Reap What You Sow: The Narrative and Why I Stopped Watching Avatar: TLA
The essence of drama is that man cannot walk away from the consequences of his own deeds. ~Harold Hayes
Disclaimer: I never finished watching Book 3: Fire. The last episode I watched was the one where Zuko, Azula, Mai (I will always pronounce it "MY", not "MAY"), and Ty Less went to a beach and played a truly terrifying version of volleyball. After that I decided to quit the show and the fandom, and never look back.
Four years later I think I know why.
What I loved most about Avatar: TLA was that this was a show with smart writing, multi-faceted characters, and a fully developed world based solely on non-Western cultures. This was mind-blowing. This had never been done before. And it was done so well. It broke my heart when I made the decision to stop watching and stop caring, and I still wish I didn't have to.
At first I stopped watching because I disagreed with how OOC Zuko had become when he joined Azula against Aang, Katara, and Iroh under Ba Sing Se. I also burned out on fandom and the nasty shipping wars, and I was angry at the way Mike & Bryan treated fans of non-canon ships. I was also squicked out like hell over the eventual Aang/Katara relationship and couldn't bear to sit through that just to get the whole story.
Now, I think, I stopped watching because the narrative ultimately failed the writing, the characters, the world, and the story.
To be fair this is a cartoon on Nickelodeon and they have to make it kid/family-friendly. There were a lot of things they could've done that they didn't because then the story would become too heavy, realistic, and serious. That's not a bad thing for a cartoon - in fact, I wish all cartoons could approach such topics and themes as family, honor, consequences of one's actions, forgiveness, and colonialism/imperialism with the depth and respect that this show did, despite being a children's cartoon - but this is Nickelodeon (and Cartoon Network and Disney). Mike & Bryan did amazingly with what they could do, making it heavier than a typical cartoon while keeping it within the realm of child/family-friendly.
This is something I only realized last night while (re)reading a fic called Stormbenders:
For me, Aang is not the hero of ATLA. Zuko is. Zuko is the one who has change and growth and development. Conversely, all of Aang's views get validated and he doesn't have to change his ways at all - he gets his druthers and never has to make a decision that might sacrifice his personality or identity. He remains insulated from the world and its problems, and rewarded for his weakness. Does he defeat the Fire Lord? Yes. But does he conquer any of his inner demons? No. And it's sad, because while the others have grown up, he has not. He is Peter Pan, and the Lion-Turtle's back is his Neverland. ~ the author's end notes
I don't care who you think the hero of the story is. I only care that what ultimately made me stop watching Avatar: TLA was that the narrative always validated Aang. You can argue that no, it didn't, because his actions were the reason why the story happened in the first place, why the Fire Nation was able to do what it did for a hundred years. And yet I feel he was never really punished in the narrative for running away. Yes, he was a mere twelve-year-old with the weight of the Avatar's mantle suddenly thrust upon him and for almost everyone, child or adult, that would be a terrifying role to take on, especially when it's something he's born into and not something he chose for himself. And yet he never really had to face the consequences of his perfectly valid reaction the way everybody else had during the century he disappeared. He never had to face the condemnation of the people he's trying to save. He was never punished for running away, nor was he punished for what he didn't do in order to fulfill his destiny.
Let's talk about Katara. Let's talk about how she evolved into such a powerful character in the first two seasons. Let's talk about her determination, her stubbornness, her fire, her kindness, her empathy, her temper, her vengeance, her sorrow, her loss, her status as a Woman of Color from a "primitive" culture who takes no shit from anyone. Let's talk about how - to me - she still felt like the ultimate prize. Let's talk about how she's the reason why Aang had such trouble with the Avatar State and how he didn't have to give her up to reach it. Working around that seventh chakra may have been clever but to me it felt wrong. Maybe it's because of my familiarity with Buddhism and the sacrifices the monks (willingly) make. Maybe it's because I find the pairing so creepy. Maybe it's because this makes her a mother-sister-friend-ally-teacher-girlfriend-wife figure. There are shades of Freud and Oedipus that I don't ever want to think about, and yet there they are in the narrative and the story. They're the reason why I'm having trouble committing to watching Avatar: LOK.
Aang got everything he wanted in the end. He didn't have to let go of his earthly attachments to achieve the Avatar State. He didn't have to follow the path of the Tibetan Buddhist monks that the Air Nomad culture's based on. It became Westernized and I disliked it immensely.
I could be completely wrong, you know. I never watched the third season to its conclusion. But it was a betrayal like what Digimon Season 2 pulled off, and for that I couldn't forgive or forget.
And this is why I read and write fan fiction.
In other news, if you're a Katara/Zuko fan and you're also keen on the whole imperialism and colonizer/colonized aspects of Avatar: TLA, then read Stormbenders. There's a reason why it racked up nearly 2,500 reviews on FFN.
Disclaimer: I never finished watching Book 3: Fire. The last episode I watched was the one where Zuko, Azula, Mai (I will always pronounce it "MY", not "MAY"), and Ty Less went to a beach and played a truly terrifying version of volleyball. After that I decided to quit the show and the fandom, and never look back.
Four years later I think I know why.
What I loved most about Avatar: TLA was that this was a show with smart writing, multi-faceted characters, and a fully developed world based solely on non-Western cultures. This was mind-blowing. This had never been done before. And it was done so well. It broke my heart when I made the decision to stop watching and stop caring, and I still wish I didn't have to.
At first I stopped watching because I disagreed with how OOC Zuko had become when he joined Azula against Aang, Katara, and Iroh under Ba Sing Se. I also burned out on fandom and the nasty shipping wars, and I was angry at the way Mike & Bryan treated fans of non-canon ships. I was also squicked out like hell over the eventual Aang/Katara relationship and couldn't bear to sit through that just to get the whole story.
Now, I think, I stopped watching because the narrative ultimately failed the writing, the characters, the world, and the story.
To be fair this is a cartoon on Nickelodeon and they have to make it kid/family-friendly. There were a lot of things they could've done that they didn't because then the story would become too heavy, realistic, and serious. That's not a bad thing for a cartoon - in fact, I wish all cartoons could approach such topics and themes as family, honor, consequences of one's actions, forgiveness, and colonialism/imperialism with the depth and respect that this show did, despite being a children's cartoon - but this is Nickelodeon (and Cartoon Network and Disney). Mike & Bryan did amazingly with what they could do, making it heavier than a typical cartoon while keeping it within the realm of child/family-friendly.
This is something I only realized last night while (re)reading a fic called Stormbenders:
For me, Aang is not the hero of ATLA. Zuko is. Zuko is the one who has change and growth and development. Conversely, all of Aang's views get validated and he doesn't have to change his ways at all - he gets his druthers and never has to make a decision that might sacrifice his personality or identity. He remains insulated from the world and its problems, and rewarded for his weakness. Does he defeat the Fire Lord? Yes. But does he conquer any of his inner demons? No. And it's sad, because while the others have grown up, he has not. He is Peter Pan, and the Lion-Turtle's back is his Neverland. ~ the author's end notes
I don't care who you think the hero of the story is. I only care that what ultimately made me stop watching Avatar: TLA was that the narrative always validated Aang. You can argue that no, it didn't, because his actions were the reason why the story happened in the first place, why the Fire Nation was able to do what it did for a hundred years. And yet I feel he was never really punished in the narrative for running away. Yes, he was a mere twelve-year-old with the weight of the Avatar's mantle suddenly thrust upon him and for almost everyone, child or adult, that would be a terrifying role to take on, especially when it's something he's born into and not something he chose for himself. And yet he never really had to face the consequences of his perfectly valid reaction the way everybody else had during the century he disappeared. He never had to face the condemnation of the people he's trying to save. He was never punished for running away, nor was he punished for what he didn't do in order to fulfill his destiny.
Let's talk about Katara. Let's talk about how she evolved into such a powerful character in the first two seasons. Let's talk about her determination, her stubbornness, her fire, her kindness, her empathy, her temper, her vengeance, her sorrow, her loss, her status as a Woman of Color from a "primitive" culture who takes no shit from anyone. Let's talk about how - to me - she still felt like the ultimate prize. Let's talk about how she's the reason why Aang had such trouble with the Avatar State and how he didn't have to give her up to reach it. Working around that seventh chakra may have been clever but to me it felt wrong. Maybe it's because of my familiarity with Buddhism and the sacrifices the monks (willingly) make. Maybe it's because I find the pairing so creepy. Maybe it's because this makes her a mother-sister-friend-ally-teacher-girlfriend-wife figure. There are shades of Freud and Oedipus that I don't ever want to think about, and yet there they are in the narrative and the story. They're the reason why I'm having trouble committing to watching Avatar: LOK.
Aang got everything he wanted in the end. He didn't have to let go of his earthly attachments to achieve the Avatar State. He didn't have to follow the path of the Tibetan Buddhist monks that the Air Nomad culture's based on. It became Westernized and I disliked it immensely.
I could be completely wrong, you know. I never watched the third season to its conclusion. But it was a betrayal like what Digimon Season 2 pulled off, and for that I couldn't forgive or forget.
And this is why I read and write fan fiction.
In other news, if you're a Katara/Zuko fan and you're also keen on the whole imperialism and colonizer/colonized aspects of Avatar: TLA, then read Stormbenders. There's a reason why it racked up nearly 2,500 reviews on FFN.