Day 19(?): Boredom Got Way Worse, Trying To Make Myself A Victorian Friend

Someone who killed a person in pre-historic times probably prevented millions of people from existing

some tea boy zukos from my twitter

I think the Hunger Games series sits in a similar literary position to The Lord of the Rings, as a piece of literature (by a Catholic author) that sparked a whole new subgenre and then gets blamed for flaws that exist in the copycat books and aren’t actually part of the original.

Like, despite what parodies might say, Katniss is nowhere near the stereotypical “unqualified teenager chosen to lead a rebellion for no good reason”.  The entire point is that she’s not leading the rebellion. She’s a traumatized teenager who has emotional reactions to the horrors in her society, and is constantly being reined in by more experienced adults who have to tell her, “No, this is not how you fight the government, you are going to get people killed.” She’s not the upstart teenager showing the brainless adults what to do–she’s a teenager being manipulated by smarter and more experienced adults. She has no power in the rebellion except as a useful piece of propaganda, and the entire trilogy is her straining against that role. It’s much more realistic and far more nuanced than anyone who dismisses it as “stereotypical YA dystopian” gives it credit for.

And the misconceptions don’t end there. The Hunger Games has no “stereotypical YA love triangle”–yes, there are two potential love interests, but the romance is so not the point. There’s a war going on! Katniss has more important things to worry about than boys! The romance was never about her choosing between two hot boys–it’s about choosing between two diametrically opposed worldviews. Will she choose anger and war, or compassion and peace? Of course a trilogy filled with the horrors of war ends with her marriage to the peace-loving Peeta. Unlike some of the YA dystopian copycats, the romance here is part of the message, not just something to pacify readers who expect “hot love triangles” in their YA. 

The worldbuilding in the Hunger Games trilogy is simplistic and not realistic, but unlike some of her imitators, Collins does this because she has something to say, not because she’s cobbling together a grim and gritty dystopia that’s “similar to the Hunger Games”. The worldbuilding has an allegorical function, kept simple so we can see beyond it to what Collins is really saying–and it’s nothing so comforting as “we need to fight the evil people who are ruining society”. The Capitol’s not just the powerful, greedy bad guys–the Capitol is us, First World America, living in luxury while we ignore the problems of the rest of the world, and thinking of other nations largely in terms of what resources we can get from them. This simplistic world is a sparsely set stage that lets us explore the larger themes about exploitation and war and the horrors people will commit for the sake of their bread and circuses, meant to make us think deeper about what separates a hero from a villain.

There’s a reason these books became a literary phenomenon. There’s a reason that dozens upon dozens of authors attempted to imitate them. But these imitators can’t capture that same genius, largely because they’re trying to imitate the trappings of another book, and failing to capture the larger and more meaningful message underneath. Make a copy of a copy of a copy, and you’ll wind up with something far removed from the original masterpiece. But we shouldn’t make the mistake of blaming those flaws on the original work.

I just want all of you to know something...

Remember this scene in Avatar the Last Airbender, in the episode called “The Ember Island Players”, when the gaang goes to the theater to watch that ridiculous play about their adventure…?

And there’s this part that Aang goes “Uh… I wanted to sit there” because he wants to sit next to Katara?

Well, I was extremely disappointed to find out that, in the original, Zuko replies with “Just sit next to me, what’s the big deal?”…

Because in the Brazilian dub, I don’t know why or how or whose idea it was, but it turned out a million times better, since Zuko’s reply to him is…

“Sit here on my lap, I don’t mind it.”

And it was so sincere and naive and dumb and somehow nice of him, like as if he were his big brother or something, because the intonation is totally pure and kind, it was not sarcastic or anything! So yeah… I just think that was a huge improvement. It was cute and absolutely hilarious! Thanks, Brazilian translators, that was awesome! XD

Extra:

i like how literally everyone in the gaang is so good at coming up with convincing alter egos except for zuko and sokka.

katara and toph can come up with identities that are completely fitting for the situation, while aang just acts so outrageously that no one even suspects that he’s going undercover. (”there’s no way that this kuzon kid has anything to hide. it’s like he’s begging to be noticed.”)

zuko and sokka on the other hand…are complete ass at it. they discover this when the gaang tell zuko about the dumb shit they got themselves into in the fire nation.

zuko: wang fire? you named yourself wang fire? that’s like if i infiltrated the southern water tribe under the name mr. ice water.

sokka: oh yeah? if you’re so good at going undercover, then what was your alias in the earth kingdom?

zuko: lee

sokka: go on…

zuko: just…lee…

sokka: oh. so you decided to create an earth kingdom identity using literally the most common name in the fire nation. how clever. you should have just named yourself ZUKO WITH A C AND IT WOULD HAVE HAD THE SAME EFFECT

zuko: I WAS PANICKING OKAY?

aang, katara, and toph see sokka and zuko being potential liabilities if they ever need to go undercover again. they make it a game to randomly give sokka and zuko scenarios to which they have to create an alter ego on the spot. sometimes sokka and zuko will just be chilling at the western air temple, cloud watching or some dumb shit like that, and suddenly it’ll be like…

aang: QUICK YOU WERE SPOTTED TRYING TO GAIN ACCESS TO AN EXCLUSIVE COUNCIL MEETING AT THE NORTHERN WATER TRIBE. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT BUSINESS DO YOU HAVE THERE?

sokka: uh uH…oh oh! i know! i’m the ghost of the 33rd chief of the northern water tribe, chief tunriq, here to preserve the spiritual sanctity of my—

aang: okay i’m gonna stop you right there. zuko, your turn.

zuko: can’t i just fight them and get it over with?

aang: no!

sokka and zuko get pretty decent at it when they have to infiltrate the fire nation again, and they all continue playing this game long after the war is over. even though they don’t need to go into hiding anymore, it’s still a useful skill to have whenever they wanna disguise themselves as regular people to hang out. in a few month’s time, sokka and zuko are able to whip up pretty elaborate back stories on the spot, and the gaang feels like they’re finally ready to put their skills to use in public. but oh god. does it backfire.

random civilian: hey! you look a lot like the avatar’s friend. sokka from the southern water tribe.

sokka: i get that all the time. my name’s lee. i run a tea shop with my uncle in the earth kingdom.

random civilian: you mean like firelord zuko’s alter ego…? now that i think about it your friend looks a lot like him. who are you?

zuko: i am but a humble servant to firelord zuko, here to escort these earth kingdom civilians around the fire nation as part of the firelord’s campaign to make our country more hospitable to the other nations.

aang, katara, and toph: *whispers* oh my god he did it

zuko: my name is…wang fire

aang, katara, and toph: *commence internal sobbing*

from that point on, aang, katara, and toph decide that they should do the talking for them.

The gaang plays a stupid game which basically tests how good zuko is at finding shit.

It starts off with aang trying to make zuko more likeable by showing how good he is at finding things. He hides their supplies in a weird part of the western air temple and is like “don’t worry. I’m sure zuko can find it by the end of the day.” He finds it in ten minutes.

The game gets more ridiculous. Aang hides their supply bag in secret rooms that not even he knew existed up until now. Katara freezes it in a block of ice and submerges it in a nearby lake. Sokka trains Appa to keep it in his mouth for long periods of time without swallowing it. Zuko finds it every damn time.

They’re impressed and somewhat unsettled by how good he is at this game. But they absolutely lose their shit when it comes to toph’s turn. She hides the supply bag deep underground and assures them that zuko can’t possibly find it unless he magically became an earth bender and learned seismic sense overnight.

Zuko kinda struggles with this one until he walks over the patch of dirt where toph buried the bag. It looks normal but he feels...different somehow?

Everyone’s thinking “oh god. Oh no. He can’t possibly do it. Don’t tell me he’s gonna do it.” Zuko silently points below his feet and the rest of the gaang have a collective breakdown.

Zuko’s like, “does this mean you guys think I’m cool now?” They’re all too terrified to say anything but “y-yeah sure.” And poor zuko is too socially inept to hear the fear in their voices. He just smiles and thinks his friends are liking him more now.

I love this parallel.

EDIT: …just realized i forgot the veil on her hat.

I’ve had this post saved up for days, waiting to release it when I ran out of other posts, because this is easily the greatest thing I have ever voiced, and I don’t think I’ll ever be able to top it

but people keep sending me stuff, and I keep finding stuff on my own, so here it is! based on this hilarious comic by @liberlibelulaart

please do keep sending me stuff! I’ve really enjoyed doing this the last couple of months, and even though there’s still more to come, it’s mostly down to dumb luck, and the well is going to dry up real soon

I hate it when people expect me to talk, like is my “mnn” not good enough for you? :/