#thinkingtoohardaboutmedia

[kiera-raelyn]

I did find it odd that Katara just magically gained mastery/was acknowledged as such after her fight with Pakku. Her bending against him was great, and she definitely proved her point.

But.

No one becomes a master on their own. The original show has Aang learning bending from masters of their element (who all happen to be of an age with him). But all of those masters learned from others: Toph learned from the original earthbending masters (badgermoles); Zuko was an average firebender who had been trained for years at the palace until Iroh took over in his banishment - he became a master after he learned from the original firebenders; and Katara learned from Master Pakku, which, added to her natural talent and creativity, made her a master herself.

It's not a bad thing to learn from others and it doesn't reflect poorly on someone that their natural talent didn't make them a master. Because talent alone doesn't make one a master; a prodigy, sure. But not a master. That comes from dedication, effort, and willingness to learn from others. All of which Katara does in AtLA.

But not, for some reason, in NAtLA. And I'm just baffled by it. It feels too much like a participation trophy. Despite his gruff, sexist demeanor, Pakku has worthwhile things to teach Katara about waterbending. Because he's a master of many decades. But we're just going to gloss over all that in NAtLA - apparently, we're going to entrust leading the Avatar to mastery of one of the four elements to a self-taught, literal child. That's going to turn out well. (I mean, it will, because plot reasons, but it shouldn't.)

I just - Katara's a badass. Learning from Pakku didn't make her less of one. It only made her more badass, because he helped her refine her technique. So this change actually kind of makes her less badass and diminishes the achievement it was for her to gain the title "Master".

/endrant I guess. I've got feelings about this but I think I might be going in circles now.

Netflix, I don’t know how to tell you this but a woman doesn’t have to be self taught to be a strong female character. It’s ok to let her know her limitation and ask for help. It’s ok to let her get angry, it’s ok to let her be jealous, it’s ok to let your female character have flaws and WORK on them. Your female character doesn’t have to become a master on her own to be memorable, it just makes her accomplishment feel unearned.

[kiera-raelyn]

Yeah, there was a lot about the American magic system, such as we saw, that just... didn't jibe with how I, as an American, think it would be.

Not the least of which is that we got one school while Europe got three? And Europe can fit multiple times into this country? I think tf not. The First Nation peoples would definitely have at least one of their own schools. The NE, of course. And the South. Prolly the Midwest, too, because let's be real, the corn is alive. The SW would 110% have its own school. I can't speak to the NW, though. Frankly, it's baffling to me that such disparate places over such large areas identify as one (1) discrete political/cultural unit.

Anyway. The other magic schools and the details on the American Wizarding World make it pretty clear that JK doesn't understand cultures outside her own more than on a very basic surface level, if even that. Which, y'know, you do you, boo. But the arrogance required to confidently put that (blatantly ill-conceived) stuff out on your global platform is... astounding. Like bish really said I've got the resources at this point in my career that I could have at least A Conversation with anthropologists from the regions I want to plop schools in willy-nilly to try and get a feel for cultural nuance, but nah. I got this. Research? Stop! That's my purse! I don't know you!

I have always imagined the American magical community in Harry Potter to be significantly less… structured than that of Britain. America is just so big, and the states can be so different, and history is so fucked up and complicated that a whole secret society with a completely separate government and people who’re totally clueless about the muggle world just makes no sense to me.

American wix participate in general elections and watch tv and their kids go to muggle school during the day and learn magic at home or in after-school programs and play quidditch and football and only your great grandma has owls while everyone else just has a phone and generally don’t obliviate muggles who see magic shit bc lol who’s gonna believe them anyway.

And European wix haaaate dealing with them bc they won’t do things the Proper Magical Way they just do whatever the fuck they want bc AMERICA FUCK YEAH.

*eagle noises*

[kiera-raelyn]

This is a bit tin foil-y, but it brings up good points. Again, we come back to: how much say did other writers have? I don't believe for a minute that the show was "meant" to end differently than it did, at least from Bryke's perspective. We've seen too much else from them to think differently, honestly. A last minute deus ex machina and loose plot threads tracks. But there was a whole lot of setup for Zutara that neatly addresses a lot of this.

It's funny. The more I think about all the canon material we have to fuel Zutara vs. how militantly Kataang Bryke are, the more I'm reminded of an exercise I did in high school. The teacher broke us up into groups of four. We each had a paper and wrote one sentence on it. Then we passed it to the next person and they wrote the next sentence in the story. And my group's experience was particularly amusing because three of us were dark, emo, and angsty but the final member of our group was decidedly not. Any time it was her turn, she tried to steer our stories into more pleasant/cheerful territory. And each time, we delighted in jerking it back. And the writing in the show just kind of gives me those feels.

okay tin foil hat conspiracy theory time

I’ve always wondered why the AtLA writing team bothered to set up Aang’s attachment to Katara as the thing that was holding him back from the Avatar State in the book two finale if they weren’t ever going to do anything with that narratively. Like I know some people say “well he only had to let go of her temporarily and he did that in Ba Sing Se” but that is just weak storytelling. And like…is it really letting go if it’s temporary? Sounds like a massive copout.

Of course, there’s also the question of why Aang’s attachment to Katara is a problem. Avatar Roku was able to control the Avatar State and be happily married so it’s not like Avatars have to be celibate to fulfill their destiny or something. So there has to be something specific about Aang’s feelings for Katara that is getting in his way, beyond just being romantically interested in her.

So what would neatly square this circle, explaining why Aang’s feelings for Katara were something he had to give up, as well as pushing him to really do so in a meaningful way? If Katara didn’t reciprocate. 

If Aang’s feelings are one-sided, and Katara’s not interested in a romantic relationship with him, that’s very different from Roku’s situation. In fact, it’s a good illustration of the difference between authentic love, which is selfless, and attachment, which is selfish. It would be selfish of Aang to hold on to those romantic aspirations towards Katara once it became clear she didn’t share them. It would make it only an attachment, and not really love.

And not only does making Aang’s feelings for Katara a roadblock to fulfilling his destiny in book two seem to set this up, it actually tracks with a lot of how Aang and Katara’s relationship is written in book three as well. Katara does not react positively either time that Aang kisses her - she’s even angry about it the second time. And of course it’s a common complaint that none of this is really resolved - we’re never shown on screen how or why Katara’s feelings apparently change.

What if they were never meant to?

What if, instead of the infamous rock-in-the-back, Aang was originally supposed to clear his last chakra in the finale by actually letting go of his attachment to Katara? What if the twist was not supposed to be that what was established by Guru Pathik in book two didn’t mean what the audience thought it meant, but that Aang had to mature enough to realize that his feelings for Katara didn’t mean what he thought they meant, i.e. that they weren’t actually destined to be together just because he had a crush on her? 

And, bear with me here, what if, hypothetically, there were another character who, as a narrative counterpoint Aang’s immature attachment, actually loved Katara selflessly, to he point that he was willing to lay down his own life for her?

Oh right.

[kiera-raelyn]

I don't hate Aang, but for serious. He was so wrong for Katara. Don't even have to bring anyone else *cough*Zuko*cough* into the conversation for that to be a true statement.

Also, wtf Bryke. You created these characters. How can you misunderstand them so fundamentally?

I am like, nothing short of absolutely disgusted at Bryke's portrayal of Katara in the comics and TLOK???

And apparently a majority of the audience is okay with this portrayal??

Just a recap:

This is Katara

A girl with severe abandonment issues because her mom was murdered by a Fire Nation soldier and soon after her dad left to right in the war, leaving her alone to take care of her brother and the village.

This is Aang

A boy with chronic running away issues. This fault of his has led to a war extending up to 100 years causing death and destruction all around the world.

Katara does not acknowledge this fault of his because she idolises him as the Avatar but still his actions hurt her. A lot.

Katara: It's not brave, it's selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn't he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?

Logically speaking, a person with abandonment issues should never be with a person who has a tendency to run away from their issues. But Aang and Katara get together anyway.

But then the comics happen.

Literally anyone who cared about Katara as a character of her own (and not just as Aang's love interest) was infuriated at how she was portrayed. She was stripped of all her autonomy and characterization and was made into "The Avatar's Girlfriend". Nothing of her own.

Some people actually call this relationship sweet. Yuck.

But the thing is, it has panels like this:

Katara, the girl with abandonment issues looks— that's right, abandoned and forgotten.

Even if the "abandonment issues" angle is thrown out of the window, the above panel from Katara's pov is a very unhealthy and shitty experience. (I can vouch with personal experience)

When you clearly don't have anyone else and the one person who you completely dedicate yourself to is completely avoiding you in favour of other people who don't really matter that much just because it makes them feel better/superior, how lonely and abandoned does that make you feel?

Also this sort of behaviour is undeniably selfish and self centred.

This problem of "Aang paying more attention to fangirls" exists in the show as well but atleast Aang corrects his behaviour or accepts that it was incorrect. The comics however:

Katara, who was abandoned, ignored and lonely in this entire comic is reasonably upset about this. But instead of the comic validating her feelings, it makes her feel guilty???

What the fuck??

If this isn't a fulfilment of the male fetish of gfs/wives putting their own mental issues and feelings on a back bench just for the sake of the man's hApPineSs, then what is this?

Not to mention this fetish is pretty disgusting.

This is what young kids are supposed to learn form the comics?

This is harmful for boys AND girls.

But sure couple goals and soulmates or whatever.

Moving on,

The very existence of LOK!Katara is just—

Like what—?

This definitely isn't the Katara I know and love.

Katara, who was completely devastated by her mother's death but got her shit together immediately and seamlessly slipped into the role of her mother and was so damn good at it that her elder brother could conveniently use his coping mechanism to supress their mother's memories with Katara's instead.

You're telling me this same girl grew up to be a sad old lonely widow who spent her days and nights wallowing in the grief of the death of her husband—

Bullshit.

That's straight up romanticization of "life is nothing without you" trope where the wife just becomes a non-functional person after the death of her husband. That, and Bryke not giving a shit about Katara's character.

There's the evident drama of Aang ignoring his two other kids in favour of the Airbending one; leaving Katara with the other two kids. Just like how she was left alone in charge of things as a child.

And then there's this:

They actually take the time to show us that Katara is sad and lonely and abandoned??

What family does she have left at the South pole? None.

And yet, people manage to think Katara is perfectly fine and happy.

Katara, a person with severe abandonment issues spends her entire life being abandoned??

What the fuck Bryke?

Like, it's pretty clear that they didn't give two shits about Katara as a character; she was just supposed to be a pretty arm candy for the Hero™ with some handy dandy waterbending abilities.

But if other people have done a spectacular job of turning this cardboard character into a fully fleshed out, multi dimensional character, why would you throw it away??

Like, that's just dumb.

Why would they take an infinite number of steps back to turn Katara back into a cardboard character and fulfil romanticized misogynistic tropes?

Much wow, many thanks.

[kiera-raelyn]

And again, the whole first half of this post stands on its own. Irrelevant of all else, Aang is not right for Katara romantically.

Katara’s abandonment issues: Zuko comes back, A/ang doesn’t

Something I’ve just realized about Zutara vs Kat/aang is that… Zuko comes back to Katara, but Aang doesn’t.

We all know Katara has abandonment issues. After her mother was killed by Yon Rha, her father and the other men in the Southern Water Tribe left. These are literally some of the first shots in The Boy in the Iceberg (1.01).

Those abandonment issues never leave (no pun intended) Katara. She carries that weight at least up until The Awakening (3.01). These issues cause her frustration and her subsequent outburst against Hakoda.

But what does trigger Katara’s breakdown? What brings her to that breaking point, where she can’t keep it in (which would have happened eventually anyway, but it’s still important to specify why) anymore? 

A/ang has left.

And I think it’s quite telling that Hakoda and Katara have this conversation.

Katara: He left.

Hakoda: What?

Katara:  A/ang. He just took his glider and disappeared. He has this ridiculous notion that he has to save the world alone, that it’s all his responsibility.

Hakoda:  Maybe that’s his way of being brave.

Katara:  It’s not brave, it’s selfish and stupid! We could be helping him and I know the world needs him, but doesn’t he know how much we need him, too? How can he just leave us behind?

Hakoda: You’re talking about me, too, aren’t you?

Now I think it’s important that A/ang leaving is being compared to Hakoda leaving. Aang exacerbates her abandonment issues. And it’s nothing new. He left in The Storm (1.12), in The Desert (2.11), and it’s literally the reason why the Avatar has disappeared a hundred years ago. Because he ran away.

And even then, A/ang doesn’t come back. It’s always Katara (and the others) who have to go and find him.

In The Storm:

(Where Katara tells him that maybe running away from his problems wasn’t that bad, maybe it was meant to be, which is… debatable, to be honest. When the Fire Nation attacked, I’m sure the Air Nomads would have found a way to hide A/ang, the literal Avatar. And if he had been killed (which is terrible, I’m sorry) during the attack, the Avatar Cycle would have resumed and another Avatar would have been born. But that’s beside the point.)

And in The Awakening:

He only really comes back in The Desert, but if he wasn’t hopeless, exhausted and still had food/water left, I’m sure he wouldn’t even have come back. He would have kept looking for Appa. 

Besides, he never apologizes to Katara or Toph, and Katara still has to take it upon herself to do the emotional labour.

And on that note, while A/ang doesn’t run away in The Serpent’s Pass, I still think it’s important to point out that Katara has to find him to, again, be the emotional labour in their friendship.

I wouldn’t have as much of a problem about A/ang always running away from his problems. 

If he actually learned from it. 

But even during the series finale, he still runs away because he doesn’t want to kill Ozai. That’s how he finds the lionturtle. By running away and leaving the others - and Katara - to worry.

And to find him.

Now, what does that have to do with Zutara?

Well, throughout the show but especially from season 2 onwards, everything points Zuko in the Avatar’s direction. He has to find the Avatar to restore his honour. He has to come back to teach Aang firebending. He has to come back to fight the good fight. He has to come back to defeat Azula and Ozai.

And who is, of course, always following the Avatar?

Katara.

But this isn’t just about Aang. This is about how the whole show is structured in a way that brings Zuko and Katara together. And he always comes back.

To her.

They always end up together. Somehow. Someway.

As enemies:

As almost friends:

As “I’m sorry, could you allow me to be your friend again?”

As “I’m trying to right my wrongs, what can I do to make it up to you?”

(Something A/ang never did.)

And, of course, as friends:

There’s a reason why it’s always Zuko and Katara who share a moment during every season finale. Because it’s thematically important in the show.

But it’s also important to point out that while A/ang doesn’t come back to Katara and exacerbates her abandonment issues… 

Zuko comes back. Always.

[kiera-raelyn]

What.

Are we serious? You don't get to talk shit about people coming up with a term, that follows the shoddy conventions you laid out in your world, without also providing the correct term. I mean, frankly, I don't feel like you should do that, either, because your world should be able to stand on its own. There's no reason other than poor storytelling for why we didn't know what the Fire Lord's spouse is called. It wouldn't have been hard to slip a reference to Azulon's wife in using her honorific.

And yes, using a masculine term for the "neutral" term is still male centric. It assumes the masculine, and all of its connotations, to be the norm. When the male is the norm, female is not (obviously). We can see in our own society the variety of ways this is harmful to females. If they're trying to set up the FN as a gender neutral or equal place, then defaulting to the male term for their ruler categorically fails to achieve that goal.

You know what's so funny about Bryke's little dig at Zutara shippers in their book- you know, the one that has Gyatso showing the same kind of dangerous nationalism that led to Sozin and his Hundred Year War? That one. They made fun of our use of the term Fire Lady for the queen of the Fire Nation, but Fire Lord, the term they came up with, is just as lame. We were just operating within the framework they created. They can't get on us for Fire Lady when they came up with Fire Lord. All of their naming conventions are really lame. Water Tribe? Earth Kingdom? Fire Nation??? They didn't put any thought at all into these names. So for them to try to have a little kiki at the idea of Fire Lady Katara (and let's be real, that's almost definitely what they were doing) is wildly ironic.

As for having a separate term for a female ruler, I'm going to do that because the show only has one term for the ruler of the Fire Nation. They didn't even care enough to consider what a Fire Lord's spouse would be called, and their idea of gender neutrality for the main leader is to use Fire Lord for men and women. I can't speak for every Zutara shipper, but I resent the idea that "gender neutral" just means using the masculine term for everyone. I'm fine with the idea of using the same term for both the male and female ruler, but it needs to be something actually gender neutral. Not to grandstand, but I think that using the masculine term for men and women is still male-centric, and feels like a continuation of the idea that anything feminine is inferior. I don't like that, so until someone comes up with a not lame title that isn't inherently masculine or feminine, I'm going to use what I'm okay with using.

[kiera-raelyn]

Seriously, what does Katara get out of a relationship with Aang? When does Aang support her, emotional or otherwise? When does he spend time connecting with her about things that are important to her?

Takes deep breath: at the beginning of ATLA I really liked that the writers seemed to be setting up this thing where Aang’s the person who reminds Katara that she’s still a kid. Because the flying spaghetti monster knows my favorite parentified waterbender needed to have some fun, but then it devolves into this dynamic where he becomes another person she feels responsible for. It’s not wrong to want to be there for your romantic partner. But it’s this situation where Aang doesn’t totally get her and it’s about Aang’s feelings and Katara’s just there to be his forever girl who performs emotional labor for him or waits around for him or absorbs his beliefs (if the panels I’ve seen in the comics are accurate). She deserves better and tbc I really fault Bryke for this b/c imbalance ironically seems to be their jam for romantic pairings. With K@t@@ng Aang gets someone to take care of him, which is great for him. I just want Katara to have more. She deserves agency and time to heal and become herself and realize that taking care of everyone else isn’t the only thing she has to offer and then to have a partner who sees her for who she is the good and the bad and accepts her and I think that’s Zuko. 

[kiera-raelyn]

You have to wonder how much input and say that the other writers had over the relationships in the show. Given how hard Bryke goes for Kataang, it's hard to believe they had final say or we wouldn't have gotten episodes like this. Or, alternatively, they don't understand story construction on a deeper level and think the 16 seconds of Kataang overpowers everything else. Like, it's no wonder not everyone is on board with Kataang (even if those people don't ship Zutara). We were given far too much evidence as to why they don't work.

But like, i can’t really be the only one that considers “The Fortuneteller“ the second (or third)* most anti-kataang episode of the show?

(*Number one is without a doubt “The Ember Island Players“, number two or three, depending on my mood is “The Southern Raiders”)

Like, it’s an episode that dedicates 22 minutes and 43 seconds of it’s 22 minute and 59 second run-time to showing the audience how Aang’s crush is jut that: a crush.

It isn’t even subtle about it:

Her name is Meng, which is phonetically nearly identical to Aang, AS THE SHOW ACTUALLY TAKES TIME TO POINT OUT TO YOU (“That rhymes with Meng!“) and she’s two years younger then the object of her affection.

THIS IS NOT A SUBTLE PARALLEL PEOPLE

Like, it all but rubs in our faces how it’s superficial:

(It even plays the same music.)

Then it has them using the same technique in an attempt to flirt:

Meng: “Hey, Aang. Don’t you think that cloud looks like a flower?”

Aang: “Hey, Katara, don’t you think that cloud look like a flower?”

And getting dismissed.

Then the object of their affections shows complete and utter disinterest:

(Because, they aren’t actually interested at all.)

And so on.

And then this happens:

Meng: “You don’t like me, do you?” Aang: “Of course I like you.“ Meng: “But not the way I like you.” Aang: “Oh, I guess not.” Meng: “It’s okay. It’s just really hard when you like someone, but they don’t think of you that way.”

Aang: “I know what you mean.” Meng: “She’s beautiful, by the way.” Aang: “Huh?” Meng: “That Water Tribe girl. I can see why you like her so much. She’s sweet, she’s a bender and her hair seems so manageable.”

Aang: “Don’t worry. You’re going to meet a great guy who’s going to completely fall for you. I know it.”

And it’s just… such a GOOD and PURE scene? and such a good message to send to children? “You don’t like me the way i like you and, while it’s hard for me, that’s okay.“ What a wonderful thing to put in a children’s cartoon! Especially considering that we live in a world where “first-love-is-forever” is the norm.

I thought that those 16 seconds where Katara actually seems to consider him in a romantic light were there just so that they could milk the will-they-won’t-they for all it’s worth. I thought that there was just no way anyone could spend all that time telling one story, sending one message only to completely disregard it in the end. (aaand looooooool @mini-me what a fool i was, chakra opening rock anyone?)

Like, honestly, the first time i watched this episode I was completely convinced that this scene was foreshadowing the ultimate resolution of Aang’s crush on Katara: Aang realising that it’s one-sided and displaying emotional maturity and self-awareness. And giving his blessing for Katara to pursue other people.

Instead, the poor boy regresses completely, forces a kiss on her and is then rewarded for it by the narrative.

[kiera-raelyn]

Tfw you're on the cusp of making this big mind-blowing connection, but you can't quite get that last inch. Like, I know there is something here but I can't articulate it. So frustrating.

Also, I feel like this is true of the general populace in S5. Like, the Alliance rings are helpful in so many ways, but also make slaves of them to Monarch.

Rings clearly have thematic significance in MLB.

Something something rings being used to symbolize Adrien’s freedom but also his imprisonment something something

[kiera-raelyn]

Imma be honest, I hate the whole SentiAdrien storyline. It's a different variation of the classic AI robot theme and I'm just... not here to wrestle with all of that. Like, that's not what I signed up for when I got into this franchise. I don't necessarily have anything against the genre (loved Chobits and I, Robot, etc), but it's not what MLB was billed as so I'm feeling a little bit like I was bait-and-switched, y'know?

There are a whole host of complicated philosophical issues that are inherent to that genre. It's something we've been wrestling with for centuries (see Mary Shelley's Frankenstein). I just think it's a lot to add on top of all the other complicated shit we already had going on.

Part of the problem is the show's format, frankly. It's a monster of the week kids show that is largely anachronistic, with a return to status quo at the end of most episodes. That makes it really difficult to wrestle with any one complicated issue, not to mention *gestures at MLB* all of that. From what I've seen, it's actually been a point of frustration in the fandom that the show hasn't wrestled enough with the depth of all the issues that get presented before we move on to the next episode and it never comes up again. So, adding this other really big, complicated issue is just baffling to me. Besides the fact that this is the wrong format for it, frankly, the show's writers haven't shown the skill required to navigate it properly given how they've handled other issues.

On the half-and-half issue specifically? It's dumb. There's really not enough lore given about how human sentimonsters work to justify saying something like that to begin with. But based on what we know: you're either a sentimonster, who can be controlled by and whose existence is reliant upon an amok, or you're human. There's really not space for an in-between here.

This is probably a big shot in the dark but - just for the sake of wanting to see how many others didn't like it - would you respond to this post in any way if you didn't like the fact that Adrien was a half-Sentimonster half-human?

(And yes, it's half-half. Astruc confirmed it.)