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

[mzminola.livejournal.com]

He's going to be an awesome firelord due to goals and traits that in Western philosophy are usually associated with female energy- love and peace. I'm not entirely sure what that says, but I like it.
(I was yelling at the screen for her to Agni Kai Zuko AFTER getting coronated, I admit)

I would agree with that meta-essay more if it weren't for the fact that abandonment, paranoia, and arrogance destroyed Azula, not power. As iapetusneume pointed out, Azula did fine with power in Ba Sing Sei.

No one has broken up with me in a letter or e-mail, so I guess I can't argue from personal experience. I think it wouldn't give proper closure.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

...except that I do think that there is a valid point in that she was a princess of the Fire Nation and not the authority in her own right.

Also, I did feel that Azula's insanity took away from the awesomeness of Zuko and Katara taking her down.

I haven't been broken up with by letter or email but from my pov I can see a lot of way in which it might be better for both parties than something that is face to face.

[mzminola.livejournal.com]

Valid point towards what?

...so we have switched from "Azula going insane is bad because it's an example of women not being able to handle power" to "Azula going insane is bad because it makes other people less awesome."
Azula's story arc was fantastic. She was amazing. She was scary, she was good at what she did, and the longer we knew her the more complex and human she became.

Zuko didn't take her down. He culminated his arc not by defeating his father or younger sister, but by standing up to/turning away from his father, and helping other people. He saved Katara's life. He didn't take down Azula at all. He fought her, but he didn't defeat her.

Katara defeated Azula. In an amazing god-damned fight. It was no less intense because Azula was crazy. She was always damned scary, and while her unhingedness made Zuko think he could take her, Katara didn't agree. For her, Azula still seemed like a major threat. Katara was also working on a time-limit as well: she needed to end the fight so she could heal Zuko, her comrade-in-arms.

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

I was referring to a discussion in a linked post, discussing Azula being so in control in Ba Sing Se and so out of control while she was ruling the Fire Nation.

And I'd not switching anything, I'm doing adding an 'and'.

This discussion has actually helped clarify my thoughts, which are, I think it's a shame how the timing with Azula going crazy worked out and that she went crazy is such an explicitly feminine way (hair cutting is often really expressly tied with the feminine.)

Katara defeated Azula. In an amazing god-damned fight.

Agreed. It was my favorite part of the finale. That said, as a viewer it would have been more satisfying if she hadn't been crazy when Katara and Zuko fought her, but that is totally my personal opinion.