Gone Viral

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Last night I managed to get my buddy Heather—you may remember my buddy Heather, the nicest person in the world—completely addicted to Avatar: The Last Airbender. After I assured her that there was no questionable content in it and in fact it’s a kids’ show, we spent a good three hours watching through it.

We’re still on season one, so I have yet to convince her that Uncle General Iroh is a god damn badass GQ motherfucker,* and she’s still dubious of my claim that Zuko’s character arc through the series is, in my conservative opinion, one of the greatest ever written.** Right now they’re just a goofy old fat guy and a bratty wounded teenage antagonist.

BUT SOON SHE WILL SEE THE LIGHT. She’ll be going back to school in Southern Utah in a couple of days, but she has asked if she can come over when I’m done with work tomorrow to finish the first season.

She is a little worried that she’s making me watch something I’ve seen before. “You have no idea how happy I am to have an excuse to,” I told her.

So I’m hoping Saturday will be Avatar Party 2: The Writers Realize How Cool This Show Can Be, And So Does Heather. And if she doesn’t make it, don’t tell anyone, but I may have to just watch it again. For … completeness. Yes. That’s right.


*Partly because one does not use such tawdry language around Heather. Hell, even “Iroh is a gosh darn cool GQ mothereffer” may be too saucy for her, but cleaning it up completely sort of loses something.

**No, really. Redemption, finding one’s own path, coming of age—they’re old tropes, but never have I seen it executed better.

Comments

[marag.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I dreamt that movie. I mean, can you believe that in my dream, they didn't cast Asian actors? Hahahaha! That would be so silly, wouldn't it?

And yes, there's just so much going on. It's a kid's show that doesn't talk down to the kids.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Hah! What a strange dream you had! Imagine casting someone of a different race--Hollywood wouldn't do that! You would never see a black actor playing Harry Potter or a Japanese person playing Batman simply because those were "the best actors for the job," so OBVIOUSLY such a weird recasting wouldn't occur IF Hollywood ever decided to do an Avatar: TLA movie, right? LOGIC.

Hell, I (and many others) even have trouble keeping the "I LEARNED SOMETHING TODAY" out of grownup fiction. I have tremendous respect for people who can let stories speak for themselves. And when they do it for kids, they get extra super bonus points.