Why does nearly every longer Azulaang fic I read bother me?
I don’t mean this post to rip into Aang/Azula, or to people who like it, ship it, and write it. Still, it strike me that I’ve rarely ever liked longer Azulaang fics that I’ve skimmed or read, and I want to summarize what seems to be bothering me about them. And to be clear, most longer Azulaang fics that I have looked at me have rubbed me in the wrong way, so I haven’t looked at all that many. Thus, the sample that I am working off is probably not representative.
Still, if you love Azulaang, you might not want to read on.
1. It’s a hetro ship. It’s recently occured to me that all my favorite Azula ships are lesbian ones, so a hetro ship probably just is bothering me wrong. Still, I tend to be much less bothered by Sokkla fics.
2. Many longer Azulaang fics I’ve read seem to have extremely screwed up power dynamics between Aang and Azula, with Aang having tremendious degrees of legal power over Azula, Azula being placed under his authority, Aang being Azula’s “warden,” even Azula being forced to marry him, etc. I don’t tend to like that.
3. A common theme in these fics seems to be isolation, with Azula often completely or largely isolated somehow from her friends, family, people outside Aang, etc. Often her relationship with Aang is her only substantial relationship.
4. In these fics, Azula often ends up being completely cut off from her native culture and society and attached only to Aang’s culture.
5. Canon Azula was ambitious, in the sense that she wanted to accomplish great things. Often, this fics, Azula comes off as happy devoting herself to fulfilling Aang’s needs, with no ambitions.
6. These fics often seem to engage in the “savior significant other” trope, with Aang “saving” Azula. To say that I don’t like that trope much is to put it midly.
Again, I don’t mean to launch a bitter indictment of this ship; I am just trying to explore why I have often ended up strongly disliking the longer fics I see for it, even when they’re written well. Admitedly too, some of the fics which formed my more negative impression are like a decade old.
I can also point to at least a couple Azulaang fics that I remember liking, like Blue by WriteBecauseYouCannotBreathe, Ten Sides by
TalesOfOnyxBats, and The Avatar and the Fire Princess by Loopy.
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honestly i think the way people try to put complex characters in boxes of "good" or "bad" really inhibits character analysis. i see it a lot in people who are newer to fandom, and there's probably something to be said about internet-brand moral puritanism here, but there are far better and more well-researched posts for that
i've seen a lot of discourse where people argue over whether a character's actions are "good" or "bad", "justified" or "not justified", "their fault" or "not their fault", until they get extremely defensive over their preferred interpretation. but a lot of actions are not inherently "good" or "bad", they just have consequences, and it should be okay to discuss those consequences without being accused of being uncritically hateful. on the flip side, it should be okay to understand and sympathize with a character's destructive actions without being accused of believing everything they did was all correct and excusable
any well-written character will mess up and have flaws. getting caught up in criticizing or defending the character's flaws inhibits actual discussion about those flaws, and it's especially exasperating when sometimes it feels like both sides want the other side to have a deeper understanding of the character but they're too busy attacking each other to realize.
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What If S2 spoilers ahead!
The second episode hit me in the chest with all the feels. A few random thoughts:
-MIDDLE AGED PEGGY???? YESSSSSSSS. MY GAL. I love all forms of Peggy, including BAMF, non-super Peggy. Peggy doesn't need powers to kick ass. <3
-Kurt Russell does a great job with Ego. I love it when the actor's work plays into why I hate a particular character. Ego is the WORST and Kurt Russell as Ego is super hate-able. A++, love me a villain that I can dislike without any need or want for redemption.
-LITTLE PETER AND HOPE! OMG! Bonding over music! Bonding over shared life experiences! Hope understanding Peter because Hope is also a kid who has dealt with terrible shit thanks to powerful parents! I love them as BFFs. Yes, please.
-BUCKY! Peggy and Howard's reactions to Bucky! Bucky's reaction to Howard pulling the Steve card! DLASKJFLAF
-Peggy/Wendy now exists in my mind as a ship, thanks!
-Wendy <3 Bill Foster <3 T'Chaka <3 80's Avengers <3
-GOOSE!
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Dash simulator
Blog 1: lol anyone else seeing a lot of strawberries in new recipes now? sometimes its fun but i really dont get the appeal of adding it to everything. why did you make strawberry garlic bread
Blog 2: u kno im not a fan of strawberries, i really like the rich sweet and sour notes from oranges, oranges and chocolate is such a good combo. i altered a recipe for a smoothie with oranges last week and it was soooo good ill give you my notes if you want
Reblogged by: Blog 1: ahaha yesss i love chocolate and oranges
Blog 3: I canNOT believe the hate im seeing to strawberries right now, like, you know guys know the rule don't like don't bake right?? you know you can hit the back button right?? honestly what's wrong with yall
Open draft- wait guys you know there's a difference between leaving a comment on a recipe saying you hate strawberries and the recipe writer should never use them, and going to your own blog to say you don't really like strawberries, without naming any specific people or recipes right? you know there's a difference right?? - Save - Post - Discard
Draft discarded
Blog 4: why is everyone jumping on the strawberry hate train right now. what is wrong with you.
Reblogged by: Blog 5: I knowwww like guys some people stop baking because of reading things like that, please stop it, if you don't like strawberries you can be quiet about it
Open draft- im so sorry if anyone's getting sent mean messages or comments about what they're writing and baking, but i'm literally not seeing any of that and if you are, please use the block button. but someone making a post on their own blog is not that, and if you can't see the irony in you being allowed to complain on personal blogs but not them i can't help you... - save- post- discard
Draft discarded
Blog 2: are strawberries even in season?
Blog 6: woo cherry pie!
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