In part one, we talk about some of the bigger mistakes Shyamalan made (there are far too many to mention them all and they have been well documented on other sites) and discuss how I would have done a Avatar movie series on a thematic level. Parts two through four are plot outlines for the three movies.
The first mistake is that the movie was made far too soon. It should have been released about 10 years after the last episode aired in 2008 so the young fans of the show would be in their teens. This would allow for a more realistic look at the shows more adult themes (read: PG-13 or even R rating) including war, teen sex, torture, homosexuality (Azula and Ty Lee), prison life, enslavement, and especially genocide. Genocide is such a recurrent theme that one of them is even referenced in the title. In fact, genocide was attempted no less than five times in the series and was pretty much successful two or three times: Aang is the last airbender, Katara is the second to last southern waterbender, Zhao makes it clear he intends to kill everyone at the North Pole, the fire nation commander in The Painted Lady intended to kill everyone in that village (In The Ember Island Players, Sokka has a throwaway line about Katara being the Painted Lady which means that their ruse was eventually discovered and the village was likely destroyed.), and the Fire Lord wants to burn everyone in the Earth Kingdom to death. What's the point of making a live action version of an animated show, if we're not going to make a more mature version?
Letting the fans grow up would also allow for epic run times of greater than two and a half hours. Trying to cram the first season into ninety minutes meant cutting out a lot of details and storylines and that the dialog was about 90% exposition.
While I do think the movie version was more mature than the original, Shyamalan accomplished this not by exploring the realities of living in a world which has been encompassed by war for 100 years, but by sucking all the humor out of the original. The animated series suffered occasionally by trying to be too funny, but it would have been extremely depressing if it had no sense of humor. Aang and pals should be based off their more serious but still fun-loving season three versions. I would also bump up every character's age by 2-4 years.
One of the great things about the original series was how well thought out and logically consistent it was. Which is why the Fire Nation kept earthbending prisoners on a metal platform out at sea. Moving the prison to a rocky canyon undermined that entire scene.This is the equivalent of capturing a squad of Marines putting them in the armory, not locking the door, and then saying "Ha-ha-ha. You can never escape."
In the animated series, firebenders could make their own fire. In the movie, they could not. While I understand Shyamalan's thinking that firebenders have an unfair advantage because they cannot be separated from their element, it set up a scene where waterbenders were being killed by their own mood lighting. Also, when airbenders are separated from their element its called asphyxiation and its generally lethal, a waterbender prison in the series proved how hard it is to keep them prisoner, and the worthlessness of Aquaman teaches us that most battles take place on land.
The general tone should be similar to that of The Lord of The Rings films. Peter Jackson would be perfect to write the adaption and direct. Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of The Rings have a lot in common. In fact, the first season of Avatar was essentially a remake of LOTR. Don't believe me? Read this plot synopsis of the first season with the LOTR equivalents in parenthesis.
Katara (Frodo) and the brave, loyal, but basically useless Sokka (Sam) find Aang (the One Ring), a powerful entity missing from the world for 100 (3,000) years and the only thing that the Fire Lord (Sauron) needs in order to complete his conquest of the world. In order to save the world, Aang must be taken to Master Pakku (Mt. Doom) the only person who can teach him waterbending (place it can be destroyed). Katara and Sokka live in the South Pole (Shire), an isolated village populated entirely by short people, and are forced to flee when agents of the Fire Lord discover the location of Aang. On their journey Aang, Katara, and Sokka (the fellowship of the ring) are pursued by two forces: Zuko (Golem) and Zhao (Ringwraiths). Zuko is a hideously deformed creature with questionable loyalties and a possible case of schizophrenia who only wants Aang for his own purposes and will aide Aang’s journey if he believes it is the best way to ultimately capture Aang. Zhao is ruthless and unquestionably loyal to the Fire Lord. The story reaches a climax at the siege of the North Pole (Minas Tirith) which is won with a crazy, amazing spirit attack.
Finally, changing the pronunciation of all the character's names was just annoying.
No comments:
Post a Comment