AtLA Rewatch: The Southern Air Temple & The Warriors of Kyoshi

[frith_in_thorns]

Book 1 (Water), Episodes 3: The Southern Air Temple & 4: The Warriors of Kyoshi

In which there are flashbacks, giant fish, duels, and various attitudes about losing. And Team Avatar aquires a flying lemur.

Comments

[hukbillgoomba]

Zhao's character and attitude give you a glimpse at what Zuko has grown up with in the Fire Nation. We learn more later on, but I think Zhao seems to be pretty typical of the kind of 'warrior' and 'leader' that Zuko has been brought up to look up to. I got the impression that Zhao is the kind of person Zuko thought he wanted to be and is the mirror of what he would have been if not for Iroh (and the Gaang). The self-absorbed, proud, honour drive, give-no-shits-about-the-world attitude is very close to how Zuko is at the beginning. Zhao is like an exaggeration of what Zuko could be if he had been given the power on a silver platter.

The show's designers REALLY had their heads in the game. I mean, seriously!! There is SO MUCH going on in the details of the scenery. M Night Whatshisface may have had computer graphics and 3D, but that movie has NOTHING on the breathtaking achievements in the detail of the cartoon. (And the fact that he didn't use actual Chinese letters but opted for nonsense that 'looked' vaguely Chinese was kind of disgusting).

Aang's relationship with Gyatso is so freaking adorable! It's very much in line with how the show treats characters, too - gives you an expectation and then subverts it. He looks like a noble monk who is serious business - he even initially appears to act like that. Yet within seconds he and Aang are throwing pies at people. The audience has an instant liking for him and you grasp so much of this character from these few brief scenes that when Aang finds the proof that he died (more on that in a moment) you feel it, too. It has real impact because he's an actual character, not just a name and blank face.

Minor Spoilers

Of his death, take a look at his body and where it is.

http://i50.tinypic.com/zx3zps.png

Looks like he put up a pretty impressive fight. I mean, Gyatso laid them to waste! Which is quite scary, considering how amusing and silly he seemed. Another example of the hidden layers to the characters in this show.

The Warriors of Kyoshi has so much in it I don't know where to start.
It gives us some nice Avatar mythology. We get to see another of Aang's past lives. He doesn't seem too phased by the fact that he used to be female, in fact nobody seems to think it anything really strange. Another, less good show would probably have spent a whole episode on Aang being teased for having been a girl. But the only sexism comes from Sokka, who not only gets called out on it, but actively repents and changes when he realises he is wrong (as I mentioned last week, thank you very much :p )

And like you said, Suki's line about being a warrior AND a girl is, I think, central to one of the show's messages. This is a show all about people finding their own identity, their own destiny, and claiming it, despite and often inspite of what others may try to enforce on them. Suki is a warrior because she WANTS to be, but she is also fine and comfortable being a girl. The show tells its viewers that this is not only not a contradiction, but is part of her strength.

I have another note about Sokka (because he's great for lessons on character development!!) on this theme. I'll go into more detail later in the series, but he is a guy looking for his identity. He wants to be a warrior, to be a leader, to be the boomerang guy, to be the plan guy, and it often doesn't work out for him. But he keeps trying, keeps learning and keeps growing. In this episode he learns some pivotal things about his idea of being a warrior. He has been focused on being 'manly' and the symbols of power, but the Kyoshi warriors learn him some lessons. Things aren't as simple as all that hacking and slashing and war cries.

Also Aang is in his pants in this episode. Just putting that out there.

[frith_in_thorns]

It is my headcanon that the pies were a pre-arranged lesson in aim and the monks who got pied also thought this was a good idea :D I mean, no-lethal missiles! Fun! It's totally an airbender theme :D

The first time I watched the show, I just assumed it went without saying that the Avatar would have always been male, as I couldn't imagine that they'd do anything else. But the show not only had previous Avatars being female, it was also presented as not any kind of deal.

Also you are much better than me at writing meta, so I stole :P

[hukbillgoomba]

Hah! That'd be awesome! Though there is that one monk who seems flat out against Gyatso and Aang and I wonder if he'd be unhappy with such a plan. Let's hope Gyatso was higher ranking. XD

It's great that we get to see Korra in action, now, too! The fact that the Avatar can take on any gender seems even less of a big deal with her. (Word on the street is that the next series of Korra will have stuff about the Avatar's past in it! I hope this is true!)
But I'd love for Kyoshi and Toph to meet. Those two would get on like a house on fire. Or try to kill each other. Not sure which. XD

Well, maybe that creative writing degree wasn't worthless after all. XD