Raimundo Pedrosa ≈ Dragon of the Wind (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
xiaolindragon) wrote2010-08-15 03:09 am
xiaolindragon) wrote2010-08-15 03:09 am
the dream stalker
Because I am not nerdy enough to come up with extensive background for a cartoon, I have to also take the dream sequence episode and analyze his head. What am I even.
For those curious, you can find that part of the episode here.
A little intro. Episode 47 is called The Dream Stalker. Basically Hannibal is butthurt because Rai gave him the double-cross in the previous episode and plots a way to really fuck things up. He goes into Rai's head, and uses a physical manifestation of Rai's deepest darkest fears to attack the monks every time he falls asleep. During this episode we get a look inside Rai's head and it reveals a shocking amount of insight to his character.
The scene opens up with him walking into a large familiar game room. The same one Wuya gave him back when he switched sides. One one hand it looks to be just showing how extravagant and sometimes materialistic Rai is by using this as something he would find relaxing but this is really driving home the fact that he's never forgotten switching sides. Further proving this importance, he's dressed in the same clothes as season one. The persistence of this memory shows Rai hasn't forgotten or let it go. It's something he undoubtedly carries a lot of guilt for, especially when we see it referenced so much so much later in the series.
Next, he sees Kimiko dressed up in her formal kimono, which seems to be hinting that Rai finds her attractive. He liked her in that kimono more than he let on originally, despite his teasing. Then, suddenly it changes to Wuya, instead. Further smacking him with his mistakes with how easily he was seduced over. This also could be that Rai finds Wuya to be a sexy bitch and he would not be alone!! But I imagine the physical aspect of this to be less important than his waffling over the good and evil side.
When the camera shows Rai again, his hood is up, much like he wore it while he was on the heylin side. Again, this reinforces how Rai seems to be constantly stuck on that particular time in his life.
Next his 'fear' speaks to him, and shows him a mirror with a much larger, older version of himself. A vision of who he wishes to be. The image changes into a small, child version of himself. This is supposed to be the true image of the part of him that feels fear. His younger self, holding on to ninja fred. It's notable that Rai sleeps with his bear even at his age, and it shows him holding it briefly.
And then something interesting happens. Rai's clothes change to that of Jack Spicer's as he denies to his younger self that he is his fear. Hannibal decides to make his appearence, telling Rai that "Looking at yourself isn't easy when you don't like what you see." This is kind of a loaded metaphor. Jack Spicer and Raimundo are foils of one another. Jack Spicer is a self proclaimed villian who does everything he can to be notorious and evil when the reality of it is that he's awful at it. He's a good guy and he can't stand it. He did so much better as a good guy and is scares him. This is all true for Rai, only in opposite. He's desensitized and jaded far beyond the other monks. He's essentially bad at being good. being underhanded comes so much easier to him and it bothers him. Jack is someone he can see himself in and that scares the shit out of him. Which of course is what most of the sequence is trying to nail into Rai.
The beach scene is next, and interestingly enough Tubby AND Jack are both there. He see's his friends, but when he tries to run towards them, they get farther away. Leaving him on the side of the beach with the villains. Tubby is an obvious reference to his first pride-wounding loss. A loss that happened simply because he had slacked off and not paid attention when he was supposed to. Despite making up for this loss, like everything else, these sorts of things never leave Rai's thoughts. He's pretty hard on himself.
After Hannibal interrupts again, the scene changes to a theater. Once again we see Jack a few rows back, and then Kimiko sitting right next to him. Jack never seems to leave his field of vision. With Kimiko this again enforces that he might have some kind of crush on her, as we see where his arm was once it pans back and Kimiko's replaced by a jellyfish. The screen in the theatre is playing various scenes of Rai's successes, though that is mostly ruined when the jellyfish shows up, and consequently, his fear shows up again too. Once again Hannibal appears and meddles.
The next few sequences are mostly Hannibal taunting him with what he's been able to figure out about Rai's insecurities: He's afraid he's not good enough to be a Xiaolin Dragon. He of course, drags it to the surface in the most disturbing way he can. The image in the mirror of half his face as Hannibal's of course is always his way of trying to dredge up his fall from good, by comparing the two and suggesting they are one in the same. Or at least, Rai is on that path.
His inner self makes another appearance, though, this time Rai seems to be much more accepting of its existence, trying to calm it down. Its now he finally admits that he is, in fact, afraid.
For those curious, you can find that part of the episode here.
A little intro. Episode 47 is called The Dream Stalker. Basically Hannibal is butthurt because Rai gave him the double-cross in the previous episode and plots a way to really fuck things up. He goes into Rai's head, and uses a physical manifestation of Rai's deepest darkest fears to attack the monks every time he falls asleep. During this episode we get a look inside Rai's head and it reveals a shocking amount of insight to his character.
The scene opens up with him walking into a large familiar game room. The same one Wuya gave him back when he switched sides. One one hand it looks to be just showing how extravagant and sometimes materialistic Rai is by using this as something he would find relaxing but this is really driving home the fact that he's never forgotten switching sides. Further proving this importance, he's dressed in the same clothes as season one. The persistence of this memory shows Rai hasn't forgotten or let it go. It's something he undoubtedly carries a lot of guilt for, especially when we see it referenced so much so much later in the series.
Next, he sees Kimiko dressed up in her formal kimono, which seems to be hinting that Rai finds her attractive. He liked her in that kimono more than he let on originally, despite his teasing. Then, suddenly it changes to Wuya, instead. Further smacking him with his mistakes with how easily he was seduced over. This also could be that Rai finds Wuya to be a sexy bitch and he would not be alone!! But I imagine the physical aspect of this to be less important than his waffling over the good and evil side.
When the camera shows Rai again, his hood is up, much like he wore it while he was on the heylin side. Again, this reinforces how Rai seems to be constantly stuck on that particular time in his life.
Next his 'fear' speaks to him, and shows him a mirror with a much larger, older version of himself. A vision of who he wishes to be. The image changes into a small, child version of himself. This is supposed to be the true image of the part of him that feels fear. His younger self, holding on to ninja fred. It's notable that Rai sleeps with his bear even at his age, and it shows him holding it briefly.
And then something interesting happens. Rai's clothes change to that of Jack Spicer's as he denies to his younger self that he is his fear. Hannibal decides to make his appearence, telling Rai that "Looking at yourself isn't easy when you don't like what you see." This is kind of a loaded metaphor. Jack Spicer and Raimundo are foils of one another. Jack Spicer is a self proclaimed villian who does everything he can to be notorious and evil when the reality of it is that he's awful at it. He's a good guy and he can't stand it. He did so much better as a good guy and is scares him. This is all true for Rai, only in opposite. He's desensitized and jaded far beyond the other monks. He's essentially bad at being good. being underhanded comes so much easier to him and it bothers him. Jack is someone he can see himself in and that scares the shit out of him. Which of course is what most of the sequence is trying to nail into Rai.
The beach scene is next, and interestingly enough Tubby AND Jack are both there. He see's his friends, but when he tries to run towards them, they get farther away. Leaving him on the side of the beach with the villains. Tubby is an obvious reference to his first pride-wounding loss. A loss that happened simply because he had slacked off and not paid attention when he was supposed to. Despite making up for this loss, like everything else, these sorts of things never leave Rai's thoughts. He's pretty hard on himself.
After Hannibal interrupts again, the scene changes to a theater. Once again we see Jack a few rows back, and then Kimiko sitting right next to him. Jack never seems to leave his field of vision. With Kimiko this again enforces that he might have some kind of crush on her, as we see where his arm was once it pans back and Kimiko's replaced by a jellyfish. The screen in the theatre is playing various scenes of Rai's successes, though that is mostly ruined when the jellyfish shows up, and consequently, his fear shows up again too. Once again Hannibal appears and meddles.
The next few sequences are mostly Hannibal taunting him with what he's been able to figure out about Rai's insecurities: He's afraid he's not good enough to be a Xiaolin Dragon. He of course, drags it to the surface in the most disturbing way he can. The image in the mirror of half his face as Hannibal's of course is always his way of trying to dredge up his fall from good, by comparing the two and suggesting they are one in the same. Or at least, Rai is on that path.
His inner self makes another appearance, though, this time Rai seems to be much more accepting of its existence, trying to calm it down. Its now he finally admits that he is, in fact, afraid.