#anti the promise

[melu-lis]

i've seen a lot of zutara shippers argue that if zutara was cannon, some of the problems in the promise would've been solved, but i have to strongly disagree because the core problem with the comics go beyond ship wars. while i understand why bryke would want to humanize fn settlers, they fail to recognize how settlers are complicit in the oppression of indigenous people, especially when ozai explicitly said he wanted to put an end to the earth kingdom; with that context, the presence of fn settlers needs to be interrogated. no settler lives on stolen land peacefully, and the fn settlers are not an exception.

[herbluefire]

reminder aang was the only person who didn't mistreat azula post-war

[fancylala4]

I can’t get over how stupid it is that zuko went to his father for advice on what to do with a colony of the fire nation! Why would he go to someone who is a criminal that caused so much harm to the earth kingdom and considers them inferior to them?

It’s like me asking a right winger for advice on what to do with diversity in schools. It’s going to lead to an awful outcome. Even if I can believe that zuko would go back for his father for advice, it makes zero sense for him to ask him to what to do about a colony they stole! It’s asking for another war.

[herbluefire]

azula is a victim of the misogynistic writers and fandom

It’s crazy to me that the comics put Azula in an abusive asylum that caused her mental state to deteriorate, turning a temporary mental breakdown into full-blown psychosis, and yet fandom still calls her “pure evil” and blames her for lashing out at hallucinations that terrify her.

How much abuse does this exploited teen soldier need to endure before this fandom is capable of extending a single ounce of empathy or understanding for her?

How can you read Zuko dangling a delusional Azula over a cliff, threatening her life, and think Zuko is in the right?

Is it that fandom hates Azula that much?

Or that society hates mentally ill women that much?

[wanderingcritter]

god gives his most niche fandoms to his most autistic warriors

[bixels]

I watched Starship Troopers tonight.

[rexscanonwife]

I'm gonna need fellow self shippers to NOT apologize or put themselves down for making their s/is basic/mary sue/OP as fuck because we're here to have FUN!! If you wanna give ur s/i a taste of the power or to make them the hottest person in your f/os canon then DO it! Make characters u don't ship with have a crush on you, make yourself the sole savior of this universe and be unapologetic about it!! [OK TO RB]

[goulboss]

an intense hatred of capitalism vs an intense love of trinkets

[eterniravioli]

anyway i would maybe respect sainz if he could at least admit he has no intention of helping his teammate out a la sebastian in malaysia 2013 or max in brazil 2022 but the fact that he pulls the dumbest shit during the race only to go to the media pen after saying “it’s the best we can do as a team” is despicable

[copypastus]

Feyre's selective hearing is the origin of my villain arc.

[lycandrophile]

gay trans men: isn’t it fucked up that so many cis gay men proudly talk about how disgusting they think our bodies are, get violent when they realize they were attracted to one of us, push us out of community spaces because they don’t think we belong there, invalidate the orientation of the cis gay men who enter into relationships with us, accuse us of raping the cis gay men we’ve had sex with, aggressively misgender us and make assumptions about our bodies, act like their personal lack of desire to be with us means we must be fundamentally unattractive and morally reprehensible, and generally treat our existence like a personal attack worthy of a violent response when all we’re trying to do is exist?

those cis gay men & their friends: oh my god, you’re literally trying to force your disgusting female pussy onto gay men! this is conversion therapy! you’re a predator and a rapist and you deserve to die!

gay trans men: …we literally do not care if you have sex with us. nobody said anything about that. a lot of us are t4t, asexual, and/or already in a relationship, and the rest of also don’t want to have sex with you that badly because we would much rather be fucking someone who actually likes us; this has never been about who we personally want to sleep with. we’d just really appreciate it if you could treat us like human beings and not actively try to make the gay community hostile toward our existence. you don’t have to be attracted to us, just don’t be awful to us? and maybe, once you have that part down, ask yourself why you were so quick to assume a subset of queer people are all violent predators?

those people: HOMOPHOBES! EVIL GROSS FETISHIZING RAPIST HOMOPHOBES!

[melu-lis]

Benign Colonialism in the ATLA Comics

In this post, I will discuss how the ATLA comics, the Promise comics specifically, fail to tackle settler colonialism.

Before I begin my analysis of the Promise, I need to define a few terms:

benign colonialism: the belief that indigenous people gain more advantages than disadvantages from colonialism

indigenous people: inhabitants who lived in an area prior to it being colonized

settler colonialism: a system of power that perpetuates the genocide and repression of indigenous people

terra nullius: a Latin expression meaning "nobody's land"

The comics starts with a recap of how the 100-year ended and the Gaang meeting with the Earth King to discuss getting rid of the FN colonies in the Earth Kingdom. The Gaang decides to create a movement called the Harmony Restoration Movement, with one of its aim being to have every FN settler return to the Fire Nation. Zuko is initially on board with the idea, but he later withdraws his support after he faces an assassination attempt by the daughter of the Yu Dao (one of the FN colonies) mayor, Kori.

Zuko's meeting with the Yu Dao mayor is where I stumble upon my first problem with the comics. Mayor Morishita says that Zuko has an obligation to protect FN settlers because they were loyal to his family for generations, but he doesn't interrogate how his family were able to settle in the Earth Kingdom with the support from the Fire Nation and what that meant for the indigenous EK citizens that were living there. What also frustrates me is that he acts as if Ozai didn't want burn the entire EK to the ground a year ago. My problems with Morishita also extend to Kori as well because even though she's half-EK and an Earthbender, she is also unable to interrogate how the colony she lives in was able to created. Like father, like daughter I guess.

And it get worse from here. Zuko's explanation of the history of Yu Dao is an example of terra nullius. Throughout history, the phrase has been used to justify the dispossession of Indigenous people because they were considered "too primitive" by colonists to be rightful owners of the land. While Zuko doesn't explicitly say that EK citizens are primitive, the way he talks about Yu Dao makes it seem like before the FN settlers came, the EK citizens weren't using the land properly.

Zuko's argument is a textbook example of benign colonialism. He claims that the indigenous population has gained more advantages from colonized since Yu Dao is now one of the richest cities of the world and any disadvantages they received from FN rule can be addressed later. Arguments like these aren't new. When France colonized Senegal, where my mom is from, a major goal was mission civilisatrice (civilizing mission). The French believed that non-Europeans were uncivilized and were in desperate need of European re-education. What's the most disappointing about Zuko's argument is that he experiences character regression. He already rejected the concept of civilizing mission back in the TV show, so it makes no sense that he would espouse those ideas after his redemption.

Having the FN and EK essentially share the colonies is not a good solution because it treats the indigenous people's and settlers' claim to the land as equally legitimate when the FN settlers' claim is based on the fact that their country colonized the territories and displaced the indigenous people who were living there. In real-life, settlers and indigenous people sharing the land has always led to more problems.

A good example of settlers and indigenous people sharing the land leading to more problems:

One major problem I have with the comics is that there is a heavy implication that interracial relationships solve everything wrong with settler colonialism. While it is true that in many settler colonies (e.g. United States, Canada, Israel), interracial marriage was/is illegal, in many others, interracial marriage was tolerated but that didn't stop the oppression of indigenous people in the slightest and miscegenation was even used as a tool to further genocide the indigenous people.

An example of miscegenation being used as a tool for genocide is the Stolen Generations and wider genocide of Aboriginal Australians. One of the main perpetrator of the genocide of Aboriginal Australians, A.O. Neville, believed that through mixed marriages, the characteristics of Aboriginals would be "bred out". Even in settler colonies where miscegenation wasn't a tool of genocide, indigenous people still faced discrimination. In New Zealand, marriages between the Maori and English settlers were very common and accepted, but Maori people still ended up being victims of forced assimilation in the late 19th century - mid 20th century.

How would I fix the Promise? I would first establish what the average lives of FN settlers, mixed FN-EK citizens, and indigenous EK citizens are like. During the 100 years of the existence of the FN colonies, are racial hierarchy was established: FN settlers at the top, mixed FN-EK citizens in the middle, and indigenous EK citizens at the bottom. The indigenous EK citizens didn't just passively accept their subjugation and resisted FN rule in various ways, both non-violently and violently. After the end of the 100-year war and the creation of the Harmony Restoration movement, there is an organization in the FN colonies by indigenous EK citizens to reunite with the Earth Kingdom. Besides reuniting with the the Earth Kingdom, indigenous EK citizens also want the removal of all FN settlers from the Earth Kingdom. This gets a lot of pushback from mixed FN-EK citizens because they have FN family members and they don't want to be separated from them. Eventually, the indigenous EK citizens realize that removing every FN settler is unrealistic and instead suggest that after reuniting with the Earth Kingdom, they abolish the racial hierarchy and give everyone who lived in the colonies equal rights and representation; FN settlers are given the choice to stay and earn Earth Kingdom citizenship, but if they refuse, they can just return to the Fire Nation.

To summarize, The Promise fails at tackling settler colonialism because it legitimizes common pro-colonialism arguments and is more focused on accommodating settlers than asking how the oppression of indigenous people can be solved realistically. Reading the comics, I am reminded that Bryke are white men with a neoliberal worldview who probably can't reckon with the fact that they live in a settler colony that continues to oppress indigenous people, hence the portrayal of settler colonialism in The Promise. The comics could've been a good analysis of how decolonization could happen in a settler colony but it's clear that Bryke doesn't have a good enough understanding of settler colonialism and why it's bad.

[herbluefire]

"the promise" and "the search" are ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING i'm not even exaggerating

[fancylala4]

I would say I can’t believe the atla comic expects us to feel bad for a mayor of a fire nation colony (why the heck isn’t he in jail? He was involved with the old empire and he shouldn’t still be in power) and his dumb daughter because they have to move from a land that the fire nation stole! However, it makes sense for that the writers to do that. They are a bunch of liberals.

[chemicalreal]

Did anyone even bother to explain why everyone acts like the prophecy is only about Rhaenyra and her children? Aren't they all descendants of Aegon the conqueror at the end of the day? Why are Viserys and Rhaenyra gatekeeping this "white saviour prophecy" only for themselves? Who even said she or her kids have exclusive rights to call themselves le chosen ones when nowhere in that prophecy is explicitly mentioning them either?

[mohabbaat]

the tortured poets department