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damkiannaI'm supposed to be working from home right now, because the power's out in the office thanks to the lovely little ice storm we've been having. But! I have things to say.
The specter of FF.net has visited me at last: the somewhat wackily-written and oddly focused review! The person who left it was anon, and left no e-mail address, so I have no way to reply to them; but I have ~thoughts~ in response to their review, so.
On FF.net, I cut Flying Blossoms into chapters, and this person chose to leave about 200 words on why they don't like Ursa as a review for the Ursa chapter. The gist of their argument was that Ursa made no effort to love Azula, and was just as much to blame for "how [she] turned out" as Ozai.
Frankly, I don't think the show really gives us enough information to assess Ursa and Azula's relationship. The "What is wrong with that child?" line comes from an episode that is all about Zuko's manpain, and is therefore full of memories that highlight what look like sociopathic aspects of Azula's personality. Obviously, Azula's hallucinations are a pretty unreliable source, but they could arguably portray Azula's perceptions of Ursa, if not Ursa herself; and Hallucination!Ursa immediately refutes Azula's insistence that Ursa thinks she's a monster, and tells her that she loves her. That's ... pretty much all there is.
Personally, I think of Ursa's position as something like Mai's; between Zuko and Azula, both of whom she loved, she chose the one whose life was in immediate danger. If Zuko's position and Azula's had been reversed, I can't imagine Ursa would have let Azula be killed - it's not like I know, but it sure doesn't fit with my impressions of the character. D:And now I really want to write that fic. Ahem. So I don't think you can take that flashback arc as proof that Ursa loves Zuko more, or doesn't love Azula. It's only that her love of Azula is never brought up or explored or tested; we mostly see Ursa through her connection to Zuko's manly angst, because the show spends so much more time on his manpain than it does on Azula's issues.
I would also like to note that Ursa's exile/whatever the hell happened to her obviously happened before Zuko's exile - the wiki says that it was probably when Zuko was around ten, which means Azula was about eight years old. By the year the show happens, she's fourteen - a freshman in high school, and Ursa's been gone since she was in third grade, in other words. That's a lot of time in between Ursa's last chance to influence Azula's growth as a person and the Azula who Ophelias it up in the final episodes. And Ursa's absence wasn't exactly her decision; the only reason she had to do what she did was because Ozai couldn't stop being a terrible person for thirty fucking seconds.
So, long opinion short: I think it's really weird to say that Ursa didn't love Azula. I concede that it's possible that Ursa's absence influenced Azula as much as Ozai did, but I think it's peculiar to blame Ursa for it.And I really want to write that fic. As a side note, I do wish I'd added some more Azula to Ursa's five things; my only excuse is that I was concentrating on the focal point of Ursa's story in the show, and that focal point is alllllll about Zuko.
Anyway! Back to work.
The specter of FF.net has visited me at last: the somewhat wackily-written and oddly focused review! The person who left it was anon, and left no e-mail address, so I have no way to reply to them; but I have ~thoughts~ in response to their review, so.
On FF.net, I cut Flying Blossoms into chapters, and this person chose to leave about 200 words on why they don't like Ursa as a review for the Ursa chapter. The gist of their argument was that Ursa made no effort to love Azula, and was just as much to blame for "how [she] turned out" as Ozai.
Frankly, I don't think the show really gives us enough information to assess Ursa and Azula's relationship. The "What is wrong with that child?" line comes from an episode that is all about Zuko's manpain, and is therefore full of memories that highlight what look like sociopathic aspects of Azula's personality. Obviously, Azula's hallucinations are a pretty unreliable source, but they could arguably portray Azula's perceptions of Ursa, if not Ursa herself; and Hallucination!Ursa immediately refutes Azula's insistence that Ursa thinks she's a monster, and tells her that she loves her. That's ... pretty much all there is.
Personally, I think of Ursa's position as something like Mai's; between Zuko and Azula, both of whom she loved, she chose the one whose life was in immediate danger. If Zuko's position and Azula's had been reversed, I can't imagine Ursa would have let Azula be killed - it's not like I know, but it sure doesn't fit with my impressions of the character. D:
I would also like to note that Ursa's exile/whatever the hell happened to her obviously happened before Zuko's exile - the wiki says that it was probably when Zuko was around ten, which means Azula was about eight years old. By the year the show happens, she's fourteen - a freshman in high school, and Ursa's been gone since she was in third grade, in other words. That's a lot of time in between Ursa's last chance to influence Azula's growth as a person and the Azula who Ophelias it up in the final episodes. And Ursa's absence wasn't exactly her decision; the only reason she had to do what she did was because Ozai couldn't stop being a terrible person for thirty fucking seconds.
So, long opinion short: I think it's really weird to say that Ursa didn't love Azula. I concede that it's possible that Ursa's absence influenced Azula as much as Ozai did, but I think it's peculiar to blame Ursa for it.
Anyway! Back to work.
no subject
Date: 2011-03-08 03:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-08 01:49 pm (UTC)