Vid: Azula's Jar of Hearts

[attackfish]

Disclaimer: The music for this vid is Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts". The footage in this vid comes from Avatar: the Last Airbender, which belongs to Nickelodeon, as well as to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko.

Summary: This is what Ty Lee wishes she could say

Creator Commentary:  This vid is about the relationship of Ty Lee and Azula, but it does not celebrate that relationship.  I have previously talked about my own experiences with abuse within a supposed friendship, much like Ty Lee and Azula's and as such, I will always portray Azula's relationship with Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko as the abuse it absolutely is.  Mai and Ty Lee's actions at the Boiling Rock were tremendously brave, and a true triumph.

Azula's Jar of Hearts

Comments

[opusculasedfera]

This was so good. Oh, Ty Lee. <3

Great mix of sweeping action and tight close ups to show all the sides of what Ty Lee's up against. I really liked how you recontextualised a bunch of clips that weren't originally directly about Azula being toxic to her friends to show how pervasive the problem is.

[attackfish]

I want to hug them all! I mean, Mai would gut me, but...

Thank you! The thing about abuse like this is that everything Azula does to someone else is a signal to Ty Lee, Mai and Zuko. And I know a lot of people see the sunnier part of especially Ty Lee and Azula's relationship, where Azula comforts or praises her and says "look, she really does care," and it freaks me out, because abusers aren't horrible to you all the time. Sometimes they're sweet to you to draw you in and make the blows hurt worse.

[veleda_k]

Oh man, this was so good. What a fantastic look at Ty Lee (and Mai). And Azula gaves me chills in this vid, which means you got her right.

Those decisions by Mai and Ty Lee--"I love Zuko more than I fear you" and Ty Lee coming to Mai's defense--are some of the bravest in the entire series.

[attackfish]

That is the one moment, that I, alone in my room on my computer, watching A:tLA for the first time, actually physically cheered, loud enough to scare my parents. The way Azula treats Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko is the truest thing in any fiction in any medium I have ever come across to my own experience, and seeing them not only stand up and say no to Azula, but to do it to protect her other victims, Zuko for Mai, and Mai for Ty Lee, meant more to me than anything else in the series.

And I have since learned that there is a significant chunk of Azula apologists who think that what they did showed that Mai and Ty Lee weren't her real friends, and if they were really her friends, she wouldn't have gone crazy. And I'm like, wait, leaving aside for the fact that Mai and Ty Lee weren't Azula's real friends, because they were her victims, and because friendship requires trust, and caring, and choice, all of the things Azula denied them, Mai did what she did to save Zuko's life. And her uncle's life. And also Sokka, Suki, Hakoda, and Chit Sang's lives. And Ty Lee did what she did to save Mai's life. Azula was getting ready to bend lightning. And really, Mai and Ty Lee should have thought about Azula's feelings before they saved the lives of the people they cared about. Okay.

Sorry. I might have some pretty intense feelings there.

[veleda_k]

Wow, I hadn't heard that particular defense before. Ty Lee and Mai are actually supposed to feel bad for saving peoples lives? Do people think it actually would have been preferable if Azula had killed Sokka, Zuko, and the rest? Because that way she wouldn't get her feelings hurt?

[attackfish]

Yep. Well, they're the big meanies who drove Azula crazy, of course. Yeah. Never going on AvatarSpirit again.

[starlady]

This was a great vid telling a really important story.

[attackfish]

*blush*

[chordatesrock.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[lalunatique.livejournal.com]

I really enjoyed it! You made good use of Azula's "dominance" shots, I didn't even realize until I saw this how the perspectives and camera angles worked to make her scary. I don't generally like it when the characters' lips move without discernible connection with the music, but I guess it's inevitable in a lot of cases. (On this point, for the record, you made brilliant use of lip-synching in the "Playing with the White Lotus" video.) Great vid, and great exposition of the dynamics of Azula's relationship with her "friends." I do think their relationship was genuine on some level, but that doesn't take away from how abusive and controlling it was.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Making this vid, I kept saying to myself, damn Azula, you're short, but the camera is always looking up at you. The camera loves you, baby!

I thought about trying to lip sync, but there was just no way. I will not lie though, every time I see Pakku say "Oh that's pretty," I giggle.

There is no such thing as an abusive relationship that isn't "genuine" on some level, unless you were coerced into taking part in the relationship in the first place. There is nothing more intense than the beginnings of an abusive relationship, the "grooming" phase, I guess. It feels perfect, and exciting, and like you're riding the top of a car or a plane, and you're holding on for dear life, but it's great. This person makes you feel strong, and safe, and happy, and you make them feel powerful, and safe and whole, and it's perfect. Then the abuse starts, and either you don't notice it at first (like me, because I was ten, and first abuse was gaslighting) or you don't believe it, or you think it's nothing, and then it builds and builds and builds, and when it gets really bad, they back off. They apologize, or blame you and you repent, or something, and then it's really really good again, for a little while, before WHAM. I think Ty Lee genuinely loved and admired, and feared for Azula, along with fearing her. The show does a really good job with Zuko showing just how an abuse victim can flat out adore their abuser, and how this isn't their fault, and I think that's also shown with Ty Lee. Mai, I'm not so sure about. She plays things really close to the vest. She cares about Ty Lee, and I think she used to care about Azula. I'm not sure Azula is capable of caring about someone else in the way we think about it, but she values them, and is dependent on them on some level.

[lalunatique.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure Azula is capable of caring about someone else in the way we think about it, but she values them, and is dependent on them on some level.

I imagine the abuser is always hugely dependent on the abused. The abuse itself has to arise out of some need, even if the stated reason is a dickish one like "because I can." I think for Azula as for a lot of abusers it came out of the need for control, and being able to dominate Ty Lee and Mai fulfilled that need for her.

In this light, it's no wonder Azula fell apart after their act of defiance; her utter failure of mastery over the two most reliable variables in her life meant everything in her world was now out of her control and she was totally helpless.

This is Azula's paradoxical tragedy: In trying to achieve total self-sufficiency from the unpredictability of affection and need, something I believe was triggered in part by her mother's disappearance, she actually set herself up for abject dependence on other people. When they refused to prop her world up, it simply fell apart.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Azula needs them. This is the one thing the Azula fangirls kind of sort of get about their relationship, even if they absolutely misinterpret what that means or what should be done about it. I've mentioned before to you that every time Ozai abused Zuko, he was also abusing Azula, saying to her, this is what will happen to you if you aren't perfect. It was extremely telling in the finale that she told him, "You can't treat me like Zuko!" Ozai's raising of the two of them, and his favoring of Azula led to her seeing the world in extremely black and white terms. Either you're perfect, and in control, or you're a worthless waste of space, like Zuko.

Underneath all of her poise and arrogance is deep, absolute insecurity. Inside, where she won't even admit it to herself, Azula knows she isn't infallible, she knows she isn't perfect, but because in her world, you're either perfect or worthless, she is constantly trying to maintain that perfection and control. She's desperately afraid that someone will see through her, but she's also desperately afraid of seeing it herself. Her control of Mai and Ty Lee gives her this constant little jolt of power that reenforces her perfect image to herself and boosts her fragile self worth. And you're right, Azula is dependent on them to help her maintain her image of perfect self sufficiency.

I don't think Mai and Ty Lee's leaving alone triggered Azula's breakdown. It was one of two factors that happened in quick succession. Azula's self confidence rested on three pillars, her personal estimation of her perfection, Mai and Ty Lee's fear of her and her control over them, and her father's favor. Mai and Ty Lee took away the first two, by fighting back, and then Mai telling Azula that she miscalculated. Then right after that, her father withdrew his favor and started treating her "like Zuko", and it all comes crashing down.

Oddly, in Azula's mind, I think Mai and Ty Lee occupy a liminal place between the two extremes of perfect and worthless. Oh they're certainly not as good or important as Azula, but they're far superior to the peons of the world. That's why they're her chosen victims, and you bet she made them feel that way. That's part of the attraction, feeling special.

The thing is, Azula is deeply hurting, and tragic, and she also has no conscience, and A:tLA was really good at showing that both of those things could exist in one person.

[sheenianni.livejournal.com]

Thank you for giving me the link to this!

When I was watching The Boiling Rock for the first time, I wasn't really surprised by Mei's actions, but I wasn''t expected Ty Lee's initiative and I wasn't sure where it came from. Then I gave it more thought and realized that it was all there from the beginning. The abusive side of Ty Lee and Azula's friendship is obvious from the very start when Azula sets the net on fire after Ty Lee's initial refusal to join her again. Still, I don't think I really appreciated Ty Lee's courage in standing up to Azula until I saw this vid and something just clicked for me.

Great choice of music and a really good job at showing Ty Lee's POV on the dysfunctional relationship with Azula.

[attackfish.livejournal.com]

Thank you for watching it! When I first watched Avatar: the Last Airbender, I was absolutely amazed at the sensitivity and realism with which they portrayed the abusive relationships between Azula and her victims. There was absolutely no judgement leveled against her victims, and they were portrayed as strong, capable, brave people, who were under Azula's thumb through no fault of their own, and Azula is shown over and over again as a credible abuser, who is no less capable of being an abuser and causing great harm to her victims just because she is a fourteen year old girl. This is astonishingly rare, and as the victim of long term abuse by a female peer in childhood, I can tell you that in the real world, a whole lot of people don't believe that this sort of abuse is real, or damaging, or as valid as the more stereotypical abuse of a father, husband or boyfriend on the women and children in their power. Given that victims of even the most normative abusive situation face huge amounts of denial and victim blaming...

Yeah, I might be a little passionate about this. I hadn't realized until I started making this vid how very much the camera loves Azula. It's always looking up at her, deliberately framing her as intimidating and powerful.