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shitty-reviews-by-me · 4 years

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“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is one of the best shows I’ve seen

This is your spoiler warning.

Note: I started writing this forever ago when I actually finished the show, but my procrastination is deadly, so I only got through the paragraph on Zuko before waiting like a month to pick it up again.

Note 2.0: I know that there are comics that continue the series where it left off, but I haven’t read any of them. All of this will be based soley off of atla.

I started watching “Avatar: The Last Airbender” for two reasons. One, I remember seeing parts of episodes here and there as a small child, and I found what I saw intriguing; and two, my boyfriend just really, really loves it. When it showed up in the Netflix Spotlight I knew I was going to watch it, but it ended up taking longer for me to get to it than I originally expected. I procrastinate doing things I want to do just as much as things I don’t, but that’s another story.

I’m going to keep the actual review short. The show has been finished since 2008 and there is probably not much that I can say that hasn’t already been said. Besides that, I mostly just want to talk about my opinions because I have a lot of them.

“Avatar: The Last Airbender” is great on all accounts. All of the characters were interesting and complex. The plot was extremely complex, but easy to understand by anyone, no matter their age. In fact, when I made my grandma watch the first episode, it seemed like she kind of enjoyed it. Of course it is also possible she said that to be nice and was really thinking “what the fuck” the entire time. I haven’t found a single person say they don’t like “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” but maybe I’m not looking hard enough. Honestly I don’t know what else to say, I’m sorry, I just really want to talk about my opinions.

Let’s Talk About Zuko (because I love him)

I mean just look at him. How could he not be your favorite. Zuko is probably the best developed character in atla, and I’ll be honest, I never saw him as a “bad guy.” I mean, he was certainly a villian, but he wasn’t a bad person. In the first few episodes, Zuko is already painted as a sympathetic villian. We learn that as a young teenager his father banished him, sending him into a search for the Avatar. A search that was seemingly destined to fail. It is important to remember that Zuko was a CHILD. His family turned on him and all he wanted was join them again. Zuko’s actions were overall understandable.

Now Let’s Talk About Azula (she deserves better)

Azula doesn’t get as much sympathy as Zuko for obvious reasons. When the show ends her fate isn’t as clear as all the other characters. We get to see Ozai rotting in a cell, but Azula’s last scene is her having a complete mental breakdown after Katara managed to best her in combat. I’m sure the comics cover what happens next for her, but again I haven’t read them.

I’ve seen tons of people calling Azula a psycho, and an irredeemable monster, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Like Zuko she is just a child. She is only fourteen years old when the events of atla take place, and is the product of manipulation and abuse from both of her parents. She deserves a redemtion arc. There are videos and posts that will explain Azula’s psyche better than I ever will be able to, but I’m gonna try anyway.

I would like to make it clear that I do not believe Ozai deserves redemption. He was a grown ass adult who abused and manipulated everyone around him. While Azula also abused and manipulated the people around her, she did so as a child, following her father’s example. In addition to that, we know that Ursa’s belief that Azula was a monster hurt her. Ursa never showed that she believed Azula could be a better person, and therefore why would Azula be choose to be kind and good when her father rewarded the abusive tendencies she developed? One of the big differences between Zuko and Azula’s upbringing is that their mother believed in Zuko. She believed he could do good in the world but failed to show Azula the kindness she showed Zuko.

The cycle of abuse is very real. Pretending that Azula is just some psycho, and not a child following the pattern of behavior she saw growing up is immature. There is no question that she regularly did horrible things, and I don’t even think that her friends, Ty Lee and Mai, or Zuko should forgive her if they don’t want to, but she does deserve a fresh start. Let’s be real, Azula would need a lot of therapy to even get to a place where she could potentially be redeemed or forgiven.

In summary, people need to stop writing Azula off as an irredeemable psycho.

Kataang: Thanks I Hate It (just hear me out, okay)

Kataang vs. Zutara is such a huge debate, and trust me, I’ll get into Zutara, but right now I want to talk about why I don’t like Kataang in a list format.

Their Age Difference-- I think sometimes adults writing teen/preteen characters completely forget what it’s like to actually be those ages. Aang is twelve (I get that he’s technically one hundred and twelve) and Katara is fourteen. While two years really isn’t a big age difference, especially as people get older, it is a little weird when the the people are twelve and fourteen. When I’ve brought up this age difference to people I’ve always heard the argument that Aang is mature for his age and that’s why it works. That is a faulty for a number of reasons. First of all, the claim that someone is mature for their age is used to justify inappropriate relationships by pedophiles all the time. Secondly, it could be argued that Katara is mature for her age as well, so there is no way their maturity is equal. My final point, there’s a good chance Aang hasn’t even gone through puberty yet while Katara is definitely well on her way on that front. Maybe that sounds weird, but males start puberty between the Ages of nine and fourteen, which means there Aang is at a pretty average age to START puberty. Females start puberty between the ages of eight and thirteen which means she’s well on her way. Like I said, puberty sounds like a weird thing to bring up, but a lot of maturity come from going throught puberty.

They Made Such Good Friends-- Aang and Katara had such a good friendship throughout the show. It could have been a great example of a platonic friendship between a straight cis guy and a straight cis girl. Instead we got the male and female lead end up together, just like they do in everything else.

No Evidence of Reciprocated Feeling-- While obviously Katara must like Aang because otherwise she wouldn’t have kissed him, I don’t think there was very much evidence leading up to that moment that Katara had any sort of romantic feelings towards Aang. Throughout the series she says she only sees him as a good friend, almost as a brother. I will admit, there were hints here and there. In the episode The Fortuneteller, Katara is told she’ll marry a powerful bender, and in the end of the episode she realizes that Aang is an extremely powerful bender. In the secret tunnel her and Aang kiss/almost kiss (I can’t remember exactly), and in that moment it seems like maybe she could have feelings for him. Other than various small moments there isn’t a lot of evidence that she liked him. I think the evolution of Katara’s feelings should have gotten more attention because the kiss at the end felt a bit like it was out of nowhere.

It’s A Missed Opportunity-- There are so many cases in real life of cis men thinking their entitled to a romantic relationship with a woman because they’re friends, or she was kind to him once. Because of the young intended audience for the show, it could have been great to show little kids that it’s okay if romantic feelings towards someone aren’t reciprocated, and that it doesn’t have to ruin a friendship. Also that no body is really at fault when that kind of thing happens. It would have been a good lesson but obviously it didn’t go that way.

I haven’s seen it, but I know that in Legend of Korra you find out that Aang and Katara ended up getting married and having children. I think that still could have happened if they ended atla as friends. It could have been them developing feelings for eachother as young adults.

This ship has potential but I wish they did it differently in canon.

Zutara Isn’t Ideal Either

Honestly my biggest problem with this ship is the fact that many of the people who ship it don’t take into accout the fact that they both (particularly Katara) have trauma because of the other person. Zuko spent months hunting down and intimidating the gaang. Like I said he’s redeemed himself but that shouldn’t just brush the terrible things he did under the rug. Katara threatens Zuko’s life when he first joins the gaang, and I can’t blame her for that. She doesn’t know whether or not he’s really changed.

Like Kataang this ship has potential, but it shouldn’t be romantasized beyond the limits of what is possible.

In Summary

(wish i could give credit to whoever drew this but i don’t know who it was)

I could write a book on all of the opinion I have about this spectacular series. However, I’m exhaused and want to go to sleep. I will not be proofreading this, sorry.

Legend of Korra was just put on netflix and I’m sure that once I watch it I’ll have a million more things to say.

I don’t know how to end this, so uh... Peace?

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shitty-reviews-by-me · 4 years

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An Abundance of Katherines by John Green (minor spoilers)

Prior to reading this book, I had only read one book by John Green, which was “The Fault in Out Stars.” That was two or three years ago so I don’t necessarily remember what I thought of it at the time. This means that I’m not going to be able to provide a good comparison of John Green’s writing style.

Obviously, “An Abundance of Katherines” is fundamentally different from “The Fault in Our Stars,” but overall I think this is a good difference. It was thankfully not the same plot as “The Fault in Our Stars,” with minor tweaks, as you may sometimes find with authors who seem to only have on trick up their sleeve. That being said I did not enjoy this book unil I was about half way through.

The characters were never static in how likable they were. Colin Singleton was was constantly whining and extremely self centered. His attitude certainly did improve once he was falling in love with Lindsey, but before then he was almost unbearable. I wish the story would have been told in first person, I think it would have provided furthur understanding of Colin as a person, and perhaps would have made him more agreeable. Hassan was definitely more appealing, but even he had his excruciating moments. What will be said in defence of Colin and Hassan is their relationship is engaging. They get along well and connect in a charming way.

The two most likable characters are Lindsey and Hollis. They are both considerably down to earth, believable, and overall good people. They certianly balance out Colin’s annoying personality and Hassan’s odd moments.

Other side characters, such as Katrina and The Other Colin, are given only a very surface level personality. But this is not a bad thing given their function in the story. They are simple and one-dimensional. I can not condemn “An Abundance of Katherines” for this, because these characters are still serving their purpose comletely.

I am guilty of reading other reviews of “An Abundance of Katherines,” and an accusation I saw quite frequently was that the book contained no plot. I completely disagree, especially in you are going by how plot is taught at an early age in elementary and middle schools:

Of course the plot may not be perfect but it does fit the model. Not to mention the length of the book was perfect for what the plot entailed. Despite my claim that the plot is well rounded, I will not go into detail as to how “An Abundance of Katherines” fits this basic model because I want to keep spoilers as minimal as possible. If by some chance I gain some sort of following on this blog, and someone would like me to go into detail, send me an ask and I will.

“An Abundance of Katherines” undoubtedly falls under the category of Realistic YA Fiction. Due to this fact I can not be extremely forgiving when it comes to inconsistencies. One of the biggest inconsistencies being the nature of Colin’s parents and their relationship with him. They seem to have contradictory opinions when it comes to Colin and how he must be raised. When Colin’s childhood is described they appear to be attentive and careful. This is thrown out the window when they approve of Colin staying with a family they have never met, in a town they have never been to. Of course a defense of that is provided within the, but I still don’t think it follows the pattern of their behavior that we see a limited amount of.

As for writing style, John Green made this book easy to read, and I must applaud him for that. However, the repetitive use of the words “fug,” “fugging,” and “fugger” is frankly annoying. I must also note that every now and then there are chunks of dialoge that provide no clue as to what is happening outside of what is being said. This lead to me having to reread these chunks of dialoge in hopes for some idea of what is happening.

This book is not perfect, but it is also not dreadful. Other reviews I have seen have been pretty well split between loving and hating it. So, I would say that if you choose to read it, remember that you are doing so only at your own expense.

Overal rating: 37/50

#book review #books #johngreen #an abundance of katherines #reviews

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