Series Re-Read #33 The Illusion

[buffyangellvr23.livejournal.com]

The anti-morphing ray is still in development, and still has to be stopped. So the group comes up with a plan. Tobias will morph Ax and get himself captured. When he demorphs to hawk, the Yeerks will hit him with the ray and think it doesn't work.

I have a hard time re-reading this one because of all the angst.

Do you think they did adequate follow-up with this book, handled Tobias's aftermath well enough? I'm not sure what I think.

Taylor's an interesting character, the whole Yeerk/host merging thingy that we find out about her. And of course she comes back in The Test.

Also interesting that Tobias didn't want to kill her in the end...I suppose he didn't want Rachel to kill her if she wasn't a direct threat anymore...if they weren't defending themselves or something like that.

Comments

[acts_of_tekla]

When I first read your post, the thesis really clicked with me, and I couldn't figure out why. A couple of hours ago, I figured it out -- Kishimoto uses the same technique in Naruto in the Valley of the End fight. It's kind of complicated, but I'll sum up as best I can.

Sasuke, the main character's best friend-slash-rival, has left the village to train with a powerful exiled criminal, so that he can become strong enough to defeat his brother. Naruto manages to catch Sasuke and tries to convince him to return. When that doesn't work, he declares that he'll defeat Sasuke and drag him back to the village. In a heartwarming scene, Sasuke finally admits that Naruto is his best friend...and then declares his intention to kill him, and nearly manages to do so. In the end, Naruto fails to stop Sasuke in just about the most heartbreaking manner possible.

The reason this is similar to Animorphs is that previously, Naruto has managed to not only defeat pretty much every opponent he's come up against, but also to change their minds about the way they've been acting and make them happier, better people. The way the narrative is set up, the reader expects him to do the same here -- to convince Sasuke that it's okay to open himself up again, that true strength comes from caring about other people, and other such heartwarming themes.

The reason it doesn't work is that previously, Naruto never actually changed people's minds -- he just gave them permission to do what they wanted to do all along. Sasuke, however, is already doing exactly what he wants. When it comes to the traditional mid-fight flashback, he doesn't come to any great realization. Rather, the audience is finally shown exactly why he's so screwed up and why he's doing what he is -- and why Naruto will fail to bring him back.

It's an incredibly powerful narrative technique, when you think about it. Not to mention that such a complete subversion of audience expectation is pretty hard to pull off. In both Animorphs and Naruto, it is the point where the series kicks off a new level in terms of depth and maturity (and character fucked-up-ness -- Sasuke is probably a contender for the worst fictional childhood trauma of all time award.)

It's interesting that the only real examples of this I can think of are from series written for 9-12 kids. Does anyone else have any examples?