the-greatest-earthbender:

avatarsnowy:

meggannn:

onehitcombowonder:

meggannn:

fashi0nmistake:

I am reblogging my rant on this scene because it pisses me the fuck off that much. Seriously, I almost turned this episode off at this point because I was so mad. 

 

And as such I’m reblogging this scene to express my extreme irritation with Zuko in this episode. It might be a little rambly though, because I’m not really good at articulating my thoughts re: analysis but. Anyway. I’m gonna try. Because I really loathe how dismissive Zuko is in this episode towards Aang’s idea of mercy.

Because Aang is both the last Airbender and the Avatar. And if he had believed in revenge, in vengeance than what exactly did Zuko think was going to happen to his country after the war? No. It’s because Aang believes in mercy and forgiveness that there’s going to be a chance for peace when the war is over. There’s a limit to revenge, because going to the extremes when it comes to revenge (ie murdering other people, throwing yourself and your life away for it, etc please get my point here) damages a person, and Zuko in this episode is very dismissive of the idea of it.

And that is not a good thing because after the war, the only thing that’s going to save the Fire Nation and heal the world is the Avatar’s mercy. And I don’t think the future Fire Lord, the future ruler of the country that committed a century of horrible war crimes and genocide, should be so contemptuous towards that. 

I hated how Zuko basically shot down Aang’s pacifist opinion simply because he thinks it’s “unrealistic” when dude, your nation kind of destroyed his entire culture. Be a little more fucking sensitive. You’re not the one that has to save the world, and yes, killing somebody is actually a big deal. Aang’s twelve years old. Jeez.

I get what Aang is saying, but Zuko’s been through a lot himself. His family (except for his mom, of course) and country literally disowned him, and his dad put the smackdown on his face when he himself was only a kid. He traveled the world and back again, just to get redemption, and it took him 3 freaking seasons to achieve it. Maybe he did say it a little rough, but both sides honestly have a valid point. And it’s not like it’s his fault his GRANDFATHER destroyed the Air Temples. He doesn’t have a time machine to stop it or whatever. 

Yes, but having a shitty life is no excuse to be rude and inconsiderate to other people. He’s not even considering Aang’s side, where Aang debates with his morals for the last half of the third season, considering his options and weighing each side, trying to find a resolution that will try to satisfy everybody. Zuko just barrels ahead, assumes his way is the only way, and ignores the rest. (By the end of this episode he seems to come to terms with Aang’s decision, but still.)

And no, obviously I’m not demanding he should apologize for his ancestors destroying Aang’s culture; what I’m saying is that this kind of blatant disrespect for the Air Nomads’ pacifism is dangerous and helped put the world in the sorry state that it was in the first place. That’s what I meant when I said he should’ve been more sensitive.

Bless the earlier commentary.

Also, I feel like there’s a dynamic of privilege and oppression between Zuko and Aang that Zuko’s supporters like to ignore. Zuko HAS had a hard life, but he’s also lived a relatively privileged life — privileged in terms of privileges and oppressions as well as just, well, privileged.

Zuko was the son of the Fire Lord, a member of the royal family even when his father was just the prince. He grew up in a bubble of wealth. He was safe. His home was intact. He was not in danger of starvation. He could bend his native element without fear of retribution. He was not the sole person responsible for the survival of his race.

His ability to live in safety, his ability to bend his native element, the fact that he was not the last surviving member of his nation, and arguably the considerable wealth he enjoyed were privileges Zuko was granted that contain a direct correlation to the oppression of other people in the show. The Fire Nation became wealthy off of the backs of the other nations. It actively oppressed the people of the other nations while affording the privileges it was unjustly denying these people to its own citizens.

So it kind of pisses me off when people handwave Zuko’s terrible — dare I say, privilege-denying — attitude because “he had a hard life”. Yes. We know. We get it. And you are, of course, aware that privilege does not cancel out the capacity to experience hardships, and experiencing hardships does not cancel out privilege, yes?

What does this have to do with the set and the commentary, you may ask? Simple; it’s one of the most simple arguments and counters regarding privilege.

“Why should Zuko pay for what his predecessors did?”

Indeed.

And why should Aang?

I think that what people overlook is that there are so many complicated, interlocking pieces to this show and this world. It is a word ravaged by one hundred years of war and oppression, and there aren’t any easy answers. Maybe Zuko had a point, but dismissing the stance Aang had, belittling it, writing it off as being simplistic — I don’t think Zuko could have denied his privilege harder in this statement if he tried, personally. He HAS the privilege of falling back on his culture. Aang doesn’t, and he lacks that as a direct result of the actions of Zuko’s people, his ancestors. What’s more, Zuko’s attitude is a simplified version of the very one that plunged the world into war. He implies that his way of dealing with things, the way he learned growing up, is how you deal with things, and Aang’s pacifism — the pacifism inherent to his now-destroyed culture — is inherently inferior. Aang, for the record, does say that vengeance is bad, but he’s not doing it from a position of superiority. He is speaking from experience and from witnessing vengeance poison people firsthand.

Zuko was in the wrong. His difficult experiences, while real and valid, do not circumvent that.

dat commentary 

lol