Cranial Gunk

The risk of any sequel is that it could potentially denigrate the original that inspired it. Like when Paramount, MTV, and Nickelodeon joined together to attack the Asian American community and Airbender fans by insisting on casting all White actors as lead characters in the Asian influenced story (Learn the full story at racebending.com).

OK, it wasn’t a sequel in the strict definition of the word but an adaptation of the original is just the same to me. And just the same, I have not forgiven MTV or Nickelodeon for their role (and silence) in the attack. Nickelodeon in particular because my children are in its target demographic.

I have fond memories of watching the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series on TV. It is one of the few shows we actually watched together – my boys, me, and their mother. Happily, that’s something M. Night Shymalan’s poor adaptation and Paramount’s anti-Asian fervor couldn’t take away. But I was still hesitant, despite my fond memories and reading that the creators and writers of the original would lead the development of its sequel, The Legend of Korra. 

Happily, it shares the same appealing characteristics of the original: an interesting storyline, likeable protagonists, and it deftly balances between potentially heavy social drama and humor. We (the boys, me, and their mother) watched the first two episodes of Korra online last Saturday night. Without cable, it was our way of celebrating this new “book” in the Avatar story.

I like that it wasn’t “The Continuing Adventures of…” And that it takes place two generations after the conclusion of the original Avatar story. Doing so gave it an added sense of “realism”. It made sense to me that it would take two generations to recover from the war between the Fire Nation and the other tribes. It seemed reasonable that this new generation would be somewhat “detached” from the war. It’s sort of how I felt reading about World War II in high school. My grandmother and parents lived through the war (albeit in China through the Massacre at Nanjing) but to me it was just another chapter in my social studies textbook. It’s how I expect my children will see 9/11 (they were both born after).

I also like that it is “realistic” about the challenges of creating the harmonious society imagined by Aang and Zuko when they joined the nations to form the Republic. Free from the bonds of war, the tribes find creative ways to fill their newly acquired leisure time like attending “Pro-bending” tournaments, where benders work in teams to compete in public matches. While many enjoy these shows, others protest the inequalities between benders and non-benders.  And there are gangs of benders abusing their powers and extorting money from non-benders. You could say that the tribes have traded one war for another.

I don’t know if future full episodes will be made available online. Everyone in this house definitely hopes so. We started watching the original Avatar series on Netflix this week. Having seen the end, it is interesting to be reminded of how characters like Aang, Zuko, and Katara were when the show started and how they matured by the show’s end.

Korra being 17 and a girl introduces some potentially complex and engaging stories, if the writers stay in tune with the challenges of moving from adolescence to adulthood. If they choose to write Korra into a relationship, will they address the insecurities and jealousies that arise when one partner is more “gifted” than the other? It might be interesting to compare Tenzin’s (as a powerful bender) marriage to a non-bender. Is there tension there between him and his wife caused by his brothers and sisters or his wife’s family? How does that dynamic change if Korra dates a non-bender? 

If I were to put together a “Recommended Reading” list for dads, Fàbio Moon and Gabriel Bà’s Daytripper would definitely be on it.

It’s tough for me to talk about it without spoiling it for those who haven’t read it yet. I suck at being coy with the details – especially when it comes to a story like Daytripper — where I’ve been so eager to tell to anyone who’ll listen about it.

So let me warn you now: POSSIBLE SPOILERS.

If you are the type that gets put off when an ending is prematurely revealed, STOP HERE. I’m more of a “process guy”. I’m more interested in how the story got to where ever it ends up than the ending itself (though in this case, it is the ending that makes sense of everything on the “trip”).

Daytripper is a surreal journey that might immediately be mistaken as one man’s life flashing before his eyes but after the second chapter it might be that the man is being shown his “alternate lives” so he can pass in peace. Providing an itinerary for the “trip”, each chapter is named after the man’s age as it relates to that part of the story.

The story begins with the grown (32 year old) son of a famous father waiting across the street from the auditorium where his father is to receive an award. He is in an empty bar killing some time before the start of the event. He starts out just wanting a pack of cigarettes, but the bar is empty and the bartender seems friendly (Conducive for “just one drink”).

The bar is named “Genaro”, so it is natural for, Bràs, the son of the famous father to ask the bartender: “So, are you Genaro?” The bartender responds: “That’s what most people think. But, Genaro, was my father’s name… He named it after himself. I just inherited the place.”

“You could have changed the name of the bar,” Bràs says.

The bartender, Genarinho, responds, “It would still be his bar and I would still be his son.”

Bràs: “We’re all somebody’s son, right?”

Genarinho: “Right. We just don’t get to choose our family.”

Genarinho’s nephew enters the bar. This is where the introduction ends and story begins.

Bràs is a writer like his father. But unlike his father, no one recognizes him as a “cultural icon”. He writes obituaries, which either Jorge, Bràs’ best friend, or his girlfriend (I can’t remember) tell him is as equally important because of the sense of closure they offer to the surviving families of the deceased.

I wouldn’t say Bràs is jealous of his father (at least not in the poisonous way that drives soap opera plots). I would say Bràs wants to be a peer to his father. In the events leading up to the start of the story, you are told that Bràs’ father has forgotten his birthday and has forgotten to invite him to the ceremony being held in his honor. It is his mother, who urges him to go and it is Bràs who leads you to believe father has done this before and that Bràs does not interpret it as a personal slight but as a slightly painful part of his father’s personality. So of course he is going to the gala honoring his father, direct invite or not.

Among the many themes possible in Daytripper is the one of “action”. Bràs struggles with his inertness. The example that comes to mind is how, when you were a young child, you were told to stay where you were, if you were ever separated from your parent and lost.

Bràs is lost. He is not unhappy about his job as a obituary writer but he is uninspired by it. He wants more. Bràs is lost and doing what that lost child was told to do – staying right where he was when he realized he was lost and waiting for a parent to find him and set him back on his way.

His friends – Lemanja (goddess of the sea and protector of children)  – even his parents – all tell him to take action – to decide – and be on his way. But he has many reasons – both real and invented — for hesitating. In the context of the story, you are never told whether the events that happen to him after the bar are real or imagined.

Another possible theme in the story directly addresses the relationship between father and son – legacy?

There is no doubt about the influence Bràs’ father has on his life, though it is not an intentional or direct influence. Bràs’ father is not depicted as being overbearing or domineering. It is more a condition of how Bràs empowers the image of his father in his life. I say “image” because his father probably has no clue about the weight of his actions on his son.

As a father of sons, it is the ending of Daytripper that makes it a must read for fathers. I wish I was smart enough to properly convey the sense of its profundity I felt when I read it. I can say though that it is a lost letter from his deceased father found within the pages of Bràs’ first book. And add that the way the letter was found and who found the letter is very symbolic of the relationship between fathers and sons.

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