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fairladyz2005 for being kind enough to look this essay over prior to posting. Her comments and insights made it a much stronger work.
Ah, Fire Nation, Evil Empire of the Avatar series. What to say about your war-mongering ways and colonialism, your racism and destruction of whole cultures, your red-and-black décor that screams evil in such style?
Quite a bit actually. For one thing, we knew since at least the end of Book 1 that not all Fire Nation-ers are bad. It was a testament to the show's maturity that characters from the world's No. 1 enemy country, first presented as stereotypical villains, developed into nuanced and sympathetic characters in their own right. To say nothing of Iroh, Zuko, Mai, and Ursa, even Zhao, that jerkiest of jerkbenders, had his moment of stubborn pride at the end.
Searching for the Heart of the Fire Nation
At first glance that pride, even arrogance, seems to be the fire in the Fire people's hearts. Zuko is obsessed with honor and treats the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom peoples with disdain; Zhao, Ozai, and Azula have perfected the art of smirking arrogance; even a two-bit tyrant like the warden of the concentration camp in Imprisoned is secure in his superiority, believing firebending is the only true bending and that earthbending is some relic of barbarism. (We'll look at the uniqueness of fire as an element shortly.)
And yet pride as the defining spirit of Fire Nation culture never seems to quite fit. Is it really the thread that can tie together disparate personalities such as Iroh's steadfast strength, Ursa's radiating warmth, Ty Lee's sparkling zest and the cold burn of Mai's passion? I see pride and honor as important parts of Fire Nation culture, just not the defining ones. To find the true heart of the Fire Nation we must go deeper.
To find the true center of Fire Nation culture, let's take a look at fire itself. To some extent I can see where the Commandant of Rockenwald (please note: I am a terrible person) is coming from with his blather about fire as the superior element. The three other elements air, water, and earth are all real substances with actual molecules and mass. Even air has weight and substance, as your eardrums will tell you every time they pop on airplanes and on the elevators of ridiculously high buildings.
Fire, on the other hand, is a process, a byproduct of burning and not a substance in itself. It is a becoming, not a thing, making it the most abstract of the four elements. Unlike the other three elements, it also does not occur in large amounts in nature except in extreme situations like a volcanic explosion or forest fire. In the original show, firebending fire comes not from the natural surroundings but from the firebenders themselves, almost as if this abstract element were drawn from their very souls. (Either that or unmentionable parts of their anatomy, so let's go with soul.)
The Last Airbender, also known as a kick to our collective gut, changed this so firebenders, other than high-level ones like Iroh, had to rely on external sources of their element just like other element benders. This predictably made them suck, because there simply isn't enough fire in nature for Shyamalan's firebenders to be worth the energy to point and laugh at, much less to take over the world. (See also this bit of genius by the insanely talented creator of Zhao of the Water Tribe.)
If those lamps go out I am a dead man wooooo AASIF HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO YOU WHY OH WHY
What the creators of the live-actionturd film did not realize was, the very point of fire as an element is that it is unnatural. It is not an element like the others, which are part of the natural surroundings and are manipulated directly. Cut an airbender off from air and he will... well, suffocate, but he also won't be able to airbend. Lock a waterbender away from water and she will be kept from waterbending. Take earthbenders far from land, high into air or into the middle of the ocean, and they cannot earthbend. They might metalbend, if they're badass enough. Firebenders, on the other hand, cannot be cut off from their element by changing their surroundings, because their element is not in their surroundings. Zuko could bend fire on the North Pole ( The Siege of the North ) or in an ice cell ( Boiling Rock, Part 1 ) with no source of fire anywhere near him. So what throws the proverbial water on a firebender's fire?
Other than actual water, that is.
The one time we see a firebender who has the full use of his limbs unable to connect to his element is Zuko shortly after he joined Aang, in The Firebending Masters. He explains the problem as one of motivation: His entire drive was focused on capturing Aang, channeled through anger and hatred, and now that he had lost that he could no longer bend fire the way he used to. Iroh similarly explains lightning-bending in terms of emotional state, specifically complete calm and lack of shame ( Bitter Work ). While mindset is an important part of other bending disciplines, such as strong will for earthbending, firebending seems to be the only kind of bending that depends entirely on emotional and mental state. The firebender's element, then, is the inner fire--the feelings and beliefs that motivate action and drive them to both dizzying highs and abysmal lows.
When you put that power of conviction at the core of Fire Nation values you can see the unifying motif between the characters, both bender and non-bender. To a greater or lesser degree, every Fire Nation character whose motivations we know has some strong belief that guides them. Sozin was driven by his vision to remake the world in the image of the Fire Nation. His friend Roku's belief in the balance of the nations came into direct conflict with that vision. Zhao was obsessed with the need to burn his name into history by what he saw as great conquests. Ozai and Azula were motivated by their greed for power, while Iroh's slow-burning fire was his ambition to restore peace and balance to the world, and to protect Zuko. Ursa valued Zuko's life above everything, and Zuko in turn would give anything to restore his honor and take his throne--and later, to help the Avatar bring peace to the world. Even the seemingly flighty Ty Lee had a need to be her own person that led her to abandon a pampered life of nobility for the hardship and low status of a traveling circus performer.
I have left Mai out because she seems to be the exception in not caring for anything. In fact, she is the exception that proves the rule because her case shows the importance of personal belief in Fire Nation culture. When she and Zuko argue in The Beach, what was the straw that broke the camel's back of their relationship? His violence? Jealousy? Irrational rage? No, the moment Mai told Zuko it was over was when he said:
This, on top of everything else Zuko did, is evidently the worst insult of all. Zuko says much the same when Ty Lee calls Mai's aura dinghy, as though it were an unbearable insult that Mai is not as colorful and passionate (or as she puts it, high-strung and crazy ) as the rest of them. Even Mai's flash of anger at being needled is a positive sign for Zuko, because it shows she cares for something.
But even Mai, who seemed an exception or an anomaly in the Fire Nation's character of passion and drive, actually turned out to be the most passionate and driven character of all when she showed how fearless she could be in pursuit of what she believed in. (I ranted about this at length. Twice.) She reclaimed her cultural heritage with a healthy side dish of badassery, making her story not just one of personal growth and boundless love but a resounding statement of the best the Fire Nation has to offer.
Mai's story, and that of others, bring home how these people have ideals that they value above life itself, convictions they will willingly die for. Sometimes those beliefs are dangerous or wrong, as seen by the hundred years of war and the way Azula's thirst for absolute control led to her downfall. But in the end, as in the case of Zuko's redemption and Mai's triumph, that national character was also the salvation of the Fire Nation and the world.
Like everything else in life, however, that burning ardor has a dark side as well. It comes into play in the form of a question: What are you willing to give up for your belief? That is the subject of Part 2 of this essay.
fairladyz2005 for being kind enough to look this essay over prior to posting. Her comments and insights made it a much stronger work.Ah, Fire Nation, Evil Empire of the Avatar series. What to say about your war-mongering ways and colonialism, your racism and destruction of whole cultures, your red-and-black décor that screams evil in such style?
Quite a bit actually. For one thing, we knew since at least the end of Book 1 that not all Fire Nation-ers are bad. It was a testament to the show's maturity that characters from the world's No. 1 enemy country, first presented as stereotypical villains, developed into nuanced and sympathetic characters in their own right. To say nothing of Iroh, Zuko, Mai, and Ursa, even Zhao, that jerkiest of jerkbenders, had his moment of stubborn pride at the end.
Searching for the Heart of the Fire Nation
At first glance that pride, even arrogance, seems to be the fire in the Fire people's hearts. Zuko is obsessed with honor and treats the Water Tribe and Earth Kingdom peoples with disdain; Zhao, Ozai, and Azula have perfected the art of smirking arrogance; even a two-bit tyrant like the warden of the concentration camp in Imprisoned is secure in his superiority, believing firebending is the only true bending and that earthbending is some relic of barbarism. (We'll look at the uniqueness of fire as an element shortly.)
And yet pride as the defining spirit of Fire Nation culture never seems to quite fit. Is it really the thread that can tie together disparate personalities such as Iroh's steadfast strength, Ursa's radiating warmth, Ty Lee's sparkling zest and the cold burn of Mai's passion? I see pride and honor as important parts of Fire Nation culture, just not the defining ones. To find the true heart of the Fire Nation we must go deeper.
To find the true center of Fire Nation culture, let's take a look at fire itself. To some extent I can see where the Commandant of Rockenwald (please note: I am a terrible person) is coming from with his blather about fire as the superior element. The three other elements air, water, and earth are all real substances with actual molecules and mass. Even air has weight and substance, as your eardrums will tell you every time they pop on airplanes and on the elevators of ridiculously high buildings.
Fire, on the other hand, is a process, a byproduct of burning and not a substance in itself. It is a becoming, not a thing, making it the most abstract of the four elements. Unlike the other three elements, it also does not occur in large amounts in nature except in extreme situations like a volcanic explosion or forest fire. In the original show, firebending fire comes not from the natural surroundings but from the firebenders themselves, almost as if this abstract element were drawn from their very souls. (Either that or unmentionable parts of their anatomy, so let's go with soul.)
The Last Airbender, also known as a kick to our collective gut, changed this so firebenders, other than high-level ones like Iroh, had to rely on external sources of their element just like other element benders. This predictably made them suck, because there simply isn't enough fire in nature for Shyamalan's firebenders to be worth the energy to point and laugh at, much less to take over the world. (See also this bit of genius by the insanely talented creator of Zhao of the Water Tribe.)
If those lamps go out I am a dead man wooooo AASIF HOW COULD THEY DO THIS TO YOU WHY OH WHY
What the creators of the live-action
Other than actual water, that is.
The one time we see a firebender who has the full use of his limbs unable to connect to his element is Zuko shortly after he joined Aang, in The Firebending Masters. He explains the problem as one of motivation: His entire drive was focused on capturing Aang, channeled through anger and hatred, and now that he had lost that he could no longer bend fire the way he used to. Iroh similarly explains lightning-bending in terms of emotional state, specifically complete calm and lack of shame ( Bitter Work ). While mindset is an important part of other bending disciplines, such as strong will for earthbending, firebending seems to be the only kind of bending that depends entirely on emotional and mental state. The firebender's element, then, is the inner fire--the feelings and beliefs that motivate action and drive them to both dizzying highs and abysmal lows.
When you put that power of conviction at the core of Fire Nation values you can see the unifying motif between the characters, both bender and non-bender. To a greater or lesser degree, every Fire Nation character whose motivations we know has some strong belief that guides them. Sozin was driven by his vision to remake the world in the image of the Fire Nation. His friend Roku's belief in the balance of the nations came into direct conflict with that vision. Zhao was obsessed with the need to burn his name into history by what he saw as great conquests. Ozai and Azula were motivated by their greed for power, while Iroh's slow-burning fire was his ambition to restore peace and balance to the world, and to protect Zuko. Ursa valued Zuko's life above everything, and Zuko in turn would give anything to restore his honor and take his throne--and later, to help the Avatar bring peace to the world. Even the seemingly flighty Ty Lee had a need to be her own person that led her to abandon a pampered life of nobility for the hardship and low status of a traveling circus performer.
I have left Mai out because she seems to be the exception in not caring for anything. In fact, she is the exception that proves the rule because her case shows the importance of personal belief in Fire Nation culture. When she and Zuko argue in The Beach, what was the straw that broke the camel's back of their relationship? His violence? Jealousy? Irrational rage? No, the moment Mai told Zuko it was over was when he said:
You have no passion for anything! You're just a big blah!
This, on top of everything else Zuko did, is evidently the worst insult of all. Zuko says much the same when Ty Lee calls Mai's aura dinghy, as though it were an unbearable insult that Mai is not as colorful and passionate (or as she puts it, high-strung and crazy ) as the rest of them. Even Mai's flash of anger at being needled is a positive sign for Zuko, because it shows she cares for something.
But even Mai, who seemed an exception or an anomaly in the Fire Nation's character of passion and drive, actually turned out to be the most passionate and driven character of all when she showed how fearless she could be in pursuit of what she believed in. (I ranted about this at length. Twice.) She reclaimed her cultural heritage with a healthy side dish of badassery, making her story not just one of personal growth and boundless love but a resounding statement of the best the Fire Nation has to offer.
Mai's story, and that of others, bring home how these people have ideals that they value above life itself, convictions they will willingly die for. Sometimes those beliefs are dangerous or wrong, as seen by the hundred years of war and the way Azula's thirst for absolute control led to her downfall. But in the end, as in the case of Zuko's redemption and Mai's triumph, that national character was also the salvation of the Fire Nation and the world.
Like everything else in life, however, that burning ardor has a dark side as well. It comes into play in the form of a question: What are you willing to give up for your belief? That is the subject of Part 2 of this essay.
