PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological* I don't think I consistently watched Nickelodeon's AVATAR during its initial broadcast, so I'm playing catchup here, digesting all the rules of the show's fantasy-realm as well as a decent-sized cast of characters. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to pronounce it "one of the best animated TV shows of all time," but at least it's a contender.
I've read no accounts of the genesis of the series, which takes place in a vaguely Asian world. Since primeval times, there have been four tribes, each of which may spawn individuals who can wield power over one of the four elements: fire, water, earth and air. I've not seen anything quite like this talent outside of superhero comics, but I speculate that the creators might have been drawing on Chinese stories about the discipline of qinggong, which gives practitioners (in fiction at least) the power to manipulate great energies. One hundred years before the main timeline of the show, the Fire Tribe seeks to master all of the other tribes. One legendary individual, the Avatar, was capable of mastering all four elements, but the Avatar disappeared just when the Fire Tribe arose. I'm not sure what keeps the Fire-practitioners from conquering all their neighbors. The siblings Sokka and Katara-- the latter being a Water-bender-- come across a twelve-year-old boy frozen in ice. After they thaw him out, they learn that his name is Aang and that before he was frozen, he was training to master all four of the elemental disciplines, in order to prevent the Fire Tribe from gaining hegemony. But Aang didn't finish his training, and commands only the skill of air-bending. To save the world from the Fire Tribe's dominion, Sokka and Katara join Aang in his quest to master his powers.
AVATAR is a very likeable series, with a highly original concept and a playful sense of how to expand its fantasy-world. The twenty episodes of Season One-- possibly subtitled "water" because Aang takes lessons in water-bending from Katara-- are all good formula-adventures. Because those adventures are so peripatetic, there's not a lot of opportunity to build up support-characters, with the exception of Season One's primary opponent: Zuko, heir apparent to the King of the Fire Tribe. Zuko has a number of parental issues and desperately wants to capture the Avatar to prove himself. Yet in one episode, "The Blue Spirit," Zuko rebels against his father's admiral Zhao and rescues Aang from captivity, for reasons he doesn't entirely comprehend. There's a lot of good camaraderie between the three young heroes and even their mount, the six-legged sky-bison Appa. However, no particular episodes struck me as having deep symbolic complexity. Still, I have hopes for the next two seasons.
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