Avatar: The agreement eps
Aug. 9th, 2008 07:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
thistlechaserWell, I can now agree with various things people have said!
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quasilemur said that Ember Island Players may have been the best recap ep ever. Yes! Loved it to death!
tersa had said that she liked the Beach ep because it was the turning point in Zuko's character. While I can't say I liked the ep as a whole, now that I've seen the eps after it, I can agree with that point. That really seemed like the moment of change for him.
atdelphi had mentioned censorship by Nick, and I had agreed with her already in comments, but now that I've seen more into season three, I can agree with an example. We had commented on the station censoring some more mature subjects. For me, I saw what may have been a strong example of that in the *twitch* Boiling Rock eps (the kids go off to rescue the father from the firebending nation's strongest prison... not even knowing if he was really there... or how they'd get out if he was...). Sokka's girlfriend (I forget her name) was in a cell, Sokka enters wearing a prison uniform. She doesn't recognize him. He makes kissyfaces at her and asks if she remembers now. I was sitting there thinking that if this were more realistic, the poor female prisoners would be being raped six ways to Sunday by their guards, and so making kissyfaces at her and asking if that reminds her should get a really, really negative reaction. Then I remembered that it was on a children's cartoon network. :P
Anyway. There were more good eps than I saw yesterday, but unfortunately there were still some ones I strongly didn't enjoy. The two Boiling Rock ones were the worst of them (though the last moment or two of the second part was good, when the friends/underlings turned on Zuko's sister), Nightmares and Daydreams was saved only by the kola bear-sheep mix animals -- cutest things ever. The Southern Raiders was just Boiling Rock based on the sister instead of the brother. The Boiling Rock eps were so bad I almost stopped watching them -- even the "filler" eps from yesterday didn't get that strong of a reaction from me.
The Western Air Temple was great, though anything with "awkward Zuko" in it is a win in my book. Man, that's just the most amazingly cutest thing ever, that character could not be more perfect. :D Firebending Masters (the dragons) was cool. And Ember Island Players I mentioned -- funniest ep in a while.
I have the last four eps to watch, but I'm going to save them for tomorrow. There's a movie available for downloading, but I'm guessing that's just the last four eps put together?
I'm really, really looking forward to exploring fanfics based on the series. I hope there's some good stuff out there (I always worry HP fandom spoiled me for all other fandoms).
Oh and a few points I forgot to write about in earlier posts:
- The writing/timing in this series is amazing. They cut back and forth between two scenes perfectly.
- I had loved Jet and his story in his first ep. (I know that's not a new story, but it works for me every time I see it. I love the whole 'he's doing evil even though he thinks he's doing good and doing it for a good cause' thing.) And when he came back brainwashed? Wow, loved it so much. I loved that whole story element (the secret police force and how all that played out).
- Where the heck is Uncle Iroh? We haven't seen him since he broke out from prison. :/ (Don't tell me! :D )
(Edit: And I forgot to mention another point that I had kept forgetting to post about! I love how their hair grows! Unlike a series like, say, Pokemon where the characters look the same no matter how many years pass...)
quasilemur said that Ember Island Players may have been the best recap ep ever. Yes! Loved it to death!tersa had said that she liked the Beach ep because it was the turning point in Zuko's character. While I can't say I liked the ep as a whole, now that I've seen the eps after it, I can agree with that point. That really seemed like the moment of change for him. atdelphi had mentioned censorship by Nick, and I had agreed with her already in comments, but now that I've seen more into season three, I can agree with an example. We had commented on the station censoring some more mature subjects. For me, I saw what may have been a strong example of that in the *twitch* Boiling Rock eps (the kids go off to rescue the father from the firebending nation's strongest prison... not even knowing if he was really there... or how they'd get out if he was...). Sokka's girlfriend (I forget her name) was in a cell, Sokka enters wearing a prison uniform. She doesn't recognize him. He makes kissyfaces at her and asks if she remembers now. I was sitting there thinking that if this were more realistic, the poor female prisoners would be being raped six ways to Sunday by their guards, and so making kissyfaces at her and asking if that reminds her should get a really, really negative reaction. Then I remembered that it was on a children's cartoon network. :PAnyway. There were more good eps than I saw yesterday, but unfortunately there were still some ones I strongly didn't enjoy. The two Boiling Rock ones were the worst of them (though the last moment or two of the second part was good, when the friends/underlings turned on Zuko's sister), Nightmares and Daydreams was saved only by the kola bear-sheep mix animals -- cutest things ever. The Southern Raiders was just Boiling Rock based on the sister instead of the brother. The Boiling Rock eps were so bad I almost stopped watching them -- even the "filler" eps from yesterday didn't get that strong of a reaction from me.
The Western Air Temple was great, though anything with "awkward Zuko" in it is a win in my book. Man, that's just the most amazingly cutest thing ever, that character could not be more perfect. :D Firebending Masters (the dragons) was cool. And Ember Island Players I mentioned -- funniest ep in a while.
I have the last four eps to watch, but I'm going to save them for tomorrow. There's a movie available for downloading, but I'm guessing that's just the last four eps put together?
I'm really, really looking forward to exploring fanfics based on the series. I hope there's some good stuff out there (I always worry HP fandom spoiled me for all other fandoms).
Oh and a few points I forgot to write about in earlier posts:
- The writing/timing in this series is amazing. They cut back and forth between two scenes perfectly.
- I had loved Jet and his story in his first ep. (I know that's not a new story, but it works for me every time I see it. I love the whole 'he's doing evil even though he thinks he's doing good and doing it for a good cause' thing.) And when he came back brainwashed? Wow, loved it so much. I loved that whole story element (the secret police force and how all that played out).
- Where the heck is Uncle Iroh? We haven't seen him since he broke out from prison. :/ (Don't tell me! :D )
(Edit: And I forgot to mention another point that I had kept forgetting to post about! I love how their hair grows! Unlike a series like, say, Pokemon where the characters look the same no matter how many years pass...)
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Avatar State, Yip-yip!
Date: 2008-08-10 04:18 am (UTC)Awkward Zuko is awesome, as is the Zuko Bonding on the Zuko Field Trips.
"My girlfriend became the moon."
"That's rough, buddy."
I can only shrug about you not liking The Boiling Rock, really, not sure what to say there. Between your seeming disappointment that Suki hadn't been raped (not what you meant, I know, but it came across; trying to make the show darker than it is is a common issue among certain fans, so there's probably some spillover here) and inability to remember the names of several (awesome) characters, this is one of those points where I basically just have to step back and conclude that we're just not watching the same series at this point. It happens.
Re: Avatar State, Yip-yip!
Date: 2008-08-10 04:44 am (UTC)and inability to remember the names of several (awesome) characters
I'm having a major, major issue with character names. I still look up all the main characters' names (other than Aang) to make sure I'm spelling them correctly. I'm not great with names in general, but this is a ton worse than it usually is for me. I'm guessing it's because I'm watching the series so fast. If you see one ep a week and talk about it each week, and have been following the series for, what, years now? You'd have a lot more exposure to the names.
Between your seeming disappointment that Suki hadn't been raped
Ack! Way to make it sound worse than it is! :P
(not what you meant, I know, but it came across; trying to make the show darker than it is is a common issue among certain fans, so there's probably some spillover here)
I'd call it more realistic, not darker (it does end up as darker, but darker is not the goal). Pretend there were no censors, that this wasn't broadcast on a kids' network. With the way their world is set up, the way the fire nation feels about the other ones, the way they act, is raping prisoners an incorrect conclusion?
Love the bits you quoted. The scar one made me laugh out loud (so much in the series does!) and the moon one made me snickersnort. The Jet one, too.
I almost can't wait to watch the last four eps just so I can rewatch the whole series again and look for things I missed, see if I feel different about any eps/characters, etc.
Re: Avatar State, Yip-yip!
Date: 2008-08-10 05:20 am (UTC)...is raping prisoners an incorrect conclusion?
We don't know, we can only speculate. As for my guess: Would their strict martial bearing and officer discipline prevent that from happening most of the time? In foreign campaigns, I'm sure it would occur sometimes, but in the most elite maximum security prison where important political prisoners are kept, the discipline is most likely better than that. If rape as a weapon of war were either frequent or done as a matter of course by the Fire Nation, then I think we would have seen it obliquely referenced in the show; the creators have always had a way of sneaking in references to more mature subject matter without alerting S&P. It may have been as simple as a character with an unknown Fire Nation father, or strategic shots or dialogue in episodes like Jet or The Southern Raiders.
About the inappropriate darkening, I'm talking less about family-friendly omission of gritty details, and more about the fans who gripe, "Why doesn't Character X just kill/maim/defenestrate Antagonist Y" and cannot accept answers like "Because X is a kid, not a sociopath," or "Because X is deeply opposed to killing." They don't seem to understand that not everyone is some kind of amoral antihero, and seem offended by it. As you can imagine, this starts to grate. Your comment about Suki had the misfortune to hit a spot already irritated by fandumb.
Re: Avatar State, Yip-yip!
Date: 2008-08-11 07:52 pm (UTC)You bring up good points. Again, I could see it happening either way, or a third way -- a sort-of compromise between our two ideas. Maybe it's like a 'don't ask, don't tell' sort of thing. Against the rules, since it doesn't fit with "their strict martial bearing and officer discipline", but the Fire Nation doesn't exactly have much respect for the other nations. At what point do prisoners stop becoming 'people'? Would officers care about abuses of non-people? It almost seems like it should be encouraged. I'm thinking out loud here, but... wouldn't abusing other-nation prisoners be a good thing? It'd make your own nation's forces a tighter group, less likely to be influenced by outside nations' forces. National pride can be a powerful thing...
If rape as a weapon of war were either frequent or done as a matter of course by the Fire Nation, then I think we would have seen it obliquely referenced in the show; the creators have always had a way of sneaking in references to more mature subject matter without alerting S&P.
Perhaps we did. Know that second person rapefic I mentioned? It was about that waterbender woman who invented bloodbending. She was raped over and over, and it drove her to figuring out how to escape and hurt the guards. How many "evil" non-Fire Nation characters have we seen? Is just being captured, even for a long period of time, bad enough to drive someone to such an evil thing? (It's odd, but that story has really stuck with me. Gah! Second person! But still, it had some good ideas...)
About the inappropriate darkening, I'm talking less about family-friendly omission of gritty details, and more about the fans who gripe, "Why doesn't Character X just kill/maim/defenestrate Antagonist Y" and cannot accept answers like "Because X is a kid, not a sociopath," or "Because X is deeply opposed to killing."
Ah, that makes sense. Some people see characters how they wish the characters were instead of how they really are. It happened a lot in the HP fandom as well. Probably happens in them all.