I know, I know, aside from the Artemis Fowl adoration, aside from the Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus love, aside from the insistence on rewatching things like the Spongebob Squarepants movie and rereading things like Inkheart (which, for the record, actually gets better with age), I have yet more to add to this strange phenomenon of being a nine year old trapped in a teenager's body.
I have been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender.
I sorta watched this when I was a kid - it used to play on YTV now and then, and what can I say, I dug it. Super-powers, all-powerful evil, impossible odds - it was pretty much everything I loved in all the stories I ever liked or came up with, when I was in elementary school. (Seriously, I had a thing where it wasn't worth it if there wasn't a super-duper-ultra-evil villain.)
And so, more or less on a whim, I found it on Netflix and started watching it again.
And I am completely, utterly addicted.
The thing is, there's so much to this show that I never really fully appreciated when I was watching it as a kid. (I find that's the case with most things aimed at kids, actually, which is why there shouldn't be any shame in enjoying things like that.)
Like, yeah, they have super-powers, and yeah, they're being hunted by a lot of evil, and yeah, the odds are pretty much impossible. But that's like, only scratching the surface of what the story is.
I think the main reason that I missed the levels of it before is that it was kind of one of those shows you had to really watch. You had to see past episodes and understand context, and I have never been one of those people who could consistently watch something, not even now. I've only ever been able to do that when I've been spoon-fed it on Netflix. As a TV watcher, I'm actually pretty pathetic.
But now, with the chance to see it all as it was, in order, with context, just... wow. This - this had a lot of heart and soul put into it, let me tell you.
The world-building is amazing. I mean, this is like freaking J.R.R Tolkien standards when it comes to world-building. There are four nations, (Water Nation, Earth Nation, Fire Nation and the now extinct Air Nation), and they each clearly have their own extremely defined and distinct culture that actually springs from the element it's centered on. It's so cool. Like, you know instantly where they are, because of the way the buildings in the background look, and there are distinct philosophies associated with each nation (such as, the people of the Earth Nation are unrelenting and immovable - like rock - whereas, at least in flashbacks, people of the Air Nation appeared to be rather more light and unconfrontational and even pacifistic.) Actually, it can pretty much be summed up by the fact that it is the Fire Nation, the Water Tribes, the Earth Kingdom and the Air Nomads. Just the fact that they've created it like that already shows you that there is diversity and nuance and layers to these four cultures that they've invented. It's just, it's so cool.
And I absolutely adore all the characters. Sokka, pretty much the only one who isn't some kind of bender (which is what they call people who can summon and manipulate the elements of water, earth, fire or air), never fails to be hilarious, but he's also competent. I mean, it's easy to forget that sometimes because sometimes he does pretty dumb stuff - but he's a fighter and he's moral and he cares and he's usually pretty smart. Katara, his water-bending sister, is awesome as well, just in general. Zuko, the disgraced and banished prince of the Fire Nation, is such a jerk but I feel for him so hard.
And Aang... the Avatar himself. The last airbender left on earth (because of a world-buildingly rich but sorta complicated story that I'm not going to bother to explain). Basically, his entire culture is extinct and he's the most powerful person on earth. He also happens to be this ridiculous, goofy twelve year old kid, which is my favourite thing about the whole show. This is a kid who knows that he's a kid. He also knows that he's the Avatar and has to save the world and stuff, but why should that stop him from penguin-sledding and using Omashu's mail system as a super-slide? I adore Aang so much.
The best thing about Aang is that he is a kid. That is what makes this so great, for me. He's this hugely powerful bender - master airbender, and quickly mastering the other three elements along with it - but he's just a kid. A kid who has to deal with the fact that his entire culture is extinct and that everyone is either hunting him (the Fire Nation) or wanting to use him for something (most of the Earth Kingdom, I think it's fair to say). And also the whole saving the world thing. And this isn't, like, Harry Potter stuff where he's immediately like "Yes, I will save the world I am fine with risking everything what do you mean danger I eat danger for breakfast". This is real, hero's journey type stuff, including the call to adventure, the refusal of the call, crossing the threshold, etc. (Can you tell I've done my research on Campbell's hero's journey? Fascinating stuff, in terms of storytelling). He is a child, and you never forget that for too long.
Which is good. It's not like it's jumping up and down and pointing at Aang and being like, "LOOK AT HIM LOOK HOW YOUNG HE IS FEEEEEEEEEL SYMPATHYYYY" it just sort of keeps throwing in things to remind you. Like, how Aang is consistently, extremely, unironically enthusiastic about simple things, like, "Katara! Look at this airbending trick I made up!" and "Guys, today's the day I learn earthbending! Aren't you excited?" Simple things like that. It's really an extremely well-written show as well as being very well-constructed. Not to mention substantial. There is not a single filler episode that I've seen so far. Everything accomplishes something for either the plot or the characters or both, as well as being extremely entertaining.
Speaking of being well-written, there was literally an episode that revolved around Aang's pet bison and what he'd been doing for the weeks while Aang and Co. were looking for him. And I nearly cried. It was a wordless, wandering animal as the protagonist for twenty minutes and I nearly cried, no joke. It is that well-written.
It just feels so carefully and lovingly put together. How can you not love it? How can you not fall in love with Aang's frequent child-like joy in the midst of a hundred year war that he has to personally put a stop to? How can you not fall in love with the epic fight scenes between the various benders? Katara can whip people with water, Azula can shoot lightning, Aang can basically fly, I mean, the fight scenes are pretty freakin' great. How can you not fall in love with the wit, and the heart, and just, everything? (It's actually so witty. I don't laugh aloud at many shows, but this one, like, all the time).
Also, I know I'm wrapping up and everything, but may I just say that I really appreciate that not everything comes easy to the characters? I mean, obviously conflict is born of stuff like that, but when I said that they have superpowers at the beginning, I was dreadfully oversimplifying what is a really rich aspect of the show. These aren't superpowers. These are martial arts disciplines, (different martial arts disciplines, I might add - firebending and earthbending are shown to use lots of sharp movement and closed fists, while waterbending and airbending are very smooth, open-handed motions) that the characters are often shown working on. Katara talks all the time about how she had to practise hard all the time to master waterbending, and there was an episode dedicated to Aang trying (and, until the end, failing) to learn earthbending. It just makes the show so much more rich and satisfying and I just really love and appreciate what they've done with it.
It's just such a good show. Obviously so much thought and heart and soul was put into making it. It's just such a good story, and such a well-told story. I love it and recommend it to anyone who feels comfortable with finding their inner child - because that is part of the magic, not gonna lie.
Let's just say that the "finding your inner child" thing isn't exactly an issue for me.
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