Avatar and mental illness again
You know, it really is impossible to un-see something after you've seen it.
So yeah. Expect a longer and infinitely more coherent post later this week about why Avatar's treatment of mental illness hurt me and really let me down. In this post, I'll be talking not only about Azula (who I think it the most wronged party hands down), but Zuko, Jet, Hama and even Katara. Bumi will also appear, though I don't think for a moment that he is "crazy." As I said before, you don't need to have a schizotypical diagnosis to be eccentric.
Why am I making such a big deal about this? Especially when Avatar is "just a show" or "just a story?" Because like words, stories mean things. And the stories that we keep telling as a culture about people with mental illness actually make our lives harder.
I am writing this post because I am almost 30 and I can count on one hand the times I have seen a person with any mental illness portrayed as a real human being, and not a two-dimensional villain who revels in his/her craziness, a passive victim, or the butt of a joke (ask me sometime what I think about horseshit like Monk. Go on. Ask!)
I am writing this post because every time there is a school shooting or another act of random violence, the first thing the mainstream news does is question whether or not the shooter was "insane" or on medication. As if people without mental illnesses are incapable of committing acts of evil or doing grave violence.
I am writing this post because mental illnesses are still stigmatized and feared. Because hospitals that care for those of us who have breakdowns still frequently (not always, note I said frequently) mistreat and even abuse us (which adds a chilling undertone to Nick's footnote about Azula getting 'help' on some random island).
I am writing this post because, while I do think Azula was a vast improvement over all the other "crazy" villains I've ever seen, I still think that she was pathologized and easily dismissed. And no, I do not think that Zuko and Katara truly empathized with her at the end of the series. I think they showed her pity which, as any activist will tell you, is a completely different emotion. Sorry, Mike and Bryan. You don't get hugs from me for treating a mentally ill girl as if she's a fellow human being with more settings than "batshit" and "cruel" in the last six or seven episodes of the series. It may strike people as odd, but those of us with mental illnesses are still people, even if we can sometimes be as cruel and scary as Azula. Even if some people are so severely mentally ill that they do have to be locked away to protect themselves and others, they are still people. And we're sick and tired of not being considered as such. And every single time you have someone who is severely mentally ill in a TV show? YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE THEM SO ILL THEY CANNOT BE HELPED OR REASONED WITH! For fuck's SAKE.
I mean, would it have been so god damn hard for Zuko to have visited Azula at the end of the series to actually show some of that so-called "sympathy" instead of going back to yell at Ozai another time? Hello? Didn't we already sort of do that earlier in season 3? One confrontation scene with Daddy (who is an asshole with delusions of godhood, not a mentally ill person) is enough, guys.
Iroh's comment to Zuko said it all. "She's crazy, and she needs to go down."
And no, Iroh. I love you, but you are not getting off the hook for that.
God. This stupid issue is really messing up my week. Dammit. I wonder if I'll ever be able to even watch Sozin's Comet again at this point.
Fucking societal-based ablism.
P.S. Just because I'm a very insecure person, I just now did a google search for "Azula" and "mental illness" to see what others were saying.
On the FIRST PAGE I came up with the following:
1. A comedy fan fic putting Azula in a padded cell.
2. A message board post laughing about Azula's messed up hair in the final two episodes.
3. A discussion on AvatarSpirit.net where a bunch of armchair psychiatrists decided to use what they heard about the DSM-IV (the 'bible' for diagnosing mental illnesses in the US) to call Azula a sociopath. And saying that s/he had authority to do so because his/her girlfriend is a clinician. For the record, so is mine. And that means what, exactly? That I get to be a clinician too, tomorrow? *sigh*
Now, it's not Bryan and Mike's fault that their fandom is behaving this way. It is the fault of societally ingrained and very deep historical prejudices and disregard for people with mental illnesses. And Avatar fans are showing their asses all over the internet on this subject. The problem is that the show, for ME, did not do a good enough job in addressing this societal prejudice, and actually did a great deal to shore it up.
And that is what I take issue with.
I'm not calling Bryan and Mike horrible, mean people for this. I'm simply calling their portrayal of mental illness lacking, and pointing out for anyone who is interested how we can tell better and more complete stories about mentally ill people. I think they're probably very nice, caring and intelligent people, because they clearly did their homework on a number of other sensitive issues including: physical disabilities, sex and gender issues, and possibly even homosexuality, depending on how you want to read Sozin and Roku. And let's not forget that whole writing about a culture that isn't yours thing.
Really done pecking at this post for the night. I think I'm gonna go watch the episodes of Avatar that don't make me want to scream -- as in the ones set in Ba Sing Se that feature an incredibly hot Earth King!
So yeah. Expect a longer and infinitely more coherent post later this week about why Avatar's treatment of mental illness hurt me and really let me down. In this post, I'll be talking not only about Azula (who I think it the most wronged party hands down), but Zuko, Jet, Hama and even Katara. Bumi will also appear, though I don't think for a moment that he is "crazy." As I said before, you don't need to have a schizotypical diagnosis to be eccentric.
Why am I making such a big deal about this? Especially when Avatar is "just a show" or "just a story?" Because like words, stories mean things. And the stories that we keep telling as a culture about people with mental illness actually make our lives harder.
I am writing this post because I am almost 30 and I can count on one hand the times I have seen a person with any mental illness portrayed as a real human being, and not a two-dimensional villain who revels in his/her craziness, a passive victim, or the butt of a joke (ask me sometime what I think about horseshit like Monk. Go on. Ask!)
I am writing this post because every time there is a school shooting or another act of random violence, the first thing the mainstream news does is question whether or not the shooter was "insane" or on medication. As if people without mental illnesses are incapable of committing acts of evil or doing grave violence.
I am writing this post because mental illnesses are still stigmatized and feared. Because hospitals that care for those of us who have breakdowns still frequently (not always, note I said frequently) mistreat and even abuse us (which adds a chilling undertone to Nick's footnote about Azula getting 'help' on some random island).
I am writing this post because, while I do think Azula was a vast improvement over all the other "crazy" villains I've ever seen, I still think that she was pathologized and easily dismissed. And no, I do not think that Zuko and Katara truly empathized with her at the end of the series. I think they showed her pity which, as any activist will tell you, is a completely different emotion. Sorry, Mike and Bryan. You don't get hugs from me for treating a mentally ill girl as if she's a fellow human being with more settings than "batshit" and "cruel" in the last six or seven episodes of the series. It may strike people as odd, but those of us with mental illnesses are still people, even if we can sometimes be as cruel and scary as Azula. Even if some people are so severely mentally ill that they do have to be locked away to protect themselves and others, they are still people. And we're sick and tired of not being considered as such. And every single time you have someone who is severely mentally ill in a TV show? YOU DO NOT NEED TO MAKE THEM SO ILL THEY CANNOT BE HELPED OR REASONED WITH! For fuck's SAKE.
I mean, would it have been so god damn hard for Zuko to have visited Azula at the end of the series to actually show some of that so-called "sympathy" instead of going back to yell at Ozai another time? Hello? Didn't we already sort of do that earlier in season 3? One confrontation scene with Daddy (who is an asshole with delusions of godhood, not a mentally ill person) is enough, guys.
Iroh's comment to Zuko said it all. "She's crazy, and she needs to go down."
And no, Iroh. I love you, but you are not getting off the hook for that.
God. This stupid issue is really messing up my week. Dammit. I wonder if I'll ever be able to even watch Sozin's Comet again at this point.
Fucking societal-based ablism.
P.S. Just because I'm a very insecure person, I just now did a google search for "Azula" and "mental illness" to see what others were saying.
On the FIRST PAGE I came up with the following:
1. A comedy fan fic putting Azula in a padded cell.
2. A message board post laughing about Azula's messed up hair in the final two episodes.
3. A discussion on AvatarSpirit.net where a bunch of armchair psychiatrists decided to use what they heard about the DSM-IV (the 'bible' for diagnosing mental illnesses in the US) to call Azula a sociopath. And saying that s/he had authority to do so because his/her girlfriend is a clinician. For the record, so is mine. And that means what, exactly? That I get to be a clinician too, tomorrow? *sigh*
Now, it's not Bryan and Mike's fault that their fandom is behaving this way. It is the fault of societally ingrained and very deep historical prejudices and disregard for people with mental illnesses. And Avatar fans are showing their asses all over the internet on this subject. The problem is that the show, for ME, did not do a good enough job in addressing this societal prejudice, and actually did a great deal to shore it up.
And that is what I take issue with.
I'm not calling Bryan and Mike horrible, mean people for this. I'm simply calling their portrayal of mental illness lacking, and pointing out for anyone who is interested how we can tell better and more complete stories about mentally ill people. I think they're probably very nice, caring and intelligent people, because they clearly did their homework on a number of other sensitive issues including: physical disabilities, sex and gender issues, and possibly even homosexuality, depending on how you want to read Sozin and Roku. And let's not forget that whole writing about a culture that isn't yours thing.
Really done pecking at this post for the night. I think I'm gonna go watch the episodes of Avatar that don't make me want to scream -- as in the ones set in Ba Sing Se that feature an incredibly hot Earth King!