| Why I'm tiring of "wise beyond their years" characters |
[10 Oct 2007|03:05pm] |
So I’ve been watching this little rather well known show (by now through decidedly illegal means, seeing as cable is tantalizingly outside of my financial reach, but hey I'm sworn to buying the DVDs when they come out in their large collection) called Avatar that airs on Nick. Nick has had some good stuff, I remember back in the golden days (okay so it was the late eighties) when it used to air the Mysterious Cities of Gold. But I digress. Now aforementioned show is rather cute, it attempts to be epic in a sort of juvenile way, but I can handle that. Mostly. This last and most recent episode really left a bad taste in my mouth, sort of bordering on outrage.
When people describe their or a character to be “wise beyond their years” and “mature” why don’t they actually show this to be true?
What I’m referring to is the “Painted Lady” where the character Katara, who apparently is wise (this may be a fan-sided only idea, although really I wouldn’t put it past any writer, the character is so tempting), but is consistently shown as good-hearted and optimistic, naïve and idealistic, and down-to-earth, all very good traits for a protagonist on the side of “good” but none of which are remotely close to wisdom, but hey you can also color me cynical. To top this all off, she makes a tactical blunder in a war.* Yeah, I know their teenagers, but come on guys, why do they have a serious plan to take down the big guys why are you still acting so stupid, didn't you have the past two seasons for that? By tactical blunder, by the bye, I mean the point where she gets uppity on the realistic if ridiculously posed situation that Sokka mentions when he points out the necessity of toppling the over arching tyrant rather than helping the little folks on the way. She prefers to stay and now, this gesture is really sweet but is it just me or is it that they are not seriously aware that they’re on a rigid time schedule? Are they not aware of the gravity of their situation, even after talking about how much they don't want to screw up this time? It seems almost as if the characters want their cake and eat it too. Which, I can tell you does not a sign of wisdom make.
A sign of wisdom is to know when to act and to know when not to and in this case, considering they have to make getting to the Fire Lord by a certain date, this is not wise on any account. Especially since they are in enemy territory and do not know what might be coming at them. They’re too complacent, too naïve. However, it does assuage the personal guilt quite nicely and I can understand and applaud that under normal circs. The target demographic is under the age of 14 and that the protagonists are about that age too but don’t you think that they should think a little more seriously about what the situation is?** I’d like to say that this is a case of those who are living a peaceful life who then have the privilege of depicting war in such a complacent light, because hey it doesn’t exist for the majority of us. That and really, it’s just a kid’s show. So then why does it bother me?
Well, it would have to be this oft fan-mentioned “wisdom” thing. Just because the kid spouts some sensible things from time to time does not make them wise (a lot of us do this and sometimes we're 14 when we do it, it also does not make us wise either) and in this particular moment in the this episode, all the wisdom points go to Sokka, who is then mocked and called callous for being realistic. I’m sorry, but Azula and Mai*** are callous (I’m still out on Ty Lee but let’s face it, they’re some pretty disturbing kids there), they’ve shown some pretty nasty disregard for human life, that we know our heroes™ would never do (even Sokka), so why do the writers feel the need to shove their gooey goody two shoes nature down our throat?
In a real war where timing is everything and, as was so flippantly pointed out, everything is at stake so well intentioned side steps probably should be avoided. Unless, of course said good deed does something to turn the tide in their favour, which hey they might pull out of their sleeves. Although from the way that the tyrant overlord is being portrayed, his populace are really too cowed to act opposite, and if you wanted to survive, you would too. Of course, being a kid's show that would be too heavy for them to handle, but does it really have to be cut so cleanly, especially when they have a villain who fits the complicated bill quite nicely (by this I mean Iroh). Isn't it possible for the kiddos to realize their method while well intentioned has the potential to make their entire goal crash down their ears. Can't they know what they may be sacrificing when they help every joe on their way? Co they really have to be so persistently naïve?
It would not make them cruel, we have enough cruel characters to make this clear. Azula, par exemple, is a callous little bitch and no mistake about it, but damn, is she thorough. This, of course, inevitably goes back to the rule that the heroes must be well intentioned but extremely and, not to mention, persistently stupid. Because if they did anything that people would question them on it would sully their purity. But how about this, if some explored the consequences of acting persistently stupid by not understanding the gravity of a given situation? I would dearly love to see the Solar Eclipse move fail with devastating consequences if only to futilely knock some sense into our teenage heroes. (Please writers, do that, it would bring the last episodes to the level they were at the end of the first season).
Of course, this being an animation and wishfulfillment makes all of it a dream. That’s why it’s a kid’s show, to show people (or kids really) that good things happen to good people, even though they really don’t always, and perhaps I’m being too cynical to appreciate it. Hey, I feel I’ve been plenty good about the didactic environmental messages that try to permeate the series (not that I necessarily disagree with them but I like to be fair.....), and incidentally most didactic and blantant message is in this one. I didn’t even mention that once. Well, until now that is.
So please, just stop with the characters being described as wiser than their years, unless they really are that. Because oftimes the more this “wisdom” is played up, usually by the teenagers who don't know any better or first time writers, the harder it falls flat on its face.
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*Yeah, I'm well aware that they're teenagers. Still, no excuse. I even felt that making a footnote was well worth the effort of emphasizing this.
**I have to hand it to them though, they truly are teenagers, and only teenagers would think and act in this manner. Oh would that the world were so simple that good people could act like this and not have it all crashing down on them.
***Is it just me or is the Zuko/Mai pairing they have going on recently really creepy?
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