Azula & Unpopular Fandom Opinions

[redbrunja]

Okay, so I'm doing avatar_contest because I want to get back into the habit of writing for Avatar and honestly, I'm sorry I broke up with that show the way I did.

The last couple of prompts have both reminded me of Azula and you know, the more time goes by the more I realize I am really, really disappointed in how her arc turned out. Even thought I know that she was going crazy because of Mai and Ty Lee betraying her, it still read a lot like another women losing her sanity when when she got power.

I think that Zuko leaving Mai (what was presumably) a really thoughtful letter is a good way to break up with someone in general. Additionally, I think telling her face to face would have been dumb and given Azula a chance to stop him.

It is okay that Ozai was really a faceless villain. That was his role and we didn't need to know/care about his motivations the way we did Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee.

Also, you know Zuko's scar? That is not a symbol of Zuko and Katara's love and when Zuko looks at it he's not going to think about saving Katara; he's going to think about how two of the four members of his family have tried to kill him.

Comments

Long comment, sorry.

[strange_quark]

-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.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

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.

This is true. Were women are concerned, however, it's also a massive cliche, and the fact that we are shown multiple men in positions of power who handle it find and one woman who doesn't is subpar gender dynamics for Avatar. (Just look at the order of the white lotus and how just about all the old women that they met were crazy.)

-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.

I think so.

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.

You're right, the plan could have been better. Honestly, even just killing all the people while leaving the land intact (while also short-sighted) would have at least let them colonize and use the land without resistance.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[squeakchan.livejournal.com]

I kinda always got the idea that Ozai himself was also unhinged, hence why he thought burning an entire nation to the ground was a super awesome speshul idea.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[strange_quark]

This.

I think only a madman thinks this is a good idea, or caters to his 14-year-old daughter's obviously deranged whims.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[strange_quark]

Which men handle it fine? Ozai doesn't seem like he's got all of his screws tight either (because, again with the massive genocide, who in their right mind thinks that's a good idea?), and what happens to him in the end is worse, because at least Azula has a chance to heal after her break down. It takes Zuko a long time to get to the place where he would be a reliable Fire Lord: in fact, it's the point of his arc. Aang's ultimate power renders him incapable of following his own strongly held moral code.

The only one who seems to handle power "well" is Long Feng, and his actions have consequences, too.

Just look at the order of the white lotus and how just about all the old women that they met were crazy.

This is a good point.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Ozai's very clearly in control of himself; he was very effective in his madness while Azula is lounging around in her robe and not even been clear about who she's exiling.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

The voice actress acted the hell out of crazy Azula (possibly one of the best voice performances in the show, IMO) but the differences in male/female insanity and handling of power are the one major strike against the show for me. (Even I admit that I'm somewhat petty when I comes to Jet. I just don't like him and find him a boring cliche.) Also, the Ba Sing Se convo you mentioned may have been in my post, not cofeeandink's.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

*nods*

Oh, yeah, the VA was amazing. But I really think Azula's breakdown would have played better if:

1.) it had been handled differently

2.) it had occurred at a different point in the series.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

There are a lot of ways it could have been handled better and, IMO, not many ways it could be handled worse.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[mzminola.livejournal.com]

Fortune teller was sane. And knowing the future is a skill that usually drives it's users crazy.

Northern Water Tribe healer was sane, Gran-Gran was sane.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

This is true.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[mzminola.livejournal.com]

In the essay she linked me to in an above thread, Suki we can't use because the argument is the girls are great, but the older women are crazy.
Though since we're arguing over Azula's crazyness, I don't see why we're dealing only with an older generation, and not her peers.

I didn't mention the Avatars because of the line "Avatar Kyoshi, who gets considerably less screentime than Avatar Roku, and the airbender Avatar who only appears in the finale." They'd already been dismissed due to screentime imbalance.

Re: Long comment, sorry.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I think they were talking about patterns - in season three especially you have a lot of older male characters who are badass - Iroh has his prison break-out arc, you have Piando (?), you see more of Ozai, and then you have the entire male order of the lotus, Roku being trained by all male benders, and that's contrasted with Azula's older henchladies who are used often as the butt joke and Hama, who's crazy and evil.

I think how they made Azula go crazy and their choices NOT to bring back the fortuneteller and the herbalist from season 1 into the Order of the Lotus were unusually bad gender dynamics for this show.

I honestly think Suki would stand up as a much better counterpoint to Azula if we actually saw her fighting and leading her team in season 3. While Suki IS the leader of the kyoshi warriors, she spends a LOT of time separated from them.

Yeah, you can get into plot considerations like time and needing to have Sokka and Suki be a bit isolated for their romance, but still...