https://nordic.ign.com/avatar-the-last-airbender-live-action/78311/news/the-big-netflix-avatar-the-last-airbender-producer-interview-this-is-a-remix-not-a-cover

  • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
    ·
    5 months ago

    Isn't the story beat "kid fucks around until visiting the old air temple and seeing his dead mentor causes him to freak the fuck out and realize the implications of the war"?

    Why do a coming of age story without character development? Why doesn't Korra start out as a child yelling, "I'm the Avatar! I'm gonna do my best and respect other points of view along the way!"

    • Egon [they/them]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      5 months ago

      Its wild to me. it's almost like going "Moby Dick is a story about a man trying to catch a whale, but for some reason the author wasted a bunch of time on other stuff. In our remake we're only gonna show what matters: That bit where the whale drags him under."

      Or really just "we're gonna cut to the bone and show the only thing that matters: The climax".
      Did this producer grow up watching vines exclusively?

      "Avatar is about fighting fire lord ozai, so we've cut everything that isn't the fight"

        • Egon [they/them]
          hexagon
          ·
          5 months ago

          Most of the book can be skipped truthfully. There's about 80 chapters of whale facts and the first of those starts with "I know all there is to know about whales, so let me set the record straight: whales are fish" and then he goes on to list things which whales are larger than.

          • BodyBySisyphus [he/him]
            ·
            5 months ago

            He also stops the narrative dead in its tracks to go into an essay about the symbolic power of the color white, in case you, the reader, didn't get it.

            • Egon [they/them]
              hexagon
              ·
              edit-2
              5 months ago

              It's nice to have a story that isn't full of all the symbolism or metaphors. Just a guy trying to catch a whale

              • BodyBySisyphus [he/him]
                ·
                5 months ago

                I mean I guess it doesn't count as subtext if the author is going to the trouble to spell out what he means

            • Egon [they/them]
              hexagon
              ·
              edit-2
              5 months ago

              Now imagine they didn't have a time skip fast forwarding thru all the ways to cook shrimp, but just had 80 chapters of ways to cook shrimp. And the first of those chapters being demonstrably wrong.

    • Philosoraptor [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      5 months ago

      Because character development is slow and boring and gets in the way of the ~~ spectacle ~~ that Netflix audiences want. Character development is for children. Adults demand non-stop action and ironic quips.

    • booty [he/him]
      ·
      5 months ago

      Isn't the story beat "kid fucks around until visiting the old air temple and seeing his dead mentor causes him to freak the fuck out and realize the implications of the war"?

      Well no actually, "let's go fuck around with the elephant koi" is actually the episode directly after he finds his home destroyed and his guardian (and everyone else he ever knew) dead.

      • Shyfer@ttrpg.network
        ·
        5 months ago

        Ya it's not until the solstice episodes where he talks with Avatar Roku that the time line for the shoe really starts and they realize they have to kick into high gear.

        • booty [he/him]
          ·
          5 months ago

          I think it's important to the vibes of the show in general. The point of Aang's journey isn't "grr the fire nation killed my family now I need revenge." The catalyst for his fight against the fire nation is Roku telling him that Sozin's Comet is coming soon and that Ozai is going to lead another major invasion with it. Until that point Aang mostly just wants to help Katara learn to waterbend.

          • WhatDoYouMeanPodcast [comrade/them]
            ·
            edit-2
            5 months ago

            I see, these make a lot of sense. It also helps to create a slow burn for pay off of a battle with Ozai. Thank you! @cosecantphi@hexbear.net

            Edit: You'll cringe for this, but that sort of makes sense for Netflix to not have an elephant koi detour. I think the impetuous being the air temple + a vision for the comet would be a snappy pace befitting a few seasons of a Netflix show.

        • cosecantphi [he/him]
          ·
          5 months ago

          It's been a while since I've seen this show, but the vibe I get is that Aang's grasp on his power is still very rudimentary, so there's not much he can do about it in the moment, and so he just wants to take the edge off and have some fun to keep his mind off the fact his people were all murdered after he abandoned the air temple and deprived the world of the avatar for a century.