YAY! Uber-long Avatar essay! Sozin's Comet Part 0: The End of Avatar As We Know It WARNING: WHAT YOU ARE ABOUT TO READ IS AN EXTREMELY LONG POST AND CAN BE DEPRESSING TO ANY KNOWN OBSESSIVE AVATARD. It has finally come down to this. Years of speculating and guessing and all of a sudden it came way too soon. Avatar: The Last Airbender has not only become a part of many of our lives, but whether we notice it or not, this one television program has taught us so many things. The art of beautiful storytelling is only kept alive if you want it to be, and Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko have shown us that during these past three years. They have shown us exactly what creativity and imagination can really build, and when you have a story to tell, you should have no limits. (Nickelodeon was permitted to limits because of the audience watching, but other than that, there were no major changes to the storyline other than covering up deaths and injuries and certain clothing articles.)
Their determination to make this particular story as epic as they imagined it would surpass everything they hoped for. Mike and Bryan, otherwise known as Bryke, thought that their little idea would only be a small hit and not make exceptionally big enterprises, but boy were they wrong. Avatar became one of the most popular television shows known in these past few years. It has won numerous awards and prizes all beacause the creators and the people working on the show knew just exactly how they want a story such as this one to be told. It is said that even the story board artists, writers, animators and the other workers behind Avatar cannot even forget this amazing show. Writers wanted to do more, and story board artists known to us such as Fierymonk and rufftoon keep drawing, and best of all, the creators say they still have more ideas. Although it is still unconfirmed if we will ever recieve a prequel or sequel. But in all honesty, this is a story that shouldn't be forgotten. Its characters grow with the storytelling, sinking and rising as it goes, and even they can teach us that it is not about strength, but skill. The characters are eligible to hate, love, anger, confusion, sadness, joy, humor, determination, frustration, stress, distrust, fear, and so many other human emotions which give them life within of itself. Their abilities are not overly powerful and all of them have their weaknesses, unlike so many other animations, books, and other tales of the world. What they feel and do is proof enough that this show is more realistic in human nature than any other fantasy/fiction stories many of us adhere to or have heard of.
In my opinion it is much better than Harry Potter and that is my favorite book series. It does not drag nor does Avatar linger too long on one subject. In my human mind this tale is truly perfect, although nothing entirely is. This story comes the closest than any other I know of existing on planet Earth. Avatar teaches that destiny waits for no one and that the person who is able to blame herself, or himself is greater than those who blame others. It teaches that everyone deserves a second chance and that no war is kind to anyone, even those who produce it. This show teaches that if you truly love someone, you would sacrifice anything for them, not just say, "I love you," and then disregard their brief affection later on like so many people decide to do. It can tell us that true love is an impossible definition to speak of because not even the person feeling it can describe exactly what their feelings are and it cannot just be spoken to the person they feel an incredible connection to, but also shown.
This is a story of growth, and growing through actions and life; the story of undying love and a strong friendship, of finding oneself and your own destiny, of learning who you are and understanding who others around you truly are within themselves. It has unique music that makes you feel exactly how the creators may have wanted you to feel at a particular momment in the series. As the espression may change, the music does so also, and this creates an incredible feeling just as if you were right there within the television set, hearing every line of thought with every character as if in real life. This also goes to show that in the series, even the antagonists and the strong ones (such as Toph) have emotions. And the protagonist, such as Aang, the Avatar, can't always be strong for the world that he was so suddenly forced to protect from the Fire Nation. Even minor or secondary characters have hard pasts, such as Mai and Ty Lee. And of course the fandom! None has ever seen such a dedicatied fandom such as the extremely loyal one of Avatar. We call ourselves Avatards, and are proud to shout it (even though there are some who prefer to hide it from the world outside of their computer screen and TV beacuse it is infact, a Nickelodeon show.) Avatard as in completely and utterly "Avatar-Retarded", literally and figuratively. Although it is an unhealthy obsession, it is completely healthy too. Beacause of Avatar, people have taken up drawing and greatly improve their skills to the point of no return. The Avatar fanbase has created some of the most wonderful pieces of art on the internet and elsewhere. Some others have taken up writing fanfictions and reading them, which coincidentally deeply improves their skills in these two catagories, which also in turn may increase grade levels and grades for those loyal Avatards still in an educational program. Others have taken up martial arts which of course is extremely fun and cool, but all because of their obsession of Avatar have they had an increasing desire to defend themselves. Creating AMVs (Animation Music Videos) on websites such as youtube and livevideo also increase Avatardian skills in creating slideshows and making entertainment for others. And of course just the imagry of Avatar as we know it increases knowldege of other cultures such as the Chinese, Bhuddism, and a little Western culture. People start to have a desire to learn calligraphy and animation, all beacause it has something to do with Avatar. The fandom has created many famous happenings in the world of Avatar, come up with nicknames for hilarious figures such as, "Foamy", and even the name for a horrible Avatar sickness, AWS or Avatar Withdrawal Syndrome. Happenings such as the infamous Nine Month Wait, various Kataang versus Zutara wars, other shipping wars, Avatards versus Narutards, the day when Avatar won the KCAs (Kids' Choice Awards) against the evil Sponge (finally), the Avatar versus Sponge War, the time when Lake Laogai accidentally came out, and numerous others bursted through one of the most loyal fanbases ever known to mankind with fire and lightning (no pun intended). And through it all, we will never forget all the desperate times we had just for a scrap of Avatar-related news, or the times we argued over ships and guesses, or even the desperate and obviously successful measures we took just to win a poll or an award. We fought long and hard and debated with other not-as-loyal fandoms out there just to prove that our show is better, because let's face it, we aren't afraid to bring out the batallions just to defend what we love and we don't care what we do as long as Avatar takes its rightful honor. Avatar: The Last Airbender, with its beautiful artwork and animation, color, life, creativity, and imagination, can only breathe its life within us beacause we are the ones who truly believe in the story, those who appreciate it and adore its telling. Even if you watch each episode one-hundred times, none can fathom just how awesome each line of humor, sadness, and drama really is. Though this tale is a serious one, you can't help but laugh at the funny momments, or scream at the television when something surprises you (i.e. Zuko after The Crossroads of Destiny). It is basically the prefect program, though some may disagree. From the beginning to the end of Avatar, I have never been disappointed. Whatever may come during the next and final week of this fantastic tale, the story never will cease to amaze generations of folks. Whatever I have previously stated has not even told you half of what Avatar can mean, it is only a measly transcription of a definition that is understandable to the human mind. And this phrase I made up just for Avatar: The Last Airbender a few days ago...
"When you look at the face of a person who is a stranger to you, you never think of the things that might matter to them, like whether they lost a mother or someone they loved, whether they had to live a secret double-life because of controlling parents, if they had a father who never really cared, or even if they were destined to save the world some day.
Think about it. You can't change the course a life has already taken. It could be for the better, or it could be for the worse, but in brute sense it is the only destiny one will ever know." So I officially thank you:
Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko for creating this idea,
Johane Matte (rufftoon), Giancarlo (Fierymonk) and the other story board artists,
Jeremy and Ben (The Track Team) for the music,
Mae Whitman (Katara), Zach Tyler Eisen (Aang), Jack DeSena (Sokka), Dee Bradley Baker (Appa, Momo and more), Jessie Flower (Toph and Meng), Olivia Hack (Ty Lee), Cricket Leigh (Mai), Dante Basco (Zuko and Filipino just like me), Grey DeLisle (Azula), Serena Williams (famous tennis player and also the voice of the prison gaurd in The Day of Black Sun who gave Iroh tea), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker and Ozai), James Garrett (Avatar Roku), Jason Isaacs (Zhao), Mako and Greg Baldwin (Iroh) for voice acting and also the numerous other voice actors,
Dave Filoni and Lauren MacMullan and others for directing,
Aaron Ehasz, John O'Bryan and the others for writing, and of course
Sifu Kisu for the kung fu references and really awesome action movements. You know, it would help if this show was given more credit and given more advertisements by Nickelodeon, but just think about it, that has never stopped us. AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER (exclusively USA), AVATAR: THE LEGEND OF AANG (in other countries) was created because a story wanted to be told and it was told, and is coming to an end.
Unfortunately, all great stories end, the bad ones drag, and the greatest of the great end at just the right time. This one just so happened to be the best one I've ever heard and set my eyes upon, otherwise it is definitely the 'greatest of the great'.
And with that, I say goodbye to you and hope that when the day finally comes, I will be as ready as possible for it to end...and possibly cry. |
