Laurus Nobilis (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laurus_nobilis) wrote2010-03-21 04:20 pm
laurus_nobilis) wrote2010-03-21 04:20 pm
Entry tags:
In which Laurus rambles about Wise Old Mentors. Again.
I've been wanting to write a post about Clow in Tsubasa for a while, now. I know, it's been a relatively long time already; this isn't exactly a reaction. It's more like rambling about why I reacted that way. Because, well, I was surprised that some things bothered me as much as they did.
I like Wise Old Mentors who made huge mistakes in the past, after all. I like them a lot. It's one of my favourite character types. So why did finding out that Clow had made a huge mistake make me headdesk so much instead of appreciating it as rounding his character? Well, I think I've finally figured it out, now that I've taken the time to look at the whole thing with a cool head instead of ranting in frustration about it.
So here's my very, very belated rambling about it. As far as spoilers go: I'm going to talk about Tsubasa up to its ending, but I'm not touching xxxHOLiC Rou at all. (I've got my issues with that one too, but they have nothing to do with this particular rant.)
Now that it's under a cut: yes, I'm talking about Clow keeping Yuuko alive. It drove me crazy at the moment. It got better when we found out that it wasn't on purpose (although I'm still frustrated at CLAMP for making us wait to clarify that part; there was no point to make it two reveals instead of one), but it still bothered me a lot. And it confused me to feel that way. Like I said up there, I like that character type. I like Wise Old Mentors with all of their flaws. I like it when we find out that they weren't always like that and they had to learn things the hard way. So what makes Clow different? It's not that I wanted him to be perfect; on the other hand, his flaws are what make him interesting to me, even though back in CCS they were just hinted at.
And, after some time watching new canons and rewatching parts of old ones, it finally clicked.
What frustrated me so much isn't that Clow made a huge mistake in his past. It's that nobody ever learns anything from it.
I've been thinking about it, and it makes sense. When I say I like this character type? It's true, yes. But the huge mistakes in their past come with consequences. I like these characters because they learn from their mistakes. Because they try their best to fix them. Because some times they can't, and they keep their same flaws all their lives no matter how much they fight against them, but then the next generation does learn after all.
"The Wise Old Mentor made a mistake" is only part of the trope I like. The whole thing is "The Wise Old Mentor made a mistake and then helped the Hero learn from it".
Obi-Wan failed to keep Darth Vader from going to the Dark Side, but Luke brought him back. Harry could master the Deathly Hallows without giving in to temptation, while Dumbledore couldn't. Aang learns not to repeat Avatar Roku's mistakes, and Zuko helps fix the mess started by Sozin. Arthur and Merlin are a new and improved version of Uther and Gaius. And so on and so on.
In Tsubasa, though? Clow makes a horrible mistake trying to keep Yuuko alive. It's an accident, yes; but they have to deal with the consequences anyway. And judging from CCS, it would seem that Clow learned his lesson about how you should let people go, right?
But Clow and Yuuko then spend the rest of their lives enabling real!Syaoran to do exactly the same. Ooo... kay.
And honestly, I'm not even saying they shouldn't have helped real!Syaoran. But it's really, really frustrating that their help isn't of the "here's how you avoid making the same mistake Clow made" kind. Nope, they're setting him up to keep a person alive anyway. Even if they know the consequences. And they're the good guys.
This would be a whole lot less annoying for me if the narrative showed that they're in the wrong. They don't even have to be unlikeable characters! They could still be charismatic and funny and everything they are; it's okay to like misguided characters, really, it is. But we're not supposed to think that they're doing anything wrong. No, apparently it's a good thing that a person who made a horrible, horrible mistake and the person who was affected by it are enabling someone else to do the same all over again. It's okay to keep your loved one alive! Really! Except when FWR does it, because...
... well, actually, we don't know. Sure, he doesn't care about the consequences for everone else, but you know what? Neither does real!Syaoran. And neither do Clow and Yuuko, apparently.
So. What was the point again, CLAMP? No one learned anything, and it's still shown as a good thing. I mean, if you're going to write a story where the next generation repeats the mistakes of the first, at least show it as the circle of fail that it is. There is nothing ~triumphant~ about it when nothing has changed. But we're supposed to believe it's a wonderful happy ending. For some reason.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the reveals about Clow in TRC made me headdesk so much. Combined with something else: they could have been great.
In CCS, Clow's role was to show that death wasn't a bad thing and that it was important to let people go; revealing that he learned that the hard way could have been awesome. (And, yes, I do think Rowling is an example of doing that one right.) For a long time, HOLiC (and the Mokona=Modoki book and even the drama CD) lead us to believe that the main source of conflict/angst in Clow and Yuuko's relationship was that they knew Clow was going to die; revealing that it was the other way around could have been awesome.
So the fact that it was handled the way it was is even more frustrating. I can find Clow a likeable character in spite of having made such a great mistake. He didn't do it on purpose, and then he learned from it and tried to change, right? But when I take into account that his way to "fix" things was enabling real!Syaoran to repeat the same thing... yeah, I just want to turn off my brain and pretend none of it happened.
Does this bother me because it's a character I like? Yes, that's a component of it, it'd be silly to deny it. But I feel so much better about my frustration now that I figured out I have actual reasons to want to headdesk.
I like Wise Old Mentors who made huge mistakes in the past, after all. I like them a lot. It's one of my favourite character types. So why did finding out that Clow had made a huge mistake make me headdesk so much instead of appreciating it as rounding his character? Well, I think I've finally figured it out, now that I've taken the time to look at the whole thing with a cool head instead of ranting in frustration about it.
So here's my very, very belated rambling about it. As far as spoilers go: I'm going to talk about Tsubasa up to its ending, but I'm not touching xxxHOLiC Rou at all. (I've got my issues with that one too, but they have nothing to do with this particular rant.)
Now that it's under a cut: yes, I'm talking about Clow keeping Yuuko alive. It drove me crazy at the moment. It got better when we found out that it wasn't on purpose (although I'm still frustrated at CLAMP for making us wait to clarify that part; there was no point to make it two reveals instead of one), but it still bothered me a lot. And it confused me to feel that way. Like I said up there, I like that character type. I like Wise Old Mentors with all of their flaws. I like it when we find out that they weren't always like that and they had to learn things the hard way. So what makes Clow different? It's not that I wanted him to be perfect; on the other hand, his flaws are what make him interesting to me, even though back in CCS they were just hinted at.
And, after some time watching new canons and rewatching parts of old ones, it finally clicked.
What frustrated me so much isn't that Clow made a huge mistake in his past. It's that nobody ever learns anything from it.
I've been thinking about it, and it makes sense. When I say I like this character type? It's true, yes. But the huge mistakes in their past come with consequences. I like these characters because they learn from their mistakes. Because they try their best to fix them. Because some times they can't, and they keep their same flaws all their lives no matter how much they fight against them, but then the next generation does learn after all.
"The Wise Old Mentor made a mistake" is only part of the trope I like. The whole thing is "The Wise Old Mentor made a mistake and then helped the Hero learn from it".
Obi-Wan failed to keep Darth Vader from going to the Dark Side, but Luke brought him back. Harry could master the Deathly Hallows without giving in to temptation, while Dumbledore couldn't. Aang learns not to repeat Avatar Roku's mistakes, and Zuko helps fix the mess started by Sozin. Arthur and Merlin are a new and improved version of Uther and Gaius. And so on and so on.
In Tsubasa, though? Clow makes a horrible mistake trying to keep Yuuko alive. It's an accident, yes; but they have to deal with the consequences anyway. And judging from CCS, it would seem that Clow learned his lesson about how you should let people go, right?
But Clow and Yuuko then spend the rest of their lives enabling real!Syaoran to do exactly the same. Ooo... kay.
And honestly, I'm not even saying they shouldn't have helped real!Syaoran. But it's really, really frustrating that their help isn't of the "here's how you avoid making the same mistake Clow made" kind. Nope, they're setting him up to keep a person alive anyway. Even if they know the consequences. And they're the good guys.
This would be a whole lot less annoying for me if the narrative showed that they're in the wrong. They don't even have to be unlikeable characters! They could still be charismatic and funny and everything they are; it's okay to like misguided characters, really, it is. But we're not supposed to think that they're doing anything wrong. No, apparently it's a good thing that a person who made a horrible, horrible mistake and the person who was affected by it are enabling someone else to do the same all over again. It's okay to keep your loved one alive! Really! Except when FWR does it, because...
... well, actually, we don't know. Sure, he doesn't care about the consequences for everone else, but you know what? Neither does real!Syaoran. And neither do Clow and Yuuko, apparently.
So. What was the point again, CLAMP? No one learned anything, and it's still shown as a good thing. I mean, if you're going to write a story where the next generation repeats the mistakes of the first, at least show it as the circle of fail that it is. There is nothing ~triumphant~ about it when nothing has changed. But we're supposed to believe it's a wonderful happy ending. For some reason.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why the reveals about Clow in TRC made me headdesk so much. Combined with something else: they could have been great.
In CCS, Clow's role was to show that death wasn't a bad thing and that it was important to let people go; revealing that he learned that the hard way could have been awesome. (And, yes, I do think Rowling is an example of doing that one right.) For a long time, HOLiC (and the Mokona=Modoki book and even the drama CD) lead us to believe that the main source of conflict/angst in Clow and Yuuko's relationship was that they knew Clow was going to die; revealing that it was the other way around could have been awesome.
So the fact that it was handled the way it was is even more frustrating. I can find Clow a likeable character in spite of having made such a great mistake. He didn't do it on purpose, and then he learned from it and tried to change, right? But when I take into account that his way to "fix" things was enabling real!Syaoran to repeat the same thing... yeah, I just want to turn off my brain and pretend none of it happened.
Does this bother me because it's a character I like? Yes, that's a component of it, it'd be silly to deny it. But I feel so much better about my frustration now that I figured out I have actual reasons to want to headdesk.