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.

[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.

[starlady]

This was a great vid telling a really important story.

[chordatesrock.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

[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.

[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.