The Avatar and The Philosopher

Separated by thousands of years (and the small gap between the actual and potential) Avatar Ang follows the ways of the Philosopher, Aristotle, in the telling of his story. The strangely profound and delightful anime style cartoon follows many of the standards set up by Aristotle in his work titled the Poetics. I claim that this is why the cartoon is so enjoyable and deep: not because it meets the personal preferences of Aristotle, but because they follow what is natural and true, as exposed by Aristotle, which makes any story, that's a good story, good.

Because of the more spontaneous nature of blogging, I offer a general plan for this perhaps overwhelming excursion but I don't
guarantee that half-way through we won't have to add or subtract, or multiply or divide. Don't worry, though... I'll do the math. Here's the current game-plan:

• Key parts of a good tragedy (which apply also to Epics and narratives) as applied to the Avatar:
• plot
• characters
• thought
• diction
• song
• spectacle 

We shall address these six features in episodic fashion dealing with them according to their importance. First, I will present the requirements of Aristotle and then present how the Avatar cartoons succeed, or fail, or both in varying degrees. These Aristotelian standards were originally meant for poetry (hence the title of his work) but I think that, though the medium may change, the inherent needs for a satisfying story remain "above its sceptered sway".