Maturity in children’s animation

Towards better understanding

As promsied, here’s a spoiler-free look at why you should, if you haven’t yet, watch Avatar: The Last Airbender! But before I go on, I want to briefly identify the type of maturity found in children’s animations like Avatar, Dennou Coil and Tweeny Witches that make these stories so endearing for all ages. Arguably, children’s story is at its most mature when its honest expression of moral standpoint succeeds in moving even the most pessimistic viewers (and I wholeheartly agree). What I want to look at is the different tye of “maturity” found in children’s animation, which may differ from how others may define maturity in storytelling. The below is what I observed from Avatar.

1. We are at first confronted by a moral conflict, which is more grounded in reality than what is usually depicted from a story intended for children. In Avatar for example, you would normally expect clear division between good and evil (Fire Nation vs the world), where your heroes eventually eliminate all destructive threats in the name of justice. Instead, Avatar shows that everyone, including people from “good team” and “bad team”, are capable of both good and evil, and we as people are separated only by our ways of discriminating people without any attempt at understanding each other (Gonzalez Inarritu’s Babel anyone?).

2. This difficult moral conflict however is easily (relatively speaking) resolved in a manner expected from a show for kids. Everything is back neatly divided into “good” and “bad” at the final battle where at the end, all evil threats are eliminated and we are left with a satisfying feeling that the world will forever remain healed. And while it is noble that Aang finds value in the life of a mad genocidal conqueror and is troubled by his responsibility to kill him in order to save the world, Avatar provides a resolution that is far too easy and convenient to do such a complex issue any justice. These nicely (and clean) established moral structure, which is lot more digestible for kids, is what separates Avatar from the gritty and cruel titles like Babel and Monster.

Babel acknowledges the fact that the hateful elements dividing our people will likely persist to exist (although there is still hope), while the moral conflict Tenma struggles through exemplifies just how diffiicult it is to face evil that exists inside all of us.

3. Ultimately, children are given a glimpse of more realistic and complex questions by initially dismantling that confined moral structure, before it encloses and comforts children once again. It bridges the gap between “children’s world” and “adult’s world”, and prepares kids for what lies ahead without  (hopefully) too much despair and doom. And that I think, aside from honest and well-excuted expression of simple messages, is the kind of maturity I see in children’s animations mentioned before.

Dennou Coil is in my opinion, the only exception in that it truly exceeds and shatters that enclosed children's realm.

—

and now...time for more bending!

So we’re back to talking about Avatar \(^_^)/. Here are few of MANY additional points why I absolutely adore and love it.

- Original and intelligent design. I previously blogged here about how Avatar combined already existing architectural styles to create a fictional setting that is both original and intelligent. What impressed me even more as the show progressed further, was the way they combined your typical “elemental magic” aspect with different martial art styles that is more than a mere superficial means to excite children. Stubborn like a rock, flowing and rejuvenating like water, quick and fierce like fire, versatile like air…and those elements in turn reflecting the character’s personality, their way of viewing and interacting with life. What’s amazing is how we didn’t even have to know these martial arts, just by looking at how fierce Zuko fights, or resolute Toph’s stances are, you can understand the kind of attribute these different bending styles exhibit. It shows intelligence, beautifully expressed, and ultimately original despite its re-use of already existing elements.

- Engaging journey of likable characters. The filler episodes take you to some really interesting places, filled with interesting creatures, people and their own little stories to tell. Even during these funny and exciting fillers, they never lose their sights on the overall story and manages to build up each one towards explosive climax. All done in a perfect pacing. Even better are the extremely likable cast of characters. They grow on you, and you’ll miss their silly laughs and endearing journeys once it’s over.

:3

- Amazing character of Zuko. He is just…wow. Initially he appears to be yet another one dimensional dime-a-dozen villain. At the end of journey, depth of his development is as moving and profound as Youko’s from The Twelve Kingdoms. And if you know my taste, that is about the highest compliment I can give to a fictional character.

- Flawless mix of action, comedy, romance and drama. I’m not saying its handling of action or any other element was flawless. I’m saying no element was intrusive to another, which is incredibly rare to see in any medium. It’s funny, thrilling, characters are adorably cute, and sometimes even heart-bending our emotions(/ducks more rotten tomatoes). A truly rich and wholesome entertainment.