I'm Back and Fighting Divine Influence

So when I wrote two weeks I really meant three. So sue me.

This piece in io9 is just so wrong it hurts my brain. Read:

The presence of God in television finales alarms me for a number of reasons. Culturally, I think it reflects the general shift toward conservatism in the West. Most stories that involve the presence of God (or at least a divine entity of some sort, whether it's Krishna in The Bhagavad-Gita or The Furies/Eumenides in The Oresteia, are about characters finding their path at a moment of confusion, or coming back down to Earth after reaching too high. In both cases, the Divine re-establishes the "natural" order. Arjuna steps into his role as a virtuous prince. Orestes accepts that vengeance is not his to take.

These stories come from an inherently conservative point of view: everyone has a place to stand and a part to play, and attempts to step outside those boundaries can only result in pain and suffering. You'll notice that stories about God commonly involve triumph over the self, not triumph over an oppressive regime - Arjuna never once thinks that he should share his riches with the lower castes, or that he'll unseat the monarchy once he wins the battle. Doing so would overturn the "natural" order of his environment. Arjuna's kingdom, once he wins it, will continue to rely on slavery to sustain itself - because that's how Krishna wants it. God's role in these stories is a conservator, one who might snip off poisoned buds or gently nudge humans in one direction or another in attempt to preserve that which is good and right, without radically altering anything. God conserves the status quo, and we're supposed to take comfort in that: a place for everyone, and everyone in their place.

Recent American television finales have embraced this logic. The endings of Avatar: The Last Airbender, Battlestar Galactica, and LOST all involve a divine figure returning balance to an earthly equation by repeating an ancient pattern. The Avatar achieves his final state and the four nations again live in harmony. Humans create Cylons, battle Cylons, and become Cylons. The Island calls people in need of personal change, gives it to them, then lets them go (to Heaven) before calling another group. All of this has happened before, and will happen again. The pattern doesn't change, it simply repeats.

Another word for "repetition" is "letdown."

...

...lately on American television, they haven't. Lately, all tension has been drained from their actions, and all opportunities for choice have been robbed from them by fate. Does it matter that humans created Cylons? Not really. They did it because God wanted them to. Does it matter that the Losties all had issues with their parents that they needed to overcome before they could be whole? Nah. They were all in Purgatory, anyhow. Does it matter that Aang had lost access to the Avatar State? No - apparently stray rocks can unblock his chakra. (That's right, kids: Aang works like the Millennium Falcon - a well-placed punch can bring his circuits back online.)

Sorry for the long quote, but it's needed to give the argument it's due. The last two paragraphs beg the question: did this person even watch the end of these series? Does it matter that humans created Cylons? Yes, it certainly does matter, because humans and Cylons were stuck in an endless cycle of self-destruction. The cycle that supposedly robs the characters of choice is what the characters choose to escape from. Lee convinces everyone in the fleet to abandon technology and then the humans and Cylons become one people. This breaks the cycle.

Does it matter that the characters on Lost had issues? Yes, it definitely does. First, they were not all in purgatory in the Island universe. The Island is real, the choices the characters made on the Island mattered. Jack's choices (to become the new protector and to send Desmond into glowy cave) lead to his own death. Sawyer's choice to not trust Jack led to Sayid, Sun, and Jin's death. Second, The flash-sideways were visions of prugatory/limbo/in-between. The thing about the flash-sideways is that they showed the characters dealing with their issues and letting go. So whether they were in purgatory or on the Island, the characters had to make choices and develop in order to move on.

The rock freeing Aang's Avatar state is just unimaginative writing, but who cares? Aang entering his Avatar, I guess, was necessary for him to win the fight with Ozai, but it was certainly necessary for Aang's character development. Aang entering his Avatar allows him to choose to abandon it, to choose to not follow the path that the past-Avatars said he had to. Aang chooses to not kill. Aang is the Avatar and as such it is his responsibility to keep the harmony between the elements. He is told by authority that he must do two things the fulfill his responsibility: kill Ozai and give up his love for Katara. He refuses to do both.

So, where's the lack of choice? Where's the divinity robbing these characters of their development? 'Cause all I see are characters having a cycle or path laid before them and choosing to either follow it or to find their own way. What's more, they're often making choices that have nothing to do with the cycle/path. You might not like the spiritualism in television today, but the notion that it's taking away from the characters just isn't true. At least, not in the series discussed here.