#based entirely on how deranged she is for a 14 year old

[queenofthursday6599-blog]

So I'm currently noodling about with an ATLA/Naruto fic that I don't know if I'll ever fully write out, that involves Naruto and Sasuke getting forcefully immigrated to the ATLA dimension by the Sage a couple years after the war. Which results in a few changes to how things end.

Because the Sage can feel other Otsutsuki poking around their home dimension, and figured the only reason and way Kaguya was able to break out the first time was by using his (the Sage's) own decedents. So by just moving them somewhere no Otsutsuki would dare go he'd be able to solve this issue pretty handily.

Basically the Sage's plan was employing bigger fish strategy, he could keep the Otsutsuki from using his bloodline to stir up trouble in his birth dimension.

Which meant sending his surviving decedents to a dimension no Otsutsuki would dare step foot into, for fear of getting eaten by the Spirits that call that world their territory.

The Avatar's dimension.

Anyways Sasuke and Naruto (and Kurama, he was given a choice of being separated from Naruto and someday reforming in his birth dimension or going with Naruto, he chose to go with Naruto) get dumped a bit before Zuko gets banished.

They eventually end up living in the Southern Air Temple, and are there when Zuko shows up there to search for the Avatar during his banishment.

They don't meet at that time because they're using the abilities Kurama gets in the ATLA dimension of only being able to be seen by humans if he wants to in order to avoid Zuko and the Wani crew. Though Sasuke is convinced "that old guy" (Iroh) can actually see Kurama, and knows they're there, he just isn't telling the shouty burned child that they're there.

Naruto wants to kidnap the shouty burned child and undo the brainwashing he's so clearly under. Considering he's horrifically injured, like 12, but also in charge of a military ship for some reason. While also being confusidly convinced that this very obviously peaceful civilization of pacifistic monks his country historically wiped out had an army of some kind.

Naruto think he could fix the burned boy, as long as the old guy (who's maybe the boy's actual uncle, maybe symbolically his uncle) went along with it.

After all, he helped reform Sasuke and Sai from the crazy brainwashing they were under, and both of them were far more deranged than this burn boy was acting.

Hell, Sai's engaged to Ino, and Ino's clan's whole thing is mental health and stability. He's a functional member of society who pays his taxes and everything.

Sure, Sasuke's a functional hobo ninja who only sends letters like once a month, and refused to step foot in Konoha itself again until the day Naruto was instated as Hokage (which will be never now). But he wasn't trying to burn down nations and topple governments anymore, so Naruto counted him reformed if not an entirely functional member of society.

Sasuke argues that he wasn't brainwashed, or deranged, he was just focused on his goal of revenge and restoring his family honor.

And Zuko and the Wani leave the island before Naruto can convince Sasuke to help him kidnap the boy for his own good, and of Sasuke's own brainwashed teenage derangement. Much to Naruto's disappointment and irritation.

Anyways Naruto and Sasuke live in the Southern Air Temple up until Aang arrives, trying to wait out the war, because Naruto doesn't look a thing like anyone in this world from what little they've seen of it and he's the only wind/air wielder on the entire planet apparently. And with the vast majority of their other abilities nerfed or just completely unusable in this world, they aren't the two person army they used to be.

Naruto insists they help Aang out on his stop the war mission, because Naruto would like to be able to go out and see the world without covering his hair and smudging charcoal into his eyebrows to darken them please and thank you.

Which Sasuke goes along with because he's just sick of hearing Naruto complain about it after the past 3 years. And he would also like to be able to travel freely without being concerned about people seeing him firebend, and then being assumed to be on the side of the genocidal assholes called Fire Nation.

So that's how the GAang gets (young) adult supervision, in the form of early 20s Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto does indeed infect Aang with the philosophy that sometimes in order to make friends you gotta kick a person's ass a bit first to make them open to the idea.

Aang is doubtful of the truth to this advice up until meeting Toph (who gleefully agrees with said philosophy), and finally managing to get Zuko on their side, after kicking his ass decidedly for a few months on end.

Sasuke ends up taking the fire siblings well in hand over the course of the journey. Kicking both of their asses literally one handed, and often with little to no bending being used on his part.

By the end of things, Zuko is crowned Fire Lord as in canon, but Azula is remanded to Sasuke's primary custody for care and rehabilitation. As he started chipping through her layers of indoctrination over the course of their encounters during the war.

The two of them even spend some time with the Sun Warriors away from anything that would be familiar to Azula at all.

Azula spends the next few years under Sasuke's tutelage and supervision, and by the time she reaches adulthood she's been properly deprogrammed from the propaganda she was raised with, and now function in the world as a normal human being.

Though she ends up eventually choosing to just settle among the Sun Warriors, the rest of the world is full of too many negative memories and associations with the war for her to ever feel fully like she could be just Azula there.

She eventually found her spouse among the Sun Warriors, and spent the rest of her life there, hardly ever leaving, and only getting visits from Zuko, and eventually Ursa and Kiyi later on. And that's really how she preferred it.

Azula never really ends up patching things up with Mai, by she and Ty Lee end up building a new friendship a couple years after Azula really settles in to being a Sun Warrior. The friendship she eventually builds with Toph is a surprise to no one after it was thought about for more than a few minutes.

She never builds anything like a positive or close relationship with either of the water tribe siblings, or with Aang. Though dose eventually develop the ability to not be openly hostile with them when they showed up along side Zuko on his visits for some reason or another.

[balanceoflightanddark]

Why overemphasizing Azula's mental health is a bad thing

Azula and the subject of mental health has been the topic of debate for years in the fandom. There have been COUNTLESS attempts to diagnose her with some mental disorder or genetic condition, she's been labeled "deranged" or "crazy" over and over again, and it's gotten to the point that her breakdown and Sozin's Comet state has overridden her entire character for both the fandom and canon.

Now there have been essays about the moral implications of diagnosing a cartoon character so I'm not gonna go back into that territory. What I am going to focus on...is how supposedly genetics or her mental illness is emphasized to the detriment of everything else. Let's forgive for a moment (but we'll get back to that) about blaming her condition on her ancestry or some inherent mental disorder (even though there's little evidence of that). Some people will contend that genetics or a mental illness doesn't make a person who they are (which is true) and that it doesn't negate the shitty upbringing she was raised in.

Except...by focusing solely on Azula's "madness", they forget everything else that made her who she was. The immense pressure by her father to be perfect. The toxic environment of the warmongering Fire Nation. That belief that her worth is only based on how well she serves the Fire Lord. How her father conditioned her to be a weapon. These are often left to the wayside in favor of her condition. Some people will contend these factors "exacerbated" her mental illness, even though these factors would screw her up regardless if she had a condition. What's worse, by playing up her breakdown, they're essentially taking the blame off of Ozai by contributing her downfall solely to her genetics. Like people don't already give the abusive father an easy pass off already. Instead, the blame is put on Azula, his 14-year-old victim.

Finally, what really gets me is what people are going to latch on to when you bring in genetics or mental instability in a discussion on a character's mental framework. Even if it's well intentioned (which it can be), what are people going to latch on to? A toxic environment with an abusive father and a neglectful mother and relative that emphasizes violence and intimidation? Or mental illness, something that has historically stigmatized for centuries and is ingrained in our society?

Does this mean Azula shouldn't be portrayed as mentally ill or having a problem in the psyche? No. Not at all. But it shouldn't be dragged to the forefront that everything else in her environment becomes muted or dulled.

[behindthebrokenglass]

Good morning my fellow bloggers, readers, or anyone really looking for a daily topic to relate to. I constantly wish that someone stumbles upon these posts, so I can have a voice and show others they are not alone, and that they can have a voice too. I feel like our rights as citizens and human beings that we should be allowed and feel OKAY to speak up without the fear of judgment and consequences. considerably speaking here in America the first amendment gives you that freedom. Freedom to me is just a word, a feeling that developed into a concept America can’t even hold. Internationally freedom is ripped from us wherever we go.

When I feel like life’s topics can be a bit too heavy, I resort to Netflix. Watching a bloody horror movie makes things feel so much better on my side of life’s spectrum. Mostly because I still have a right arm, a left leg and Freddy Krueger wasn’t my nightmare on Elm street. Maybe the reason I watch these crime scenarios is to stimulate a scary feeling when I actually end up laughing instead. Now that’s twisted! Trying to dissect my own brain is where my true crime obsession kicks in. It is my go to for understanding the criminal mind and the mindset of a victim. I have a deep yearning of exposing these 50 shades of grey the world likes to cover up and hide away. I stumbled upon a Netflix documentary called , “Athlete A.” This one hit way too close to home for me. I try to bring light with new perspectives to share with people during my personal blogging time. Well, maybe because it’s easier to voice things out this way. Also the amount of other people out there struggling just like me and you or maybe just a bi-standard trying to understand. A familiar story to tell, can at least bring you one important thing to hold onto. HOPE.

This documentary I watched is about a well known doctor, a predatory coach who moved from gym to gym, state to state. Well, why would a predator stick to one specific location? Of course moving around to different locations makes it harder for authorities to catch up with your tracks as long as you stay inconsistent. Yet, there was one specific consistency that stuck out. The amount of victims who reported and made complaints that went UNHEARD or it was just stuck into another file in another cabinet is deranged. So, who is Dr. Larry Nassar ? A serial rapist, and sex offender. He was served over as the USA Olympic gymnastics trainer and physician. Nassar was also a prominent member of the community and a former teacher at the Michigan State University. He was a doctor specializing in Osteopathic medicine at the time for the women’s gymnastics and crew teams. In medical school he worked as a trainer and then became a volunteer doing community work. He opened a foundation for autistic children and the community viewed him as a “larger than life, better than real person” (in the words of Tim Evans, an investigator reporter for Indianapolis). He even obtained 2,700 votes for a position on the Holt School board in Michigan. WOW! Busy man..... the sad thing about this is, is USA Gymnastics for USA olympics tried to help cover it up.

Bela and Martha Karolyi held a training camp for the USA gymnastics where Nassar worked. They based their training methods off of cruelty to get their athletes to work harder. This came around In the mid 60’s to around 1973 the Romanians decided to up their game in the Olympic gymnastics competition by having their athletes start training young. It really begun to solidify after the first youngest Romanian gold olympics champion Nadia Comaneci, a 14 year old female had won the olympics (1976). The coach’s had the benefit of having more control over the girls because they were younger. Bela and Martha Karolyi had trained Nadia and had proved their methods to be effective. They would have absolute total control over them. They slapped the girls, controlled their weight, called them names, and were very very cruel. After they came to America, they decided to bring those methods with them when they opened up their training camp for USA gymnastics. They developed a “wholesome image” that was vital to upkeep. Steve penny All the president of USA gymnastics cared about was business and money. Manipulating a child’s dreams to sell a brand.

Finally, a slip through the crack has opened. A former victim of this man and his procedures had spoken up and came forward with the same allegations a current victim had complained about. This finally prompted an open investigation. She had gone to explain that she was too young to know if what he was doing was right or wrong, or even normal. She expressed how the abuse victims are not treated well. That they are mocked, questioned, blamed and shamed. After the allegations were made, the girls were harassed, their ex boyfriends got involved, they had information dug up about them to hold against them. Very cruel people called them “whores” said “she was drunk” “ look at her she was asking for it” Just the thought of me speaking out against my predator with his authority is almost more terrifying than when it happened. The thought of what’s next if I say anything at all.... is the exact same reasons these girls stayed quiet for so long. It is in fact the most terrifying thing and the only thing in this world I am actually afraid of. The thought of “well, nobody will believe me” - “I already reported it and nothing happened”- “he’s a hero in the communities eyes but a monster in my own” - “but here I stand knowing I’m not alone.... waiting for the day someone says something so I can then come forward too” all these thoughts rushing, circulating, over and over..time after time. “When will it ever be the time?”...... hope.

As much as I fantasize over the concept of an eye for an eye, it wouldn’t fix anything besides making the whole damn world go blind. Society is already blind to this common form of sex abuse. A person in authority with good standing politically can do as he pleases as long as he stays consistent with his manipulation. This narcissistic behavior may never go away but should be put away. What these men fear the most is taking public accountability. Their stigma, reputation, and self image is more important than anything to them. For almost everyone of these girls, this is their first sexual experience. When you take the ability to love and express love from somebody and to totally damage it.....It profoundly effects their spirit, their psyche and emotional development. A man with power can take and steal YOU from YOU that will take an entire lifetime to ever get back. ONE VOICE....can lead to So Many other voices. I want to have hope.... my grandmother once told me to stop hoping and start believing.... I am trying.

[poipoi1912]

Carisi-centric thoughts on Ep 19x05

(a tiny bit late, because I’m already working on my new Barisi episode tag and I got distracted)

:D

Overall Thoughts

A half-decent episode, a strong vibe of “been there, done that,” and some very solid acting by regulars and guest actors alike. Not a complete snoozefest (though it did get progressively worse, somehow), but too predictable to be truly entertaining. I am sensing a bit of a slump, but right now we’re at a comfortably mediocre level I could live with, lol. Still, I’m hoping the show will bounce back with episodes that are a little more creative.

Case-Related Thoughts

Uh. Yikes? They see what is effectively a stick figure-like age progression sketch and immediately they’re all “IT’S HER!!!” and then they see footage of her taking the subway and immediately they’re all “WE’VE MADE A HUGE MISTAKE!!!” and then the brother’s story is a little off and they’re all “HE’S THE KILLER”.

Like, maybe show some restraint? Y’all are cops?

All of the drama could have been avoided, which is just poor writing. I mean, I laughed my ass off at “there are no orange groves in Pennsylvania”. That was their other big clue? Not the fact the girl refused to give a DNA sample but SVU released her into the custody of some random family regardless?

Speaking of, why on earth did they allow that girl to move in the family home literally 5 minutes after she was found? Was she even stable enough? And the continued refusal to give a DNA sample was certainly suspicious. Sure, the dad was covering up a crime, so his refusal to get the girl’s DNA tested rang true, but by that point it was already too late. They should have tested her DNA before they ever told the family. Why would they risk the emotional damage? To protect her, or respect her own privacy? Okay, but how about protecting the family as well? How about protecting the mother from the pain of losing her “daughter” twice? That’s the one parallel the episode failed to draw between the main case and Liv/Noah. Liv would never want to give that mother false hope.

Also, the son was acting way too creepy from the start. The dad did that a lot better (then again, Paul Schulze is always fantastic); his reaction was part creepy and part “maybe he’s being weird because he doesn’t believe that’s their daughter, but he doesn’t want to hurt his wife by saying that out loud”. Meanwhile, the son was practically all, “Yep. I did it. I don’t know who this random girl is, but she sure isn’t related to me. My actual sister is dead because I personally murdered her.”

Sonny and Continuity

Sonny crossing himself when finding dead bodies is a lovely touch, and I love that the show hasn’t forgotten his faith or his reverence for human life.

We got yet another random and unnecessary tidbit about Sonny's family life. All I’m gonna say is, I sure hope somebody in the writers’ room is keeping track of all this, because they're giving us 3 new tidbits every week and I feel like we're going to start getting conflicting info by episode 14. "So, when my pops was in the hospital for a month back in 2007, and I was in the waiting room, but also doing a student exchange program in Italy at the same time, and my oldest sister was pregnant with her first, but she also had a 3-year-old at home, and my mom was baking cookies for the nurses every Tuesday, but she had already been dead for 2 years, and...."

What is the point of all that? I appreciate the fact they’re trying to fill in some blanks, and Sonny has always been the type to overshare, so it does fit his personality, but it’s still kind of strange. Is Sonny stuck in the past, reminiscing literally at all times? Or do the writers want us to get to know him a little better? If so, why can’t he talk about his current life? Fill in those blanks? Or, even better, why not show us that current life? Lord knows we’re seeing enough of Liv’s life, but all the other characters have gotten nothing. Sonny and Barba especially had their one and only “personal” episode (one each) back in Season 16. It’s nice to hear about Sonny’s family, but it’d be nicer if we actually saw them :D

Sonny and Continuity Vol. II - Emotion

As I’ve said countless times, Sonny is always hit hard when the victims are younger, and I love the idea that a young-ish Sonny would have followed a missing child case even a decade ago (which would have made him how old? And was he a cop at the time? In college? In the Academy? A rookie? What year is it?) Especially since he was going through something emotionally traumatic, like having an ill parent. The ICU means his dad didn’t have it easy, so Sonny was probably worried and was trying to find an outlet for his stress (I’ve been there. Hell, I am there, that’s partly why I write these posts lol).

That said, I also loved seeing that Sonny’s sensitivity and attachment to children led him astray. It gave him false hope, and an overeagerness which is typical of him in general, but uncharacteristic of him as a cop; he usually has good instincts, but he’s also the cop who will triple-check every possible explanation before forming a working theory, so I liked seeing him get carried away. As sad as it was (because it was totally obvious he was wrong, since it was totally obvious the brother was guilty), I liked seeing him falter.

Not that he really faltered, or not that it was acknowledged.

I sincerely thought Sonny was going to get in trouble with a reporter (lol just kidding, of course that ended up being deleted) because he spoon-fed the girl various details she might not otherwise have known. There’s helpful questions and then there’s leading questions. Sonny was so excited about finding “little Em” that he let his emotions cloud his judgment. Again, that made sense, because he had a special attachment to this particular case, but I kept waiting for the payoff. I thought “Emma” would parrot the info Sonny fed her during her TV interview, or something. I kept expecting him to be reprimanded, later on. I wanted to see him acknowledge his mistake, and maybe even get punished for it. In a subtle way, maybe in a conversation with Liv, who would respect his guilt but would warmly yet sternly tell him not to get so easily excited in the future.

Except Sonny was punished via carrying a dead child. And I don’t know if that was even intentional (as a punishment) or accidental (most likely).

Sonny’s Punishment

As strong of a scene as it was, and not to get gory on ya, I gotta say, carrying a corpse like that after all those years? Wouldn't that girl be, like, a pile of bones at that point? And, dare I say, wouldn’t it have been more jarring and tragic if we had seen Sonny carrying an actual lump of remains, instead of an identifiable human shape? I would have gotten chills. But then, they wouldn't have been able to do the dramatic "carrying the body of a child" shot which...

Thank God Peter is such a good actor, and such an understated actor, at that. He is always given these dramatic-ass moments, but he never overacts, so he is able to bring some truth and some honesty to these otherwise melodramatic scenes. His performance is what grounds Sonny. I love how he goes big when the moment is more comedic, but he always shuts down and gives us these small, numb and nauseated expressions when the moment is tragic. The writing is heavy-handed enough, so a “bigger” performance would hurt its emotional impact.

I swear, sometimes it’s like the writers are trying to turn Sonny into this tortured, “vulnerable” version of a Gary Stu, since he has been the de facto male lead for so long, and there’s no one else around to do that sort of stuff, but Peter is valiantly playing him as a three-dimensional human being, because he’s a character actor at heart. As a viewer, I appreciate that.

If I had written this episode (which I wouldn’t have), instead of that entire “finding the remains” scene, I would have had the mother talk to Sonny after the trial, not Liv. I would have had the mother coldly tell Sonny, “I wish you’d never found her,” which would have been a great juxtaposition to “I look at you and I see the angel who found my daughter.” That would have been a more subtle way of punishing him, but just as much of a gut punch, and I’m sure Peter would have given us a reaction which would have been equally heartbreaking.

(WAIT SHOULD I PUT THAT IN MY BARISI EPISODE TAG? WHICH I’VE ALREADY STARTED WRITING? HELL YEAH I WILL. I don’t only fix the lack of Barisi, I also fix the missed opportunities for closure :D)

Stray Thoughts

Sucks that Fin was off for two weeks in a ro... wait he was in this episode? Oh okay.

Barba was underused again, but his face (and his voice!) when he asked if Liv was okay made his entire appearance worth it not really though, he needs more to do.

What was the brother convicted of? Wasn’t he a small-ish child when he killed his sister?

Girl: “Don't touch me!”

(Sonny approaches her with the clear intention of touching her)

Girl: “I said don’t touch me!

(Sonny keeps moving in her direction with his hands literally outstretched)

Girl: I SAID DON’T TOUCH MEEEE!!!!

*DUN DUN*

Oh, SVU, will you never learn? A “dramatic” moment doesn’t work it if it’s based on total contrivance.

The Noah storyline is getting predictable. Liv is going to start grudgingly trusting Sheila, despite her original (and correct) instincts, and then Sheila is going to pull something intense; kidnapping (in time for February sweeps, perhaps), or maybe making her case (to somehow vacate the adoption, which, lol) more legitimate by gathering “evidence” Liv is unfit to be a mother. You know Liv is going to get into trouble eventually, with a perp or a long case, and Off-Screen Lucy will be conveniently busy for once, and Sheila will volunteer to babysit, etc etc. That said, I loved that first courtroom scene. It’s always nice to see Langan, and Brooke Shields is very good (in setting up the fact she’s possibly deranged and will go awf later in the season)

Continuity has been better this season, but apparently it doesn’t reach back to the Stabler years, just to SVU 2.0. So I guess it’s understandable that they virtually redid an entire episode from SVU 1.0 and no one had any memory of it happening.

Amanda: “Liv’s going to bring in a reunification specialist.” (cut to Liv doing the reunification her own damn self) I love this show and its unintentional hilarity :D

Sonny’s sweet face when the parents thought they recognized their daughter? Peter is so good. He really broke my heart last night.