#and that fire lady Katara is a deeply colonial interpretation

[shadelorde]

Kataang shippers point out the actual misogyny and colonialism in popular Zutara shipping without saying they’re “delusional” for their ship not being canon challenge (failed)

[firelxdykatara]

how are you gonna talk about shitty writing when you genuinely believe that katara should've become the pocahontas to zuko's john smith? come on now. shipping zutara is one thing, but you can't ignore the colonial connotations of a native girl becoming an oppressor's arm candy, no matter how well-intentioned that oppressor is. fire lady katara is such a gross idea.

the truth is, the only reason you give a fuck about katara is because you want her to be with zuko. otherwise your entire blog wouldn't be dedicated to the idea of her as fire lady. you do. not. care. about. katara. at all. and putting down healers in the middle of the worst global pandemic in 100 years is so shitty, selfish, and short-sighted.

that’s a whole lot of words you’re trying to shove in my mouth there, bud!

unfortunately for you, i’m not about to choke on them.

the thing is, first of all, that it is deeply fucking insulting (and probably highkey racist) of you to attempt to compare Pocahontas and John Smith--real people, who actually existed, and whose story (both the real one, and the fictionalized and romanticized account given in the Disney movie) bears absolutely no resemblance to AtLA in the slightest respect--to Katara and Zuko, fictional characters from a fictional universe who never existed and, again, have nothing in common with the colonial narrative you’re trying to impose on them. I really shouldn’t have to explain to you why trying to compare a genuine colonialist ‘the colonists aren’t that bad actually, see, that native girl fell in love with one’ story (which was based on a false account the white man in question continued to perpetuate long after Matoaka’s death, when she could no longer refute it) to a fantasy where the bad guys lost and Zuko was very deliberately set up to be a good leader and lead them into an age of peace, kindness, and love is like.... tone deaf at fucking best lmfao

if you can’t understand that, then there’s really no helping you.

secondly, you’re the one insisting that ‘the native girl become the oppressor’s arm candy’. that’s your narrative, not mine, and it certainly has no place in my interpretation of canon nor in any of my fanworks. in everything i write and the way i conceive zutara, katara is zuko’s equal in every way that matters--she’s an ambassador with a hand in global politics long before she and zuko get married, and she helps shape the world every bit as much as zuko and aang do as the land begins to heal from the aftermath of the war. there’s nothing ‘arm candy’ about that, and zuko is not her oppressor in any measurable or meaningful sense.

frankly, he isn’t during the show either, except insofar as he is part of the oppressor nation--which is a fair point but, again, the fire nation ceases to be an oppressive power after the end of the war. (no, the comics don’t count. they are badly written and make no sense, so i’ve elected to ignore them entirely. if you can’t, or if you refuse to, then a) that’s your problem, not mine, and b) maybe tell me why you’re so concerned about katara allegedly being zuko’s arm candy but you don’t care when the narrative makes her aang’s) so your assertion that i don’t care about katara really doesn’t mean much to me, since it’s very clear to me that i care about her a whole hell of a lot more than you do.

i care about katara enough to want her to have narrative agency in her romantic relationships. i care about katara enough to want her to actually have a hand in shaping the world, rather than being reduced to ‘the Avatar’s girl’ and contributing absolutely nothing of any meaningful value to the world we see in LoK. i care enough about katara to want her achievements recognized by the world. (aka where is katara’s fucking statue you assholes) i care about katara enough to want her to have a story and a life that is her own, rather than being reduced to a footnote in history because she had the Avatar’s children and that’s the only thing anyone really remembers her for. i care enough about katara to want her to be able to attend important events in her family’s lives (like, oh, her granddaughter’s Air Master ceremony) and to be able to protect her family rather than sitting back and not lifting a finger while they are in grave danger or her people are on the verge of tearing themselves apart.

as for the dig about healers, like....what???? when have i ever disparaged healing or put down healers lmfao. like, projection, much? i’ve never said a single bad word about healing--what i have said is that katara being relegated to the healing huts and nothing else (she isn’t allowed to go save her family even though zuko and toph are just as old as she is and they get to protect their families; she isn’t allowed to go to her granddaughter’s Air Master ceremony, the single most important event in an airbender’s life; she isn’t allowed to so much as raise her voice when her tribe is on the verge of entering into a catastrophic civil war (so much for katara being a respected matriarch of the tribe); she isn’t even allowed to heal a single significant injury throughout the course of the entire show, not even the one caused by bloodbending, despite allegedly being the greatest healer in the world) is a disservice to her character, especially since she’s the one who said ‘i don’t want to heal, i want to fight!’

i’ve said again and again that i wouldn’t have a problem with katara dedicating her life to being a wife, a mother, and a healer, if that weren’t all she would ever be known for. some minor lipservice is paid to katara ‘training two avatars’, and to being part of the gaang who saved the world, and even to getting bloodbending outlawed, but throughgout the entirety of LoK none of her accomplishments matter to the story even a little bit. and don’t give me that ‘it wasn’t her story’ bullshit, because there was certainly enough room for the old men in the white lotus back during atla to kick ass and take names and have pride in their accomplishments. king bumi was 112 for fuck’s sake! so don’t give me ‘katara was too old’ either. she wasn’t. bryke just didn’t give a shit about her.

and evidently you don’t either. don’t let the door hit you in your ass on the way out.

[paintingcranes]

hi, I just wanted to say that your "poison leaves bit by bit" is one of my favourites fics ever. the stunning prose and how all the characters feel so in character and also how each of the relationships be that platonic or romantic are so fleshed out and are done justice. the internal conflict and feelings of the characters feels so visceral and realistic and their trauma is actually acknowledged, both the gaang's and background characters. often with zutara fics the imperialist history of the fire nation is just not acknowledged or even just allowed to continue which makes it questionable when some fics make katara fire lady and she just has no problems with that especially when we know the fire nation is responsible for her mother's death. your fic doesn't do that and takes the time to explore the characters before jumping headfirst for the endgame relationship.

i just wondered if you are still continuing that fic, I ask this knowing that you have a life and problems of your own and if I'm bothering you, I am really sorry!

Hello anon! I'm sorry for taking almost two weeks to respond to this thoughtful message, but I wanted to properly say thank you for your kind words <3 This message meant very much to me and lifted my heart during some quite tiring weeks! I'm so touched to know that my fic is one of your favorites because it's definitely a labor of love. Exploring the many different ways that atla characters experience trauma, but still express love in their own messy ways (even when they don't fully understand each other), has been cathartic for me. I was also happy to read that you appreciated my exploration of the Fire Nation's imperialism - it's something that I've always deeply wished was explored more in fandom. Beyond the fact that characters like Katara, Sokka, and Aang deserve the chance to process the full extent of their grief and/or anger over colonization and the FN, I also think a love story between Katara and Zuko is most meaningful when the fight for them to come together as equals reflects their fight to create a more just world - making both things happen is genuinely very hard when they live in a world of injustice and colonial power imbalance, but I think it's all worth fighting for. Please don't apologize at all for wanting to know more about my next update, because I love knowing that you're still following the story after I've spent so much time away. The short answer is yes, I am continuing the story, and I'll definitely be updating before 2021 is over :) The long answer is that like you suggested, there have been a lot of major changes taking place in my life during this past summer and fall, which have occupied most of my time and energy. So the draft for the next chapter has been sitting over half-finished on my computer (along with writing for several other fandoms far different from atla), waiting until I'm in a more stable place to finish. The other half of the truth is that I also really needed a break from the zutara fandom, after there were a bunch of events during the summer when poc (and woc in particular) were treated quite poorly, and several of my friends subsequently left the zutara fandom. These events, in my opinion, were examples of wider issues that have been going on for years in both the zutara and broader atla fandom. But the distance has really helped me come back to this fanfic story (and zutara as a ship in general) on my own terms over the past few months. At this point, I really just want to write about the characters in a way that connects to me. It's obviously completely okay if my interpretations of the ship and characters and story don't appeal to everyone, but when I do finally update my fic, it'll just be for myself and for anyone who finds joy in my writing. Basically, I'm slowly feeling better about where I'm at, and I hope anyone who reads the upcoming chapters of my story will feel that come through. I hope you know that your message also reinvigorated my desire to share my ideas, so thank you again, and I'm wishing you all the best <3