[Legend of Korra Review] Part 1 - Character Death
Dead, dead, dead, everyone is dead...
I love LoK, and I thought I'd write a series of posts about my thoughts.
I was a major Avatard in high school, and I’ve been looking forward to further adventures in that universe ever since the Legend of Korra was announced. First off, I should say I’m not disappointed and I love the show so far!
There are some interesting things in this new series that I'd like to discuss. Some good, some, er, up for debate. So I decided to put my thoughts into words just for the heck of it.
Some nerdiness follows :D
Character Deaths
As should be expected from a show that takes place 70 years in the future, the majority of the original cast is dead. Zuko is apparently still alive and traveling the world to spread the message of peace and love, which is a bit of a stretch considering he’s 87 years old. Unless he’s like the Pope, and he travels around in the Zukomobile…
Also note the possibility of geriatric!Zutara, haha! XD
Early on there were a lot of reviews like:
“Unfortunately, it’s now been confirmed that Aang… has passed away…”
Seriously? I don’t really know how people could have assumed he would survive his own reincarnation.
On one hand, I have no sympathy for people who were expecting super-special-magikx!!1 to re-animate the Gaang. I consider one of the strongest elements of Avatar is its life realism. Personally I'd go for even more realism, but oh well.
Characters have flaws, they make a variety of good and bad choices, they grow old and die… it’s perfectly normal! If they were all paragons of adamantine virtue and crystalline beauty and youth, then no one would watch this freakin’ show! They’d just go read some classical literature for goodness sakes.
On the other hand, I understand completely that people wanted to see the adventures of the Gaang as adults. Heck, I love “grown up” fanart. And Booter Freak’s comics kind of infected me with a love for badass old people, and I too would have loved to see that kind of a show It’s difficult to let go of such an awesome and diverse cast of characters.
On the third hand, I also realize that this is a kids show, and that I have always been outside of the target audience. Perhaps Bryke should have reconsidered creating a show in which kids’ favorite characters are all dead, by definition. That is kind of harsh.
How old did the Gaang live to be?
Lame source of all factoids: Trollolol
So how old is everyone?
Katara is about 85, Zuko is 87 or so.
Sokka and Toph died earlier, and Aang died at about the age of 67.
Beware, nerdiness follows.
Okay, am I the only one who thinks they all lived reeeeally long?
The average life expectancy for a human is currently 67. For an American it is 78, with 76 for men and 81 for women. By contrast, in Mozambique it is 38 and 39 respectively.
To give some non-modern examples:
Upper Paleolithic (the period 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, ending roughly with the end of the last ice age) - human life expectancy is 33, for those who survive until age 15 it is 54
Ancient Rome -- 28 (rises to 52 after 15th birthday)
Medieval Britain -- 30s (40s for noblemen, and 60s for noblemen who survived to 21)
Now then.
Avatar takes place in a pre-Industrial Age society. Presumably with poor nutrition and hygene, disease, physical labor, and above all, high infant mortality. It’s a kids show, so most of this won’t be shown on screen, but that does mean Avatarverse is a disease-free, rich and bountiful utopia?
We’ve seen illness (eg. sucking on frogs episode) and dying infants (Yue), and poor, dirty, dried-up rural villages (the entire middle of the Earth Book).
So no. Maybe it’s been made more family friendly, like we don’t mention Katara and Sokka’s theoretical four to six dead baby siblings, but Avatarverse isn’t Rainbow Paradise Land, either.
Granted, waterbending healing seems to be far more effective than modern medicine. But waterbenders are few and far between, especially for average citizens of the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation.
Also, you can’t convince me that the Water Tribe eat enough vegetables. People in higher latitudes tend to have shorter life spans due to high consumption of animal protein and fat.
No, I’m not a vegetarian. I love meat, and I love quoting just about anything Sokka says on the subject. However, I won’t explain “The China Study” here, but feel free to look it up if you’re interested. Not at all a plug for my alma matter :P Let’s just say that ever since Intro Ecology I’ve been eating almost no meat. Mainly because I’m broke.
Anyway, the Gaang likely became influential and esteemed citizens with access to a good diet and health care (i.e. privileged when compared to your average Ling), so I suppose they could perhaps have lived into their 60s. (Though the average lifespan on Earth in the early 1900s was 31. Just saying)
But all the way to 85…??? I don’t know…
Regardless, it would make sense if it was Aang who died first. Or Sokka, from arteriosclerosis XD
Aang spent 100 years frozen in a mysterious sunken iceberg.
(Note that water reaches its highest density at 4 degrees C, and saline water is quite bouyant…) And don’t tell me that the ice-sphere was frozen to the bottom of the ocean. Ice floats. If the bottom of the oceans froze before the top, then the very bottom would probably never unfreeze, even in the summer, so no permanent deep ocean currents, which would lead to a massively different sort of climate. (Did the oceans ever freeze up completely? See Snowball Earth)
In short, I have trouble believing that a sphere of air managed to stay underwater for 100 years without bobbing to the surface and melting.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent, what I was meaning to say is that being frozen for 100 years can’t be good for your DNA. The exact reasons why we age are totally beyond my scope of knowledge; but what I have learned has mostly to do with your DNA being increasingly worn down with time. So even if we buy the whole Boy in the Iceberg spiel, Aang’s DNA ended up pretty freakin old, which may have limited how long he could stay alive after unfreezing.
You may say I’m looking too far into this!
And you would be correct! :’D
And those were my thoughts on the Gaang becoming old or dead! The end!
1:55 http://youtu.be/1DGmsJ4Nm8o
I love LoK, and I thought I'd write a series of posts about my thoughts.
I was a major Avatard in high school, and I’ve been looking forward to further adventures in that universe ever since the Legend of Korra was announced. First off, I should say I’m not disappointed and I love the show so far!
There are some interesting things in this new series that I'd like to discuss. Some good, some, er, up for debate. So I decided to put my thoughts into words just for the heck of it.
Some nerdiness follows :D
Character Deaths
As should be expected from a show that takes place 70 years in the future, the majority of the original cast is dead. Zuko is apparently still alive and traveling the world to spread the message of peace and love, which is a bit of a stretch considering he’s 87 years old. Unless he’s like the Pope, and he travels around in the Zukomobile…
Also note the possibility of geriatric!Zutara, haha! XD
Early on there were a lot of reviews like:
“Unfortunately, it’s now been confirmed that Aang… has passed away…”
Seriously? I don’t really know how people could have assumed he would survive his own reincarnation.
On one hand, I have no sympathy for people who were expecting super-special-magikx!!1 to re-animate the Gaang. I consider one of the strongest elements of Avatar is its life realism. Personally I'd go for even more realism, but oh well.
Characters have flaws, they make a variety of good and bad choices, they grow old and die… it’s perfectly normal! If they were all paragons of adamantine virtue and crystalline beauty and youth, then no one would watch this freakin’ show! They’d just go read some classical literature for goodness sakes.
On the other hand, I understand completely that people wanted to see the adventures of the Gaang as adults. Heck, I love “grown up” fanart. And Booter Freak’s comics kind of infected me with a love for badass old people, and I too would have loved to see that kind of a show It’s difficult to let go of such an awesome and diverse cast of characters.
On the third hand, I also realize that this is a kids show, and that I have always been outside of the target audience. Perhaps Bryke should have reconsidered creating a show in which kids’ favorite characters are all dead, by definition. That is kind of harsh.
How old did the Gaang live to be?
Lame source of all factoids: Trollolol
So how old is everyone?
Katara is about 85, Zuko is 87 or so.
Sokka and Toph died earlier, and Aang died at about the age of 67.
Beware, nerdiness follows.
Okay, am I the only one who thinks they all lived reeeeally long?
The average life expectancy for a human is currently 67. For an American it is 78, with 76 for men and 81 for women. By contrast, in Mozambique it is 38 and 39 respectively.
To give some non-modern examples:
Upper Paleolithic (the period 40,000 to 10,000 years ago, ending roughly with the end of the last ice age) - human life expectancy is 33, for those who survive until age 15 it is 54
Ancient Rome -- 28 (rises to 52 after 15th birthday)
Medieval Britain -- 30s (40s for noblemen, and 60s for noblemen who survived to 21)
Now then.
Avatar takes place in a pre-Industrial Age society. Presumably with poor nutrition and hygene, disease, physical labor, and above all, high infant mortality. It’s a kids show, so most of this won’t be shown on screen, but that does mean Avatarverse is a disease-free, rich and bountiful utopia?
We’ve seen illness (eg. sucking on frogs episode) and dying infants (Yue), and poor, dirty, dried-up rural villages (the entire middle of the Earth Book).
So no. Maybe it’s been made more family friendly, like we don’t mention Katara and Sokka’s theoretical four to six dead baby siblings, but Avatarverse isn’t Rainbow Paradise Land, either.
Granted, waterbending healing seems to be far more effective than modern medicine. But waterbenders are few and far between, especially for average citizens of the Earth Kingdom or Fire Nation.
Also, you can’t convince me that the Water Tribe eat enough vegetables. People in higher latitudes tend to have shorter life spans due to high consumption of animal protein and fat.
No, I’m not a vegetarian. I love meat, and I love quoting just about anything Sokka says on the subject. However, I won’t explain “The China Study” here, but feel free to look it up if you’re interested. Not at all a plug for my alma matter :P Let’s just say that ever since Intro Ecology I’ve been eating almost no meat. Mainly because I’m broke.
Anyway, the Gaang likely became influential and esteemed citizens with access to a good diet and health care (i.e. privileged when compared to your average Ling), so I suppose they could perhaps have lived into their 60s. (Though the average lifespan on Earth in the early 1900s was 31. Just saying)
But all the way to 85…??? I don’t know…
Regardless, it would make sense if it was Aang who died first. Or Sokka, from arteriosclerosis XD
Aang spent 100 years frozen in a mysterious sunken iceberg.
(Note that water reaches its highest density at 4 degrees C, and saline water is quite bouyant…) And don’t tell me that the ice-sphere was frozen to the bottom of the ocean. Ice floats. If the bottom of the oceans froze before the top, then the very bottom would probably never unfreeze, even in the summer, so no permanent deep ocean currents, which would lead to a massively different sort of climate. (Did the oceans ever freeze up completely? See Snowball Earth)
In short, I have trouble believing that a sphere of air managed to stay underwater for 100 years without bobbing to the surface and melting.
Anyway, sorry for the tangent, what I was meaning to say is that being frozen for 100 years can’t be good for your DNA. The exact reasons why we age are totally beyond my scope of knowledge; but what I have learned has mostly to do with your DNA being increasingly worn down with time. So even if we buy the whole Boy in the Iceberg spiel, Aang’s DNA ended up pretty freakin old, which may have limited how long he could stay alive after unfreezing.
You may say I’m looking too far into this!
And you would be correct! :’D
And those were my thoughts on the Gaang becoming old or dead! The end!
1:55 http://youtu.be/1DGmsJ4Nm8o