Monday, June 25, 2012

The Last Airbender Series: Jet and the Value of the Innocent in War

Jet represents the first truly guerrilla fighter in the War. He is the leader of the Freedom Fighters, the cliched group of ragtag soldiers doing what they can to make a dent into the Fire Nation. Rebellion groups like them are common in many movie and television wars. But it is so unbelievable how the ATLA creators incorporate such a extremist group into a kids show. There is no doubt that Jet is an extremist, and to the Fire Nation, an unquestionable terrorist, though we do sympathize with him because of what the Fire Nation did to him and his family. He attacks the innocent and will let nothing stop him from ending the Fire Nation. His most telling moment was his order to wipe out an entire village, filled with Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom folk alike. While the guilt of the Fire Nation warriors can be questioned to death, there is little question about the innocence of the other villagers. Why is Jet so willing to dispose of the innocent to achieve his goal?

You can easily go to Jet's violent relations with the Fire Nation to explain his complete indifference towards their safety. The Fire Nation army destroyed his village and killed his family. The Fire Nation as a whole is an evil entity. But his actions go beyond just stopping the Fire Nation. He will stop them at any cost. An innocent person is nothing compared to the greater goal of the annihilation of the Fire Nation. He shows this by threatening an old man dressed in Fire Nation garb and by attempting to flood an entire Earth Kingdom colony filled with Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation citizens alike. While his actions may seem extreme, there is no doubt that people have sacrificed innocent people in order to achieve bigger goals. Jet is merely trying to defeat the Fire Nation at any cost, and any life lost could get him closer to that goal.

It is impossible to determine whether Jet was doing the right thing. Should Sokka have stopped Jet from killing all of those people? At first glance, yes he should have. But sometimes in war, you have to match your opponent, eye-for-an-eye, life-for-a-life. This is how Jet operates. He is an unscrupulous guerrilla war leader. If you compare him to Sokka, another warrior who has lost a parent to the war, you could also see a sense of savagery in Jet compared to Sokka's civilized behavior. Jet has survived in the woods without a family, and only the Freedom Fighters to call his own. Sokka was protecting the tribe that he grew up with. The difference is not just in mindset. Jet is not protecting anything and is purely on the offensive. Sokka is a defensive minded person, more interested in protecting Katara, Aang and himself than destroying the Fire Nation. That is why an innocent person is not an obstacle to Sokka, but a person in need of protection.

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