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? 

Just before the recent Christmas holiday, Jennifer at Retrevo.com sent out a list of “Epic Nerd-Approved Movies for Kids.” It concluded a longer list of overall Nerd-Approved Movies (scroll to the bottom of their list for the kids movies). It included (in my opinion) some great movies like The Goonies, The Secret of Nimh, The Witches, and The Dark Crystal. It also included some questionable cinematic ventures like Mac and Me and Titan AE.

It left out all of the Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli movies that are my family’s favorites.

I’m the worst when it comes to “kid appropriate.” My rating system involves my guessing at what will and will not give my children nightmares.

I’ve already written about the time I read my eldest Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are. But there is also the time my eldest and I watched Toby Maguire’s Spider-man. He might have been three. I didn’t see the harm. I was comfortable with the level of violence and there was no sexually suggestive nudity. The movie quickly became his favorite and he asked to watch it repeatedly.

Then one time, during one of the viewings he screamed for me to turn it off. But it wasn’t the depiction of the Green Goblin or the fighting that suddenly scared him – It was too early in the movie. The scene that frightened him despite his seeing it several times before was the scene where Peter is bitten by the spider! Somewhere between this current viewing and the last time he saw the movie, he became afraid of spider bites.

He can watch the entire Spider-man movie now but the incident has left me fearful. I have become acutely sensitive to every gasp and jerk he and his brother make when they watch a movie.

To be fair, Jennifer did include Princess Mononoke on her overall Nerd-Approved list. She put it in the “A Flair for the Dramatic” along with some of my favorite movies (Gattaca, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and Donnie Darko). I don’t know why Mac and Me beat out Kiki’s Delivery Service or Spirited Away for a spot on her Kids list.

I bought the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection on Ebay several years ago after watching Turner Classic Movies festival of Hayao Miyazaki movies. They showed both dubbed and subtitled versions of my favorite Studio Ghibli films like My Neighbor Tortoro — my youngest used to refer to this as the “girl gòhgō (big brother)and me” movie — Princess Mononoke — my eldest calls this the “Bloody Movie” — and Laputa: Castle in the Sky – my eldest says this is his favorite movie. The festival also introduced me to Pom Poko and Porco Rosso.

When the kids can’t decide which movie to watch, I tell them, “We’re watching Pom Poko.” They’ll whine about how they didn’t get their choice but 10 minutes into the movie – slack-jawed silence. They are enthralled by the antics and the chanting of the cutely drawn raccoons and are soon spellbound watching the raccoons fight the humans to maintain their land and fight among themselves to determine how to best fight the humans to protect their land. The movie is comic enough to make its message of conservation and environmentalism, mild violence, and raccoon “pouches” (testicles) that some found overbearing or outright offensive, kid appropriate.

Wikipedia provides a detailed summary of the story.

Pom Poko is not in the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection but can be bought separately. The movies included in the Collection are:

1. Laputa: Castle in the Sky
2. My Neighbor Tortoro
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Princess Mononoke
5. Spirited Away
6. Kiki’s Delivery Service
7. Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso is about a “cursed” pilot who leaves the Italian Air Force to become a bounty hunter. It’s never explained outright why he is cursed but the curse gives him the face of a pig (which along with pieces of dialogue might help us guess at a cause). In the summary provided at Wikipedia, his guilt from losing his best friend in battle is cited as the cause of his curse.

The kids never ask about this. They never ask why Porco Rosso is a pig among humans. They take it for granted that cartoon animals and cartoon humans coexist on the same plane on screen. The aerial battle scenes and chases are enough to bait them into watching long enough to be engaged by the movie’s emotional themes like the sense of duty in conflict with the truth of the matter.

Another testament to Hayao Miyazaki’s talent and those at Studio Ghibli is of all the DVDs and Blu Rays I’ve bought since  the Studio Ghibli Movie Collection, it continues to have the highest “re-watch value” among my family. Whether its because we’re staying in due illness or short ill-conceived holiday or simple exhaustion, when there is nothing particularly engaging on Netflix and TV, a Studio Ghibli film is a surefire way for my kids and I to pass the time.

What’s your favorite Studio Ghibli movie? What movies have a high re-watch value at your house?