friendly giant mushrooms and winged lemurs

Dearest Diane,

After an exhausting week of posting about political and / or social injustice, I am going to shift gears completely and start talking about things of far greater sophistication: children’s TV shows.

Okay fine I’m seriously drained of all ability to analyze journalism jargon and angry Feminist bloggers on the interwebz and since we never properly defined the boundaries on the topics of discussion, I am TOTALLY allowed to try to convert you to children’s TV and don’t you dare doth protest.

Stop rolling your eyes in anticipation I know it’s no surprise I’m going to try yet again to convince you to watch Avatar: The Last Airbender but IT’S SO good.

Because I have no idea how I want to structure this post, I’m just going to create dun dun dun

~~~** THE COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF WHY YOU (YES YOU DIANE MICHELLE SIKKENS) SHOULD WATCH AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER**~~~

Wait lemme prelist this with a character / summary rundown:

• 3 seasons 
• 4 nations: water, earth, air, fire
• Fire Nation gains way too much power and starts taking over these nations
• 4 types of bending obvs the above
• Benders can bend, but there are nonbenders who are basically human woopie
• Avatar: can master all four elements and he has the save the world from the Fire Nation / Fire Lord
• Aang = Avatar. He's trying to master water, earth, and fire bc he can already airbend. 
• Katara = waterbender 
• Sokka = Katara's sister / nonbender 
• Toff = earthbender / season two / is blind
• Zuko = son of Fire Lord / firebender

1. Thematically, this show is so sophisticated and overwhelmingly deep. So here’s another list within this list of the themes (whoa metaaaa) this show has introduced.
• Good versus evil: where the line is drawn between good and evil and how to even define evil is repeatedly introduced from the beginning. I love how this show treats evil not really as individuals are inherently evil – like people are born evil – but evil as more permeable and more complicated. In most cases, evil emerges in the characters due to forces they cannot control. 
• The complexities of each character and how not everything is what meets the eye (see 2)
• Stereotypes and the pain they cause
• Revenge, primarily its futility
• Psychological disorder
• Love and sacrifice
• Brainwashing, 1984 style 
• Everything but zombies and vampires
• Familial expectation and responsibility (which I totally identify w on a regular)
• Pressure to save the world (which you totally identify w on a regular)
2. The character development. I honestly miss these characters so much that every few months or so I have to watch an episode just to be w them (do I have a problem?). Because the show had three seasons, the writers took their time to let each character's story unfold. Another plus: the show features front and center two very powerful women / teens: Katara and Toph. In "The Waterbending Master," Katara confronts the Northern Waterbending Tribe on its sexist policy of only letting men fight using Waterbending. Gah it's so fantastic I linked you to it.
• E.g.: Zuko, prince of the Fire Nation, is by far one of the most complicated characters and literally the most developed character I know of on television. He begins as the primary villain of the series, an angry teen who is desperate to capture Aang, the Avatar, in order to win back his honor. He has such a complicated history, from his father banishing him and his mother disappearing and his sister being everything he's not (a better firebender, a better daughter to his father etc). He may seem somewhat one-dimensional during the first few episodes but it's soon obvious there's more to him than meets the eye (also you should know his eye was burnt when his father punished him). There is an entire episode devoted to him and his past called "Zuko Alone." 

look at this sexy beast

3. Finally, a show about the Asian culture! Even though Avatar exists in a whole other world (see map below), the basis of the show is on the Asian culture and the characters are distinctly Asian. As I said before, these characters aren't one-dimensional or caricatures of classic stereotypes: they have distinct personalities and demonstrate just how eclectic the ethnicity is. The art of the show is Japanese anime - which Corey did his EE on! proving Avatar is drawn using classical Japanese animation, and the calligraphy used through the show is traditional Chinese calligraphy. Furthermore, the supernatural aspect of the show, Bending, is based on Chinese traditional martial arts (see 4). 

The world of Avatar! Showing the Water Nation (top left), Earth Nation (top right), Fire Nation (bottom left), Air Nation (bottom right).

4. The Bending. Okay honestly I have no deep analytic reason for why I love bending - it's honestly just so fun to watch and the animation is just phenomenal so... What is interesting particularly about Bending is that they are based on traditional martial arts. This specific video talks about how Earthbending relates to Chinese martial arts:

5. It's so funny. It's hard to capture the essence of its humor but it's quirky, sometimes slapstick, but mostly adorable and smart. It's definitely not the annoying "adult humor hidden under the facade of children's tv" which I loath. Here's Sokka on cactus juice. 

6. Every other reason that will convince you to watch the show. 

• the art is beautiful, the music on point
• the animals are funny and adorable and lovable (they're all hybrids you'll get over it)



Appa, Aang's the flying bison


Momo, Aang's winged lemur

• the episodes are each only 20+ minutes!!!! and only three seasons because the creators knew when to stop and appropriately conclude the series. 
• bc it's children's tv, it's definitely not as stressful as say, watching Breaking Bad which makes my heart just want to fall out because I'm so scared somebody's going to die at any given second. I wouldn't say it's stress-free but it's chill and easy on the eyes and mind. But you will definitely get equal gratification.
• its fan base is pretty much a cult. If my amazing taste in pop culture isn't enough proof, Mirtha, Janine, Joanna, Bonny, Peter, PK, Corey, Mr. Thompson all approve and love the series. You want in on this cult. Trust me.
• If you do choose to watch, you should know season 1 does move slowly compared to season 2 and 3. It picks up though.
• To start you off, I'm going to give you my favorite episode: The Tales of Basingsei. It's in slice-of-life film style (vignettes of everyday life) and you don't need too much context. It's beautiful, it makes me laugh, it makes me cry. and it showcases each character's personality. 

I'm sorry if this was not at all what you expected me to post ha ha but I really hope you are convinced. I also noticed we were lacking in visuals! We need to cater to our "growing" readership!!!!

haha see you Monday D!

Love,

Elina 

P.S. Obama spoke about race and stand your ground law! And Time Magazine's cover story!