Avatar Through the Eyes of a 7 Year Old

[the_fox_bandit]

"Haha, Jen, are you airbending??"

My 7-year old niece was twirling around the basement like a maniac.

"No, I'm firebending," she exulted, her face beaming with pure joy. "Pew pew pew pew!"

My sister and her family work with the UN (and usually live overseas), so I don't get to spend as much time with their kids as I'd like. But they're here in Maryland until at least June, so every moment with them is precious.

I decided that it was time to show Jen my favorite cartoon of all time. After all, she just turned 7 in November.

So, yesterday I snuggled with her on the couch, watching the first three episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender. My 4 year old nephew Drew joined us as well; I don't know how much he'll understand of what's going on, but I'll talk about him, too.

I can tell already that it's going to be difficult to document Jen's reactions, because she's already so absorbed in the Avatar universe. From the very first opening narration by Katara, she was already enraptured. She bent every molecule of her body into concentrating on what was going on, to the point that she didn't even laugh at any of the jokes!

• In the penguin sledding scene, Katara says, "I haven't done this since I was a kid!" Aang replies, "You still are a kid!" Jen declared, "He should have said [aw crap, I forgot how she finished this sentence! But whatever it is was, it was ADORBS]."
• When Katara and Aang entered the old ship trapped in ice, Jen asked, deep concern in her voice and her body tensing up, "Why are they going on the ship?!"
• When Zuko took Aang aboard the ship: "Why did he let them capture him!?"
• When the title sequence appeared for the second episode, Drew complained, "But we already saw this!"
• Then, when the guards are escorting him in the hallway, Jen asked, "Are they taking him to jail?"
• And then, the fight scene! Oh, the fight scene! She was so into it that she started flailing around with her arms to help Aang fight! She does the same thing when she watches someone else playing the Wii. SO CUTE.
• When Zuko and Aang squared off in Zuko's room, Drew asked, "Why doesn't he use wind [against Zuko]?!" But a short while later, Drew concluded with a big smile, "He is good at fighting!"
• When Aang goes all Avatar State on Zuko's ship, Jenna proudly exclaimed, "Now he can waterbend!"
• Then when Katara froze the soldiers, she said with even more pride, "Now she can waterbend!"
• "He's the LAST Airbender!? Why??" "The Fire Nation killed them all." "Why??"

There were a couple of random questions about the nature of the Avatar that I forget, but other than that, there you have it!

They begged me to continue, so how could I resist! We moved on to "The Southern Air Temple."

• Referring to Aang and Appa: "Why does he call him 'Papa?'" HAHAHAHA. Oh man.
• After the flashback to Gyatso: "Did the Fire Nation turn him into stone!?" I explained the nature of a flashback to her, but she apparently didn't quite get it, because later on when the Avatar statues lit up, she asked, "Did the Fire Nation turn them into statues?"
• She really got into the Agni Kai sequence! This was probably the inspiration for her twirling around later. : )
• She giggled at the name "Momo."
• After the episode ended, she was concerned: "How did Zuko get his scar?"

Really, the best part of the whole thing is just how much she clearly is COMPLETELY ENJOYING HERSELF. I have seriously never seen her enjoy a movie or TV show more.

Hopefully, we'll be able to continue all the way to the end, and I'll be able to continue journaling Jen & Drew's reactions to the episodes!