Am I doing another media analysis on Arcane? Yes, what can I say it’s a really good show. This time I’m going to be talking on a character who in my opinion is a really good side character, with great leadership qualities, I am talking about Ekko. Ekko was probably around 11 or 12 when everything goes wrong in the show, he watches his parental figure get brutally murdered, and from that point on, everything changes. After the events where Vi loses her father and all her friends and disappears, Ekko is the only one left, except of course, Powder, who now goes by Jinx, both Ekko and Jinx were very similar before this tragic event, they both wanted to be like their sister, Vi, strong and independent who punches every problem in the face. But after this event, Ekko slowly starts to distance himself from Jinx and Silco and his gang. Instead opting to start his own, much kinder gang, The Firelights, this is where we get into the meat of his character, most characters in Arcane are focused on 2 things, the past and the future, people like Silco, who only look to the future of the great city of Zaun. Or characters like Heimerdinger, a near immortal being who is too scared of the past to take any risks, not being able to understand that humans don’t live as long as he does. This is where Ekko comes in, I haven’t mentioned with yet, but in the start of every episode there is some form of backstory, whether it’s a story of one of the founders of Piltover, or a flashback of a characters backstory or inspiration. But the episode that is for Ekko instead opens with a rap music video style intro, with a really cool art style and song (Misfit Toys, listen to it) that leads into the episode. So why wouldn’t Ekko get a flashback or story? Because Ekko lives in the present, while all the big heads of government in both Zaun and Piltover do what they do for the future of their respective cities, Ekko grounds himself in the present, he doesn’t do things for the future, he does things for immediate change, here and now, in the present. The Firelights get from place to place on floating skateboard like objects, and when Heimerdinger finds Ekko and helps him back to the Firelights hideout which is the only place in the underground to have ever grown a tree, and a large one at that. And when he is asked about why he does these things and why he rides around on dangerous forms of transportation, Ekko tells “It’s not enough to give people what they need to survive, you have to give them what they need to live”. Ekko understands that not everyone thinks in such broad ideals like looking to the future, so he doesn’t just serve the future or the past. He pays respect to the past through a mural to all the lives lost, and he looks to the future in terms of wanting to end Silcos reign, but makes sure to stay in the present, and doesn’t forget about the little guy, who he once was, and now lives to protect.
Word Count: 543
No comments:
Post a Comment