I saved my first recommendation post for Christmas. Something heart-warming for any time of the year or age. My personal highlight of the year: “Avatar – The Last Airbender”.
It has been two years ago that I got reintroduced to two art forms that I had been neglecting for most parts of my adult life: anime/ cartoons and comics/ manga. My reintroduction was by ways of One Piece and Naruto (which will certainly get their own blog post in the future). Next came “Avatar – The Last Airbender” and it has become my number one anime/ cartoon series. More broadly speaking, it is one of the best pieces of art to enter my life.
At face value Avatar is a cartoon aimed at children. The cast of main characters is comprised of children and adolescents on the verge of teenagerhood. There are three seasons with 20 episodes each 20 minutes long. It’s about saving the world and there’s a fair amount of fighting. There’s the Fire Nation waging war on all other nations. Very similar to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. But the people of the Fire Nation are not soulless Orcs. They are human beings like everyone else. Avatar is not a simple good vs evil story. It’s much, much more than that.
Avatar deals with the deep questions: What is good and what is evil, how to stay good in an evil world, how to fight evil, what it means to be friends, what is power, revenge and forgiveness, how to suffer through the loss of loved ones, how war devastates communities and lives, how to bridge divisions to foster community, how to set healthy boundaries, how to question first impressions and stereotypes.
A big part of Avatar revolves around a group of friends who set out to save the world. This group of friends is composed of very different characters who struggle with each other while sharing connection and affection for each other. Sense 8 (another awesome series deserving a future blog post) captured something similar with its diverse range of sensates. In contrast to Sense 8 Avatar’s cast is complemented by two of the greatest animal companions of all time (a winged lemur and a giant flying furry bison). Probably, Avatar is worth watching just for the lemur.
However, most of all, Avatar is a story about abuse. It’s about a victim of abuse and his way through life. It’s about his struggles to make his way through life while propelled to do everything to win the recognition and love of his abuser. It is also about his one best friend trying to support him as best as he can. This is by far the best story of abuse I have seen depicted in TV. Because it doesn’t fall for the wrong and easy answers. It makes you understand and sympathise and angry with him – all at the same time. I don’t know when I have rooted for someone as much as I have done for him – maybe for the Fisher’s in Six Feet Under but that’s a story for another time. Always eager for the next episode hoping for him to break free of the shackles of his abuse. Spoiler: Over the course of three seasons, he does, resulting in one of the most wholesome character developments of any TV show.
So trust me – I know what I’m doing – and watch “Avatar – The Last Airbender”.