In Defense of Mai: Fandom Misperceptions and Answers to Her Detractors

[ljlee]

This was originally part of the Fire Nation culture essay, but it was off topic enough that I decided to expand it into an essay of its own.

Comments

[thewindwarns]

Thank you for this post! Mai's certainly not a perfect teenager, but I never understood all the hate she received from fandom. If she'd been male, I'm sure her aloofness would have been viewed positively.

[ljlee]

That's a big part of my impatience with much of the Mai hate, that it smacks so much of sexism. How dare she not conform to the tender-perky archetype and still get the hottest guy (according to many of her detractors) in the show!

[loopy777]

It all makes sense when you look at the fandom with a properly spaced timeline. See, the finale for Book 2 aired on December 1, 2006. The first episode of Book 3 aired September 21, 2007. For those who don't want to do the math, that;s almost 11 full months apart. In that time, the fandom was pretty energized by the events of the finale; they took to the internet to discuss, debate, write their own Book 3 fanfics, etc

[amyraine]

I agree that Mai is not the temptress figure and Azula is, but based on the scene at Boiling Rock it's more like Azula went crazy when Mai broke up with her.

I also agree that Mai would find outlets where she could when dealing with the bullcrap that is being a royal consort, but I'm going to hold off on speculating further, since the question of her remaining Zuko's S.O. is still up in the air.

More thoughts in my comment below.

[loopy777]

From what we've seen of the next Promise volume, it seems the issue Mai has is more that she objects to Zuko's characterization as much as I do. ;)

Also, did your comment get lost? I'm not seeing one, even loading the full page.

[yukinoomoni]

I was honestly extremely proud that Mai was leaving when I saw the spoiler. There's only so much a person can take in a relationship, and honestly is one of the big ones. Zuko spent most of the first issue avoiding Mai, when clearly she was there the whole time for him to confide and depend on - and it was something she wanted to do for him, too. And people are snarling about it? I'm proud of her. It shows that not only does she know what to do to get his attention, she respects herself enough to leave a negative and volatile relationship before she's trapped.

Sorry, I rambled. I just needed to get that out!

[yukinoomoni]

Everything you have mentioned is precisely why I love her. I also wrote an entire page of why I love her ( here), and most of what you say here echoes my exact thoughts!

[ljlee]

So glad you commented, because reading two of your vintage Maiko fics (Music Night [warning: explicit] and Goodbye and Hello [warning: sadness]) got me thinking about Mai as a character and gave me the idea to post this. I'll link your post in the main post since it's a more comprehensive treatment.

[yukinoomoni]

When I saw your reviews, I was so surprised! Those were of the very first fics I ever wrote, and your reviews make me happy that they still can be read rather well.

I have so much to check up on I see!

[amyraine]

I think people who misread Mai should read up on existentialism. Mai is a female Albert Camus in Asian drag, with knives. :) Her betrayal of Azula for Zuko is a Kirkegaardian leap of faith

[ljlee]

Ha, I really do want to read up more on existentialism. I don't know a lot about the philosophy, but my grossly oversimplified understanding of it (you define yourself with your choices) helped me both with tough real-life decisions and in writing fiction

[loopy777]

I've long seen Mai and Katara as an interesting set of opposites, but Katara's parallels to Azula kind of overshadow them in everyone's minds. It's why I have them dislike each other whenever I have them interact, rather than the "jealous" thing that most people prefer to play with. They both have legitimate views on what's worth fighting, but the two philosophies are completely incompatible. (That's probably why I also enjoy making Mai and Sokka natural allies. Sokka contrasts with Katara in similar ways, but he also contrasts with Mai in that he still maintains a certain sense of nobility that I see her snorting at with mean amusement.)

Someday, I really need to sit down and force Mai and Katara to work together in something grand. I just need a good plot.

[amanda_violet]

I very firmly believe that the only reason why anyone hates Mai is because of misogyny and/or butthurt-shipper-ness. Yeah, she has flaws, but what interesting character doesn't? The only reason why people choose not to accept her flaws as part of an interesting character and ultimately see past them as she completes her own character arc is because she gets in the way of their favorite pairing.

[ljlee]

And I'm fine with that. Calling out misogyny is half the fun of fandom. :D But I do object when the arguments have no basis in canon, because it's impossible to have a conversation when people are no longer talking about the same thing.