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Post by nevets23 on Sept 12, 2013 21:07:01 GMT -5
I've watched many tv shows in my day, but when i compare this one with others, mainly three which i find have similarities with American Dragon: Jake Long, i keep coming back to the way Jake is portrayed compared to other heroes.
A lot of the animated main characters i've seen are hard-working, smart, responsible and rarely if ever make mistakes. All of this makes them admirable role models, but i can't help but notice that that's not always the case with Jake. He's not always working hard, he tends to get caught off guard a lot and needs to have a lot of things explained to him, and he frequently makes huge mistakes with catastrophic results. That's not really something a role model should do.
I've often compared him to characters like Danny Phantom, Juniper Lee, Penny Proud and Kim Possible, and every time, i just see more and more pros to those characters and more and more cons to Jake's. Why did the writers do that to Jake?
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Post by a3grimreaper on Sept 12, 2013 23:40:35 GMT -5
Because the show was written as an action/comedy where the others were just written as action, and having their heroes make ridiculous mistakes would serve no real purpose to the series.
Jake can also be viewed as a better role model than the others because he is easier to relate to. He makes mistakes like anyone, but he makes them right before the day is done. Making him the perfect role model.
The other characters set the example by placing an unreachable goal and being perfect, which no one can really do. Jake, on the other hand, teaches us that if we make mistakes, we need to take responsibility and fix them.
We don't have to be the perfect person, we just need to work to better ourselves, and learn from our mistakes, and never make them again. We need to make sure that every time the sun rises, we are a better person than we were yesterday.
After all:
“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.”
― John Wayne
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Clone
Maturing Dragon
That one dragon with no name
Posts: 2,243
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Post by Clone on Sept 14, 2013 11:50:50 GMT -5
perfectly said a3grimreaper, that is why i found the show tremendously more entertaining the the rest, because Jake was relatable and he was far closer to real than most animated shows.
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Post by nevets23 on Nov 29, 2013 18:57:56 GMT -5
A lot of main protagonists can say they've done great things (save the world, defeated an opponent that no one else could, etc), but Jake's basically doing what every other dragon has done; protecting the magical world. What accomplishment has he done that will make his name ring for some time?
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Blaise Zebrataur
Young Warrior Dragon
The Best Greeter
Ranked 31st in most posts on the forum
Posts: 1,740
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Post by Blaise Zebrataur on Dec 1, 2013 9:28:20 GMT -5
Personally for me I just like how he was written: a normal kid that everyone can relate to trying to live up to something that is almost impossible to complete the task of defending the magical creatures. His look, his style and attitude is something that will ring for me personally. I do see him being one of the great heroes, might be underrated or overrated by some but that's my opinion.
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Post by nevets23 on Dec 30, 2013 0:05:43 GMT -5
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nyc2dragon
Young Warrior Dragon
Their love can't be stopped. Neither will the show, without a fight[ss:American Dragon | Season 1]
Posts: 1,663
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Post by nyc2dragon on Sept 22, 2014 15:12:21 GMT -5
I don't know about other animated heros, but compared to Avatars, Jake is a hybryd of Aang and Korra. He has Aang youthful parnkster personality but he has Korra's aggresion. Though he controls his temper better than Korra, and even when Jake was at his worst most unlikable person, he was still more likable that Korra as her worst in first half of Book 2 when she told Tenzin off and broke Mako's desk and wanted to take the Unitred Republic army without the prsidents permisson.
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