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[korranguyen]

Appreciation post on how thoroughly fucked up Katara is, yet she somehow throws every fiber of her being into holding her composure to support the people around her, and how that tendency itself is an extension of her trauma.

[korranguyen]

“If you’re watching this, Sarah Lynn, wherever you are, please come home…“

[korranguyen]

Interesting.

I’ll reblog with some Bojack snippets when I get to visit again and see what you think.

Cross-comparing writing styles at WGA

I was really enthusiastic to return to WGA to read scripts from other shows, particularly Bojack. Unlike Avatar, they only had the show’s most salient picks—but I eagerly skimmed through the episodes I could.

To my surprise, I quickly found that Bojack’s scripts (barring “Fish Out of Water”) were… drastically different than what I expected from such an emotionally resonant and humanistically-driven show: dialogue-heavy, nearly devoid of character internalizations, with stage directions as concise as they are sparse. Honestly a little bland to flip through, especially in comparison to something like this:

We see on his face all the emotions that would plague a man who just fatally cut the Gordian knot of his sibling relationship…

Meanwhile, Azula hurtles through space. Unfazed, she takes a breath and performs a brief Firebending blast which directs her freefall over to the rigging of a nearby airship. She hooks onto the rigging with one long, pointy fingernail.

Zuko shakes his head, frustrated but relieved in spite of himself, realizing things never end cleanly in the world of “Avatar”.

- Elizabeth Ehasz, The Southern Raiders

I’m surprised, but not at all disappointed. Mostly just intrigued about why the two shows are written so differently, and the different approaches people may take towards the art of screenwriting. I feel as though the spare verbiage of Bojack purposefully left extra breathing room for the rest of the team’s creative freedom. Perhaps the writers left gaps between the lines because they had faith that the next viewer of the script—whether a voice actor, director, or animator—would assign their own meaning to the content, leaving traces of their own interpretive perspectives that couldn’t be achieved if someone were told what to think.

There’s obvious differences in the two animated shows that explain these differences. Avatar is an action-based kid’s show that relies much more on exciting visuals; Bojack hinges on more humanistic elements and mostly uses animation as an added bonus (not to say the show doesn’t hit fucking hard with its visually stunning moments). Plus, it’s important to note that the casts in the two shows are vastly different when it comes to age and experience: full-grown, big-name actors such as Alison Brie, Will Arnett, and Stephanie Beatriz needing significantly less emotional direction and guidance to interpret texts than, say, the mostly child/teen main cast of Avatar.

Just some food for thought.

@lady-of-bath​? Any input?

[korranguyen]

Gonna reblog these tags and respond to this, because the whole idea of sharing this observation was to start discussion!

First off, gonna circle back to the vitriol of the SPOP fandom and how intimidating and difficult it is to tip-toe around discussions without getting attacked. I’ve remarked on this before and it’s unfortunate, especially for a show that contemplates so many serious themes concurrently. I have so much to say about SPOP but am so hesitant to say anything, I see you are too, and I want you to know that my blog is a safe space for discussion even if you disagree with me. We digress.

I always wondered why Catra lost the ear tufts in S4 —I guessed to make her appearance more sleek/less childish—but now that you point it out, I can see now how it somewhat mimics Shadow Weaver’s silhouette. It’s no secret that Catra increasingly mirrors her abuser’s control-seeking behavior throughout the show, especially when numerous distinct and explicit parallels exist. How a viewer feels about that narrative decision and whether it was a good idea is another open-ended discussion, but… the parallel is there.

[insert gif of “at least she was good for something”]

It’s interesting you think Catra’s new outfit and Shadow Weaver’s outfits are similar, though, because thinking of the two outfits were not similar was the reason why I’m unsure whether this was on purpose, or simply a result of the Horde’s general color scheme. Her newly-donned black sleeve is also a direct reference to her self-destruction and corruption in the previous season, when the realization Adora would always leave led her to essentially take her own life. When you point it out, though, I can see some similarity to Shadow Weaver’s outfit—and if it truly is a dual reference to both, that speaks to the incredible level of character work and attention to detail She-Ra took on the whole.

Do you guys think Catra’s color palette changed in S4 to mirror Shadow Weaver’s, or is a coincidence that the character designers used the same color to increase her intimidation factor?

[korranguyen]

Cross-comparing writing styles at WGA

I was really enthusiastic to return to WGA to read scripts from other shows, particularly Bojack. Unlike Avatar, they only had the show’s most salient picks—but I eagerly skimmed through the episodes I could.

To my surprise, I quickly found that Bojack’s scripts (barring “Fish Out of Water”) were... drastically different than what I expected from such an emotionally resonant and humanistically-driven show: dialogue-heavy, nearly devoid of character internalizations, with stage directions as concise as they are sparse. Honestly a little bland to flip through, especially in comparison to something like this:

We see on his face all the emotions that would plague a man who just fatally cut the Gordian knot of his sibling relationship...

Meanwhile, Azula hurtles through space. Unfazed, she takes a breath and performs a brief Firebending blast which directs her freefall over to the rigging of a nearby airship. She hooks onto the rigging with one long, pointy fingernail.

Zuko shakes his head, frustrated but relieved in spite of himself, realizing things never end cleanly in the world of “Avatar”.

- Elizabeth Ehasz, The Southern Raiders

I’m surprised, but not at all disappointed. Mostly just intrigued about why the two shows are written so differently, and the different approaches people may take towards the art of screenwriting. I feel as though the spare verbiage of Bojack purposefully left extra breathing room for the rest of the team’s creative freedom. Perhaps the writers left gaps between the lines because they had faith that the next viewer of the script—whether a voice actor, director, or animator—would assign their own meaning to the content, leaving traces of their own interpretive perspectives that couldn’t be achieved if someone were told what to think.

There’s obvious differences in the two animated shows that explain these differences. Avatar is an action-based kid’s show that relies much more on exciting visuals; Bojack hinges on more humanistic elements and mostly uses animation as an added bonus (not to say the show doesn’t hit fucking hard with its visually stunning moments). Plus, it’s important to note that the casts in the two shows are vastly different when it comes to age and experience: full-grown, big-name actors such as Alison Brie, Will Arnett, and Stephanie Beatriz needing significantly less emotional direction and guidance to interpret texts than, say, the mostly child/teen main cast of Avatar.

Just some food for thought.

@lady-of-bath​? Any input?

[korranguyen]

[korranguyen]

Art idea Mai from atla

Your art is gorgeous btw

Awww thank you!! That's very kind of you. I'm all over the place as far as style goes, but here's a Mai! :D

[korranguyen]

why am i JUST finding out that these mfs have certain weeks dedicated to them⁉️

[korranguyen]

Do you guys think Catra’s color palette changed in S4 to mirror Shadow Weaver’s, or is it a coincidence that the character designers used the same color scheme to increase her intimidation factor?

[korranguyen]

By any chance do you have a larger photo of those Yue designs? I'm absolutely digging them

uhm... sadly i didn't at the time you asked me. but i do have now! so sorry for the longer wait;;;

the one i posted were really tiny and i was working anyway on these. it just took me a bit to get it done :D uhm... so here me playing dressup... with yue... again... sorry yue...

if i have to explain mayself... my thought process is basically... yue is the moon. so her dress is either the moon or the enviorment around or below her. and.... you know... fish... -tries not to feel my ex profs glaring at me like "elaborate more dang it"-

also! all these option but if someone tells me to draw yue again i would still give her... a new outfit or just idk... because i can't pick!!!!

[korranguyen]

modern kids

[korranguyen]

Now GO!

S1E7 x S2E7 parallel

[korranguyen]

Hi!

So, there’s actually a few quotes in the WGAW script that informed my realization of “oh shit, she’s parroting her father”. They didn’t make the cut in my original post (which is here), but I’m happy to have the opportunity to share them.

He’s got him — Zuko STOPS. Zuko turns around to face his father again. The Firelord SMILES, knowing that he has his son where he wants him, and the eclipse is only moments away from ending.

Ozai delights in telling the story because he knows how painful it is for Zuko to hear it.

The two situations ring a lot more similar here, right? They both lose control over a subject, bait their subject back into their control using a known loved one (both with the goal of keeping them where they need to be when the sun comes back out), and then actively gain satisfaction in knowing their manipulation tactic worked. In the script, even their reactions are the same. Of course their circumstances won’t be a one-to-one comparison—assuming Azula is childless at the ripe age of fourteen—but to me, the similarities in these situations plus the way they are cinematically framed tell me, without a doubt, that she is imitating the manipulation tactic of her father.

Also, to address the secondary argument, I reiterate from my original post:

I’m not saying that all of the malevolent things she has done throughout the series must have been either an attempt to please her father or a result of his bad parenting. But we should acknowledge the possibility that these could be workable reasons for a huge chunk of her role as an antagonist.

Just to clarify, I’m not writing all this to absolve Azula of her actions. She has hurt a lot of people, and the fact she was an abuse victim or conditioned to behave this way doesn’t change the impact it had on others—just like Zuko only being interested in the Avatar didn’t change the fact he burned Suki’s village.

So, just because Azula learned this example of manipulation from Ozai does not mean everything she knows and does must be because of Ozai; the degree of influence is left ambiguous. Indeed, that’s what makes her a villain worthy of discussion. And even if it was—sadly, none of that translates into the consequences of her actions. My intent was never to solidify a stance on either of these things, but rather explain why, with everything we know, blatantly dehumanizing Azula to the degree of the original script feels malicious.

Anyway, thought I’d share those extra quotes. Cheers!

I’ve seen people compare Azula’s mockery of Sokka and Ozai’s manipulation of Zuko in the Day of the Black Sun as evidence that Azula was parroting Ozai in that case. And I strongly disagree. As much as I love Azula and want her to heal as I believe she is capable of it, not everything she has done traces back to Ozai’s emotional abuse, manipulation, and weaponizing of her, Azula has agency in many decisions she makes. Ozai did play a significant part, sure, but Azula also had autonomy and independence and made her own conscious choices. And this comparison and this argument simply does not make sense to me.

Look at Azula’s interactions with Sokka. Azula picked up on the fact that Sokka is a pretty gullible, naive, sweet, and caring personality, and she knew that baiting him would lead to what she would perceive as an overly strong reaction. That amused her. Azula knew Sokka would be the person who would have been constantly thinking of Suki and her state and wondering if she was all right. So, Azula decided she would make it sound like she was torturing Suki to rile him up and get him upset. She was also stalling because she was protecting herself and her father from the Gaang, since they were currently powerless and the Gaang could actually harm them. But Azula was not imitating Ozai in this scene. She found her mockery and instigation of Sokka fun. Azula is smiling and smirking the whole time as Sokka starts crying and tries to hurt her.

Now, let’s look at Ozai in his confrontation scene with Zuko. This is an entirely different situation. Zuko is going up to Ozai to tell him that he has no control over him anymore, he is tolerating his abuse no longer, and he will be strong and successful on his own. Ozai displays his shallow affect as ever until Zuko starts standing up more and more for himself and openly defying Ozai’s threats. As Zuko is about to walk away, Ozai says “Don’t you want to know what happened to your mother?” This was not the same as Azula baiting Sokka for her personal entertainment. Ozai was trying to maintain his control over Zuko. When abusers lose control and no longer have power over their victims, they do anything and everything to hold onto it. Ozai was making his best effort to keep Zuko miserable, scared, and powerless by telling him the full story of what happened to Ursa, one of the people who mattered the most to Zuko and that Zuko was the most torn up about losing. Ozai still didn’t succeed but that was his motive.

So no, I don’t think Azula was parroting Ozai in her scene. Were they both purposefully baiting people? Yes. But the contexts and the motivations were so, so incredibly different that I really can’t understand this comparison. And I just want to make clear that, Azula was a victim, but she was a perpetrator too. Not everything she does is because of Ozai.

[korranguyen]

Random script findings that won’t get their own post, but are interesting enough to share

The Waterbending Master: The Sun Warriors aren't the only culture in ATLA drawing inspiration from the Mayans—the grandiose icy architecture of the NWT does too, described in the script as a blend between the Venice Canals and an ancient Mayan city.

Out of the mist, the NORTHERN WATER TRIBE is revealed. It is a giant ice city, several miles wide. Its architecture looks like a cross between an ancient Mayan city and the watery canals of Venice. Looming over the city are giant ICE CLIFFS from which the city was originally built. (STORYBOARD NOTE: The following sequence should visually pay off what the kids have been waiting to see all season.)

Tales of Ba Sing Se (A): Zuko telling Jin she has “quite the appetite for a girl” was . . . his attempt at cheering her up with a compliment. Very smooth.

Zuko instantly turns angry.

ZUKO (yelling): She is not my girlfriend!

The whole restaurant goes quiet. Everyone stares at Jin and Zuko's table. The waiter looks at Jin and rolls his eyes, then walks away. Zuko sees that Jin looks a little hurt so he tries to find something nice to say to make up for it.

ZUKO (cont'd): You have quite an appetite for a girl.

Tales of Ba Sing Se (B): The stage directions lend even more ambiguity on whether or not Jin truly knows how Zuko set off those fountain lights. She covers her eyes, “playfully peeks through her fingers”, then covers her eyes again? Does she peek again? Mysterious.

Jin leads Zuko towards a magnificent fountain, which sits on top of a hill overlooking the city. Zuko seems a bit more comfortable now that they are outside and alone.

JIN (cont'd): I can't believe it! They aren't lit.

Jin touches Zuko's arm. He can tell how disappointed she is, and for the first time all night he knows what he needs to do.

[some parts of the interaction I forgot to write down]

Jin covers her eyes but playfully peeks through her fingers.

She covers her eyes. Zuko quickly surveys the area to make sure that no one is around. Then he does a simple Firebending move and makes a sweeping motion. The lamps ignite sequentially like dominoes, creating the magical image Jin expected.

(Oh! Also, one more bonus; Zuko is more comfortable later on during his date with Jun specifically because they are outside and alone. The script also repeatedly describes Zuko as overwhelmed by his surroundings and the dating situation he is in. Autistic!Zuko headcanoners, make with that what you will.)

The Awakening: The script itself says Katara is triggered when Hakoda defends Aang's decision to leave.

HAKODA: Maybe that's his way of being brave.

This triggers something in Katara, and she BLOWS UP at her dad.

KATARA: It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him. And I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him too? How could he just leave us behind?!

A long beat as the meaning of this sinks in for Hakoda. He looks down… feeling a great burden of guilt.

The Boiling Rock, Part 1 (A):Suki canonically panics when Sokka attempts to kiss her donning the garb of a Fire Nation guard. Does this say she didn't expect this type of interaction with a CO, or did Sokka set off her pre-existing trigger? Either way—that poor girl.

SUKI: What is it? Did I do something wrong?

SOKKA: (coy) You mean, you don't recognize me?

SUKI: (shrugs) You people all look the same to me.

SOKKA: Oh? Then maybe you'll recognize this…

Reminiscent of 2.12, Sokka leans in for a kiss, but Suki panics and punches him in the gut. Sokka rolls to the ground and his helmet falls off.

The Boiling Rock, Part 1 (B): The touch of Avatar physics hilarity where Chit Sang is too dumb to understand heat conduction was only added during production. Here's how he gets caught red-handed in the original script:

Chit Sang picks up the window and dips it into the water with a loud “PLOP”.

We go dramatically close to a cobra-bat resting on a guard tower. We hear the “plop” echo as the cobra-bat's huge ears FLAP open. It opens its eyes and CAWS loudly. Various tower guards now turn and see the fugitives in the water.

The Fortuneteller: In the moment where Katara makes the connection between Madame Wu's prophecy and Aang being “a powerful bender”, her thought process is purposefully ambiguous—it's unclear what she makes of this.

SOKKA: Nothing. Just that Aang is one powerful bender.

KATARA: I suppose he is.

She looks at Aang, possibly from a different perspective, for the first time. (Though it's unclear what she makes of this.)

[korranguyen]

hi!! so, i saw your meta of rayllum with zutara and kataang, and i was wondering what were your thoughts about rayllum’s canonization in s3?? (sorry if you already answered this, i couldn’t find it)

Hey! Sorry it took so long for me to get to your ask—I typed out an initial response... years ago? And it sat in my drafts for a long time.

What I had written was that I was glad that you asked, because I harbored some conflicting thoughts on this. While (as I’ve established before) I liked the idea of their romance, as it integrated well with the themes of the show and as well as the characters’ arcs, I actually... really disliked the way it was carried out and canonized in the third season.

It’s been a while since I’ve watched any of the show at this point, but from what I can remember TDP hit the gas so hard on the romantic subplot to the point where it significantly degraded the quality of the show. Their connection suddenly became entirely about romantic proclamations, which not only detracted from the deeper emotional bond they had that drew me to their relationship in the first place, but distracted from serious or important story beats at inappropriate times. The only time I remember their relationship being a good story element in the third season was when Callum helped Rayla figure out where her parents were, because it hurt him to see her trapped in destiny.

I’m also not much of a romance person, and again it’s been a long time since I’ve seen this show. But I’m hoping Rayla’s absence calls for some reflection and progression between the two, and more serious story beats about a relationship rather than a romance. But somehow I doubt that will happen.

[korranguyen]

Let’s talk about Azula & Ozai’s psychological abuse for a second. (Part 2)

Now, about Azula.

(Part 1 is here)

I want to start off with the last scene from the previous post, along with the assertion that Ozai’s love praise is based on the condition of doing exactly what he says, acting exactly how he wants her to act, and embodying what he wants accomplished.

“Don’t you want to know what happened to your mother?”

This scene occurs simultaneously with another scene, where Azula employs the exact same kind of emotional blackmail to get Sokka and the rest of the Gang where she wants them to be. (Ironically, away from her father to protect him)

“Where. Is. Suki?!” *

*(not written verbatim to the script, I didn’t copy this part down)

To me, the purpose of this sequencing is to tell us that Azula is 100% parroting her father’s behavior.

Has she seen him do this before? Has he done this to her? We’re not quite sure, but we definitely see where she gets this mentality from:

AZULA: Well, what choice do I have?! Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way.

In the past, I have hypothesized that Azula’s behavior could be the result of a genetic personality disorder (likely conduct disorder/CD) that was ignored in light of the success her resulting voracity brought her. (Sidenote: I strongly disagree with any schizophrenia diagnosis because of the age of onset & a distinct lack of any characteristic schizophrenia symptoms outside of her psychosis—but that’s not what this post is about). But between this post and what’s in the scripts, I’m inclined to avoid pathologizing her behavior because she is acting exactly how she has been conditioned to act.

First of all, she obeys her social norms she has been taught to a tee (at least the social norms of the Royal Palace, lol) and doesn’t have a problem handling authority or impulse: both things she would likely have a problem with if she did have CD. If anything, it’s Zuko who struggles to do these things (which is another topic for another time).

Yes—she has a marked lack of empathy, shows a disregard for others’ well being, and is extremely threatening and manipulative for anyone her age. But her father encourages thinking of others in this way, encourages treating others this way, and provides a bounty of direct examples on how to manipulate others.

Yes—she treats her brother and uncle like shit, but you know who inundates her with commentary about them as though they are shit? Her father.

Yes—she is an active colonizer and conqueror (unlike her brother), and seems to find satisfaction in these exploits. She single-handedly strategized how to overtake Ba Sing Se on her own, and she spearheaded the Omashu resistance, usurped control over the loosening stronghold from Mai’s father, and renamed the city in her father’s honor. But does she take joy from conquering land because she enjoys it, or because she knows it’s news she can report back to her father and win a helping of praise?

Both are possibilities that are not mutually exclusive, but we know for a fact Ozai praises over this kind of thing. He mentions it in his reunion with Zuko:

FIRELORD OZAI: I am proud of you, Prince Zuko. I am proud because you and your sister conquered Ba Sing Se.

Zuko beams with happiness.

This expression is different from what we see onscreen at this moment, which is restraint mixed with fear (and I’m personally glad it was changed because that reaction would've been OOC at this point), but I wanted to share the WGAW script here. Because in order for the writers—in this case, Aaron Ehasz—to envision Zuko beaming with happiness when his father praises him for conquering Ba Sing Se, that signifies that that kind of pride and reward must mean a hell of a lot to the kids. And we see how this could quickly turn into anticipatory satisfaction every time Azula finds a new region to dominate. Like a Pavlovian dog.

Also... Azula literally named Omashu “New Ozai” to honor her father. If you really needed to hear her need to impress her father ooze at the seams of her accomplishments.

On a sidenote, the perfectionism that dominates Azula’s personality right up to her downfall? Also 100% a trauma response.

I’m not saying that all of the malevolent things she has done throughout the series must have been either an attempt to please her father or a result of his bad parenting. But we should acknowledge the possibility that these could be workable reasons for a huge chunk of her role as an antagonist.

So, if the Azula we know for most of the show is the one who’s desperately trying to pretty herself up to her father just as much as Zuko was in Season 1, then who is the Azula beneath all this?

While I’m generally critical of The Beach and the quality of its writing (it is the only episode written by the WA—and I’m happy that she was able to shoot her shot at an entire episode regardless), I appreciate that it gives us an opportunity to see how Azula treats Zuko when their father’s approval isn’t on the line.

The siblings are sent off from the Fire Nation palace so their father can plan his nefarious bullshit on his own. Now that they’re both shut away from their father’s shadow, they have a brief chance to (unsuccessfully) integrate into a normal teenage society, and behave as normal teenage siblings would to each other. And although the way she perceives Zuko as “pathetic” doesn’t go magically away, Azula is genuinely sympathetic towards Zuko—perhaps even moreso than Mai when he shared similar concerns about change with her only four episodes before. For all their time apart, Azula knows exactly where to find Zuko, and even shares a moment of mutual recognition with him on how much their environment has been poisoned.

AZULA: Come on. Come down to the beach with me. This place is depressing.

To add onto this, the WGAW script for The Beach indicates that Azula was sincerely mystified to hear that Zuko was angrier than ever. Not prodding, not malicious... just curious.

AZULA: (sincerely mystified) Why?

So... How much is Azula being Evil, or Mentally Ill (which needs to stop being conflated with violent) —and how much of it is a fourteen year old kid simply trying to keep up an image to her father and fearing the slandered fate of her older brother like the Plague?

We never know, because Bryke doesn’t give a shit about these questions.

Just to clarify, I’m not writing all this to absolve Azula of her actions. She has hurt a lot of people, and the fact she was an abuse victim or conditioned to behave this way doesn’t change the impact it had on others—just like Zuko only being interested in the Avatar didn’t change the fact he burned Suki’s village. I just want to point out why writing in a fourteen-year-old, troubled, abused child like this

AZULA: (SPINE-TINGLING, MADWOMAN’S LAUGH)

and this

As Katara and Zuko watch with pained faces, Azula finally snaps, going from feral animal to bumbling crazy person.

(again, emphasis is mine)

is absolutely fucking unacceptable and a disservice to her character. And honestly speaks a lot for Bryke’s misogyny throughout and beyond the Avatar world.

[korranguyen]

Let's talk about Azula & Ozai’s psychological abuse for a second. (Part 1)

Quick recap: I recently had the opportunity to visit the Writer's Guild of America (WGA). It was so fascinating to see how scripts are written, better understand the explicit motivations of certain characters and scenes, and the way the quality of an episode translates from pre-production to air time. I already have a lot of thoughts on the scripts I got my hands on (mostly Avatar) that I'll be unrolling, and I'm hoping to return to gather some thoughts on BoJack Horseman (I ran out of time within the opening times of the library because apparently 7 hours is not enough).

There was a lot of work on the ATLA writing team’s part that I found admirable and a lot that I found... less so. I will address both in time (as this post will)—but I want to start with the worst thing I found.

(S3E20, Sozin’s Comet: Avatar Aang, written by Mike DiMartino & Bryan Konietzko)

The ensnared Azula thrashes like a feral animal, breathing fire in desperation. Katara helps Zuko stand and they walk over to where Azula is tethered.

As Katara and Zuko watch with pained faces, Azula finally snaps, going from feral animal to bumbling crazy person.

AZULA: (WILD SCREAMS INTO PATHETIC BUMBLING AND CRYING)

(Emphasis is mine)

There’s a lot to unpack here—the way Bryke never sympathize with Azula’s pain and trauma here or even attempt to POV her internal dialogue for a sentence, the way their comparisons dehumanize her tragically human emotions, how the descriptions “feral animal” and “bumbling crazy person” are misogynistic, ableist, and horrific as fuck. But keep this all on hold as we take a step back and talk about Ozai.

One of the effects of reading Avatar scripts vs. watching the show was getting to read Zuko's confrontation with Ozai in DOBS line-by-line and recognize the psychological abuse patterns Ozai exhibits. For the most part, the audience sees Ozai’s physical abuse through the lens of Zuko's most traumatic experience—getting dueled, burned, and banished at thirteen for speaking out of turn—but we seldom get to see the ways Ozai works at Zuko psychologically  because of how little the two directly interact during the runtime of the show.

We get a hint of it here:

And can fill in the blanks based on how abysmal Zuko's self-image is. But, with the help of the direct script, Zuko’s confrontation with his father alone can tell us a lot about Ozai’s psychology—and the psychology of the environment Zuko and Azula were raised in.

Because of how it applies to The Abuse Event™, we already know that Ozai tends to threaten Zuko into submission. Ozai’s actions assert that “respect” is “do exactly what I say, no questions asked”, that Ozai (as their father) must be given “respect” or dangerous consequences lie on the horizon, and that any semblance of approval or positive affirmation can only be earned by being “respectful” and being “good enough” to live up to his exceeding expectations (more on this later):

“You will learn respect, and suffering will be your teacher.”

We see him employ the same style of direct intimidation at the start of Zuko’s confrontation:

ZUKO: In fact, he’s probably leading this very invasion — he could be on his way here right now.

FIRELORD OZAI: (ENRAGED SCREAM) Get out! Get out of my sight right now if you know what’s good for you.

Zuko doesn’t flinch.

ZUKO: That’s another thing — I’m not taking orders from you anymore.

Ozai gets up and moves toward Zuko aggressively.

OZAI: You will obey me, or this defiant breath will be your last…

Quick tangent; can I mention how gratifying that three-word stage direction is? Zuko doesn’t flinch. After his father’s enraged scream. And it’s equally gratifying to see Ozai’s temper rise for the first time as he realizes his threats have lost their grip.

After all, what abusers hate most is losing their control.

Anyway—let’s see what else we pick apart about Ozai’s behavior from this conversation. He cuts down on Zuko’s character in an effort to diminish him into doing exactly he wants:

FIRELORD OZAI: Coward! You think you’re brave enough to face me, but you’ll only do it during the eclipse. If you have any real courage you’ll stick around until the Sun comes out.”

And he sneers at Zuko’s sentiment about “peace and kindness” by deriding his brother:

FIRELORD OZAI: (LAUGHS DERISIVELY) Your uncle has gotten to you, hasn’t he?

ZUKO: Yes.

Zuko smiles.

ZUKO (cont’d): He has.

FIRELORD OZAI: (SCOWLS)

FIRELORD OZAI: Oh, that’s just beautiful, maybe he can pass down to you the ways of tea and failure.

So, Ozai does a couple of significant things in this last bit. For one, we see that he freely throws negative shade at other people and generally looks down upon others; these are tendencies we have seen both his children parrot at different times in the show. But he’s employing another narcissistic abuse tactic here—by speaking ill of Iroh and cutting down on his character, Ozai is trying to degrade Zuko’s trust in his uncle and thereby isolate Zuko from his support system. We can presume he’s done this countless times before because we have already seen his tactic work its magic. Earlier in the series, Zuko has little respect for Iroh despite being highly esteemed, and calls his uncle shallow, mistrustful, fat, and lazy countless times. He especially denigrates Iroh when he is trying to justify upholding his father’s demands over Iroh’s genuine advice. However, Zuko knows better now than to listen to his father’s persuasion, and we see Ozai’s true intentions when he scowls wordlessly at Zuko.

I don’t doubt that he has ridiculed others in his childrens’ lives in the exact same way—particularly Ursa. Perhaps this is why Azula’s relationship with her mother was as complicated as it was, or why she gravitated towards Ozai’s parenting and adopted her father’s views of their family well before her mother’s disappearance. And we know he speaks of Zuko in this way, because we have direct evidence of Ozai telling his other child that Zuko is a failure (and also commanding her on a task in the same breath—there is no mistaking the underlying threat behind this introductory scene).

And then finally, when all of these tactics cease to work—when he feels his control slipping—he jabs at Zuko’s deepest attachments to regain control over him via emotional blackmail. And relishes in getting to do so.

Zuko doesn’t turn around, he starts WALKING AWAY. The Firelord EASES back into his chair — he is confident in his next tactic.

FIRELORD OZAI: Don’t you want to know what happened to your mother?

I don’t doubt that Ozai has used these same tactics on his other child, Azula, to get her exactly where he wants her to be. Even if he was more prone to flattering Azula or she was more capable of living to his demands, she still lives under the exact same danger of conditional love that her brother had earlier in the season, and is likely terrified of the consequences of losing that approval (which is why she throws her “Avatar-slayer” title onto Zuko). And even if Azula never “had it as bad”, kids pick up on things and even if it isn’t you, there is always the fear that it could be.

Now, about Azula. (Click here)