelations came when someone pointed out that Lake Laogai is on the world map shown in the credits of every episode.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

About Zuko -- I know! It's so amazing going back and looking at how he was in the beginning, and yet, every step of his growth as a character along the way is logical and natural.

Ha, I never noticed Lake Laogai! *boggles* Someone did point out to me that Ba Sing Se is there all along, but I hadn't looked more closely ...