Avatar: The Last True Television Love (#3)

Now, I'm the first to admit that I've watched way too much television in my lifetime. I've followed more than one series from beginning to end, from That 70's Show to How I Met Your Mother. I watch a range of different shows - polar opposites like the serious mystery and crime-based drama, Dexter, and the cheerful, laughter-inducing musical known as Glee. But no show has ever caught my attention like Avatar: the Last Airbender.

(image courtesy of beanpiepromotions.com)

I know full-well that this show isn't exactly geared toward eighteen-year-old college students. But this summer, with my insomnia in full-swing, I needed to find something to occupy my time at four A.M. I'd made my way through what had to be the majority of Netflix's selection of movies to watch instantly. I decided it might be worthwhile to peruse the television shows they offered. When I made the decision to watch the pilot of Avatar, it was more as a skeptical joke than a serious interest in becoming involved with the series. I had a few friends that were fans of the show, friends I'd harassed pretty frequently for their interest in it. I figured it might be worth watching the pilot so I could have proof of how dumb it was.

Shit, was I wrong. This show hooked me like it was child's play and it became an addiction. I couldn't stop watching it. The characters were honest and real. The storyline never lost my interest. It made me laugh out loud and I'll admit I almost cried a few times. It took me less than two weeks of near-sleepless nights to make my way through 54 episodes (a solid 24 hours worth of television). Afterwards I had no idea what to do with myself. I was like a crack addict who went from shooting up multiple times a day to suddenly going cold turkey. No other television show has ever managed to hit me that hard.

The opening for every episode, narrated by the character Katara, seems to sum up the storyline pretty well: "Water. Earth. Fire. Air. Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an Airbender named Aang. And although his airbending skills are great, he has a lot to learn before he's ready to save anyone. But I believe Aang can save the world."

Watching this show for me was a great experience with the technological shift - I took a show that was at one point broadcasted once weekly on network television and watched it all in one fell swoop through an online source.

The show also uses a lot of emotional transfer; even if - since it is a fictional story about a world that does not exist and powers people aren't actually capable of having - I can't directly understand what the characters are going through and I can't put myself in their shoes, I feel all of their emotions just as strongly. The show is designed for me to connect with the characters and become involved with their journey. And it achieved exactly that.

Now, let's sit back for a second and talk about movie adaptations. When we're looking at book to movie translations, the movie industry has been known to do a decent job. Yeah, they've botched a few classics here and there and let's face it, the Harry Potter movies don't even come close to reaching the level of brilliance that the books do. But I have never, NEVER in my life been so completely horrified by how terrible a movie adaptation is until I saw the Avatar movie. I don't even want to get into how much I hated it because I'll be angry for days, but I will mention that it destroyed everything good about the series, left much to be desired, and just all-around sucked a colossal amount of ass.

Shyamalan uses an unnecessary amount of distracting, shitty special effects to distract from the complete lack of character development, complete deviation from the real storyline, complete removal of the show's humor, completely horrible script, casting, and on and on and on. I can't even come close to describing just how awful it was, but here's a review that describes it EXTREMELY accurately.

That being said, the show itself is really brilliant television. It is a kid's show, aired on Nickelodeon, but older generations could just as easily enjoy its easy-going humor, action-packed storyline, and relatable characters. Its use of humor, nostalgia, warm fuzzies, group dynamics, and the race card make it incredibly effective. The allegorical message of world peace is related through, to quote the power tools, "mythical notions of racial harmony."

I still kind of feel like a recovering crack addict whenever I talk about the show, so luckily for me, I don't have to focus on recovering too quickly: the creators of Avatar recently signed a deal with Nickelodeon for a sequel called The Legend of Korra that will premier in 2011. I couldn't be more excited.