-Hm, I don't see Azula's arc that way. She's never been stable. I think she's always been intensely, obsessively, preoccupied with power, and the way it eventually destroys her seems the inevitable conclusion. How old is Azula when she hopes Iroh won't come home from the war? She's not healthy. Ruined by her father's scheming, maybe, combined with her mother's seeming preference for her older brother. (Who, by the way, stands between her and power. When her father takes Zuko back, he becomes the next in line to become Fire Lord. It's no wonder she's obsessed with destroying him.)
So for me, gender has nothing to do with it. It's about a 14-year-old who always yearned for the love of a parent, who was raised to value power over all other things and whose violent tendencies were encouraged by the one parent who paid special attention to her.
(Now I want to do a massive meta on the Avatar girls).
-I think it's honestly kind that Zuko left any kind of note at all. Alerting anyone with a loyalty to his sister of his intent to leave before he actually, you know, left, speaks to his basic decency.
In fact, even though I'm not a fan of the pairing in any way, I think it does show that he cares enough to not just disappear on her.
-I've had trouble in the past placing my finger on my issue with Ozai as the Big Bad during the finale, and I realized that it was this: his big terrible plan? Was really fucking stupid.
What is the point of acquiring territory if you're just going to destroy it all? Is there nothing to be gained from the Earth Kingdom? Land isn't the issue, it's what you get from it that makes conquering it worthwhile (After all, if the Europeans weren't always taking land for its resources they were competing with each other, but the point is that the Fire Nation doesn't want to compete).
And of course, if you don't know how to get what you want from the land, how stupid is it to bump off everyone who does know? Kill the people of the land and you essentially kill its resources.
Agh, it's just dumb. So yeah, it's fine that he's just evil, but his big old master plan took away from his evil edge with the stupid, so his fight with Aang fell flat for me.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
timeasmymeasure
Long comment, sorry.
So for me, gender has nothing to do with it. It's about a 14-year-old who always yearned for the love of a parent, who was raised to value power over all other things and whose violent tendencies were encouraged by the one parent who paid special attention to her.
(Now I want to do a massive meta on the Avatar girls).
-I think it's honestly kind that Zuko left any kind of note at all. Alerting anyone with a loyalty to his sister of his intent to leave before he actually, you know, left, speaks to his basic decency.
In fact, even though I'm not a fan of the pairing in any way, I think it does show that he cares enough to not just disappear on her.
-I've had trouble in the past placing my finger on my issue with Ozai as the Big Bad during the finale, and I realized that it was this: his big terrible plan? Was really fucking stupid.
What is the point of acquiring territory if you're just going to destroy it all? Is there nothing to be gained from the Earth Kingdom? Land isn't the issue, it's what you get from it that makes conquering it worthwhile (After all, if the Europeans weren't always taking land for its resources they were competing with each other, but the point is that the Fire Nation doesn't want to compete).
And of course, if you don't know how to get what you want from the land, how stupid is it to bump off everyone who does know? Kill the people of the land and you essentially kill its resources.
Agh, it's just dumb. So yeah, it's fine that he's just evil, but his big old master plan took away from his evil edge with the stupid, so his fight with Aang fell flat for me.