What makes a character good?
It sounds like a stupid question but when you take a look into modern media you may
find it a difficult one to answer.
Often times we find ourselves liking a character simply because whatever show or movie we’re
watching tells us to.
Then there are characters that are actually well written, who have real depth to them,
who experience conflict and handle it in a way that makes them unique, almost alive.
These are characters who reflect what we are on the inside but are still able to achieve
incredible things.They're able to be what we want to be, while coping with what we hate
about ourselves.
They have flaws, doubts, emotional problems and relationship issues regardless of how
special they may appear, but they overcome that.
They speak to the masses because in the face of the enormity of the universe we feel weak,
even helpless.
These modern archetypes were a direct reaction to the classic all-powerful characters like
superman for instance.
We find characters who can do no wrong and are virtually invincible no longer relatable.
Maybe we’re jaded, or maybe we’ve given up on someone swooping in to save the day.
However, every once and a while we're given a story with enough length and with enough
characters to showcase multiple archetypes.
The Dragonball series is exactly one of those stories.
It follows Goku on his journey to get stronger and stronger, (and really that’s kind of
it if you think about it) But, if you never noticed, Goku is the superman of that universe.
He's the golden god who can do no wrong, with limitless power and a flawlessly innocent
man-child personality.
A bro guy who solves problems by having the biggest punch!
He can't even be stopped by death.
Then there's Gohan.
The son of the golden god.
The proverbial DB Jesus.
He's a character with high expectations thrust upon him from birth, someone pulled in opposite
directions at all times.
He's someone with a lot of fear and doubt who is constantly surrounded by the most extraordinary
people on the planet, told he has limitless potential but he doesn’t know how to access
it, or even if he wants to.
Gohan is a favorite of many, a hope for the future even.
But what makes gohan stand out amongst a cast of the strongest in the universe?
He’s easily the most requested DBZ character for SYNK and surely there’s a reason for
that.
So allow me to pose the question, what can we learn about ourselves and our culture from
looking at a crying little baby brat with his wiener out?
Don’t worry, I'm going to tell you!
So prepare yourself for a story of anxiety and triumph, a parable of responsibility,
a tale of boy with limitless power and potential who would rather play with dinosaurs than
work out with this green guy but totally does anyway so it's cool don't worry about it.
This is the story of Gohan: the first human-saiyan hybrid, the story YOU never knew.
Before we get deep into this it’s important to understand that Dragon ball is loosely
based off of a 16th century chinese buddhist novel: “journey to the west.”
While relatively unknown outside of asia, this book is the inspiration for a massive
amount of media in the east.
It follows the adventures of a buddhist priest and his entourage as they travel to india
in order to obtain sacred buddhist texts.
A main character of this novel is son wukong, the monkey god.
He has a pole that can extend to any length, he flies on a cloud and is incredibly powerful.
When translated to japanese his name becomes son goku.
So yeah, it’s that similar.
Regardless, dragon ball is a story with deep buddhist roots, but what does that have to
do with gohan?
To answer that we must first look back.
We meet gohan in episode one of DBZ and immediately get an idea of his personality.
He’s shy, easily frightened, pampered by his mother and emotional, but also kind hearted.
In contrast to goku, (who was a little older when we met him in the previous series) Gohan
needs to be taken care of and it’s easy to see that he is a fragile person (at least
as fragile as saiyan babies can be).
However, unbeknownst to the rest of the z fighters this unassuming child carries within
him an incredibly destructive power.
After an attack on earth by raditz Gohan sees his dad in danger and gets all roided out.
He fires himself forward like a rocket, cracking Raditz's Saiyan chest armor (something that's
supposed to be really really hard or something.)
This is a feat both goku and piccolo couldn't do at their maximum strength.
Having seen Gohan's potential power Piccolo takes him under his wing and begins to train
him.
Which doesn’t go super well at first.
Piccolo is a mad dad, and gohan is a little baby boi and quick to cry.
Not giving a shit, piccolo does things like throw him through mountains to try and "help"
gohan to get a grip on his power.
This is a direct contrast to what Gohan has known his whole life.
The one he’s lived for..not long...under the control of his mom.
Chi Chi is an intense and overbearing mother (to say the least).
She made it her life’s work to turn gohan into a scholar and loses her shit whenever
she finds out gohan has been fighting.
Piccolo, on the other hand, has no fucks to speak of and will readily pick up a kid by
the head and bash him into some rocks if he thinks it’ll make them stronger.
However (despite his repeated face-to-rock encounters) the dueling personalities within
gohan continue to cause problems.
He runs and hides from battle, He gets afraid and cowers, he's slow to react if at all.
The only time he's effective is when someone is in mortal danger.
These flaws continue to surface throughout Gohan's formative years.
First with his injured father being kicked by Raditz, then again when Piccolo dies from
an energy beam from Nappa, and again when frieza beats the crap out of krillin on namek.
But the reason Gohan is like this is because he doesn’t want or like to fight.
As we learn more everyday in our current world climate: power corrupts.
People who may have had genuine and benevolent ideals eventually become greedy and selfish.
Once they realize their power can get them anything they want they inevitably use it
to do so.
Why sacrifice your desires when you can always take anything you want?
However, Gohan genuinely isn't like that.
Despite his inborn incredible power, the only time he accesses it is when he absolutely
has to, or if it's in defense of someone or something he loves.
He is reserved, partially because his power scares him.
Raised a scholar instead of a fighter Gohan understands in some capacity the devastation
he could cause if he was to lose control completely, or even if he began to enjoy his strength.
Instead his lifelong dream is to continue his studies in peace, and be someone who can
positively affect the world through knowledge and peace.
The only issue is his dad.
Unlike Gohan, goku is a pureblooded Saiyan.
A naturally viscous battle hungry alien race, the Saiyans send infiltration babies to specified
planets in order to take them over.
If a baby grows and is able to accomplish that goal they are allowed to return home
as a full-fledged warrior.
However Goku received a traumatic head wound as a baby, resulting in the pacification of
his destructive personality.
Basically the only reason goku is a good guy is cause he has horrible brain damage.
This could also be the reason he’s kind of a moron.
Despite that his desire for battle never went away.
Gohan on the other hand, is only half Saiyan.
His mother chi chi is human.
This interspecies bang-a-lang left gohan completely without the desire to fight, but with a power
potential far surpassing that of his father.
Goku wishes for gohan to be a fighter, while chi chi wants him to do nothing but study.
This dichotomy that causes chaos in his mind is no doubt interesting, however it’s Gohan's
preference for his humanity that makes him special compared to Goku, Vegeta, even Trunks
and Goten.
Further still, the ordeals he goes through are just like the ones we too face in everyday
life.
We all have expectations placed on us that pull us in different directions.
We have things that we have to do and things that we want to do, which keep us in constant
internal conflict.
We have hopes and dreams and responsibilities that can get in the way of those hopes and
dreams.
Still, somewhere deep inside us all is the power to help ourselves do what we have to
when we have to do it.
Sometimes to reach this power we have to go through traumatic experiences like Gohan.
When it comes to protecting what we care about or believe in, humans are capable of incredible
feats.
This is the intrinsic difference between Gohan and his Saiyan father Goku.
Where as Saiyans are capable of incredible power through a desire for battle and strength,
(and more intense gravity on their home planet, but maybe ryan can get into that another time)
humans are able to double or triple their strength in times of great need; like the
classic mother lifting a car to save her baby.
No matter how far goku pushes his boundaries Gohan will always be able to catch up and
exceed those limits because of his human ability to surpass his own capabilities.
And also that saiyan blood he’s got.
That too.
If you remember our vegeta or earthbound story you never knew, you already know how the concept
of two sides plays such a heavy role in eastern thought, and gohan is the embodiment of that
concept.
He is a warrior, but also a pacifist.
He is a peaceful scholar, but also a powerful fighter when he needs to be.
It isn't until the cell games that Gohan's personalidentity becomes truly evident..
Even in this dark hour with the fate of the world in his hands, gohan still offers cell
a peaceful solution: "Look.
I'm giving you the chance to end this without violence.
I really don't want to kill you.
Even if you are evil, you can still walk away.
I'm not interested in fighting you just for the challenge, my Dad's the one who cares
about that stuff..."
In the face of pure evil Gohan would still rather choose pacifism over violence.
It's these ideals that make Gohan a hero, but also human.
Not necessarily pacifism, but his desire to… keep the earth from exploding and not doing
it for shallow reasons.
Despite so much internal conflict from his destiny being stretched between two species,
Gohan acts in ways that fly in the face of the power maximizers he’s been surrounded
by since birth.
He doesn’t want to fight for the challenge or the glory he simply doesn’t want to fight
at all unless it’s necessary.
Of course cell laughs it off and gohan proceeds to obliterate every single cell in the monster's
body but hey, that's why we watch the show.
After his victory in the cell games Gohan simply returns to his studies instead of wallowing
in his potential fame and glory.
Also his dad is dead now, but at least he doesn’t showboat!
That’s Hercules job!
Good ol’ Mr. Satan.
And unlike that afro’d hairy-chested man of ridiculousness, Gohan is humble, and smooth.
However when the world is threatened again he is no longer prepared to protect it, without
his father around he lost the balance in his life needed to maintain his role.
In literature and film this is called the second act.
In the first act the hero is established by growing through some kind of trial and then
accomplishing a feat that solidifies their role.
In the second act the protagonist must go through failure in order to learn and to grow.
In gohan’s second act he gets the shit kicked out of himself a lot.
But what of the conclusion?
Long after his failures during the buu saga gohan finds himself completely outclassed
by golden frieza's soldiers in Dragon Ball Super.
Almost failing and allowing his wife and child to be destroyed along with the earth.
Because of this Gohan vows to once again get stronger to protect that which he loves.
This is a turning point for him, where he realizes that he must accept both parts of
himself in order to be happy, because having something to love is having something worth
keeping safe.
“So what does this all mean?”
i hear you ask.
Remember in the beginning when i mentioned journey to the west?
How Dragon Ball is loosely based on a buddhist novel?
Well Gohan, Gohan is based on The Buddha himself.
Both Guatama Buddha and gohan were princes, (don’t forget gohan is the grandchild of
the Ox King, king of fire mountain, (and also a character rip from journey to the west.))
Both were fragile and emotional youths who were kept away from cold reality in their
childhood.
Both are prolific scholars, and at the same time extremely powerful figures in their own
right.
Even the buddha went through a rough patch in his journey to enlightenment, feeling that
he had lost his way just as gohan was defeated by buu.
Guatama Buddha even left his wife and child to further his studies just as gohan left
to train himself again in dbsuper.
Most importantly both are pacifists, finding happiness in study with no desire for physical
conflict.
Finding balance within himself, and understanding his love for peace, and also that peace must
be protected to be maintained, and ALSO also that peace cannot exist without conflict;
Gohan again trains and enters the fray to save his universe, knowing that it is necessary,
as well as his duty.
To quote zen master Tenshin Roshi: A buddha is someone who sees the way things
really are.
When we see the way things really are, we see that we’re all in this together, that
we are all interdependent.
A great surpassing love arises from that wisdom, and that love leads a buddha to wish that
all beings would open to this wisdom and be free of the misery that arises from ignoring
the way things are.
Buddhas appear in the world because they want us to have a buddha’s wisdom, so that we
will love every single being completely and protect every single being without exception
and without limit — just as all the buddhas do.
But what about all the violence in DBZ?
What about Gohan actually killing his enemies?
Doesn't that conflict with Buddhist philosophy?
Yes and no, remember DragonBall is a Japanese story, and Japan has had differentiating views
on conflict and violence in their buddhist practice.
For 700 years there was conflict with buddhist warrior monks known as Sohei who protected
buddhist schools but also fought other schools in conflict.
Zen; a sect of buddhism which is the most prominent in japan, is the same that is practiced
by the shaolin monks.
These monks are some of the most powerful people to have ever lived, yet they are still
pacifistic due to their practice of zen.
The art of shaolin kung fu made its way to japan in the 18th century and is represented
by krillin in his entire character design, including the six burn scars on his forehead.
While traditionally non-violence is the buddhist way, historically monks and scholars have
come together to protect temples and defend their study from those who threaten it.
Force is sometimes necessary but its always used reluctantly.
To see things how they really are, and to love all things means we must also see the
dark and in turn love it as well.
Without it.
all that is precious to us could not exist.
Gohan’s life is one of a buddha, one with flaws and inconsistencies, but an unwavering
vision of peace.
He exemplifies the warrior-scholar who balances the power of the saiyan with the kindness
of a human.
And from that balance comes a well-spring of limitless potential.
That’s the story of a human-monkey who has ascended in more ways than one.
The story of Gohan, the story...you never knew!
And...that’s my take on Gohan!
If you made it this far then I assume you didn’t hate it.
That being said...I have an exciting announcement!
You may have noticed that for a while Treesicle had a lot of “one off” videos.
Videos that weren’t part of a show like The Story You Never Knew.
Well after a lot of experimenting these past few months we’ve finally got some shows
for you all!
You may have seen one recently starring yours truly called The Message You Missed on Doki
Doki Literature Club.
You guys really seemed to like it so expect more!
The Message You Missed has my real-life face and some real, emotional takeaways from your
favorite video games.
Don’t miss The Message You Missed!
Or else you’ll...miss the message.
WOULDN’T WANT THAT!
Thanks for watching everybody.
I’m Grant and I’ll see you all next time.
Bye!