#Azula Discourse

[paramouradrift]

Fandoms idea of azula and zuko is usually they did nothing wrong its very boring the worse part is they rarely listen to anyone who doesn't parrot they aren't perfect crowd and label you a child hater for pointing out canon actions I've blocked most of em ad they just talk in circles but I gotta say to me azula fans treating azula as perfect and zuko as worse give off ozai vibes

I wouldn't go that far, necessarily. I get being really attached to characters and your own interpretation of them. I, too, was a rabid fanboy in my youth, and I have seen many a shipping war fought. I was a filthy Homestuck from the heady days of Act 1, and I remember well the discourse surrounding Vriska (the Vriscourse, if you will, and if you won't, then you reeeeeeeeally sh8ld). I've seen the Harry Potter fandom tear itself to pieces over the bad manchildren of Slytherin. We all have our problematic faves, and for some people that fave is Azula. All we can really do is be patient with them, encourage them to use their time and energy creatively, and learn when to disengage. Not every battle is worth fighting.

#atla #azula discourse #anon please use punctuation next time i beg you

[idolomantises]

I just finished rewatching ATLA and I have to say…

Absolutely insane to me that people were insisting that Azula not getting a redemption was “misogynistic” and some kind of writing mistake. The girl told her dad to commit mass genocide.

#txt #I genuinely think a lot of ATLA discourse would not exist if people just rewatched the show instead of letting their memories be warped by #fanfiction and memes #like I’ve seen Azula fans give iroh a lot of shit for calling her crazy #but they don’t mention that right before this she SHOT HIM IN THE HEART #anyways I love Azula and I’m glad she wasn’t redeemed. more of this please

[comradekatara]

"bitter work" is such an iconic episode. toph and katara debate the merits of various teaching methods when your student is a gifted kid who has heretofore never struggled to grasp a concept. iroh expresses a desire to pulverize his fourteen year old niece. sokka and zuko bargain with god.

#O SMITE ME MIGHTY SMITER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #zuko's best moment ever tbh. it makes me laugh so hard im SORRY #toph #katara #aang #iroh #azula #sokka #zuko #i wouldve said 'abused' or 'mentally ill' fourteen year old niece but i dont wanna get discourse in my notes forever. #he did call her crazy though. so!

[xensilverquill]

#azula #avatar the last airbender #atla #atla discourse #it's 2023 and this still hasn't sunken in for some folks #azula deserved better

[ihavea-natural-curiosity]

“Zukos the best character!” “No, Katara is!!” “it’s literally sokka!” “azula is the best!!!”

SHUT UP.

Appa is the best. bam. all character discourse solved. go home.

#atla #appa #atla discourse #zuko #sokka #katara #azula

[balanceoflightanddark]

Here's a friendly reminder that Azula got as good as firebending as she did through hard work. Not luck nor eugenics. She was a prodigy and worked her ass off.

Putting aside the fact that I couldn't imagine Ozai allowing his weapon to get lazy, it's a canon fact that she pushes herself for perfection. You don't get that by being lucky. You get that by becoming the best. And it's pretty insulting to try and tear her down, thus rendering all her efforts null and void.

Maybe this is imposter syndrome talking, but Azula should never be seen as second-rate just because she never beat Katara. Nor should her victories be downplayed. She's the third-best firebender in the series, and she should be respected as such.

#azula #princess azula #azula meta #atla #avatar: the last airbender #i don't know #i guess this sort of discourse bothers me a little #maybe this is just my imposter syndrome talking #atla fandom problems #i guess

[juniperhillpatient]

a very stupid post that came to my brain & demanded to be edited

#azula #tyzula #Chanzula #I guess 😂 #Zuko #atla #shit posting #this is sooo not trying to step into any discourse pls don’t be weird or take this more seriously than the shit post it is thanks #it just came to me & was funny in my head #couldn’t decide if it should be Mai or Zuko on Twitter #but i can see Zuko more getting worked up Mai is too idgaf idk 😂

[azulas-daddy-kink]

All the Tyzula shippers and lesbian Azula "truthers" coping and seething over the Ruon Jian panel from the comic leaks gives me so much serotonin.

#atla #azula #atla comics #discourse #azula in the spirit temple #anti tyzula

[longing-for-rain]

This is unacceptable behavior

So this morning, I found this blog who has apparently taken it upon themselves to “call out” anyone they suspect of using AI in either fan art or fanfics. No proof needed; just send them an anon ask and they’ll start throwing people under the bus.

This person is harassing artists, writers, and anyone who questions them. They’re even demanding that artists upload videos of themselves drawing by hand to “prove” they’re real.

Reading their blog gets even more disturbing. Apparently “suspicious activity” for artists can be something as simple as experimenting with a different style, having trouble drawing hands, improving too quickly, uploading too quickly, or even using digital watercolor. So essentially, artists deserve harassment for being too good, not good enough, or if they don’t use 100% traditional techniques. Do you really think that’s helping artists? All you’re doing is intimidating people away from their hobbies and encouraging toxicity. Cut it out.

For context, yesterday @azula-brain messaged me in my DMs to accuse me of AI usage. I explained that a) I don’t consider my images “AI art” in the sense of “push a button and it makes a picture” because I only use it as a filter over my existing work, b) that I’ve posted detailed explanations of my artistic process before and that still didn’t stop people from harassing me over anon. She also accused me of charging people for art, which I very clear state in my pinned post that I do not accept commissions.

I’m committing a crime by not using fully traditional art, and by having a tip jar (keep in mind, many blogs simply use the built in tumblr feature which is easily understood to be for tipping bloggers they like, not art commission payments). I told her I suggest she simply block and move on if she was unhappy, but apparently that wasn’t good enough, so she called me out by name instead along with the above noted misinformation after I refused to bow to her threats over DMs.

But anyways, I’m done caving to threats, and so should the rest of you. Nothing you do will ever appease the mob, and I’m sick of these literal children making blogs like this thinking they’re saving the world, when literally they’re just stirring up drama and harassing random artists who were doing nothing wrong.

#ai discourse #fandom toxicity #avatar: the last airbender #atla #zutara #azula #katara #zuko #tyzula

[bellatrixobsessed1]

This is a question about free will and moral accountability. Free Will says that you could have made different choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time, it doesn't say that you could have made noticeably better moral choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time. When people say, "Azula could have acted differently," what they often mean is "Azula could have acted in such a way that is radically and unreasonably contrary to her usual self. She could...

... have done a 180 in 5 minutes!" So I think people are too hard on Azula. I also think people are too hard on Ozai. When people say, "Ozai could have acted differently," what they often mean is "Ozai could have done a 180 in 5 minutes!" Who's to say that people such as Azula and Ozai weren't doing the best they could with the experiences they had at the time? After all, I'm sure Azula and Ozai both went through experiences that are unique only to them.

TW: for abuse talk

I think that it's really complicated; especially in the case of Ozai. I'm not the biggest fan of Ozai at all. However I do believe that Ozai was also a victim of circumstance, environment, and upbringing. He was raised in a very hostile, dog eats dog environment and he became the abuse. That's one of the saddest, most tragic aspects of abuse; the susceptibility of the abused to become the abuser.

Unpopular opinion maybe: I don't think that Ozai is 100% beyond help and redemption. But it would be extraordinarily difficult for him and he would have monumental obstacles to overcome. A lot of people cite age as the reason why he is a lost cause but I disagree with that. Iroh was middle aged when he decided to change. Ozai's problem is that he doesn't think that he has to. He is very set in his ways and he doesn't seem to think that the problem lies with him. And that's why I can't see him being redeemed in canon. But I do feel bad for him because he was raised in a way where he kind of didn't really have a chance. Going back to the free will thing--all he really knew was power and war.

I do think that people are very hard on Azula especially because she is so, so young. I've said it a few times but Azula is young enough to be put back on a better path. She pretty much parrots her father's actions. He's her role model. She was indoctrinated. "Free Will says that you could have made different choices with the knowledge and experiences you had at the time." I very much agree with this. The thing is that I think a lot of people might not realize is that Azula's knowledge and experiences all came from her abusive father and a shitton of wartime propaganda.

She couldn't really make an informed decision so to speak because she was only given one side. She was told that the world worked a certain way and never had the chance to have those views challenged in the ways that Zuko and Iroh did.

Azula is an extremely intelligent girl and so I don't think that it would be far fetched for her to alter her worldview when confronted with facts that challenge it. She is a logically driven person. And she has shown in the past (in working with the Dai Li) that she doesn't really see the other nations as beneath her as someone like Ozai and Zhao did. She had a level of respect for their methods. She's rather adaptable and willing to work with different groups of people.

For that, I think it would actually be pretty easy to get her to unlearn some harmful worldviews. The hard part would be getting her to let down her walls and be vulnerable enough to try.

So going back to the free will thing; yeah she had free will but she did not have enough knowledge and experience to make a morally better decision. Literally all she knew was 'Fire Nation best nation', 'power and fear are everything.'

On top of all of that, despite her upbringing she was, on some level, able to recognize that she might just be in the wrong. That scene on the Beach and the mirror scene said a lot. Azula wouldn't have had this internal debate about using fear to control people, she wouldn't be calling herself a monster if she didn't feel guilty deep down.

And this is what sets her apart from Ozai. At her lowest, when she was breaking she showed signs of recognizing that it was she who got herself to where she was. On some level, she knows that she needs to better herself. And this is why I think that it wouldn't be as hard as some people might think to get her some help and healing.

I think that she'll have a lot of setbacks and regresses because she has so many things ingrained in her. But I do think that getting her on the path to redemption wouldn't be too hard. That's kind of what I'm hoping for with the solo comic; Azula having to confront her own biases and think about them. She needs her world views challenged. She needs to get more knowledge and experience; see the other side of things that Ozai and Fire Nation propaganda didn't show her.

After that she'll have a better chance of making better moral decisions.

And with Ozai not there to whisper in her ear and mold her, I think she has a pretty good chance.

I hope that I understood the point of this ask right xD thanks for stopping by!

#avatar the last airbender #azula #ozai #azula analysis #azula discourse

[sokkastyles]

Mai: throws a scroll at Zuko

Fandom: Abuse!

Azula: pranks Zuko as a kid

Fandom: Abuse!

Toph: punches Zuko playfully

Fandom: Abuse!

Zuko: holds Katara captive and threatens to burn her mother’s necklace, while implying he will give her up to pirates who are known for how they hurt women

Fandom: Soul mates! 😍

Oh no, tumblr user azulas-daddy-kink is attempting to shame me for what I ship! Whatever shall I do? I think I'll keep shipping zutara, thanks.

(Also tumblr user azulas-daddy-kink has no concept of what abuse is and tries to imply sexual violence in a scene where there is none, big surprise.)

#zutara #the discourse #azula stans are stupid

[spop-romanticizes-abuse]

you know, there's a difference between relating to a character and defending them with your life. it may seem to some spop fans that i just hate catra because i don't relate to her. and while it's true that i don't entirely relate to her, i want to talk about a villain/antagonist that i do relate to: azula from atla.

that's right, i'm an azula kinnie. of course i wasn't brought up by a tyrannical dictator or groomed to be a child soldier, but the relationship azula had with her parents, especially her mother, stuck with me a lot. because i felt the same way.

and guess what? i hated her when i first watched the show. i absolutely despised her and i couldn't understand why people sympathized with her. it took me a second watch to realize that not only is she sympathetic, but she's also a lot like me. luckily, i didn't turn out to be as.. aggressive as her, for the lack of a better word. but by seeing myself in her, i was able to identify a few of my flaws that i needed to work on.

does this mean that i think azula did no wrong and that she should have been forgiven? do i get into fights with people who dislike her? nope. she was still a horrible person and while i think that she could have had a redemption arc, it wasn't necessary.

honestly, i like her a lot better because she didn't get redeemed. because her arc is supposed to contrast that of zuko's. whereas zuko starts off as lonely, traumatized and mentally unstable, and slowly works towards being a better person, finding inner peace, building his skills and making new friends; azula goes from being the calm and calculating firebending prodigy with her own posse by her side, to having her father and friends betray her and spiralling into a mental breakdown.

so yeah. while i sympathize with azula and relate to her, i do not condone her actions in the slightest. she was still a cruel and apathetic person who enjoyed manipulating, abusing and hurting others. she still did what she did, even if she had her reasons.

you can like or kin a character while also acknowledging their flaws and holding them accountable for their actions. i promise you, it's possible.

#spop critical #spop salt #spop criticism #spop discourse #spop #she ra #anti spop #atla #atla azula

[comradekatara]

“katara is uptight and gets offended when anyone swears in her vicinity” has gotta be one of the lamest fandom jokes. for what it’s worth, i don’t think any of the atla kids wouldn’t swear out of some naive sense of propriety (with perhaps the exception of azula, because she’s an obedient goody two shoes who thinks coarse speech is for the lower classes), but katara would be one to swear a lot. she definitely swears more than sokka, although she’d also regulate her speech better so as not to offend those around her (especially if she is in the process of sucking up to an adult). sokka would swear just because he’s a grumpy, easily frustrated person whose choice of words reflects his frustration, but katara would swear out of her fundamental sense of rebellion. a deep thrill runs through her every time she says fuck or shit, because she is fourteen and away from the admonishing tongue of gran gran for the first time in her life. katara, toph, and aang are still young enough that saying “bad words” fills them with a sense of excitement over “breaking the rules,” whereas for sokka, zuko, and suki, that novelty wore off a while ago and it’s simply a part of their everyday speech. but while sokka is a teacher’s pet at heart who presents as a misanthropic asshole, katara is a mischievous ne’er-do-well at heart who presents as a beacon of polite decorum whenever she wants to get her way (typical elder vs younger sibling distinction). but you know that when katara is yelling at sokka, pakku, toph, zuko, and every other unfortunate soul who may find themselves on the receiving end of her wrath, she’s cramming in as many “what the fuck is your problem?!”s and “get your shit together!!”s as she possibly can. then again, katara would definitely respond with righteous indignation if toph cursed in front of her, but that’s hardly because katara is offended at toph for saying bad words. rather, it’s simply because she also happens to be. a massive hypocrite.

#no matter what toph says or does she’s gonna take umbrage with it #but only specifically BECAUSE it’s toph #anyway. #KATARA !!!! ISNT !!! A FUCKING!!!! SQUARE!!!!!!!!!! #and in fact ppl who mischaracterize katara as a square are antithetically misreading her entire character #also this is the only time i will EVER comment on this insane ‘swearing discourse’ #all these kids would swear bc it’s a normal part of language. who the fuck even cares #katara #hot takes #also when i call #azula #a ‘goody two shoes’ i ofc mean that she’s obedient WITHIN her paradigm #so burning down a beach house and terrorizing people is still her asserting her loyalty to her father #because it’s exactly what he would do #and when i call #sokka #a misanthropic asshole #or call katara neerdowell or a hypocrite #i am of course doing so lovingly #so don’t get it twisted #katara&toph #kanna&katara #katara’s relationship to gran gran is to the crux of understanding her character imo #but ive already made that post so im not gonna rehash it here

[confusedgoldenflower]

All this discourse about if Katara healed Zuko’s scar, Aang woulda died, but everyone’s neglecting that if he’d had the chance to say yes, he wouldn’t have sided with Azula—he’s honorable to a fault and would have felt even more of a need to side with Aang and Iroh. It would have been Azula and the Dai Lee against our scorned boys and the GAang. A lotta things woulda been different, fam

#atla #avatar the last airbender #atla discourse #Aang #Katara #Zuko #uncle iroh #Azula #Dai Lee

[aro-aceattorney]

almost every story can be improved by having a bitchy evil teenage girl in it

#i'm thinking about azula. kipperlilly copperkettle. VRISKA SERKET. (!!!) Franziska von karma. Scary Marlowe. #each of these bitchy evil teenage girls made the story better #by serving cunt. and starting tumblr discourse #i don't care how much people hate them i will ALWAYS defend evil teenage girl characters !!!

[balanceoflightanddark]

Well, I guess Zuko is a nonbender since he uses dual swords if the "Azula is an archer=non bender" discourse is any indication.

#azula #princess azula #atla #zuko #prince zuko #avatar the last airbender #avatar live action #atla netflix #fandumb #atla fandumb #atla fandom discourse #fandom discourse #fandom problems #atla fandom problems