Ideography is used to find meaning and it is often found in two sources. One source of meaning comes from myth and more specifically this meaning comes from something that is intangible. It is an experience instead of a thing. The other source is ideology, which often comes from a tangible object. In Avatar The Last Airbender there was a specific scene that came to mind with this topic. I feel that it aptly addresses the ideology of the Fire Nation and the war that they started. Ideology can be culturally based and it seems appropriate to apply that concept to the Fire Nation and the war that they initiated. The following clip is the scene that came to mind for this post.

Zuko states that he was told as a child that the war was the Fire Nation’s way of sharing their greatness with the world. The ideology here is that the Fire Nation is the correct culture and way of life and that by advancing on the other nations they were going to share that culture and way of life with the rest of the world. One thing that the Fire Nation did first in their campaign was the elimination of the Air Nomads. This could have simply been decided because it was believed that the Avatar was to be incarnated among the Air Nomads and if they were able to eliminate the Avatar then that would reset the reincarnation cycle and give them a head start on dominating the rest of the nations. I don’t feel that the idea of sharing their greatness was meant to encourage the other nations to succumb to the Fire Nation but rather to alleviate guilt from the Fire Nation itself and all the citizens that were going to become the soldiers of this war.

This ideology of sharing the culture of the Fire Nation allow the citizens of the Fire Nation to overlook the invasions and the brutality that was being demonstrated. Zuko points out that the other nations fear the Fire Nation and firebenders as a whole because of the war. The other nations have experienced oppression and cruelty at the hand of firebenders and as a result it has branded all firebenders and all associations with the Fire Nation to be evil. The war might have been encouraged by “sharing their greatness” but the end result was the very emblem of the Fire Nation being demonized and fire bending being seen as an attribute of that demon that was oppressing them. Firebenders were not trusted neither were non-benders that were citizens of the Fire Nation.

The ideology that the culture of the Fire Nation is the best way and because it is the best it must be the only way demonstrates how dangerous ideology can be. Ideology cannot prove the existence of an absolute truth because an ideology cannot be tested. Ideologies change over time but an absolute truth cannot change otherwise it would not be an absolute truth. The myth here is that the Fire Nation’s culture is the superior one. The tangible thing that is leading to this ideology is the ability of fire bending itself. The Fire Lord believes that firebending is the superior bending because of the power that it has given him and the fear that it strikes into those that it is aimed at. While it is possibly the more aggressive of the bendings, each bending serves a purpose and when they all come together that is when peace and prosperity can take place. Before the war there was peace and prosperity between the nations. Zuko also states that the correct ideology that should be implemented is that of peace and kindness. The two ideologies that are at work against each other in this war would be that of Fire Lord Ozai and of, Uncle Iroh. Ozai’s ideology is that of power and fear while Iroh’s ideology is that of peace and kindness.