sokkastyles

[sokkastyles]

There's a difference though between the way people idealize Otaku culture in America and the sentiments that still very much exist in the cultural conscious because of Pearl Harbor. There is a reason that when the American creators were constructing the villains for their show, they reached for parallels to Japan/China/Vietnam/Korea. When I got that comment about the Haruki Murakami book, it was in the early 2000s when atla was airing on TV. I was also in anime club at my college at the time.

So you can read Katara's mind now?

Sorry about the big blue dot, but I had to fit all of this in one screen.

Let's start off with the fact that this person completely disregards the entire character arc of both Zuko and Katara to put this point across.

From what it looks like, Katara is actually okay with being in the Fire Nation. Otherwise, she wouldn't be very comfortable at the BEACH HOUSE at Ember Island, where OZAI laid his head, too. But yeah, let's just glance over that. She even goes to the same theater where the Royal Family frequented when Zuko was a small child and had no issues with it up until the last act of the play. I mean, she had problems with her portrayal, but that was the play. Not the place. She even has fun in the Fire Nation.

Why? Because the Fire Nation is not all bad people. There are a lot of innocent people in the Fire Nation. That's like condemning all Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor... oh wait... that happened. Yeah, Japanese Americans were treated like traitors after Pearl Harbor, even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some were forced to live in 10x10 horse stalls. But I digress. You realize what I'm getting at here don't you?

Probably not because you are naive.

I agree that Fire Lady is an irrelevant title. She wouldn't take it anyway, but instead, because she is very good in politics and loves her culture, she'd likely take on a more political role. Ambassador Katara is overused. But I do know that she is a guiding voice for Zuko (this is in the show btw) so maybe his right-hand advisor who gets shit done could work. Remember, they work incredibly well as a team. Plus he's the damn Fire Lord. He'd find a position for her that she could do some good. (I know this is kinda my headcanon, but it's based on information gathered from various source material from the franchise) hell, even a health coordinator would be in the cards.

Anyway, it seems you don't really understand her arc given that she is very good at politics post-war and has the capacity to FORGIVE Zuko and put all of that behind her. I mean... the way you guys make it sound is that she hates everybody. And that isn't true.

[sokkastyles]

Something that just occurred to me is that Zuko when he says this also does not understand how people really view his family. Another place where we see people say that Azula is adored by everyone is when Azula says she's used to being worshipped in "The Beach," and Ty Lee affirms that everyone worships her. Yet we see how the group is treated when nobody knows who they are. Zuko is talking from the perspective of how he thinks a royal should be treated, but will come to learn through the series how people really view his family.

It actually would have been interesting in the beach episode to have Zuko and Azula actually be confronted with what people really think about them, like maybe someone remarks that Azula looks like the Fire Nation princess "but not as mean" or something.

“she’s a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her.”

while zuko definitely does not have the most unbiased perspective (since we will come to understand how she treats he; friends, crew, and servants and how at least some of them probably do not, in fact, adore her) i do find this moment really interesting (especially because he doesn’t just say their father adores her, but everyone) and it makes a lot of sense from zuko’s perspective. because… in zuko alone, he just straight up does not seem to have any friends of his own in the fire nation. we don’t know how much of this is like, a natural inclination toward introversion, but i think it’s clear it weighs on him (as evidenced by the fact that he holds onto what aang says about wondering whether they could have been friends and brings it back up in book three.) with that in mind, i think it’s at least conceivable that this was partially because he doesn’t have his father’s favor—and people know it. he also grew up somewhat sheltered and isolated due to palaecs life, and while azula reacted to that by finding friends she could (eventually) use her status to control, zuko seems to stayed pretty isolated, especially after ursa’s disappearance.

i think the disrespect fire nation officers feel entitled to show zuko in the series is like, ramped up to 11, but again—i don’t think ozai’s disdain for him was a particularly hidden thing, and i wonder how that affected him when he was still at court before being banished.

[sokkastyles]

once again thinking about this:

the absolute devastation this panel from "The Search" brings me is genuinely immeasurable.

there's just something about the way azula came here to confront her mother and to finally, finally be proven right. she wants her mother to tell her how much she hates her, how much she fears her, how she always hated her and preferred zuko because azula was a monster.

but when she actually gets the chance to confront her, she's faced not with her mother, but with a woman who has no recollection of her at all.

and even still, when she's attacking and threatening her, her mother, despite not knowing anything about azula or who she is, only states that she's sorry she didn't love azula more.

and the look of disbelief in azula's eyes; after being molded into the prodigy firebender, the weapon, her father wanted her be, she can't believe that her mother's telling the truth.

it's the way she wants to scream and challenge her mother, wants to tell her that she's wrong and that she's lying and she should just admit the fact that she hates azula already.

but that's not true. and azula genuinely can't wrap her head around it.

#azula #ursa #atla comics #the search

[sokkastyles]

There should be comics about Azula, Mai and Ty Lee's (mis)adventures at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls.

#azula #mai #ty lee

[sokkastyles]

I'd also love for these people to try and explain (without playing oppression olympics) why Katara can't sleep in Sozin's room but it's okay for Zuko to sleep in his abuser's room.

But since we're dealing in headcanon territory anyway, whose to say the firelady does not have her own chambers? Whose to say the palace isn't big enough for Zuko and Katara to have their own space in it?

Nobody can actually make any statements about what the firelady does, because it's all headcanon. What these antis are is just uncreative.

But, while we're at, how I imagine Katara sleeps in Sozin's bed knowing that he's dead and gone, his legacy a torn down faulire:

I've mentioned this before, but for an example of a woman in a similar situation, I would look at Michelle Obama's speech about what it meant to "wake up every morning in a house built by slaves." It's a good speech, the antis should check it out.

And yeah, one of the problems with people acting like the fire nation is America is that 90% of Americans don't look at people with Japanese clothing and culture and say "this is us." They would say "these are the people that bombed pearl harbor."

One of the reasons it was necessary to rehabilitate the fire nation is because the American creators very much needed to avoid the connotation of America's cultural history of anti-Japanese hysteria. Not to mention the ways the fire nation is made to resemble American fears about communist China.

Some of the people who interact with this show have never had the experience of being called unpatriotic for reading a Haruki Murakami book on the bus, and it shows.

So you can read Katara's mind now?

Sorry about the big blue dot, but I had to fit all of this in one screen.

Let's start off with the fact that this person completely disregards the entire character arc of both Zuko and Katara to put this point across.

From what it looks like, Katara is actually okay with being in the Fire Nation. Otherwise, she wouldn't be very comfortable at the BEACH HOUSE at Ember Island, where OZAI laid his head, too. But yeah, let's just glance over that. She even goes to the same theater where the Royal Family frequented when Zuko was a small child and had no issues with it up until the last act of the play. I mean, she had problems with her portrayal, but that was the play. Not the place. She even has fun in the Fire Nation.

Why? Because the Fire Nation is not all bad people. There are a lot of innocent people in the Fire Nation. That's like condemning all Japanese for the bombing of Pearl Harbor... oh wait... that happened. Yeah, Japanese Americans were treated like traitors after Pearl Harbor, even after Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Some were forced to live in 10x10 horse stalls. But I digress. You realize what I'm getting at here don't you?

Probably not because you are naive.

I agree that Fire Lady is an irrelevant title. She wouldn't take it anyway, but instead, because she is very good in politics and loves her culture, she'd likely take on a more political role. Ambassador Katara is overused. But I do know that she is a guiding voice for Zuko (this is in the show btw) so maybe his right-hand advisor who gets shit done could work. Remember, they work incredibly well as a team. Plus he's the damn Fire Lord. He'd find a position for her that she could do some good. (I know this is kinda my headcanon, but it's based on information gathered from various source material from the franchise) hell, even a health coordinator would be in the cards.

Anyway, it seems you don't really understand her arc given that she is very good at politics post-war and has the capacity to FORGIVE Zuko and put all of that behind her. I mean... the way you guys make it sound is that she hates everybody. And that isn't true.

#the discourse #zutara

[sokkastyles]

Not sure where that was implied anywhere or what that has to do with anything. What OP said was that it makes no sense that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily. Regardless of how much of the lightning Zuko was able to redirect, it is very much implied that he would have died if Katara had not healed him, and this is something the show highlights several times in the episodes prior, that indirectly redirecting lightning results in death, and normal waterbending healing is not enough without spirit water, which Katara does not have.

Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

[sokkastyles]

Admitting that you clicked on a fanfic you knew you wouldn't like because "I'm a hater first and foremost" and then making a post about how you don't like it is so performative.

It's also really gross the way this person tries to invalidate valid criticisms of the way Aang canonically treats his children. It IS implied in LoK that Aang was disappointed in his children for not being airbenders. Katara thinking that Aang should have to sacrifice like she is in this scenario does not mean that "he's never sacrificed anything" and trying to counter the valid anger Katara feels with "but Aang had to sacrifice his...staff..." is completely ridiculous. Being a victim of genocide does not give him a right to treat his family poorly or invalidate Katara's feelings, and it's really ugly to suggest that. It's not a get out of jail card you get to throw around, and acting like it is is actually incredibly racist and xenophobic. The fic screenshot, on the other hand, is not.

Oh besties... we've got a live one on our hands...

*edit* I've actually read this fic myself, and so have others. If you haven't read it but want to, DM me for the link. I want to give this writer as much support as possible. I will be reviewing this fic later because it is good. *

Ehem... so I don't have a problem with people expressing their opinions on something, but this is bullying.

Taking someone's fanfiction and posting it on Tumblr to make fun of the writer is fucking stupid. Someone wrote this with a lot of time and thought, voicing their opinions through their creativity. That's like me going into the kat*ang tag on AO3 and posting someone's hard work just to ridicule them, then completely invalidate their work of FICTION because I don't like the pairing.

I'd never do that because I'm not a fucking bully nor am I an idiot.

But Zutarians are called toxic and delusional. The only delusion is that people believe they have the moral high ground because their pairing is canon. So fucking what?! It's fanfiction created by passionate fans of a beloved show.

Get over yourselves, Kat*anglanders. You aren't perfect. And your morals suck.

At least we don't do shit like this.

#the discourse #antikataang

[sokkastyles]

It's not that I think Zuko took lightning for Katara because he loved her, or that she healed him because she loved him, but I do think that it's only after the adrenaline fades that they truly realize what it means to care about someone so much that you do the impossible for them. I think they will always have this between them, this understanding that transcends whatever other relationships they may have, romantic or not. Katara's hands still remember what it felt like to hold Zuko's heartbeat between them, and if everything she touches still carries a bit of that heartbeat, bleeding out from her fingertips, she doesn't show it to anyone, but the firelord somehow knows, somehow always finds her hands, catching her fingertips in his warm ones briefly in passing. And if Zuko is always seeing shadows in the thunderstorm, a torrent of memory in the split second before lightning strikes, he is soothed by the silent eyes of the Water Tribe ambassador, watching him from across a crowded room.

#zutara

[sokkastyles]

100%

Which is why it's not only healing for Katara to use bloodbending for good, but healing for Zuko to let himself be healed by someone who has oppressed by his people.

Because Zuko's story is also about generational trauma and building an identity around being damaged by generational trauma. Zuko had to learn that firebending was more than causing harm, and that his trauma didn't mean it was okay for him to cause harm to others.

This is also what I've been saying about Azula. Azula, like Hama, is a victim who became a perpetrator and convinced herself that everyone else was also like her to cope. She is enraged when Zuko is able to walk away because it proves her entire worldview and coping mechanism wrong.

Ugh I will always love the concept of Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko after the last agni kai, mostly because it makes no sense to me that Zuko was able to bounce back so easily after being struck by lightning, but also because the way the show treats bloodbending is just odd to me. It was a defense mechanism created by a traumatized victim of some of the most devastating parts of colonization, and although I understand that Hama was supposed to symbolize the "bad parts" of waterbending and was important for Katara's growth in realizing that the world isn't entirely black and white, its still disappointing to me that the show never explored the gray areas of blood bending, especially since that episode was, as I stated above, about understanding the gray areas of the war. Katara using blood bending to revive Zuko would add so much to the last agni kai in demonstrating that she has truly realized that "good" and "evil" are relative concepts, and Zuko being saved by both a defense mechanism of a survivor of colonialism and a type of bending used to terrorize his people would have even added to his arc, as the narrative required him to save and subsequently be saved by the physical embodiment of everything his family sought to annihilate.

[sokkastyles]

Some of those azula Stans and ozai Stans are starting to sound awfully similar to ozai and theyre also acting like azula in the sense that they blame anyone but azula and/or ozai.

Literally. They'll talk about how people don't understand the ways in which Ozai abused Azula and will then turn around and parrot everything he said about everyone else to isolate Azula. Everything about her being the best bender, being lucky, about her mother and uncle hating her... they genuinely seem to believe all the clear lies that Ozai was feeding Azula. They want it both ways: they want Ozai to have abused Azula and they want everything he said to have been true. Which shows a fundamental misunderstanding of how he abused and groomed her. Feeding her lies about who she was and about how her worth was based on what she could provide to him, isolating her from everyone by telling her that they hated her while he didn't, encouraging her worst tendencies and twisting them to his own desires... and her fall came when her fragile sense of worth and the foundations of her worldview came shattering down and she began to realize that none of it was true.

All the stans writing about how Zuko was just so jealous of the fact that Azula was lucky, or writing about how awesomely powerful and competent Azula is and how weak Zuko is in comparison and how he'll never beat her are all missing the point so spectacularly that I don't think even a flashing neon sign would help them understand that they're pretty much spouting Ozai rhetoric. No, you shouldn't be so hung up on Azula beating Zuko and remaining stronger than him, because her abuse led her to the perception that she's only worth anything as long as she's better than him, and she's so prideful and arrogant because she's been constantly told about her superiority, and she uses that as an excuse to hurt others. And if her stans cling onto that idea, then they don't understand what she needs to grow and heal.

Ozai's abuse led to Azula thinking that fear is the way to go, and that everyone hates her. Ozai twisted Ursa's genuine concern for her daughter into hatred in Azula's eyes. And Azula learnt fear from her father and tried to control everyone. She pushed everyone away from herself. She tried to control them and make them fear her instead of embracing their love. The fact that she ended up alone is on her, it's the consequences of her actions. To say that it really is Ursa's fault, or Mai or Ty Lee or Zuko or Iroh's fault is completely missing the point. Ozai twisted Azula into someone who would even push away and hurt the people who cared about her for power and the love of a man who was never capable of such a thing. That's her tragedy. Not that "everyone and their mother was so mean to poor little Azula uwu."

So yeah. They just really want to have it both ways.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula #the discourse

[sokkastyles]

It's the same person. They're just an idiot with nothing else to do.

And what I find very funny about their list is that for all four, Azula was sitting there smiling and laughing about those things happening to Zuko and makes sure to rub them in his face any chance she gets. It's also funny to say about number four that Azula "had nothing to do" with Ozai ordering her to track down Zuko and Iroh, and then say that she did do that and shift the goal posts to "they would have been hunted down anyway." So, you mean she did have a lot to do with it? Surprise, surprise. She also is the one who captures them at the end of book 2.

Not you calling me an asshole after you come to my blog where I've made it quite clear you aren't welcome and leave this message I don't want in my inbox.

But sure, maybe Azula didn't do these things, but she did plenty of other things that affected Zuko a great deal, including but not limited to:

Trying to kill him (multiple times).

Trying to kill his friends (multiple times).

Giving him a new scar from her lightning.

Mocking him about the fact that their father was going to kill him and generally just terrorizing him so much that he developed a chant to comfort himself.

Smiling about him being burnt by their own father.

Making ableist jokes about his intelligence and his scar.

Putting him in danger by lying about him killing Aang to Ozai, something that clearly was distressing for him.

Just all the manipulation and gaslighting.

Just because these weren't "the worst things," doesn't mean they didn't have a negative impact both physically and emotionally on Zuko. It doesn't mean they didn't affect him. She participated and took pleasure in his abuse. Just because she didn't do the particular things you mentioned doesn't mean she's blameless. I don't even know what you hoped to achieve here. What was your argument, exactly?

I took a screenshot of this ask because I'm gonna block this person (not that it matters, they just keep coming back). I'm not sure if it's the same person coming back again or if it's some other loser, but if it is, circumventing a block isn't something a nice and reasonable individual would do, so do us all a favor and go reevaluate yourself.

#azula stans are stupid #azula #the discourse

[sokkastyles]

I think azula would've had a mental breakdown eventually anyways. Even if mai and ty Lee didn't get tired of her abusing them and stayed or whatever, she's always been unstable and another straw would've broken her back because azula doesn't take well to having her worldview challenged.

I think it's true. It was inevitable that Azula's worldview would crumble one way or another, because it doesn't fly in the face of reality. It's never been a sustainable worldview and Ozai was bound to get tired of her some point, once he got all the power and had no use for her. Azula's entire perception is held up on very fragile pillars, because deep down she knows the truth but tries to pretend otherwise.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula

[sokkastyles]

The absolute disregard for how Zuko's actions are informed by trauma shows that they don't care about mental illness. And I'm not talking about excusing the bad things Zuko does. I'm talking about how Azula stans demonize Zuko whenever he raises his voice in response to Azula literally trying to kill him. Zuko and the rest of the gaang can all be said to have ptsd, but Azula stans flagrantly disregard their mental health constantly. Not to mention how they respond to Ursa.

The azula is mentally ill arguments used to excuse her and her abuse is funny because what's to say Zuko and other characters aren't possibly mentally ill themselves? And if they are, why do people hold Zuko accountable despite his possible mental illnesses yet they think Azula is incapable of anything past her mental illness and define her solely by her mental state? It's like they don't want her to get better because if she learns to process her mental illnesses, they won't have a reason to coddle her and hide behind their thinly veiled abelism

It's never been about Azula growing and redeeming herself, it's about making her out to be a perfect victim so that she doesn't have to be held accountable for anything. It's so funny to me when they call Zuko ableist for... not letting Azula attack him and his friends and other innocent people, while they will trip over themselves to justify Azula's ableist jokes about her brother's abuse. They will make all sorts of excuses about how Azula's abuse informs her actions and will then act like Zuko is the scum of the earth. It's genuinely so out of touch and I'm struggling to see how they came to those conclusions at all.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula #mental health cw #the discourse

[sokkastyles]

I love how anon accused zuko of hurting azula for beinf mentally ill and not because she's treated him like shit for a decade and also bodyshames him

Meanwhile, there's not a single instance where zuko bodyshames or mocks azula's looks even though he had plenty of reasons to, but he doesn't because he's much more mature than her.

It's only ableist if Azula's victim does it (even though he never actually did anything of the sort). If Zuko distrusts Azula it's all "omg he's such a bad brother, he's practically abusing her!" but when Azula mocks Zuko's scar and his abuse, it's all "oh, she's so sassy and funny, she's done nothing wrong!" It's such a self-own frankly.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula #the discourse #ableism cw

[sokkastyles]

Also we see Azula talk about how awful the institution was to manipulate the girls she "freed" from it and convince them they owe her. That's not evidence of the institution being abusive, it's evidence of Azula being abusive.

Do you think azula was ever abused at the mental institution? Because there's not really any evidence rhe workers there or Zuko are abusing her and she's mainly bound because she's dangerous and abusive and what's to say she's not going to take her anger out on the other patients and most likely also kill them?

No. Azula was not abused at the mental institution. She's being restrained because she's dangerous and can shoot fire from her fingers, and we never see any indication that she's in restraints at all times. She's complaining about the food because she's used to luxury, like having all the pits taken out of her cherries. We don't see enough of the institution to come to that conclusion, and anything about it being awful is extrapolated from the opinions of someone who believes Ozai is the bee's knees and has a hefty belief in her superiority and her divine right to rule. Of course she's going to think it sucks. Doesn't mean it does. It's just another excuse the stans come up with because they want another way to victimize her so she can escape accountability.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula

[sokkastyles]

She also didn't tell anyone about her hallucinations and lied to Zuko about her intentions when he agreed to take her out of the institution.

It's not just that mental illness isn't an excuse, people who use it as an excuse are actually doing more harm than good when it comes to the stigmatization of mental illness, by blaming Azula's actions on mental illness instead of just being a shitty person. Mental illness did not cause Azula to be violent and self centered, because she already was those things, but it did make those things worse because she refused help.

Even though the hallucinations are out if her control, it's still Azula's choice how she responds to them, so she's choosing to attack people over her halluncinications about Ursa and she's ultimately responsible for whatever harm happens to said people, right?

Exactly. Mental illness is not an excuse to hurt someone else. The people who talk about how "Zuko and his friends abused a mentally ill girl" will post panels of the Gaang attacking Azula, and will neglect to provide the panels just before that which show Azula attacking first and the Gaang trying not to hurt her before they have no choice but to defend themselves. She tried to kill them multiple times. She's dangerous. Yes, she needs help. That doesn't give her an excuse to harm people. She even attacked two innocent people who couldn't defend themselves, and that's when Zuko drew the line.

Thank you for your ask!

#azula

[sokkastyles]

Azula apologists are wild because Azula can commit imperialism, bodyshame Iroh and Zuko, be ableist to Zuko, be racist/classist, abuse Mai and Ty Lee and be complicit in genocide, but zuko and iroh using humor to joke about how scary Azula is and Zuko distrusting azula when he goes back home is a worse crime than all of those combined? 😂

They will say the most insane things about Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee, and even Ursa and Iroh, and paint all of them as the scum of the earth, but when Azula does worse suddenly it's not her fault. Some of them are so willfully ignorant that it's astounding to me that we watched the same show.

Thank you for your ask!

#also the misogyny accusations whenever anyone acknowledges that azula is a villain get me because #azula: slut shames ty lee #hates iroh for getting her a feminine gift #worships toxic masculinity #hates her mother #azula