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the-badger-mole · 2 years

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I saw your post about Aang as a parent and honestly, I don’t know how people can still defend him when is CANON that he favored one of his children. There is a book “Avatar, the last airbender - Legacy” that shows how much Aang favored Tenzin.

I’ll put some quotes from the letter that Aang wrote for Tenzin.

“[...] This book is a collection of stories and mementos from that time in my life. Your mom, Sokka, Toph, and I made it just for you. [...] JUST FOR YOU. Yes, he really loved all of his children equally...

“[...] You are the first Airbender to be born in more than one hundred years, and one day you will lead the Air Nation. For now, unless your mom and I bring you an airbender brother or sister - it looks like it's just you and me, kid!” It’s pretty obvious that Aang never considered Bumi or Kya as part of the Air Nation. He didn’t even mentioned them, nothing! I got it, they can’t airbend but it is still their culture as well! They could help Tenzin to carry the legacy of being the children of the Last Airbender, of the Avatar, but nope! Looks like if you’re not an airbender, you’re not good enough to carry his so precious legacy.

“Enjoy this book, my son, and know that your mother and I will always be proud of you.” Again, no mention of Bumi or Kya. No surprise why the alcolytes in LoK didn’t even knew about Bumi and Kya. Imagine Bumi and Kya seeing Aang gifting Tenzin with this which was made JUST for him.

There is a letter from Katara to Tenzin too... but nor Bumi or Kya are mentioned either and Katara finished her letter with “Your father and I will be there for you every step of the way. Know that we both love you very much.” Looks like even Katara favoured Tenzin...

Every week there's another confirmation that I made the right decision giving up on the comics. I will choose to believe that Katara had a better relationship with Kya and Bumi than this suggests because in LoK, they only mentioned that Aang wasn't a great dad. They didn't seem to have anything against Katara. Maybe she thought Aang was going to do this for all of their kids, and she had individual letters to all of them. But it also wouldn't surprise me that the woman Bryke turned her into after they forced her together with Aang also favored his favorite child.

I feel terrible for Kya and Bumi, and it seems strange to me that this story was included in LoK at all. It didn't need to be there. It added nothing. Kya and Bumi's feelings towards Aang didn't change anything about the situation they were in. Bryke didn't use the opportunity to humanize Aang and make a point about how even superheroes are imperfect. Tenzin doesn't examine his own parenting or bias towards the Air Nomad culture. It adds nothing except confirmation to those looking that Aang wasn't a great guy and Kataang was unhealthy for everyone involved. Tenzin, the narrative, Bryan and Mike themselves! went out of their way to justify Aang's terrible parenting.

#atla #anti aang #anti kataang #aang is an awful father and brkye just keeps doubling down on it #favoritism is a form of abuse #saying it officially #aang was a narcissist

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itsclydebitches · 3 years

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re: that ask you posted a couple days ago about the male and female representation in RWBY, part of what makes RWBY's whole 'girl power' thing ring exceptionally hollow to me is the fact that there are like... no women in positions of real power in remnant. like at all. except the big bad.

winter is second in command to james. glynda is second in command to ozpin. all of the headmasters are men (for no discernible reason, imo; why theodore and not dorothea?). the leader of the ace ops was a white man (and then winter seemed to take over clover's position instead of either of the women of color on the team, and she was still second to james). RWBY is an all girl team, but JNPR was led by a boy despite a girl arguably being far more qualified (pyrrha). the happy huntresses are all women, and robyn had no real power to speak of--she didn't even manage to win the election, because jacques rigged it, and then the council ceased to matter. there was one (1) woman on the council, but she was so inconsequential that i can't even remember her name. (i suppose we're lucky it was the guy and not her who james shot lol) jacques controls the SDC instead of willow, even though he's not even a schnee by blood and actually married into the family for power. (and we don't even know how he got it over his wife.)

and then there's the white fang, which ghira led and not kali--and it's ghira who leads menagerie itself, while kali seems to be a housewife. sienna had five minutes of screentime before being brutally killed and her position assumed by adam, a man. cordovin is basically a one off lackey we haven't even thought about before or since. neo was second to roman. you have cinder, sure, who is a second but to salem, a woman, and raven as the leader of the branwen tribe--but what does it really say about your 'girl power' narrative when the only women with genuine systemic power in your world are villains or antagonists with massive bodycounts??

atla has the same sort of problem--a couple great female characters, but all the leadership positions are men (except the kyoshi warriors, an all girls group, and even then the leader of their island is an old man) and the one female mentor figure also turns out to be evil--but it at least has some great writing to help overlook that fact, and it came out in the mid-00's and so has some sort of excuse of being a product of its time. but rwby didn't even start until 2013 and it's still going and still making these kinds of decisions well into 2021.

where is this supposed girl power, exactly? am i really supposed to overlook the very patriarchal worldbuilding just because the title characters are girls?

That's an excellent summary of the situation, anon, and as with so much in RWBY, it comes down to the full context. Any one of these examples isn't necessarily going to mean much on its own. It's when you look at the pattern that you can start making a case for those conclusions: Why is the show marketed on "girl power" set in a world where men hold the vast majority of that power? And, more importantly, why is that setup not the point? We could easily have a story where that lopsided gender dynamic is the problem that the girls are looking to fix, but... that story doesn't exist. Like the problems discussed with Jaune, the supposed point here exists only on the surface. Dig just the tinniest bit — the above — and you hit on a lot of structural problems with this "girl power" world.

To add just a few details to what you've already said:

Salem indeed has power, but she's never allowed to fully use it. Each volume the frustration with this grows as Salem accumulates more abilities and then just sits on them. From literally hiding out for a thousand years to worries that she won't use the Staff in Volumes 9-10, Salem really isn't allowed to be the threat she's presented as on the surface. And yes, this is absolutely due in part to the "She's too OP and the writers don't know how to let her be that powerful while still having the heroes win" issue, but again, context. That problem doesn't exclude others occurring simultaneously.

Same double explanation with Summer. Yes, dead moms are an incredibly common trauma to dump on a protagonist, but it still left Yang and Ruby with Tai as their primary influence. And Qrow. The uncle becomes the extended family influence while Raven is the absent one/eventual antagonist. It's personal power as opposed to political power, but Tai, Qrow, Ozpin, formerly James... most of the mentors are men. Maria, a key exception, has been ignored in that regard. The story announced that she was Qrow's inspiration, setup her being Ruby's new mentor, and then... nothing. Nothing has come of that. She disappeared for a volume and then went off to Amity and was literally forgotten by the story when evacuating everyone was the finale's whole point.

Like that Endgame moment I mentioned, the Happy Huntresses feel a little too forced to me. Yes, it's the same basic idea as in ATLA, but ATLA, as you say, has a lot more going for it. The Happy Huntresses feel... on the nose? Idk exactly how to explain it. Like, "Here they are! Another team of all women! Isn't this how progressive storytelling works? Just ignore how this is a one-off team of minor characters compared to the world building issues discussed above." And if you're not paying attention, you miss just how insignificant they are, with a side of Robyn being, well, Robyn. The Kyoshi Warriors, at least, are based off of Kyoshi. A woman avatar who is a significant part of their history. That is, presumably, why they're an all women warrior group (but who notably still teach Sokka). The Happy Huntresses are all huntresses because...? There's no reason except that meta "We want to look progressive" explanation. Just like having all the women superheroes team up for a hot second so people get excited and ignore the representation problems across, what? 21 films? Don't get me wrong, I love that May is among the Happy Huntresses. I think including her in the explicitly all-women group was one of the better things RWBY has done in a long time, but the rest is still a mess.

RWBY is arguably about these smaller groups as opposed to systematic power (despite the writers trying to work that in with things like the White Fang and the election. Not to mention the implication that everything in Atlas is fine now that evil Ironwood has died and taken the symbol of wealth (the city) with him. We saw a human holding hands with a faunus after all. Racism and corruption solved, I guess.) So yes, our group is dominated by women... but Whitley is the one saving Nora, helping to defeat the Hound (plus Willow), thinking of the airships, and providing the blueprints they need to escape. Salem is our Big Bad, except Ironwood is the one the volume focuses on. Ruby is our leader, but Jaune is the one leading the group into the whale and getting praised for how heroic he is. Ren does more to shake things up, even if he's painted as the one in the wrong. Oscar gets to confront Salem and destroys the whale threat. Ozpin provides the information they need to evacuate. Meanwhile, when the girls do things in Volume 8 it's almost always followed by a long-stint of passiveness. Nora opens the door so she can be unconscious for most of the volume. Penny keeps Amity up so she can also be unconscious for a good chunk of time. Ruby sends her message and then sits in a mansion. Blake fights so she can tearfully beg Ruby to save her. Weiss, as said, takes a backseat to Whitley (and Klein). They forward the plot, absolutely, but comparatively it doesn't feel like enough.

It's that pattern then, no one specific example. More and more the personal power, not just the systematic power already built into Remnant, seems to be coming from the men. Not all the time, but enough that scenes like the tea drinking moment feel like a part of a much larger problem. Pietro taking control, Watts hacking, and Ambrosius literally remaking her when Penny is supposed to already be in control of herself and her fate. Winter being presented as the active mentor to Weiss, only to turn around and claim that Ironwood was actually responsible for everything. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and May straight up commenting on how awful things are out there while Yang, Jaune, Ren, and Oscar lead the charge against Salem — with the latter three doing the most to forward that mission (no fear, semblance, cane). As others have only half-joked, Yang's supposedly badass moment was bringing up a mother she's ignored for six volumes and briefly blowing up the immortal woman for a couple of seconds (with Ironwood's bombs). Even Marrow is arguably the most significant Ace Op after Clover. Vine isn't actually a character, Elm slightly less so, Harriet is there to go crazy and try to drop a bomb (notably before admitting to never-before-existed feelings for Clover), but Marrow? He's the one who breaks out. Who is meant to heroically stand up against Ironwood. Who comments on how awful it is that teenagers are fighting and, regardless of how messed up the moral messages are, is supposedly pushing for active change while all the women in his group, including Winter, insist on maintaining the status quo. Look at all these choices as a whole, it makes throwaway worldbuilding choices like "All the Maidens are women" feel pretty hollow. Why does it matter if Amber is a Maiden if she dies in a flashback so Ozpin can struggle to pass on the power? If Pyrrha dies before becoming one so Jaune can angst about it? If Raven is one and then disappears from the story entirely? If Winter has enough power to break Ironwood's aura, but supposedly had no power throughout every other choice she made getting here? If Penny is one, but is continually controlled by men and then asks another man to help her die? It's just really unconvincing, once you look past the surface excitement of a woman looking cool with magic powers.

When you do consider the whole of the story — both in terms of our world building and who is forwarding the plot in the latter volumes, getting the emotional focus, being proactive, etc. — there are a lot of problems that undermine the presumed message RT wants to write. They say, "girl power" by marketing RWBY with these four women, but too many of the storytelling decisions thoroughly undermine that, revealing what's likely a deeply ingrained, subconscious bias.

#rwde #rwby #mymetas

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feifiefofum · 4 years

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a measured response to lily orchard’s lok is garbage

i have feelings and they’re mostly offended at how stupid some takes are that you don’t catch ‘em on editing.

like, okay, i get it, it’s cool to hate on legend of korra. but seriously, is it too much to ask for consistency?

lily levels many complaints about korra, the whole narrative arcs in every book, and details in the show. i’ll go through them via memory book by book.

in book one, one of those details that bothered them is how bending isn’t utilized enough in republic city in people’s everyday life. which is hilarious because earlier in their(?) video they emphasize how cool it is that mako is lightning bending to generate power in his day job. like, that’s bending, being utilized in a city to make it run. congrats you played yourself.

they also showed scenes from atla showcasing civvies playing around via bending and even scenes from earth rumble then unironically complains about pro-bending, diminishing the sanctity that is bending. forgetting completely that aang himself played airball, was prone to pull out a marble to do his spinning marble trick.

then we get into the meat and potatoes of their criticisms of book one, there was no set up to non-benders being oppressed. firstly, this isn’t true. we see benders oppressing non-benders with the taskforce led by tarrlok. curfews were set up, their right to congregate infringed upon and presumed guilty just for being a non-bender. some might argue that that’s justified, but is it really? you’re cool with persecuting countless innocents for a minority of the population being all terrorist like. that’s problematic, fam.

besides which, lok doesn’t exist in a vacuum, it has atla to draw from. sokka has expressed a sense of uselessness next to his peer who can chuck boulders, move rivers and literally fly. atla and lok makes it easy to forget, but these chuckleheads would be considered goddamn superheroes at least in our world, demigods or what have you.

point is, this is a logical conundrum to deal with in the avatar universe.

they go on to complain that they wrap it up too nicely, but it’s not nick’s fault that mike and bryke rushed the story. completely forgetting that nick gave ‘em 12 episodes and 1 season, then strung ‘em for a 2nd season, then a 3rd and 4th season then cut funding mid 4th season. it’s just a headache to deal with.

look, would i have liked to see more of this season 1 story fleshed out?? hell the fuck yeah. would i have like the mako-korra-asami-bolin love mess to be chucked out altogether? yes, but they’re 16ish teens, with hormones and shit to deal with. it happens. you date friends, because why not? you know your friends for a reason, so you at least have some common interests. why wouldn’t you besides worrying that post dating it’d be awkward? which it was, but even mako got over himself to be a supportive friend to his exes. like there you go, some character development.

from mako of all people.

then season 2 came and they were excited for that. well, the first half of that. there was civil war, tensions about who’s right and who’s wrong. civil war baby! it’s new, it’s exciting- except, it’s a retread. remember in the fire nation, how ozai usurped the throne from iroh? and how iroh was like, i can’t fight ozai because that would lead to civil war? yeah, this is that, playing out with the northern and southern water tribes. unalok usurped tonraq’s chieftaincy, got super jealous when tonraq became the father of the avatar, then conspired with won shi tong to release vaatu. all of this, under the veneer of spirituality. kinda like how sozin was gonna spread his enlightenment via war. y’know how warmongers are, they need a veneer of legitimacy. it makes it feel better. but don’t worry, they want new content really bad. it’s not like civil war is just another war and thus is pretty much the same thing with extra bells and whistles.

then they ranted about how vaatu and raava were god and lucifer which is completely insane. push and pull, tui and la. order and chaos. first off, god spanked lucy hard and won forever and always. vaatu and raava are locked in constant battle until the avatar put a stalemate on vaatu by shoving them in the tree of time. but raava didn’t dunk on vaatu and it’s pretty explicit. why you might ask?

well, the 100 year war, that’s what. lemme explain.

for 10,000 years~ish there were monarchies all over the avatar universe. after 100 years of war, and post ending of ozai, republic city was formed. how did this happen? the avatar. because of the avatar’s inclination to order, it utilized tried and true methods or population control in the form of monarchies to maintain order and balance around the world. of the 4 nations, 3 of them have a monarchy like system in place. there were chiefs in the water tribes, kings and queens in the earth kingdom and firelords in the fire nation. when there was an integration of the cultures in a melting pot like republic city, a republic sprang up with a council of benders and then a friggin’ presidency.

chaos is often violent and disruptive, but it’s also a vehicle for great change. it’s also why i’m against god ais (my apologies to the machine) and my brother needs to get off that train or so help me- that’s not the point. the point is that order has it’s drawbacks. chaos isn’t necessarily bad, it shakes up the status quo and could lead to improvements as well as regressions/worsenings. it’s a roll of the dice.

then they dunk on zaheer. firstly, they’re confused about how zaheer was such a gifted airbender after having just gained airbending via harmonic convergence. forgetting the fact that they mentioned that bending was also a martial art, showing a clip where toph explicitly calls it a martial art and expect the audience to forget the fact that zaheer wasn’t an air nomad fanboy who constantly quoted air nomad philosophers left and right. and also conveniently forgetting that tenzin was spanking that boy pretty handily until his backup dancers handled bumi and kaya to back him up.

no, let’s forget that part. conveniently.

then he waxes poetic about how anarchism always lead to despots and dictators. how power vacuums get filled.

*sigh*

completely forgetting that for at least 9,000 years at the least, the avatar has propped up friggin’ monarchies and governments to maintain order. that rome fell like 1.5k years ago and we forgot that cement was made with seawater. that we’ve lost all records on where some people got their tin from during the bronze age. it’s been 9,000 years, people forgot that anarchy bad. it happens, and their repository of knowledge just got their library erased a season ago.

like that’s what i’m pissed at unalok for. first hand accounts of 10,000 years ago lost because some petty tyrant wanted to be uber special. you know how people are upset about the burning of the library of alexandria? that’s the travesty of the loss of all korra’s past lives, times a billion.

the first half of the season sets up how bad monarchies are. hell, there were three seasons of atla which you gush about that explains the exact same thing. monarch’s aren’t held accountable, they explicitly say that the earth queen was within her rights to press the new air nomads into her army.

there’s your order, hope it sits well with you.your queen can send you die on a whim. but hey, anarchism bad. freedom/chaos, bad.

the irony here is that they accuse lok of oversimplifying the matter when they themselves constantly do the same.

and then there’s kuvira. apparently she was perfect and didn’t do anything wrong ever until the writers made her do it??

let’s forget the part where everything she does is explicitly because the writers made her do it. so everything that she supposedly did right, the writers did that too.

but more importantly, kuvira wasn’t some dictator that rolled up in her train and made demands of people. and here they unironically show her in her train, making demands of a governor to sign a treaty. a train that’s presumably full of her soldiers. and supplies of war, right next to the food and blankets. like this is kinda explicit.

but no, kuvira did nothing wrong here.

they go on to criticize suyin for not taking the reins of power since she criticized the monarchy a season ago. not realizing that criticizing an establishment doesn’t mean that they can do a better job of it. parallel, totally intended by the by. sure, suyin runs a tight ship in zaofu, but that doesn’t mean she has the resources or temperament to run a gosh darn kingdom. they continue to berate the world leaders for not taking action, forgetting that the earth kingdom is a loose allegiance city states that have a king in omashu even as there was a king in ba sing se. that kuvira was forcibly making governors and officials bend the knee, that she brought both the carrot (food and blankets) and the stick (her whole fuck off army) on her train to every negotiation.

i love kuvira but she was a dick. and yeah, she picked up the mess that was the aftermath of the whole zaheer affair, but she could’ve just provided humanitarian assistance and military support. but no, she decided to take power for herself. she might’ve started off that way, but it’s three years, and the stress of that job gets to you. so you look for shortcuts and oops, i’m a dictator now.

the prime directive exists for a reason. you might go in trying to help, but suddenly your usurping power or setting trends and contaminating the development of a society. sure, breaking the directive could save a species, but man saving it could mean cultural genocide as well.

lessee, what else was ranted about? mechas and such were complained about. but man, industrialization happened in 60 years. avatarverse had 70. cars and stuff happen. mechas are a thing get over it. if you could accept it in book one, you’re gonna have to concede that 5/6 years later, someone’s gonna make a giant mecha.

they also continued to bash the world leaders for doing nothing. firelord izumi was quite explicit that after 100 years of war, the fire nation was reluctant to engage in any form of war, no matter how justified. president reiko was, as usual, a spineless coward and all about that surrender. the water tribes were busy after a friggin’ civil war, plus weren’t really in a position of power to really offer any assistance.

the air nomads were down to war though.

look, it was a mess of a review. but c’mon, have some consistency. they complimented kataang and sokki for having understated relationships where a breath ago they bashed korrasami for the same thing. look, was it a good thing or a bad thing? if it was a good thing, great. if it was a bad thing, why are you complaining about the relationship mess that was the whole krew in seasons 1 and 2? like i get it, but you’re trying to have your cake and eat it too here. have some complexity. nuance, do you get that?

they go on to ‘compliment’ atla for having a simple antagonist. ozai was not a simple antagonist. ozai was a product of 100 years of war, that kind of staying power is rooted in pride and a superiority complex that culminates in manifest destiny manifestos. he was a simple antagonist in that he was unambiguously an asshole, he’s complex in how such assholery came into being. nationalism taken to the extreme. there’s comparisons to nazism in this bit.

and god, i’m gonna have to humanize nazis (but only kinda) in that they didn’t spring from the earth fully formed to conquer germany then the rest of the world.

nazism was a heady mix of nationalism, white supremacy, with a hint of ‘we’re the chosen people of god’ christianity. post ww1, this heady intoxicant revitalized the punching bag that was germany. they were in a rut, the great depression was bringing all the nations down, and nazism swooped in to sweep germany off its feet.

now am i saying fascists are cool? no, but they took an opportunity and ran with it.

which leads us back to the fire nation, who started out going ‘hey we’re here for cultural exchanges’ but quickly evolved to ‘these guys aren’t getting it, maybe if we explain it by throwing fire at them’ to ‘these dumb curs only understand fire bad so let’s burn this to the ground’. which evolved to nationalism and a superiority complex which made ozai cookoo bananas and we get atla.

#legend of korra #lily orchard #fix yourself #i'd tell you this on your video but you seem to be the type that thinks those that disagree with you should be silenced #since i couldn't find a single dissenting opinion in your comments #disappointing really #couldn't see a character arc that's right in front of you #highlighted the overarching character arc of korra #then have the audacity to say it didn't happen #i was incrdulous #but i'm tired and it 4 am #i'mma sleep

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simonjadis · 4 years

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princealigorna. tumblr. com/post/613987664455139328/goat-yells-at-everything-themodernmaccabee ---- Been seeing this a lot lately.

The link is to a post that contains at least one slur, a post that strongly argues that the best way to do representation (citing some Nickelodeon shows as an example) is to completely ignore that the characters are of different races, and argues that storylines about a character’s race are somehow the new tokenism

Obviously, this is absurd, but here’s why:

Important disclaimer: I’m as white as snow on a golf course, so please keep that in mind. No one person can speak for their entire community, but I am not even close to speaking on behalf of any communities of color

The examples cited in the post include Hey Arnold! and Avatar: The Last Bender, which are two very different shows that I enjoyed a great deal

I think that it’s important to note that Hey Arnold! absolutely talked about people’s identities. I think that we all know that Mr. Hyunh’s background had everything to do with his (birth) nationality. Harold’s compulsive eating led him to shoplift a ham and get caught, resulting in an episode about his Jewish identity.

Just because there was not, to my recollection, an episode about Gerald getting stopped and frisked does not mean that the show ignored people’s identities.

But to tell a story set in our world, here and now, that ignores people’s backgrounds and identities and the ways in which that impacts their lives is to tell stories that ignore key aspects of people’s identities. If you tell stories about black Americans that are seemingly identical apart from melanin to how you would tell a story about a white family, you have to consider whether your story is honest and realistic. From the fear of police violence to facing racism while trying to date to microaggressions to family legacy and more, our identities shape our stories and experiences.

Now, for Avatar: The Last Airbender

Yes, in-universe fictional cultures (which were influenced by real world cultures, of course) impacted characters and stories, but Katara and Sokka did not have stories of, say, suffering and marginalization as First Nations people, Aang was not called slurs for being Asian, etc.

But that is appropriate . . . for another world with a very different history than our own. It is very realistic to create a fantasy story without racism -- though, even then, it is a good idea to make sure that you are not accidentally driving home real-world stereotypes. This is part of why sensitivity readers are still important even for epic fantasy -- no matter what setting your story has, it will still be consumed by people in our world.

There is so much that one could say about how wildly different telling authentic stories is from tokenism, but I’ll say this: if you are worried about your one X character having a stereotypical X experience (be it gender, race, sexuality, etc) and want to avoid tokenism, why not . . . include multiple characters of that identity.

I’ll use gay men as an example since I am one: if one of my, like, superheroes or wizards or what have you is a promiscuous gay man who’s had a lot of partners and I worry that this may come across as stereotypical, I can make sure that my story includes another gay man who is not. If there are multiple “tokens,” then they’re not token characters, they’re just diverse characters

But it’s also good to keep in mind that people accusing you of “tokenism” for telling authentic stories with diverse casts of characters are probably arguing in bad faith anyway

#anon #ask #anon ask

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disquietiswhatitis · 5 years

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So...I was tagged by @lena-lipbite-luthor.

(I did do this yesterday but it was fun so I don’t mind doing this again)

My Shows:

Justice League

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Friends

Legends of Tomorrow

Stranger Things

1. Who is your favorite character in 2?

Cutting straight to the ripping of my heart from my chest, I see. Spirits, this is hard...um...I’ll say Zuko, Iroh and Appa (I cant narrow it down any more than that.)

2. Who is your least favorite character in 1?

I had to think about this for a bit. The best I could come up with was Shining Knight and Vigilante; never really cared for them. Sure, some of the non-main heroes and the lesser known villains were meh but none really stood out as least favorites. If Mon El was in the Legion of Superheroes episode, I’ll say him (that character has been ruined for me across all media for the foreseeable future.)

3. What is your favorite episode of 4?

These questions just don’t get any easier, huh? I think I’d have to say “Beebo the God of War” or “The Virgin Gary”

4. What is your favorite season of 5?

Stranger Things 1

5. Who is your favorite couple in 3?

Monica and Chandler

6. Who is your favorite couple in 2?

Sokka and Suki

7. What is your favorite episode in 1?

A Better World

8. What is your favorite episode of 5?

The Monster

9. What is your favorite season of 2?

Book 2: Earth

10. How long have you watched 1?

15 years (ish)

11. How did you become interested in 3?

It was my mom’s favorite show during the 90s when she was raising my sister and I and we had to watch whatever she wanted to watch if we wanted to stay up a little bit later.

12. Who is your favorite actor in 4?

Tala Ashe and Maisie Richardson Sellers

13. Which do you prefer, 1, 2 or 5?

First of all, rude for making me choose. Second, had I watched Avatar before Justice League, this might’ve gone the other way but Justice League has a special place in my heart and I gotta choose that.

14. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?

Friends has almost two and a half times as many episodes. 😜

15. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?

If we’re talking powers, Wally West or Nora Dahrk. If we’re talking everything, tragic backstories and all, then Ava Sharpe.

16. Would a crossover between 3 and 4 work?

The Legends either time travel back to the mid 90s and meet the Friends characters or (more likely) the Legends time travel back to the mid 90s and meet the cast members on the set of them filming Friends (yes, a crossover would work.)

17. Pair two characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.

Canary/Huntress or Shayera/Vixen.

18. Overall, which has the better storyline, 3 or 5?

Stranger Things

19. Which has the better theme music, 2 or 4?

Avatar the Last Airbender

I think most of the mutuals I was gonna tag in this game have already done it. If you wanna play, then please do! Just consider this me tagging you and have fun!

#tag games #personal #justice league #avatar the last airbender #friends #legends of tomorrow #stranger things

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eliselowingwrites · 6 years

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Manga and Anime: Movement of Art

Lately, I’ve been very interested in manga and anime. Just something about the aesthetic of the art really catches my attention. Not to mention, I love drawing in that art style. While I prefer to have a simplistic look to my drawings, while also adding a bit of detail to make it come alive, I’ve also seen works that are very realistic and detailed.

But that’s another story for another time.

However, this editorial isn’t really about the different art styles that manga/anime can do, but more about a debate that I’ve been seeing lately. That debate being whether manga/anime is only considered as such if it comes directly from Japan. Or, because of the influence it has had on western shows like “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Steven’s Universe”, is it becoming a universal movement. And whether or not animations and illustrations with a Japanese influence can be considered manga/anime, even if they were created by people and studios outside of Japan.

To clarify, this is more of an editorial piece to discuss my points of view on what I think manga and anime have become. I will bring up a few facts in this, but this is mostly meant to open up discussion among the community.

I guess I should start with the reason as to why I decided to write this editorial in the first place.

Going back to what I said before, I have become interested in the medium, and I feel like it is a very unique and interesting way of storytelling. For someone who loves crafting stories from words and pen strokes, this is definitely something that grabbed my interest.

My first exposure to this medium was back when I was a little girl. My experience with Japanese animation was Hayao Miyazaki’s, “Kiki’s Delivery Service”. I had seen a lot of animated movies from Disney and Universal Studios, but I knew that there was something unique about this kind of movie. Just something about the atmosphere and animation set it apart from other family movies that I had seen.

Then one Saturday morning, I discovered “Digimon Tamers”. At the time, I couldn’t quite explain it, but there was something different about the animation and the way the episodes flowed. It was like they were all connected together by a single narrative thread that the other Saturday Morning cartoons like “Kim Possible”, “Recess”, and “Doug” didn’t really have. At least, not as predominately as “Digimon Tamers” had.

But then we got to the episodes when the bio-merging introduced, my mom saw what happened during those sequences, and turned off the TV, and that was that.

Although I didn’t know it then, that was my first glimpse at the difference between American and Japanese culture when it came to that side of things. It wouldn’t be until I was in high school that I was able to see the rest of the Tamers season. By then, I knew why my mom turned off the TV.

But I digress.

Over time, thanks to YouTube, I discovered other shows that shared similarities to the series I saw before. Shows like “Sailor Moon”, “Naruto”, “Tokyo Mew Mew”, and the rest of the Digimon Seasons, just to name a few.

I learned that the term for these kinds of shows were called “animes”, which meant “Japanese Animations”.

However, as the years went by, shows like “W.I.T.C.H.”, “Avatar: the Last Airbender”, and “Legend of Korra” came out. All of which have different country origins and art styles, but still had a few things in common to anime. Such as having limited lip movements, greater attention to character and setting detail, complex camera movements that would normally be seen in live-action films, more realistic looking characters than what you would see in typical American cartoons, and having long-running stories that were strung together by several episodes, as opposed to simply having self-contained stories in every episode.

Not to say that all American cartoons were just made up of self-contained stories. I’m using broad strokes here.

When I seriously got into anime, I soon discovered manga, or Japanese comics. Just like with anime, I loved the art styles and aesthetics of the medium. I got many different kinds of manga drawing books that I could get my hands on, and practiced the style as best I could. I soon integrated that into my own drawing style because it resonated with me so much. I watched and read more of this intriguing medium, and soon became familiar with the community. I even got a Funimation account to watch dubbed shows legally.

Yes, I watch dubbed shows instead of subbed. Not all the time, I’ve watched “Hibike! Euphonium” (a show that is not dubbed in English) and enjoyed it. I’ve also watched episodes from shows that are both subbed and dubbed in their Japanese version, and enjoyed them, too. Or if nothing else, it was at least interesting to make comparisons between the two languages.

I only mention this because of the debates I see with subs versus dubs. For me, my personal preference is just to watch a show in a language I can understand. Because I find that having to speed-read subtitles to understand what’s going on to be frustrating, and pausing the video is just tedious to me. But with an English dub, I can enjoy the show while also consuming it a whole lot easier than if I had to constantly read subtitles. Even if there are changes from the Japanese version in terms of translation, I still find it enjoyable.

I also find that with English voices, I have a much better time in determining which characters are talking without having to look at the screen. With Japanese voice, more often than not, I find that voices start to blend together, and I can’t really tell who’s talking anymore unless I can see them on screen.

Granted, that’s probably because I’m not Japanese, and I have not grown up with the Japanese culture. So that’s probably why it’s hard for me to distinguish Japanese voices most of the time.

Which leads me to my next statement.

I want to create a manga series, but I am not Japanese. I have no Asian background whatsoever. I am an American with a Swedish and Irish background. And for a lot of hardcore manga/anime fans, any story using the manga style, but is created by people outside of Japan, it is not considered as “authentic” manga/anime. As a result, they tend to dismiss these series as simply imitations.

This caused me some concern. Would my series be taken as a manga, despite its American origin? Or would it be just taken an American comic series with manga elements? Don’t me wrong, I have nothing against American comics. I have enjoyed a few from time to time. However, I didn’t want my series to not be considered a manga simply because it is created by an American woman who happens to draw in that kind of style.

This then got me thinking about something. Something I’ve been noticing over the course of my time with manga/anime.

What defines manga and anime today?

When I stopped and thought about it, there are lots of examples of manga/anime styles that are created outside of Japan nowadays. Just look around on DeviantArt. There are lots of artists from different countries who draw art work with this kind of influence in their art style.

On top of that, Japanese animation and comics were inspired from American works such as superhero comics and Disney animated movies. While the manga/anime style originated in Japan, it’s roots can be traced back to places in America. And great Japanese directors like Hayao Miyazaki, Naoko Yamada, and Shoji Kawamori drew inspirations for their series from Western media. In fact, many of Studio Ghibli’s movies take place in European-styled settings. “Kiki’s Delivery Service”, “Castle in the Sky”, “Howl’s Moving Castle”, “Tales of Earthsea”, and “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”, just to name a few.

And not just Studio Ghibli either. This also extends to anime shows. Two major shows I can think of are Fullmetal Alchemist and D.Gray-man. Both series take place in a fictional setting of Europe, with protagonists who have European backgrounds.

Note that both series were created by Japanese mangakas: Hiromu Arakawa, and Katsura Hoshino.

Upon realizing all of this, it got me thinking about what defines the medium today. Is it an art form that is just limited to Japan? Or has its meaning and influence changed?

To refer back to “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, there’s a quote from Master Piandao in the episode, “Sokka’s Master”:

“The way of the sword doesn’t belong to any one nation. Knowledge of the arts belongs to us all.”

After remembering that, I remembered something else. When I was in university, I took a course that discussed the different kinds of ways of how the English language came to be; how it has evolved over time, how it changed over time in America, and how it has changed within different regions of America. Not to mention, certain words and phrases have changed meanings throughout the years, and are continuing to change.

While I don’t claim to be a linguist (I even have trouble with my native language most of the time), I’m sure that other languages have evolved over time as well.

Like language, art has also evolved over time. We have the Renaissance, which was a movement in the arts, developing a lot of techniques that many artists still use today. And art has continued to develop over time, with many artists finding inspiration from cultures outside of their own.

Animation came along and showed that 2D drawings could be used to express movement through a series of still frames. Walt Disney took it a step further when he created “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, showing that animation can do so much more than just silly slap-stick cartoons. Animation can capture the hearts of its audience, and make people laugh, smile, or even cry. It can evoke emotions just as much as live action films could, and maybe even a little more so.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg. We now have the technology to do movies that are completely CG. Artists can put their art on the screen with the use of tablets and intuos pens to draw directly onto their computers, and enhance their art work that couldn’t have done before.

Heck, I do that all the time with my own art, and I’m just an amateur.

And thanks to the internet, the growth of social media, and aerial travel, industries have been able to find artistic talent from around the globe, and can collaborate with other countries to create a product.

I mention all of this because it made me realize something. Art as a concept is something that does not belong to one country. Styles can have roots and origins in a specific country, but art itself is universal. It’s used to express, communicate, and evoke emotions and ideas.

So, for myself, I came to the conclusion that manga/anime originated in Japan. For a while, it was exclusive to Japan. But today, thanks to the global access that countries all over the world now have, it has become a universal art form.

Now, going back to my original question.

What defines manga and anime?

Well, that’s actually hard to answer. Because manga/anime itself has many different styles depending on the creators, even within Japan.

Just look at series like “Naruto,” “One Piece”, “Bleach”, “Fullmetal Alchemist”, “D-Gray.man”, and “Fairy Tail” (just to name a few). All of them are long-running shonen series, but their styles are all vastly different. Really, just put one page from each series side-by-side, and the differences in art style are apparent. Same with their anime adaptations. Take a screen shot of the main characters of their series, and I guarantee the differences will show themselves right off the bat.

Not to mention, the way they tell their stories are varied as well. “Naruto” is inspired by ninjas, “Bleach” was influenced by samurais, “One Piece” is about pirates and adventure, “Fullmetal Alchemist” is about alchemists fighting in a war, “D-Gray Man” is about exorcists fighting evil, and “Fairy Tail” was about wizards and magic.

Again, I’m using broad strokes.

As for shojo series, look at “Salior Moon”, “Tokyo Mew Mew”, and “Magic Knight Rayearth”. Again, stories about a team of magical girls saving the world, but the way each series was drawn, and the stories they told were different. Although for “Magic Knight Rayearth”, I would say it falls more into the shonen category than it does with the shojo category in terms of how it’s plot and premise are executed.

I mention all of this because these are examples on how the same medium is used in different styles and methods of storytelling. This can give series a distinct feel and look so that when you see them, you know what series they are from. At the same time, this makes manga and anime hard to define, as it is not just one specific style.

Yet, when you look at them, you automatically can come to the conclusion that they are indeed that kind of art form. While they all have different styles and methods, they all have that distinct feeling that when you look at them, you know what kind of art form they are.

So, what defines this art form?

Is it country origin alone? Or is it something more?

Because with the accessibility to stream anime on sights like Crunchyroll, Funimation, Amazon, and Netflix; and with manga and anime being translated into different languages and sold in local stores; I think it’s safe to say that the medium isn’t just restricted to Japan anymore.

So, what is it that defines it?

Is it the way they are drawn? How characters are designed and portrayed? Simplified lip-flaps, but with great attention to details on characters and single shots? How the camera moves like a live-action camera would, despite not being in a real-life setting?

Is it how the storytelling is different from western media? Willing to go into darker themes that western cartoons and animations wouldn’t go into? Having more mature content that wouldn’t be appropriate for kids in a western audience, despite some series being for a younger audience in Japan? Portraying philosophical themes in an artistic setting?

I’d say yes to all of these, but I think it’s something else, too. And this is the best way that I can describe it.

Manga and Anime are yet another example of how expressive and diverse art can be. The mediums are essentially 2D art that are treated like live action.

These two mediums have shown that art itself, much like our imaginations, has no limitations. There is so much you can do with just a pencil and some paper. You can create new worlds, more varied character designs, fantastic adventures, and much more. These two art forms have taken the concept of comics and animation, and have raised them to a whole new level.

Whether that’s good or bad is a subjective issue depending on what your critiquing and what your standards are, but that is what the medium has done. And with manga artists from different countries all over the world starting to create their own series, Japanese anime becoming dubbed in other languages like English, American animated shows starting to implement a Japanese way of storytelling into their works, and with Japanese works being influenced by Western culture, I think it’s safe to say that this is no longer just a form of entertainment that is restricted to Japan alone.

It has become a universal art form that is continuing to grow to this day.

At least, that’s what I believe.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think manga and anime have become universal art forms? Do you think it’s become a movement?

Feel free to share your comments.

Have a Good Day!

#manga #anime #editorial #art form #movement of art

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