Isn't It Weird That Azula Was All But Said To Have Been Abused And/or Tortured In Her Asylum Yet No One

Isn't it weird that Azula was all but said to have been abused and/or tortured in her asylum yet no one in-universe or outside seems to care or think how it could have negatively affected her? For a show that handled so many difficult topics with grace (ex. genocide, child abuse, ableism, sexism, etc.), it seem weird that the ATLA franchise seems to perpetuate harmful stereotypes about mental illness.

It is unfortunately not weird at all, because of something I call “The Azula Bias”, and because the comics are poorly written due to the writer’s failure of understand what made the original show so important in the first place.

There were some problematic aspects surrounding mental illness on the show, but nothing even close to what the comics did. Azula’s breakdown was, for the most part, something to show us that she was a literal child soldier who had been neglected, groomed, and abused. Zuko and Katara were talking about “putting Azula in her place” before the Agni Kai, yet the music made it all sound like the tragedy it was, and Zuko clearly felt no joy with his victory. He was watching his sister cry with a somber expression, and Katara literally had to give him emotional support. That happened because, at that moment, Zuko finally understood that he was not Ozai’s only victim.

There were plans for a Book 4, and one of the stories it would involve would be Azula healing and redeeming herself - with Zuko’s help. That would be the perfect way to have that happen because Zuko knows what it’s like to be raised by Ozai, to be constantly put under pressure and having to sacrifice everything to please that man, only to get no reward because nothing is ever enough for that bastard. Zuko made many mistakes and he knows he could have ended up like Azula if things had been difference, so it makes sense that he would now understand that it might not be too late for his sister. It would be a natural conclusion to their story.

The problem is that the main writer who was planning on this, Aaron Ehasz, was not involved at all with the comics, meaning there was a considerable chance that that storyline would be botched. Which unfortunately was exactly what happened.

Instead of trying to help Azula because he cares about her and finally understood why she did the things she did, Zuko now seems to only have kept her alive because A.The writers gave him all the power and personality of a doormat and B.They’re related and killing family members is a no-no. Zuko’s motivation to be in his sister life are the old bullshit of “You can never, ever, ever cut ties with a family member and you are obligated to forgive every bad shit they’ve done to you” instead of it being something he chose to do because he loves Azula, empathizes with her, and finally understands why she did the things she did.

On this bastardized version of the story, Azula is not Zuko’s sister. She’s not his antagonist or his enemy. She’s not even an obstacle he has to overcome or a plot-device. She’s his burden, a cross he has to bear - which is how many people view their disabled/mentally ill relatives, and the writers validated that. Kiyi, one of the few likeable characters on that shitshow, was literally the replacement sister/daughter. The perfect child that Azula failed to be. The writers even try to disguise this by having the characters say that Azula is delusional when she claims Ursa had Kiyi to replace her, but that doesn’t change the fact that this exactly why they created her. They gave the “normal” family members a cute, “normal” kid to compensate them for the “broken” one.

Azula’s mental illness was treated as a replacement for her personality, and even as more reason for the characters and the audience to hate her, even though she had no control over what she was doing. Even the way she was drawn was meant to look scary, like she was nothing but a threat that had to be dealt with, and her pain was something we should either ignore, or even cheer.

Zuko locked her up in a terrible institution that abused her, and didn’t visit her until he needed something from her? That’s what she gets for being a bad sister! That’s karma for you!

She’s constantly being physically assaulted by the other characters? She’s Azula! Of course they’re doing that to her! She’s dangerous!

Ozai groomed and abused her? Well, Ozai is a monster who is horrible to everyone. She ain’t especial.

Ursa neglected her? Oh, but she didn’t mean to, so it’s okay that it happened and that she’s not trying to make things right in any way.

What do you mean Iroh she have at least tried to help her? Nobody could help her! Bitch crazy!

The writers weren’t telling a story about a mentally ill 14 year old finally getting the love and support she needed, and learning to be better with the help of her older brother who is truly sorry for everything that happened and wants to give her the same chance he was offered. They were using her as a way to make Zuko look like a saint, and their target audience was those fans that seem to believe that Azula is a robot who has no emotions, and was built by Ozai solely to make Zuko’s life harder, so anything that is done to her is okay - it’s not like she’s human or anything.

disability in fiction

You know how Viktor sometimes gets this superpower, when he can just ignore the fact that he can’t move without a cane or a crutch?

People with mobile disability do not forget about their pain. And I believe people with any other don’t do either, but I can only speak for the mobile type. We do not fuck through it because the sex is so great. We groan and stop having sex in the middle because with pain it sucks. Our dicks go soft and our vulvas dry out at the pang of pain, especially when it comes in the spine/legs area.

Our partners have to be mindful, careful, present and attentive. They don’t get the luxury of losing themselves, they have to listen, observe and pay attention because a lot of things can be misread during sex. They have to make sure we are alright after.

Did you ever get a cramp during sex? Multiply it by an impossible number and then it’s still probably not good enough.

So yeh, Viktor can’t just abandon his cane and lift someone up. He will probably drop his cane by accident and then lean his entire body weight on you. ‘His leg hurt but he ignored it because the pleasure overwhelmed the pain’. No bitch, he fucking pulled out and asked for a breather, his dick flopped and now he needs a cuddle. Own it. It’s HUMAN. It’s cool. It’s beautiful.

Write about his cane, make it good looking, make the crutch in the colours of house Tallis, describe the braces, I wanna read it! It’s not boring!

And for the record - this is not an angry rant, I just have a big mouth. Love you all people who create art and send it to the world, it’s awesome. Don’t be afraid to explore something you don’t know, just imagine yourself when you had the worst flu of your life, the worst food poisoning of your life, when you were so hungover you wanted to cut off your head, when you fell off your bike and your ass hurt for a week and think if you wanted to have wild sex on the floor. Nah.

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band1t021

1 year ago

“It Is Literally Impossible To Be A Woman. You’re So Beautiful And So Smart. And It Kills Me You

“It is literally impossible to be a woman. You’re so beautiful and so smart. And it kills me you don’t think you’re good enough. Like we have to always be extraordinary. But somehow we’re always doing it wrong. You have to be thin, but not too thin, and you can never say you want to be thin. You have to say you want to be healthy, but also you have to be thin! You have to have money, but you can’t ask for money, because that’s crass. You have to be a boss, but you can’t be mean. You have to lead, but you can’t squash other people’s ideas. You’re supposed to love being a mother, but don’t talk about you kids all the damn time. You have to be a career woman but also always be looking out for other people. You have to answer for men’s bad behavior which is insane but if you point that out you’re accused of complaining. You’re supposed to stay pretty for men but not so pretty that you tempt them too much or that you threaten other women because you’re supposed to be a part of the sisterhood but always stand out and always be grateful. But never forget that the system is rigged so find a way to acknowledge that but also always be grateful. You have to never get old. Never be rude. And never show off. Never be selfish, never fall down, never fail, never show fear, never get out of line. It’s too hard! It’s too contradictory! And nobody gives you a medal or says thank you! And it turns out in fact that not only are you doing everything wrong but also everything is your fault! I’m just so tired of watching myself and every single other woman tie ourselves into knots so that people will like us.” -Gloria (America Ferrera, BARBIE)

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band1t021

4 months ago

Bro u wouldn't believe this. Have you heard of this band called nine inch na-

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band1t021

3 months ago

this is what happened in think i dont know

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band1t021

3 months ago

it's funny that we were all so worried about viktor's villain arc and then jayce was like L + ratio + here's my unconditional love and forgiveness + i always thought your imperfections were beautiful + nothing about you is broken to me + in every universe i will find you and save you from your loneliness + none of this is worth it if you arent by my side. and viktor folded IMMEDIATELY

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band1t021

3 months ago

Ugh I don’t have time to write the fic yet so here’s what keeps bonking around my brain

Jayce becomes Viktor’s internal monologue for taking care of himself and his chronic issues.

It takes months of observation before Jayce starts piping up when he knows Viktor is doing something that will cause him pain later.

First it’s just big things— moving him to the couch when he falls asleep on the desk. Getting him a rolling stool and then making him sit on it when he’s spent too long standing at the chalk board.

Then it becomes smaller things. When Viktor has his bad leg bent across his other knee, twisting his back and hip and leg all in the wrong direction, Jayce will come over with a chair and a pillow to prop it on. Jayce clears all of the top and bottom shelves in the lab, only having things that are within Viktor’s normal range of motion. He tuts when ever he hears Viktor get up to go across the lab briefly without his cane, not even looking up as he goes “nuh uh” until viktor sighs and picks the damn thing up. “It’s only 12 steps, Jayce, I can go 12 steps” “you make that walk 25 times a day. It’s adds up.” He’s even started setting an alarm for 2 pm every day where he makes them both stop and do stretches to combat the stiffness of sitting and writing for hours on end.

Slowly, viktor’s internal voice that tries to remind him that something he’s doing will make him hurt later shifts to sound like Jayce. “Be nice to yourself, V” “that’s gonna hurt later, don’t do that” “if you leave your leg like that you’ll have a hard time walking home.” Even things that Jayce has yet to see, like the correct configuration of pillows on his bed, the way that he has to lay his arms so that his back doesn’t tweak in his sleep, start getting corrected in his mind with a “nuh uh” instead of the usual “whatever”

By the first anniversary of their meeting, every thought he has that encourages him to be kind to himself comes in Jayce’s voice, Jayce being so synonymous in his mind with the desire to treat himself well and be mindful of his limits. Jayce has no idea how much of viktor’s routine now consists of choices fueled by the thought that Jayce would be disappointed if he knew he was doing something that would cause him pain later all because Jayce can’t help but love viktor until he loves himself.

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