Avatar: The Last Airbender Adult?

People say its taking the newer generations longer to grow up. That we’re not adults until we’re 25 or older, or at least we’re not ready to be adults.

But how can people say that when the themes and morals from young adult books, kid shows, and kid movies are getting more complex and more adult with every passing? How many kids read Harry Potter and were then accustomed to the idea of orphans, good, evil, friendship, death, and betrayal? The same can be said for Eragon readers or the Pendragon Journal readers.

Ideas of death, of friendship, of family, and of growing up and making the ‘right choice over the easy choice’ are overwhelming young adult entertainment.

Nickelodeon’s recently concluded amine show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, is a prime example of this. When a 12-year-old Aang, a young Air Bender (a bender is someone who can control one of the four elements: fire, earth, air, and water) discovers he is the Avatar, someone who can control all the elements, he’s forced to grow-up.

Something he initially fled from (for a 100 years by freezing himself into a ball of ice) but has to face when he wakes up to a world ruled and terrorized by the Fire Nation. Now its his job, his destiny, to restore balance and peace to the world (the four nations). That’s a big responsibility for a 12-yr-old boy, who just wants to play and have fun.

The three seasons/books of Avatar show Aang’s character development (from running and avoiding the inevitable to facing it and preparing for it). They also focus on Aang’s friends and enemies, who all come from different backgrounds with different views and ideas on life.

Aang’s two closest friends, Sokka and Katara, are members of an isolated water tribe whose mother was murdered by the Fire Nation and whose father is absent and fighting the Fire Nation. And Aang’s enemy, who later redeems himself, Prince Zuko (son of the Fire Lord Ozai), has been wounded and banished by his father (until he can regain his honor by capturing the Avatar).

With a shocking lack of parental figures, the Avatar brings up the ideas of independently working out your own issues, forming friendships with close bonds, understanding death and betrayal (as Aang had been frozen in an ice berg for a 100 years, so when he wakes up he does find his whole family gone/dead), and growing up in the right way.

Filled heavily with adult themes, such as finding refuge from the villains, making friends who you can trust, and even, in Aang’s case, finding a way to deal with killing someone (Fire Lord Ozai) romance and even war.

These can’t be themes and morals that slow down the growth of a generation! How many adults can say one of the phenomenal themes in their entertainment life was coming to terms with killing someone (like Aang or Harry Potter)? Or even, when Katara finds the murderer of her mom, does she extract revenge? 

I would almost say the coming generations are growing up too fast. There’s no real filter anymore, five-year-olds watch Transformers and Avatar and by ten, the kids know more about death and betrayal and friendship and growing up than 30-years-old do.

Its not Star Wars and Indiana Jones anymore that present themes and morals to the population, but cartoons and morning shows (which kids have all the access to because they’re supposed to).

But the question is, what’s too adult for kids and what’s too young for kids? How can there be a limit when what they’re presented with is so complex and so adult they’ll set for nothing else? And should we limit them? Is it easy to understand when you’re young than abruptly when you’re older?

The younger generations aren’t growing up too slow, but are they growing up too fast? Or right on time? 

Star Wars: The Force

I’m not a gamer, I am, however, a Star Wars fan (who didn’t bother to see Clone Wars), but when the new game Star Wars: The Force Unleashed came out I was fascinated.

Having only a PSP, which still yields brilliant graphics, I bought the game and played for more than two hours straight (something I’ve never done). I bore easily of games, or grow irritated because I am, by no means, a good gamer – which means I hear a lot of repetitive dialogue during fights because I take so damn long to win.

However, the game itself is wicked. With a helping hand from George Lucas, the game investigates the years between episodes III and IV with Darth Vader’s apprentice as the main character.

Having this game brought up my desire to re-watch the Star Wars movies and re-visit the controversy of the last of the series (the first filmed, of course) to the beginning of the series (the last filmed, of course).

My opinion of the first three movies is that the casting was done poorly. Anakin should’ve looked a little older in in the first one, another boy (teenager boy) should’ve played in the second movie, and Hayden Christensen was fine in the third (very good at playing angry). I know they worked to make the actors look younger, and did a reasonable job, but its hard to get passed the fact they arethe same actors. Natalie Portman was well-enough in II and III, but should’ve been another actress in the I.

How is it that Anakin, a boy who looks no older than 9 in I, can fall in love with Padme, who looks 17 or older? And then, ten years later, why does shelook the same age but Anakin is older, obviously.

Star Wars is a great movie but little technicalities should’ve been considered – just to make it more realistic and more appealing to the upcoming generations. Though I feel bad for them because they don’t get the delightful surprise of “I am your Father” because they already know that from episode III.

As it is, I have to admit that I’m glad Lucas is still brimming with ideas for Star Wars and that he’s publishing them in unique ways.

The Cola Wars

At first, I thought the whole affair was ridiculous. But how was I to know I’d just walked into a whole mess of trouble? I like to stir up trouble, not walk into it. All I wanted to know was why the newest employee (a girl from Ohio) kept getting made when I asked her if she wanted a Coke.

 How was I to know that was one of her biggest grievances in coming to Oklahoma? Everyone calling Pop ‘coke’? I was just curious. But I guess it’s like going to Norway and trying to get them to deliver you pizza – not gonna happen.

But, apparently, the whole Pop vs. Coke vs. Soda is quite a controversial issue. Not sure why, as its more of a trivia/informative fact than an argument, but alas people are interesting.

I managed to solve the trouble easily enough, by printing off this map that shows the distribution of the words by county. 120,464 people responded to the survey sent out before March 1, 2003 and revealed that a couple of states were as diverse at the rest of the country (while a few states are loyal to one word and one word only, seemingly).

Ohio is one of those States.

But, for me, the whole ‘Cola Wars’ idea is fascinating. If such demographics for words of beverages can divide the States, what other words do the same?

So, what do you say? Coke, Pop, Soda? Does it match up with the map? Or maybe its one of the words under the ‘Other’ section? Like soda-pop, cola, pepsi, fizzy beverage, drink, sody, etc.

For a full list of ‘Other’ click on the State names here: http://popvssoda.com:2998/stats/ALL.html

Pride and loyalty stand true for the more common words, pop, soda, and coke. My Ohio friend likes to say that the only true word is Pop, and us Southerns in Oklahoma have is wrong for it can’t be coke (what with there being other brands) and New England too and California because ’soda’ is too snotty.

Funy how words can stir up such reactions.

The Chaos

ATTENTION! We’ve breaking news – the year has gone and gotten lost! Yes, lost. And now, having lost structure, time is collapsing; years are bombarding each other, months are going rapid, weeks are smutty, and days are off floundering around.

Europe has lost the night, Brazil claims to be selling saviors that look suspiciously like mongooses, Coach believes that purses can talk, New York has turned to the left of Vermont, and Hawaii is swimming away.

Superman lost the ability to fly, mid-flight, and his body hasn’t been found. Sherlock Holmes has been kidnapped by Auguste Duplin. King Arthur fell through the White Rabbit’s hole, colliding into a bemused William Shakespeare. Together they trotted off, in search of the golden ticket, and haven’t been seen since.

Other people have gone missing, ones not worthy enough to be mentioned, and others, non-existent before, have appeared. Yet, impossibly, all those from the lost year have somehow faded in and out of existence, speaking but not speaking, warning but joking.

Captain Nemo is caught under the sea, covered by thousands of octopuses that are dying for his autograph. Don Quixote is trying to gather up protégés while insisting that a decree is pursued to put all windmills under house arrest.

Days are awkwardly missing at times. Wednesday is fascinated with Norway and usually Friday has to bring it back. Tuesday and Thursday are often caught dancing in wishing wells, and Monday talks non-stop. Sunday and Saturday have run off together and a search party organized by March is pricking and prodding through Iron Man’s liar.

September freed Professor Plum and Miss Scarlett from Clue and Christmas keeps chasing them off from Monopoly.

Doctor Who has come and gone, seeing the situation as unsalvageable. Harry Potter joined with Bella from Twilight to find Mr. Darcy, who ran away with August.

And January has decided to run off the world’s edge – a suicide that brings the world skidding to a halt.

WHIMPER!

And so the world ended, not with a bang but a whimper (just as T.S. Eliot predicted).