Eight things I love about Avatar

[sistermagpie]

Since the finale, I've found myself making a list of little things in the Avatar narrative that I appreciate because I like them or don't see them enough.

• Female characters
  I know this wasn't automatic --some important female characters were originally male (Toph, Azula), but once they decided to make them female they really incorporated their gender into their character and their interactions with others. This is less about the females all being just as strong as fighters and more about them just being strong characters--clear personalities, whatever they are, so it's always interesting to see them interact with others and fight with them side by side. (Though they’re strong soldiers too, and this is why I hate any ship argument that uses any form of, "He can't love her if rescuing her from all danger isn't always the priority.)
  
  This also goes for the way the girls interact with each other in ways that are all about the girls and not about jealousy or guys. Katara and Toph clash because of Toph's issues with her mother and Katara's being used to being older and in control. Ty Lee's happy ending is getting more girlfriends and she genuinely tries to help Azula learn how to flirt. Mai tells Zuko to step off when he yells at her friend.
  
  
• Old people are cool
  I mentioned this in my last post, but in a story about young people saving a world that's been at war for 100 years, in one case due to the past generations of his family, there's still a connection between young and old. Older people--even very old people--have lives and histories and loves and friendships and camps. When Aang gets frozen he has a crazy young genius friend Bumi. When he wakes up he has a crazy old genius friend Bumi. It's not the same relationship due to the time change, but it's still Bumi.
  
  I will add one regret here, as I was discussing with jlh, that goes with both these two: Why no older female warriors, like in the White Lotus? I had some ideas on that, but suffice to say it's weird that it's missing given how strong females are in the younger set.



• There is no rightful Fire Lord
  So often in fantasy the divine right to rule results in the world going wrong because the wrong person has usurped a title. Not so in Avatar. The Fire Nation is a monarchy and that makes heredity part of the governing process, but it's just a process. One could make a case for Zuko being the "rightful heir" by saying that Iroh was next in line before he was usurped by Ozai, and Zuko is more Iroh's heir than Ozai's.
  
  But that's not the way it's presented in the show and it's definitely not what's important about Fire Lord Zuko. Sure Iroh would be a much better Fire Lord than Ozai is, but it's Ozai's personality, not his birth order, that makes him a bad guy. In fact, he's obviously the true heir of Sozin and Azulon since he's the one on board with their agenda--just as Azula is obviously more Ozai's choice of successor. When Iroh tells Zuko to take the throne it's not because he was born to inherit but because it's political pragmatic: The country would see Iroh taking the throne as just more in-fighting amongst the royals, and they are entering a period of history where a young, idealistic but wise man would be better in the position because he has the vision and energy to make changes. As a person Zuko's royal blood makes really no difference.



• The ethics of killing the bad guy are addressed head on
  And it's complicated. Zuko and Katara were douches to Aang in SR, but having been in similar debates about that subject they were douche-y in a way that was totally true to their position. From their pov, Aang's ideas about forgiveness were naive and childlike. They weren't just calling him names, that's really the way he seemed to them--dangerously so. (When Zuko dismisses forgiveness in that scene he isn't saying one should hold a grudge forever, but that if someone commits a crime against you, not confronting them or seeking justice or letting them get away with it.)
  
  In fact, Aang's beliefs about forgiveness and pacifism were still immature. He could see the right thing to do in Katara's situation clearly, but still hadn't worked out how it applied to his own. If he didn't figure out a way to remove the *threat* of Ozai, then he would be doing nothing and allowing others to be hurt. The solution he finally comes up with perfectly expresses what he feels about Ozai, drawing the line between removing his power to hurt people and so protecting the world and taking bloody revenge that's against his principles and not something he'd enjoy.



• Sacrificing personal spiritual enlightenment for the greater good!
  The guru was wrong about Aang needing to give up Katara because as the Avatar he needed to be attached to the world. I've just always been a fan of that particular value, and it certainly wasn't just stuck in randomly for Aang's story.
  
  They weren't kidding when they made him a monk, after all. Aang's detachment was always both his strong and weak point. On one hand, it gave him his ability to step back from his personal emotions and look at people with compassion and kindness, to be objective and wise even in the face of great emotional trauma. (Imagine a personality like Katara's learning her entire civilization has been wiped out--that would have been a lot uglier.) Otoh, the greatest damage he ever did was in running away from the world. He was so detached when the series started he was literally frozen in a state of suspended animation. His entire world was destroyed and he didn't even notice!
  
  So yeah, it's no coincidence that the first element he needed to master was water, the element of emotion, and that learning this element literally taught him to love another person romantically, that most possessive of loves. Romantic love, with all the personal desire that implies, is a positive force for a character like Aang. Throughout it was love and the desire to enjoy and protect the people closest to him that inspired him to fight. Once he went along with the pull of water/love in the direction of the world he could move through standing his ground (earth) and finally asserting himself in the world (fire).



• Families are made, not born
  There's a mixture of families in the show, but one rule that runs throughout is that while blood relationships might offer us our first possibilities for family, if you don't work on it you lose it. As a child Zuko invests love in his father and that's why he will always mean something to him (he's the Fatherlord!). But Iroh is his "real" father because he acted like one. When Sokka thinks of his mother he sees Katara's face because she was there to give him what he needed most from that person. I’ve seen some complaints that Toph's story with her parents was unresolved, but imo it was resolved in The Runaway. If they come around and see her for who she is, great, but she's found the family she was always running away to find. She might not ever get the resolution she wanted from her family, so she's found something else. (They had more than enough chances!) Now she’s no longer running. If Zuko has to give up the relationship he wanted with Azula, he's gained a sister-in-arms in Katara (and a little brother and a BFF!).



• Everybody has their own story even if we don't see it
  This is another thing I've occasionally seen expressed as a negative, where people felt the arcs of supporting or minor characters left hanging. For me it's more a case of other peoples' stories touching the central narrative and then moving way. For instance, one of my favorite moments in the series is Jet's last moments. We know how Jet is important to our narrative, and what he represents to our main characters. But when he's dying he dies with Longshot and Smellerbee, with who he's had his own story. When Longshot says they'll take care of him because he's "their leader" he reminds us their story matters too, even if we don't know it. They’re another family. Just by having the previously silent character speak those words it kind of says it all to me. Longshot will be the leader now. He has to speak because he no longer has Jet there to translate or just understand. He has to be the leader now. But Jet will speak through him too because Jet formed who he is--just as Iroh will always speak a little bit through Zuko.
  
  Jet's death marks the beginning of the Further Adventures of Longshot and Smellerbee, and somehow it's more affecting to me that we'll never know what they are. If they'd had some part to play in the finale that would have been great, but I kind of prefer their last scene to be Longshot's quiet final words for Jet: He was our leader. (That part, at least, is not unclear!)
  
  
• ETA:Magical prodigies are not the be-all and end-all
  I can't believe I forgot that one--I wanted to start with it. Sokka and Suki/Sword and fan fight alongside everyone else and are valuable members of the team despite not being benders. Sokka's insecurity on this score, due to being surrounded by benders who are improving all the time, simply leads him to seek out a master to improve his own skills.
  
  And going along with that, another important storyline in the show is that hard work is more important than talent. In fact, sometimes having a passion and committment to something is better in the long run. A talent for picking up technical stuff quickly or early may be the most flashy, but it doesn't always lead to being the best.

Iow, yay Avatar! I feel like I should have done this as a Ghastly Crumb Tinies thing somehow...Uh-oh. I shouldn't have said that. Now I'm compelled to do it. I must change the mood to dorky now.



A is for Aang who could air-bending slice.
B is for Bato who knew how to dodge ice.

C is for cabbage, knocked over in ditches.
D’s the Dai Li; who are Azula’s bitches.

E’s for Ember Island where Zuko’s depressed.
F is for Long Feng; you’re under arrest.

G is for Gran Gran; she’s Mrs. Pakku.
H is for Hama, Hakoda, Haru.

I is for Iroh who makes the best tea.
J is for Jet who knew Zuko as Li.

K’s for Katara who grew up bending snow.
L is for Longshot: “There’s no time. Just go.”

M is for Mai’s sweet shuriken-jutsu.
N is for Nyla, June’s snuffly shirshu.

O is for Ozai who burned his son’s face.
P’s for Piandao who makes swords from space.

Q is for Quin who got a wall drilled.
R’s for Roku, the Avatar Sozin killed.

S is for Sokka, sarcastic and clever.
T is for Toph best damn earthbender ever.

U is for Ursa who disappeared one night.
V’s for Vachir who got beat in a fight.

W’s for Aunt Wu who predicted Kataang.
X is for Xin Fu who chases the GAang.

Y is for Yue who was always a goner.
Z is for Zuko who regained his honor.

That’s the whole alphabet, it wasn’t hard
But it’s proof I’ve become a complete avatard.