imbalancing toph
1 Apr 2010 02:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaigouApparently some 'shippers are convinced that this is a post for (or maybe against, I'm not sure) a specific ship. Or several ships. Like I said, I'm not sure, so for the record: the notion of shipping pro/con didn't even enter my head when writing this. If you want to read into the essay as an argument for/against A+B vs B+C, do whatever, but leave me out of it. I'm not even in the blooming fandom, so it's equally possible that fandom-savvy folks wouldn't even find any of this all that new and/or startling. This is me, deconstructing, for my own contemplation and entertainment. That is all.
A few thoughts — some prompted by the back-and-forth betweensnarp's posts and my own — and some prompted by comments and reports found in deep-link googling — and some prompted by just plain looking at the entire Avatar storyline as a story. The last of which really amounts to: let's treat this like it's a one-person-wrote-this, discreet unit with a coherent and continuous storyline. Can writerly logic inform the story's pattern — most importantly, to reveal where it got mucked?
There are three major areas I've been contemplating, but I'll start with Toph, because I think she's the hingepin. The first clue was a comment (where? grrr, it's all starting to run together now) saying Toph was a late addition to the playing field, and not part of the original vision of the basic storyline. Yet with writer's cap on, Toph's addition makes a great deal of sense. I might even say Toph's inclusion is practically necessary, though the reasons why are hard to explain from the outside (and harder still if you've not been in this position yourself, to be honest, though I'll try).
It's a sense of balance inside a story, which is what I was trying to explain in my post about Azula: that stories require a certain amount of... oh, not je ne sais quoi (though that's part of it)... but a kind of circular closure. Not 'closure' in the sense of 'how the story is resolved', at least not so simply; within the story's middle parts, it's closure in that every object has a mirror reflection of some sort. If you think of a character as representing a perspective, then when this perspective is reflected back in a distorted or altered form (the mirror, also sometimes called the foil), it creates a feedback loop wherein we discover more about this character/perspective via the alternate perspective of the mirror/foil. That's what I mean by closure: it's like completing a circuit.
So let's see what Toph can tell us about the storytelling patterns in Avatar.
If we presume S1 introduces the main characters, then we've got: Sokka, Katara, Aang, and on the opposite side, Zuko. The opening of S2 — the "middle part" of the story — unwraps the gift further, and within the first two episodes, introduces us to the next level of badness: Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Now look what we've got:
Sokka ← → Zuko
elder brother, average skill, no mother
Katara ← → Azula
younger sister, prodigy, no mother
Aang ← → Ty Lee
fun-loving, lightfooted, "one of a matched set"
______ ← → Mai
only child of wealthiest family, sarcastic, highly skilled
Toph was easily added to the storyline — from a writer's point of view — because in some ways without her (or a similar addition) the story remains unbalanced. Toph is Mai's mirror, and vice versa; they're both somewhat caustic, though Mai comes across as elegant and Toph — as befits a mirror — is capable of being elegant and ladylike and can't be bothered to waste the time. Mai can't be bothered for a lot of things, another point that makes her reflective of Toph; her 'not going to bother' just takes a different form. Plus, Mai's own expression of femininity is, in its own way, as subversive as Toph's.
If you're wondering about Aang and Ty Lee, look at the number of people convinced that Ty Lee is secretly an airbender. She may, or may not, be, but her approach, personality, and style are designed to some extent — consciously or not, and a lot of this kind of reflective closure is often unconscious on a writer's part — to 'balance' Aang's role in the good guys.
That contrast also serves to demonstrate the results had Katara been as ambitious and competitive as Azula. If Katara had taken over as leader (and she comes close, at points), that Aang may have been as easy-going and willing to accept her leadership (possibly even grateful for the direction) as Ty Lee appears to be when it comes to Azula leading the group.
Now, with Toph added in, look at the other patterns, and see how each informs the mirror-version.
[ Katara ← → Aang ] = [ Azula ← → Ty Lee ]
[ Zuko ← → Mai ] = [ Sokka ← → Toph ]
First, since you're probably wondering, Katara and Aang, well, that seems obvious. But what's also important in that relation is that Katara is competitive with — and knocks heads with — both Sokka and Toph. She's quicker to forgive Sokka, and she takes a long time to come to an understanding with Toph, but her conflicts with Aang are considerably fewer.
If you're thinking of the patterns as "pairings", then sure, you'd miss Azula ← → Ty Lee, because it's not necessarily a pattern based on sexual/romantic attraction. It's based on where the character is willing to be vulnerable. Katara can be open with Aang in ways she won't or can't with her brother and Toph; the only times we see Azula admitting to insecurity, inadequacy, or even just plain apologizing is with Ty Lee.
The contrast can be enlightening (even if unintentional): Azula is so driven and competitive that Ty Lee's easy-going personality takes a back seat rather than confront Azula head-on (at least until pushed to the very limit, that is). Katara is inexperienced in the broader world, and aware of her lack of knowledge, so she relies on Aang a great deal more. If we switch Azula and Katara, then I can see Aang responding much like Ty Lee does, willing to go along for the sake of going along.
Plus, I don't think it was a mistake nor accidental that Ty Lee is found in a circus, where her skills as well as her happy-go-lucky persona can not just be footloose, but also where she's entertaining people. It's a career also suited perfectly to Aang's personality. Nor can it be accidental for Ty Lee's explanation of why she wanted the circus: that she didn't want to grow up just one more of a matched set. When the story visits Aang's past (especially that of his childhood in the Eastern Temple), he's almost always shown as one of a matched set. But where Aang found a certain level of security and comfort in this, Ty Lee found it frustrating and erasing.
And, too, that Aang runs away from what he faces, and Ty Lee runs away "to the circus" (a classic, if ever there was one). Both would rather go avoid than stand and face, if at all possible.
Onto the next big pattern: Zuko and Mai, an obvious and canonical pairing, though perhaps the romantic aspect developed later, seeing how it doesn't really become a factor until S3. But if their combative, "I don't hate you" oddities are one-half of the perspective, then it'd make sense that Sokka and Toph would be the other half of this. Instead, Suki reappears and supplants Toph's role in this mirroring.
I wonder if, in "The Guru", when Toph is kidnapped to be returned to her family, if that wasn't (in someone's mind, at least) a possible way to vacate her role, so that Suki could fill the gap. It doesn't work, in terms of balance, and that's ignoring the overall destructive aspect of taking such a powerful character as Toph and effectively nullifying her. Not just by removing her, but by removing her through such a means: talk about literally putting her back into a shoebox. A metal one, but still a shoebox.
Note, also, that -- as best I can recall -- when Toph returns victorious, and Aang and Sokka find her, the next shot is of the three of them on Appa: and Toph is practically wrapped around Sokka. There were hints here and there that she likes Sokka (though I see little in his characterization that indicates anything more than having a deep respect for, and a great deal of simpatico humor with, her). Several fan commentaries mention this subtle thread in S2, seeing it as foreshadowing... that came to nothing.
In that respect, I see the Toph/Suki role as being a sign of disagreement, somewhere in the ranks. The only other times I've seen a storyline so tight in so many ways, but with a blatant break in the pattern like Toph/Suki, is when later I've learned that there were significant disagreements among the writers as to how things would work out (and often going hand-in-hand with some of the writers having strong feelings as to one of the characters being unworthy or inaccessible or similar).
See also season 6 of Buffy, and the sometimes unbelievable hot-cold characterization for Spike, and the yes/no, positive/negative perspectives taken on the Buffy/Spike relationship (romantic or no). And I don't mean from the fans; I mean very specifically from the writerly presentation of the relationship, from writer to writer, from week to week. When one week a facet is emphasized and the next week it's utterly ignored, there's some kind of dissent in the ranks that's causing this on-again/off-again representation in the storyline. That's what I see here, if subtler in this case because we're talking a proto-romance, which makes the interactions less overt, along with any negations.
One fan's con report mentioning Toph -- I want to say ComiCon but, uh, they do all run together in my head -- was that D&K said something to the extent that they wanted to "explore Toph" more, but weren't able to. Well, there's ambiguity. Weren't able to because of time? Or because they were dissuaded from letting a very non-feminine and atypical, and I should note, incredibly powerful girl -- have a relationship with one of the story's main heroes? (Especially when an abled, more conventional if still powerful, girl is already available?)
So, who knows, on that front. It's just odd, especially in light of the contrasts.
(More coming tomorrow, because this leads into the problematic aspects of S3, in terms of the storytelling itself.)
A few thoughts — some prompted by the back-and-forth between
snarp's posts and my own — and some prompted by comments and reports found in deep-link googling — and some prompted by just plain looking at the entire Avatar storyline as a story. The last of which really amounts to: let's treat this like it's a one-person-wrote-this, discreet unit with a coherent and continuous storyline. Can writerly logic inform the story's pattern — most importantly, to reveal where it got mucked? There are three major areas I've been contemplating, but I'll start with Toph, because I think she's the hingepin. The first clue was a comment (where? grrr, it's all starting to run together now) saying Toph was a late addition to the playing field, and not part of the original vision of the basic storyline. Yet with writer's cap on, Toph's addition makes a great deal of sense. I might even say Toph's inclusion is practically necessary, though the reasons why are hard to explain from the outside (and harder still if you've not been in this position yourself, to be honest, though I'll try).
It's a sense of balance inside a story, which is what I was trying to explain in my post about Azula: that stories require a certain amount of... oh, not je ne sais quoi (though that's part of it)... but a kind of circular closure. Not 'closure' in the sense of 'how the story is resolved', at least not so simply; within the story's middle parts, it's closure in that every object has a mirror reflection of some sort. If you think of a character as representing a perspective, then when this perspective is reflected back in a distorted or altered form (the mirror, also sometimes called the foil), it creates a feedback loop wherein we discover more about this character/perspective via the alternate perspective of the mirror/foil. That's what I mean by closure: it's like completing a circuit.
So let's see what Toph can tell us about the storytelling patterns in Avatar.
If we presume S1 introduces the main characters, then we've got: Sokka, Katara, Aang, and on the opposite side, Zuko. The opening of S2 — the "middle part" of the story — unwraps the gift further, and within the first two episodes, introduces us to the next level of badness: Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Now look what we've got:
Sokka ← → Zuko
elder brother, average skill, no mother
Katara ← → Azula
younger sister, prodigy, no mother
Aang ← → Ty Lee
fun-loving, lightfooted, "one of a matched set"
______ ← → Mai
only child of wealthiest family, sarcastic, highly skilled
Toph was easily added to the storyline — from a writer's point of view — because in some ways without her (or a similar addition) the story remains unbalanced. Toph is Mai's mirror, and vice versa; they're both somewhat caustic, though Mai comes across as elegant and Toph — as befits a mirror — is capable of being elegant and ladylike and can't be bothered to waste the time. Mai can't be bothered for a lot of things, another point that makes her reflective of Toph; her 'not going to bother' just takes a different form. Plus, Mai's own expression of femininity is, in its own way, as subversive as Toph's.
If you're wondering about Aang and Ty Lee, look at the number of people convinced that Ty Lee is secretly an airbender. She may, or may not, be, but her approach, personality, and style are designed to some extent — consciously or not, and a lot of this kind of reflective closure is often unconscious on a writer's part — to 'balance' Aang's role in the good guys.
That contrast also serves to demonstrate the results had Katara been as ambitious and competitive as Azula. If Katara had taken over as leader (and she comes close, at points), that Aang may have been as easy-going and willing to accept her leadership (possibly even grateful for the direction) as Ty Lee appears to be when it comes to Azula leading the group.
Now, with Toph added in, look at the other patterns, and see how each informs the mirror-version.
[ Katara ← → Aang ] = [ Azula ← → Ty Lee ]
[ Zuko ← → Mai ] = [ Sokka ← → Toph ]
First, since you're probably wondering, Katara and Aang, well, that seems obvious. But what's also important in that relation is that Katara is competitive with — and knocks heads with — both Sokka and Toph. She's quicker to forgive Sokka, and she takes a long time to come to an understanding with Toph, but her conflicts with Aang are considerably fewer.
If you're thinking of the patterns as "pairings", then sure, you'd miss Azula ← → Ty Lee, because it's not necessarily a pattern based on sexual/romantic attraction. It's based on where the character is willing to be vulnerable. Katara can be open with Aang in ways she won't or can't with her brother and Toph; the only times we see Azula admitting to insecurity, inadequacy, or even just plain apologizing is with Ty Lee.
The contrast can be enlightening (even if unintentional): Azula is so driven and competitive that Ty Lee's easy-going personality takes a back seat rather than confront Azula head-on (at least until pushed to the very limit, that is). Katara is inexperienced in the broader world, and aware of her lack of knowledge, so she relies on Aang a great deal more. If we switch Azula and Katara, then I can see Aang responding much like Ty Lee does, willing to go along for the sake of going along.
Plus, I don't think it was a mistake nor accidental that Ty Lee is found in a circus, where her skills as well as her happy-go-lucky persona can not just be footloose, but also where she's entertaining people. It's a career also suited perfectly to Aang's personality. Nor can it be accidental for Ty Lee's explanation of why she wanted the circus: that she didn't want to grow up just one more of a matched set. When the story visits Aang's past (especially that of his childhood in the Eastern Temple), he's almost always shown as one of a matched set. But where Aang found a certain level of security and comfort in this, Ty Lee found it frustrating and erasing.
And, too, that Aang runs away from what he faces, and Ty Lee runs away "to the circus" (a classic, if ever there was one). Both would rather go avoid than stand and face, if at all possible.
Onto the next big pattern: Zuko and Mai, an obvious and canonical pairing, though perhaps the romantic aspect developed later, seeing how it doesn't really become a factor until S3. But if their combative, "I don't hate you" oddities are one-half of the perspective, then it'd make sense that Sokka and Toph would be the other half of this. Instead, Suki reappears and supplants Toph's role in this mirroring.
I wonder if, in "The Guru", when Toph is kidnapped to be returned to her family, if that wasn't (in someone's mind, at least) a possible way to vacate her role, so that Suki could fill the gap. It doesn't work, in terms of balance, and that's ignoring the overall destructive aspect of taking such a powerful character as Toph and effectively nullifying her. Not just by removing her, but by removing her through such a means: talk about literally putting her back into a shoebox. A metal one, but still a shoebox.
Note, also, that -- as best I can recall -- when Toph returns victorious, and Aang and Sokka find her, the next shot is of the three of them on Appa: and Toph is practically wrapped around Sokka. There were hints here and there that she likes Sokka (though I see little in his characterization that indicates anything more than having a deep respect for, and a great deal of simpatico humor with, her). Several fan commentaries mention this subtle thread in S2, seeing it as foreshadowing... that came to nothing.
In that respect, I see the Toph/Suki role as being a sign of disagreement, somewhere in the ranks. The only other times I've seen a storyline so tight in so many ways, but with a blatant break in the pattern like Toph/Suki, is when later I've learned that there were significant disagreements among the writers as to how things would work out (and often going hand-in-hand with some of the writers having strong feelings as to one of the characters being unworthy or inaccessible or similar).
See also season 6 of Buffy, and the sometimes unbelievable hot-cold characterization for Spike, and the yes/no, positive/negative perspectives taken on the Buffy/Spike relationship (romantic or no). And I don't mean from the fans; I mean very specifically from the writerly presentation of the relationship, from writer to writer, from week to week. When one week a facet is emphasized and the next week it's utterly ignored, there's some kind of dissent in the ranks that's causing this on-again/off-again representation in the storyline. That's what I see here, if subtler in this case because we're talking a proto-romance, which makes the interactions less overt, along with any negations.
One fan's con report mentioning Toph -- I want to say ComiCon but, uh, they do all run together in my head -- was that D&K said something to the extent that they wanted to "explore Toph" more, but weren't able to. Well, there's ambiguity. Weren't able to because of time? Or because they were dissuaded from letting a very non-feminine and atypical, and I should note, incredibly powerful girl -- have a relationship with one of the story's main heroes? (Especially when an abled, more conventional if still powerful, girl is already available?)
So, who knows, on that front. It's just odd, especially in light of the contrasts.
(More coming tomorrow, because this leads into the problematic aspects of S3, in terms of the storytelling itself.)
no subject
Date: 2 Apr 2010 12:08 pm (UTC)Toph and Sokka would be an interesting pair, unless of course he goes with the more conventional female...
no subject
Date: 2 Apr 2010 08:02 pm (UTC)Nickelodeon enforcing the status quodestiny. Or something.no subject
Date: 7 Apr 2010 02:36 pm (UTC)