#zk meta

[strawberrymilkyumyum]

i dont like the take that zutara is the like 'sexual' ship or something. not only bc im really uncomfortable with thinking that any relationship with teens is 'sexual' on screen - i really don't want to think about teenage characters in a kids show as sexual - but also because i feel like this perception of katara feels very madonna-whoreish

with a@ng, katara is the madonna, she needs to be perfect and pure. she can do no wrong and is held to an unrealistic standard that puts her under a lot of pressure. this results in katara's canonical traits and moments that don't fit this narrative being seen as monstrous, or even ooc. the problems with the madonna are the fact that by viewing katara like this, you won't ever see her as a character fully. she revolves around this idea of what she is to a@ng, and anything that strays from it is 'morally wrong' (it's not.)

according to antis, with zuko, katara is the whore. zutara explores a darker 'more sexual' side of katara that is connected to the canon moments that don't allign with a@ng. they are able to push all of the things they don't like about katara (and women) onto this ship of her with someone who is not a@ng. to them, katara's proximity to aang is what makes her the madonna, but with zuko, she is everything that they hate about her.

in all actuality, there is nothing inherently sexual about zutara. they don't have any moments that could even hint to sex when other couples in the show do. zutara is seen as sexual, not because there's anything actually sexual about the ship, but because they see katara without a@ng as a whore (not actually saying they call her a whore.) they feel more free to hate on her and allow themselves to call it sexual as a way to justify it. zutara isn't any more sexual than any other ship, less in some cases, but it will always been seen as such because antis see katara as a madonna with a@ng and a whore with zuko.

(i would just like to clarify that this is talking about generalizations. obviously not everyone who dislikes zutara feels like this, but i think this i a common way that people view it, even if they don't realize it.)

[ecoterrorist-katara]

I kind of love how Zutara has two distinct ship dynamics

dynamic 1: “I will save you from the pirates,” enemies-to-lovers, Zuko is dangerous but sexy, bad boy x good girl, morally grey antihero, Dramione vibes etc

dynamic 2: Zuko is an awkward turtleduck, idiots-to-lovers, pining for your best friend, having each other’s backs, thinking she’s the coolest thing since sliced bread, Percabeth vibes etc

We can argue about which is the correct interpretation until the cows come home, but I love that the possibilities exist in the first place. From s1 to post-series headcanons there are such distinct stages in their relationship, and you can basically pick whichever point that appeals to you and run with it. There’s something for everyone. Yet another reason why they’re the best ship y’all

[soopsiedaisies]

suffering will be your teacher

I don't think it's too late to share this one :)

Rating: E, for violence

Tags: Time Travel; Scarless Zuko; Zuko & Zuko's Crew; Jee has only had Zuko for a day and a half but if anything happened to him he would kill everyone on this ship and then himself

Summary: Zuko falls asleep on the evening of his official coronation, when he’s twenty-one-years old and has finally reached his majority. Zuko wakes on the morning of the Agni Kai with his father, eight years earlier. This is annoying for several reasons, like the fact that the War is still ongoing, that he has zero friends, and that Ozai is not in jail. It’s time to scheme.

Also, here are some ficnotes under the cut, if you're interested in some of my reasoning in regards to how the Agni Kai went in this universe. It's a bit spoilery but not if you've read chapter 1:

I’ve received a small handful of comments being shocked and/or delighted by Zuko deciding to burn Ozai the way Ozai burnt him: hand over the face like wiping away a tear, and then just going to town with their natural flamethrower ability. Whether this would be seen as in character or not, I wrote it in because I think it’d be in character, and I suppose that’s a rather important bit of writing lol. 

You can probably interpret it as Zuko perpetuating his family’s violence, or suddenly being okay with being goaded into a fight. But here’s the thing: he’s not okay with it. I’ve tried to hint at Zuko being disgusted with himself post-burning, yet simultaneously satisfied—because, hey, he’s back to fight-or-flight mode. He’s gone from the relative comfort of a palace filled with people he’d show his soft underbelly to, to the metaphorical viper’s den that was the palace when Ozai still ruled. Despite it having been a few years for him, Zuko still knows that it’s dangerous to be there, and that he cannot, under any circumstance, show aspects of his natural personality that may be deemed as weak. He’s the Prince and kindness, or mercy, will be punished. And he also doesn’t want to be burnt again—he’s not going to take that challenge lying down. 

So Zuko takes a risk. He fights back and uses his own experience to get his father to his knees. He burns Ozai before Ozai can burn him, despite the detail that harming the Fire Lord is probably illegal. And yes, like Azula told him, a simple burn on the shoulder would’ve been enough… but with someone as dangerous as Ozai, it’s better to incapacitate him. Ozai clearly doesn’t care about fighting fair and nobody would’ve stopped him either: in the show, Zuko went on his knees, refused to fight, and begged for mercy, but Ozai burnt him anyway without any sort of protest from anyone there. Zuko was in an inescapable and incredibly violent situation where the only way out was violence from his side. It’s an easy choice at that point, I think. 

Additionally, it’s also a revenge fantasy come true. I do believe that during the confrontation between Zuko and Ozai in Day Of The Black Sun, Zuko would’ve considered killing his father for a moment—or at least harming him. He doesn’t because it’s Aang’s responsibility to do so, and because killing your dad at age 16 after a lifetime of loyalty is kind of…. hard, but I’m certain there was a brief moment he thought about it. And burning your father instead, in the exact way he burnt you in another life, with him on his knees instead of you? Possibly a little bit satisfying. Zuko was granted a chance and took it. 

So, he’s scarless (if you have trouble imagining it: think of his face in the flashback of The Storm, plus his Fire Lordly face in his fever dream in The Earth King). I can hear people go like, “But Soopsie, that’s not our Zuko! The scar is a very important part of his character!”, and that is very fair. But keep in mind that he’s a 21 year old man who only occupies the body of his thirteen year old self, and he’s actually older than the Zuko of the show. I also think it’s not the scar which makes Zuko Zuko, but rather the mental/emotional scarring that lies underneath. Ozai still very much burnt him. There’s just not any physical proof right now. 

(I also don’t need to do any physical character design for this, which is a plus. He’s a lot less recognisable rn)

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

One thing about the Zvtara fandom I've never seen people talk about is their radfem problem. There's this one Zvtara content creator who regularly generates hundreds/thousands of notes and they have some very identifiable TERF dogwhistles in their intro. And their metas, while not overt, also have a lot of radfem rhetoric embedded in them. Yet they're still wildly popular. It's why I'll never interact with ZK stuff to be honest, it's not just the few bad apples, but the community that allows stuff like this to go unchecked

"It's not just the few bad apples, but the community that allows stuff like this to go unchecked" That's what I've been sayyyyyiiinnng!

[kataraslove]

Do you know anything about where i can find people talking about the fake zk interviews, or how "zutara was originally gonna be endgame" was fake news? conversions haha 😅😅

as it stands, some of the writers on the writing team (joshua hamilton and john o’bryan specifically) wanted zutara. they confirmed this on braving the elements, the atla podcast hosted by dante and janet. one of them mentioned that there was an original pilot that initially had a zutara endgame. i’ve yet to find any evidence of this, and the actual series bible posted on Reddit mentions no ships, so who knows if this was something legitimate or false.

the popular rumour is that aaron ehasz was adamantly pro-zutara and devised a whole season 4 in which they became endgame, in addition to an azula redemption arc. this rumour came from a fake interview from a zutara blog who claimed to be an intern working at nickelodeon. aaron ehasz on video confirmed that the interview was fake, and also stated that he did not personally ship anything in his writing because rooting for a particular ship would lead to contrived plot points. rather, he went with the “natural flow of things” by listening to his characters and their needs. bryan later echoed the same sentiments on the braving the elements podcast, that fandom could ship what they want but ultimately they would make their writing decisions based on the direction of the story and the characters’ wants and needs, whether those decisions ended up finalizing platonic or romantic relationships.

on top of that, aaron ehasz also:

said that the only thing he would change in atla was a composition shot of azula and the gaang in the chase in the same interview that he denied wanting zutara as endgame

loved mai and maiko (him and his ex wife first introduced maiko in zuko alone)

confirmed parallels between kataang and rayllum

expressed his interest in reading kataang-rayllum parallel meta (i can’t find the tweet, but it was an interaction regarding @raayllum’s meta).

requested, alongside mike dimartino, the tale of oma and shu to be created as a way to develop katara and aang’s romantic relationship in the cave of two lovers (as confirmed by the writer joshua hamilton himself)

[atla-confessions]

KA shippers think ZKs are pathetic for making meta and analysis about Zutara parallels and tropes (even though the source of meta and analysis from the show itself).

But, I bet they would do the same for KA if they had one. I mean, they said they reclaim all ZK tropes to KA even though they have to forced it. Unfortunately, KA don't have what ZK have. Funny!

X

[ok-boomerang]

fanfiction as textual analysis

a friend shared an episode of the harry potter podcast "witch please" that was all about fanfiction. from the episode:

"Fanfiction demonstrates not only readers' responses to [the] canon text, but their analysis of it. I don't just mean analysis in terms of fan essays, although there are many. I mean, the way in which fanfiction itself, like most fan works, often offers an implicit analysis of the texts and genres to which it responds." (Witch Please podcast, Book 5, Episode 4)

I love this because it's certainly true, maybe even obvious, though we wouldn't usually describe fanfic as "implicit textual analysis" whereas metas and essays are explicit.

Thinking of Zutara as an example, many of the popular ZK conventions serve to critique the show's canon relationships and often its politics too. Three of these conventions that come to mind:

Ambassador Katara -- this is common because in the canon world, we have to get Katara near Zuko. But that's not it, because if that was it Katara could just break all the bones in her body near the Fire Nation and need to recuperate there or something. "Ambassador Katara" ALSO gives Katara an important political role, which is an analysis of Katara's canon future, a critique of her being sidelined. Fire Lady Katara does the same thing!

Bloodbending as healing -- Instead of forcing Katara to abandon her "dark side," Zutara fanfiction often has her accept and reinterpret it, transforming what was considered her "darkness" into something that heals. That's a critique of Katara seen as the paragon of goodness, especially by Aang.

Painted Lady/Blue Spirit -- Of course it's fun and symbolic that Zuko and Katara both had alter egos, but turning them into vigilantes working together highlights some parts of the canon show that work well and that could have developed more: how well Zuko and Katara work together as a team, their empathy for people in need, and their perseverance to do pretty much anything once they set their minds to it.

I'm sure there's a lot more. But tl;dr: Fic writers are doing literary criticism.

[raayllum]

25. a piece of advice for taking care of yourself in fandom spaces

I have two pieces of advice basically that loop back into each other honestly.

Don't ultimately care about what anyone else says or thinks

Not caring about or trying to manage what other people think of you or your thoughts ≠ being rude or disrespectful, that doesn't mean it never happen - tone and frustration are absolutely real and I express the latter occasionally,

Other people are gonna ship things you don't or ship the same thing but in a way you don't like or just have opinions that are coming from a fundamentally different perspective or reading of the text and... none of it really matters. You don't have to conform to popular fandom if it doesn't fit what you think (that's basically been me in every fandom But TDP, so it's quite refreshing, and even then I very much felt like a lil island in the immediate s4 aftermath), you can ship whatever you want and so can anyone else. I think the most important thing with this is being self aware, though... like yeah I could hypothetically get annoyed over characters in TDP being childish, but coming-of-age stories are about kids and maturation, so like. I can vent in the proper tags but it may just mean the show isn't ultimately for me, y'know? Or at least that it's something I gotta learn to live with if I wanna engage with the show in a way that balances the salt and the sweetness

Additionally, one of the side effects I've found of being '''popular''' within TDP fandom is that my opinion will be taken as gospel or made out to be more than what it is, which is just my subjective opinion / interpretations, the same as anyone else's. Obviously I think my opinions are Right / grounded in the text (as do many people about their own opinions, whether they align with mine or not), but that doesn't mean everyone else is wrong, like... it's a children's cartoon show, if you're getting regularly butt hurt about what other people think or if they do or don't agree with you or whether ur ideas are popular or not you're not gonna have a good time, and fandom is a hobby. It's supposed to be a good time

Avoid taking things personally at all costs

In a similar vein to "don't care what anyone else thinks/says" that goes double for what they think or say about you / what you think. For me this means that unless I get 1) name dropped or 2) something that is so specific me it couldn't apply to someone else, I assume it's not about me. "Rayllum shippers / stans are so annoying"? Not about me and even if I am annoying - isn't everyone sometimes? Being annoying isn't a death sentence lol. "I hope the fandom takes this well"? Not about me. "People who defend S4 just can't admit TDP has flaws"? Not about me. "Snake boi Callum content is so dumb" is about a tag categorization I started for Callum's characterization, but has since more than taken on a life on its own... and isn't about me.

And even when it is personal, it says a lot more about what frustrates the OP or what they're trying to potentially wrangle than it does about me. Like someone disagrees with me or thinks I'm dumb, specifically? Okay, I know I've thought that about people on occasion, I try not to post it or make it obvious, but I can't control what you do. There were a couple of ZK bnf I thought were horrendously bad at meta that I knew by name bc they were everywhere, and it just meant forming my own atla communities/tags and/or stepping away from the fandom.

On a similar note, I'm still gonna keep doing my thing and I encourage people to block me and/or blacklist tags I use if they don't wanna see my stuff. I know how annoying it can be in fandom to feel like you still see stuff you don't want to if it's everywhere, which is also why I don't put all my stuff in the main tags either, but I'm not going to Stop Posting unless I... want to, which won't be happening.

I guess this all basically amounts to:

Focus on finding your people in fandom, cause they are out there

If you find yourself being annoyed by the fandom every day, or find yourself feeling like you have to rebut every little thing that annoys you (for ex, people saying they don't like Rayllum doesn't bother me, that's a neutral opinion. Ppl saying they shouldn't be in the show feels like more of a theme misread, however) work on stepping away and letting things go

Cultivate being fucking weird and unabashedly enthusiastic with self awareness. If you love a ship or headcanon or plot point that's fucking out there or clearly not happening, fucking go for it! Make or enjoy all the stuff for it you want. That said, maintaining awareness that the story doesn't need to go there in order to be good, or that there's not a lot of plausible grounding in canon, can be important especially if you want to connect with other fans.

Like CHET is my pet theory that has also been wildly fortunate enough to get a life of its own in the TDP / Rayllum fandom(s). I've been prepared to drop it three times. I think more than ever that's where the story is going in S7, and that there's a lot of continued setup for it / Something Like It, but I could be dead wrong, and I'm sure I will love if not prefer whatever route S7 would take instead. I love it, and I have a certain amount of attachment, but the story doesn't owe it to me, similarly to how I'm not owed in fandom to have people Like what I make or make what I like

Like respect should be given for sure unless I make a routine ass of myself, but again, I've been very fortunate that some stuff has caught on as much as it has because it clicked with other people who were already thinking the same thing, or found xyz idea made a lot of sense. And that's really nice! I think it's those things that help build a community. But in fandom you kind of have to be willing to be an Island first, and then if you get stuck being an island permanently, it may be worth reflecting on why sometimes — whether it's because of aggression, shyness, preference, or no real reason except your people haven't shown up yet

[thethiefandtheairbender]

Hiii, I really love your ATLA analyses. I'm genuinely interested, what can you say about this take? I mean, it sounds pretty logical, and I'm really interested to know what objections there might be to that view of EIP?

https://www.tumblr.com/writer-rider-dirty-thirties/744225630324965376?source=share

There's a few main things that meta like this one, I think, miss out on. That said beyond the two paragraphs I'm not really discussing their meta in particular. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but it does play into why I think EIP gets blown out of proportion while ignoring the more... grounded subtext there? Which is what the rest of the meta response here is about as follows. Please refrain from sending me specific metas in the future - discrediting other people's work is not what I'm about, even I don't necessarily think it's always well argued.

They acknowledge the Doylist perspective... and then completely ignore the actual, textual Doylist perspective they have going on. The writers' intent was to, very evidently, use Ember Island Players to acknowledge their own and fans' reactions to the show (which is why the Great Divide, an episode that the writer of EIP wrote, gets the shaft in the play) by exaggerating and making fun of their own characters and plot points. Grounded in their portrayals yes (Katara does indeed make speeches about hope) but so heavily distorted; just look at how they portray this Katara and Jet, who are completely remorseless about drowning a town ("Oh Jet, you're so bad~").

But the distortion is key. The play pretty glaringly says "Canon Katara would never like Zuko" or vice versa, "because to do so would be a great distortion of her character and characterization." Furthermore, for Katara to only see Aang "like a little brother, and that you don't have feelings for me" is also a distortion, which is why Katara outright states on the balcony, "I didn't say that. An actor said that". It's also worth noting I think that the play itself also erases Aang's romantic feelings for Katara ("I wouldn't want it any other way!"). He doesn't make his feelings plain and be rejected in the play; they just don't exist. So even the play itself isn't saying that there's a love triangle, they're saying that a distorted version of these characters would feature a Katara and Aang that don't have feelings for each other, and a Katara and Zuko that would.

Now, I don't think the play is meant to be that dismissive of fans, either. Like I said - it's meant to poke fun, and the ZK faction had always been quite large and vocal. The crossroads of destiny and its associations with Oma and Shu (which serve the basis for Kataang's love theme) are the bulk of what the ship tends to stand on, 'canon' wise. It makes sense if you're going to do a ship tease with them to do it there, and it's also the last instance you can really make actor Katara 'like' anyone.

It's also a misread to assume Aang would get this angry over jealousy, as well, given that Katara was very obvious with Jet both times, and Aang was very sparingly jealous in Book 1 and only slightly so in Book 2. EIP is one of the rare instances where Aang projects onto other people, a trait more usually seen from his friends.

What makes him upset - and we Know this, because he repeats it outright when they actually Talk about it - is this exchange between actor Katara and Zuko:

EIP!Zuko: I thought you were the Avatar's girl. EIP!Katara: [Laughs] The Avatar? Why he's like a little brother to me. I certainly don't think of him in a romantic way.

That's what makes him potentially upset, which fair enough: it can be upsetting when someone doesn't like you back, especially when Katara previously has given plenty of indications that she does. But he's not mad at her on the balcony. He doesn't take his frustrations over her not seemingly returning his feelings out on her. He's mad because Katara can't, or won't, give him a straight answer.

Aang: You said that I'm just like a brother to you, and that you didn't have feelings for me. Katara: I didn't say that. An actor said that. Aang: But it's true, isn't it? We kissed at the invasion and I thought we were going to be together, but we're not. Katara: Aang, I don't know... Aang: Why don't you know?

AKA "if you don't like me, which I just gave you a perfect out to acknowledge, can you at least confirm it for me?" And she won't even do that.

Katara is usually a very openly emotional person, which is why when it comes to whether she has feelings for him or not (and he has very good reasons to think that she does, given if you remove the Aang's POV we see, Katara is wayy more obvious with her affection than he is), it's accordingly frustrating that she won't just come out and say it. When does someone like Katara hold back? Well... normally when she's concerned about Bigger Things (i.e. not initially pushing with Pakku because Aang learning waterbending is more important to her) or when she's not sure what to do (when Aang rejects her comfort in The Serpent's Pass).

Conversely, his feelings for Katara also makes Aang more likely to stop evading or dodging and to stick his landing. He's the one who tries to confess on two different occasions. He's the one who kisses her first. And he's the one who wants to actually discuss their relationship now. (These are all reasons why I think, if they ever did break up, Aang would actually be the one with the guts to say it out loud, just FYI.)

Alternatively, if we wanna talk about Framing, let's talk about the actual balcony scene, namely Katara's dialogue, and the placement of the moon:

Not only does this balcony scene take place on a balcony like their infamous finale kiss, with parallel framing of Katara walking up behind Aang and seeking him out to talk (if Katara hadn't approached him, it's likely neither would've happened either time) but like

When Yue finds herself in a similar situation with Sokka - a young man she loves, has kissed, but finds herself unable to be with for a variety of reasons - she says almost beat for beat what Katara says here about her feelings and reasonings for wanting more distance. But like both Yue and Katara say, there's more important things going on:

I say this because everyone ignores the aspect of Katara's bond with Aang that is informed by her own trauma and fear of losing people. Aang kisses her because "What if I don't come back?" Katara literally watched him die and brought him back to life. She watched her father mourn her mother and Sokka mourn Yue (The Swamp), which the play likewise gives her an ample reminder of. She watched Jet die too. Katara has faith that Aang will be different ("I knew you'd come" from CoD and "He's gonna come back; he has to" in Sozin's Comet) but that doesn't mean she's not scared. Everyone else going on is complicating her feelings for Aang, and that's perfectly valid -- but like I said, it's a 1 for 1 with Yue.

Which is why she kisses Aang first after the war, on another balcony, because now it is the right time.

This isn't even touching on the in-universe canonical reading of EIP being Fire Nation imperialist propaganda, but that's a meta for another day.

Not to mention: EIP also teases Zukaang through Aang and the Blue Spirit, has them similarly react in distaste, you can equally read Zuko wanting to sit in between them as wanting to sit next to Aang, and Zuko and Aang's dialogue is a lot more ship teased in canon, Anyway.

June: What happened? Your girlfriend run off on you? Zuko: It's not the girl I'm after. It's the bald monk she's travelling with.

Zuko doesn't even correct June for implying a romantic connection, only who he's looking for (love you Avatar "Zuko I want you to dance with me" Aang).

I also personally think that basically any episode that has 'strong' Zuko-Katara subtext actually has far stronger Zuko-Aang subtext, but that's a meta for another day.

I do always think the ZK fandom is a fascinating example of what can happen to a fandom when they only have maybe 5 episodes to work with, nor does ship teasing make something implied canon, otherwise The Dragon Prince (also created by Aaron Ehasz) would have a very different endgame ship (to the point that every Soren/Rayla shipper I've seen also ships ZK, funnily enough, because neither of those are remotely canon).

People have gotta stop taking the bone they're thrown and acting like it's a feast.

[starlight-bread-blog]

What- I- most of my Zk posts aren't even tagged anti aang wtf- I DON'T hate him- I have a meta defending him sparing Ozai- what is happening-

[strawberrymilkyumyum]

I really hate when people compare canon Zutara to pocohontas but I have to admit, there are *certain people* in this fandom who very much lean into the whole “kidnapped indigenous woman falls in love with her captor/abuser” trope and as a Native who loves Zutara I find that really gross

no i totally totally agree. unfortunately there are people who are apart of the fandom who are also really gross in their portrayal of zk. ive seen fics that really play into it even fics where they have zuko KIDNAP katara and its honestly so disgusting. just because it is happening within the community does not make it okay.

i feel like theres so many obvious reasons why comparing zutara to a romanticized movie about an actual indigenous woman and a colonizer is weird and icky and just offensive, but clearly there are people who don't get it.

other people's pain is not something that you can romanticize and fetishize. Native peoples have been treated so horribly by european colonizers and white americans today that to pretend that a relationship between a colonizer and Native woman is hot is just wrong. i think that in part of defending the idea that zutara is not a colonizer relationship, we also need to hold creators within the community to those same standards. it's not okay to compare the two, whether its as an excuse to hate on the ship or if its coming from a shipper. comparing zutara to Pocohontas is so, so gross.

[ecoterrorist-katara]

Twitter found your posts about Firelady Katara, and they are being really rude about it. It's super annoying, I'm sorry

Anon, I appreciate the heads up & the nice sentiment! In the future though, I’d prefer not to know about how people react to my posts unless they’re being very nice. I don’t want to engage with negativity & smoothbrain takes, but I am VERY easily tempted lmao. My background in competitive debate / academia / leftist politics means I’m extremely argumentative, but I know nothing good comes out of Internet arguments so I need help ignoring antis. 

Anyway it’s helpful for me to remember that I’m in the Zutara fandom because I love to see people inspiring each other to create things. I’ve read so many wonderful metas, feasted my eyes on incredible fan art and edits, laughed at funny posts, foamed at the mouth over epic fics, and generally have been in awe of what this fandom has produced over the years. I mean…we’ve had colouring books! An EP! Animatics where Dante Basco himself lent his voice! This fandom has been around since before I was allowed to use the family computer and it’s so cool to me that it’s still thriving. By contrast, reacting snarkily to content that other people create is like…the opposite of generative and does nothing to better a community — which is why I fundamentally don’t care for antis and don’t want them to be part of my fandom experience. Anyone can make their half-baked opinion known online, but it takes spirit and dedication to create things you like for your ship. Anyway here’s a reminder that ZK Big Bang signups are still open for one more week! I still haven’t decided which role I want to play in this event but I encourage everyone to sign up! 

[katara-stan-club]

Compliment tag game! @johnskleats came up with this idea to combat negativity in fandom recently, and I think it's a swell idea!! thank you so much for your compliment <3

Tag three people you admire and leave them a compliment or nice message! Don't feel pressured to respond or thank anyone publicly; a compliment is like a gift, not a transaction.

@most-beloved-star

thank you for putting up with me for over 10 years!! you are such a delightful friend and I love our rants both on and off tumblr! I can't wait to see you again soon!! #VanthKenobiTruthers

@burst-of-iridescent

I absolutely love all of your zk/atla metas, they are always so well written and your mind is so brilliant!! The zutara dissertation you did is simply a work of art, and anytime I see your username involved in an atla discussion, I just know it's going to be a great take. The zk community on tumblr is truly blessed to have you as a part of it! (also fellow aroace zk fan we love to see it <3)

@eriexplosion

I loved seeing your theories about TBB this past year (I'm still slightly upset Shrimp Theory never panned out!!), and your analyses as season 3 aired were always engaging and fun to read! Also, I read all your replies to that one person who just Wasn't Getting It with regards to Sol's actions in this week's Acolyte episode, and you deserve a medal of honor for putting up so patiently with that. Here's to hoping future Star Wars content does Tech (and Phee!) justice!

[burst-of-iridescent]

zutara christmas positivity tag

merry christmas zutara fam! to celebrate this festive period i thought it would be nice to do a positivity tag and celebrate our wonderful little community <33

rules: tag 10 zutara blogs (blogs that aren’t for zutara alone but ship zutara are fine!) and tell them something you love about them or their blog!

of course, i’ll start us off:

1. @stars-and-darkness-main ella my beloved your posts are always a slay. i love all the cool tidbits of information i get from your blog and of course, your taste in ships is *chef’s kiss*

2. @theotterpenguin bestie your metas are so well thought out and eloquent that i honestly don’t even need to read them to know they’re an instant reblog. if you’re not following el then... what are you even doing with your life? 

3. @kaligraphy my sweet child i adore your lovely headcanons. you singlehandedly made me a kuzaang and rozin shipper, and we all know atla would be so much better if you were in charge of it. 

4. @night-heron-writes as much as you slander me, darling lea, i love how incredibly knowledgeable you are (as your many AUs will prove) and for being the calm, level headed rock of the cillana family! 

5. @ilovegirlsgeneration dear jehona, thank you for your amazingly unique blend of chaos, and your talent at memes. even when i shake my head in concern, i can’t help but laugh at your antics. 

6. @thevictorianghost i love how much we share in common, and the wide array of media and topics we can chat about! i always look forward to seeing your messages in my DMs <3

7. @solborealis darling sol, where would we be without your cool headcanons and your heartwrenching angst (let alone setting up our wonderful server)? zk fandom truly has so much to thank you for. 

8. @katara-stan-club air, your blog just has everything a person could need. whether it’s zutara fanart, important information, or telling terfs to fuck off, i know i’ll always love your posts! 

9. @wingchunwaterbender i always look forward to your tags on my posts! the zutara content you post slaps every time, and i also love how much you discuss issues of social justice and use your platform for good. 

and of course, saving the best for last: 

10. @tiny-katara my beloved wife, i can’t even list just one thing i love about you and your blog because i love it all. from the way you slay anons to your wonderful taylor swift series that began our friendship to your excellent metas, your blog has everything a zutara stan could ever want. if anyone isn’t following cilla yet, do it rn because trust me, you’ll never regret it <333

edit: lmao i’m fucking stupid and forgot to actually tag anyone but i’m tagging everyone mentioned in the post and anyone else who wants to do it!

[zvtara-was-never-canon]

Found a funny post. A ZK shipper complained that ZKs are being attacked while there are some much more terrible ships in the fandom – zucest, or Zhao/Zuko, or Ozai/Hakoda, or Zhao/Azula, or Ozai/Kya, or Jee/Zuko, or Ozai/Azula… there were probably more.

I guess you see the pattern. These are small ships (apart of zucest, probably, it seems the most popular in the list). They are nor, like, everywhere. I’ve only ever seen Ozai/Kya mentioned in a ZK fic, lol. And only ever seen Zhao/Azula fanart among the works of a ZK artist.

They do not pretend to be more than they are or to be something entirely different. For example, Hakoda/Ozai content would be either a crack scenario just for fun’s sake or an honest “these two characters are canonically incompatible, there’s absolutely no way they’ll have a sappy happy ending or a healthy relationship at all, so prepare for some serious drama” or “don’t look for a reason here, I just like them because they’re hot” (which is sexualization I guess but at least both characters are adults and not, you know, 14-years-olds). No “fixing the canon” crap here.

They are honest about their problematics too. Ozai/Azula? “This is incest ship, so if it’s not your kink, just don’t read”. Zhao/Zuko? “Here’s some really creepy shit. Yes, it’s extremely unhealthy, that’s the whole point. You were warned. Check the tags again.”. And so on. Not like the fics where Katara falls in love with Zuko after he raped her, you know…

They don’t shit on other characters. I can’t remember Mai being demonized in zucest fics as much (if she ever was) as she is in ZK fics. I’ve actually seen a devoted zucest shipper (hello-nichya-here) who defends Mai and Maiko!

They are just chill, create and enjoy content. Sometimes it’s amazing. One Jee/Zuko fic I’ve read was much more sensual and erotic than all the ZK smut I’ve ever read, combined (and the character dynamics was way more convincing, too).

Their shippers do not make up crazy conspiracies about how they were “robbed”. They do not write a kilometer long metas about how their ship is the actual canon, inserting Watson and Doyle’s names in every paragraph and lying about almost every event from the show. They do not comment “my ship is better!” under fics or arts featuring one character from their ship paired with someone else. They do not force their ship down everyone’s throat. As far as I know they don’t send death threats to people who don’t like their ship. Really, such terrible ships, why people attack the ZKs instead…

They try to use these as exemples of "worse" fandoms because they all have an element people could have issues with - a canonically abusive character like Ozai, a large age gap between an adult and a minor, incest, a controversial/disliked character, etc.

But like you said, these fandoms all mind their business, and anyone who does the same doens't have an issue with them, if they might have an issue with the ships. Meanwhile, Zutarians are hated not because the ship is controversial, but because the SHIPPERS are pushy. It's just going "Don't pay attention to my bad behavior, hate on these guys for having controversial ships!"

Seems it's time for this again: Hello, Nichya here! Unfortunatelly it was not at all uncommon to find Mai-bashing in zucest fics back in the day (honestly, most of the zucest fics back in the day were fucking terrible with both Zuko and Azula being wildly out of character) and it still hasn't disappeared completely. Thankfully that bullshit seems to be on it's way out, and I don't think the fandom ever reached the point of sending hate to Mai/Maiko fans like zutarians did, even if they hated the character for the same stupid reason - aka for "getting in the way."

[ante--meridiem]

I thought to share that after asking you what are Zettelkasten I finally do have the real usecase now in my uni life... the concepts from different courses are starting to connect and I am struggling in my currect structure-based note taking. So idk, I just... wanted to thank you for introducing the method to me, I really like how the structure and principle itself is simple and I am excited to finally try it out in practice! (you can use this ask to say anything you want about Zettelkasten, I will be obsessed with them for the foreseeable future so any rant you write I will love)

Hey!! Very happy to hear the method might help someone else! Good luck with it and I'd love to hear how it goes, hope it ends up helping you as much as it helped me. For my part right now what I have to say is that building it has slowed down a lot since the beginning since I'm no longer working from a large backlog of things I need to store there (I mean a large backlog of knowledge I haven't put into the Zettelkasten still very much exists but getting through it isn't a current priority and I have most concepts I'm currently actively using already in there) but what is coming up is how useful being able to look things up in it is to keep me from having to retread all my steps whenever I look at something I haven't used in a while (or rather very much speed up the retreading my steps process, since the idea is that rather than having to go "where did this come from?? Let me try to find some other notes that explain it" there will be a link to exactly where it came from!).

I will warn you that Zettlr has recently gotten increasingly buggy with its implementation of LaTeX though (and most frustratingly no longer parses the environment I used to use to make commutative diagrams) so if you haven't picked an app yet I might recommend a different one if you'll be using LaTeX a lot. (Maybe Obsidian? Never tried it myself but I heard good things about it, though it isn't open source like Zettlr is). On a more positive note though the app now does its own graphs to let you see how your notes are connected now! (I don't remember if you were there when I made my "look at my boy" post about this).

Since you wanted to hear me rant, I think I'm just going to copy the text from some meta notes I have in my Zettelkasten on using the Zettelkasten! This will get probably extremely long (and not be reflective of the actual structure of said notes since I'm removing the links and putting multiple notes together into an essay) so only read past here if you really really want to. To imagine the structure this would have in the actual zk, the big headings correspond to organisatorial pages and then each bullet point with a number next to it links to an individual note containing the text I will put under the bullet point; other numbers formatted like this [[insertnumbershere]] are links to other notes outside the scope of this essay but I'm not editing them out so you can see how/when I link things. On that note some of this may be difficult to follow because I use my own vocabulary that I've built up in linked notes; if you (or anyone else who for some godforsaken reason decides to read this) actually read enough to want explanations please shoot another ask!

Also obviously these rules are rules for me adjusted by me, the whole point of the system is flexibility to adjust to your thinking style so don't feel tied to them or anything. Also disclaimer again that this was written for me to be read/understood solely by me and may be very hard to follow for anyone else, so take what you can from it if you feel like it.

Rules for Zettelkasten

Atomicity [[20220807142537]]

"Concept" is loosely defined [[20220125144819]]; when dealing with a packed concept, atomicity requires that zettel deals only with how to bring the strands together, and not the details of each individual strands. Where the details are relevant they can be brought in through links to a zettel dealing solely with that strand. Allowed exception: "organizatorial" zettels that exist to list multiple examples/manifestations of concept. Maths zettels may require proof with many components. If component can be separated neatly as lemma, make new zettel for it. If component does not make sense independently, split proof into steps and make each step a sub-section of zettel.

Connectivity [[20220807142751]]

Links

Links must be meaningful. A basic topic can be linked if it has significant relevance to the concept of the current zettel. Significant relevance means the structure of the current concept mirrors [[20220524234710]] or is induced [[20220531114751]] from the structure of the linked concept. Mechanistically important details can be elaborated on in footnote. This implies linked zettels should be similar in complexity; significantly less complex concepts are likely to play only a mechanistic role in more complex concepts. "Similar" does not mean equal; natural tendency for links to go from high complexity to low complexity is inevitable and shouldn't be eliminated. Probably best to keep those steps reasonably small. Good if a zettel can link to similar complexity concepts. Practical strategy to ensure it: if simpler concept can be reached following chain of links, do not link directly. Sometimes there is no direct link between concepts, but there is a parallel; in these cases create extra zettel in which to note parallel. (Think of like coproduct [[20220523141540]] in category theory.)

Tags

Tags offer indirect connection of grouping many zettels under same concept. If too many zettels are grouped this way, no longer useful as connection. Need broad range of specificity in tags, from tags that are direct enough to offer a similar degree of connection to actual links, to tags so broad they serve primarily to count how many zettels there are under a particular topic.

Emergence [[20220807143006]]

Structures should emerge naturally from connectivity. For this to occur it's necessary for a lot of connections to be formed; amount of links should be maximised up to constraints given by other rules. Structures should not be forced, but you should know how to note and make record of what appears. Example of structure emerging is zettels being linked to zettels close in level of complexity Organizatorial zettels add some level of structure Concept sinks [[20220223141256]] are another form of structure that may emerge. While some concept sinks may be important, best to avoid allowing basic/trivial concepts to become concept sinks; this can be done by strictly enforcing need for meaningfulness in links.

(note for tumblr users reading this: a "concept sink" is what I call a note that gets notably much much more links than the average note, presumable because a lot of concepts lead back there)

Top-down [[20220807143415]]

Emergence [[20220807143006]] often referred to as "bottom up" construction; however, exists also use for top down construction. Easier to assure connectivity [[20220807142751]] by starting with a "bigger" concept (in "packed concept" [[20220125144819]] terms) and filtering into smaller sub-concepts; sub-concepts guaranteed at least connection to bigger concept, so there is somewhere clear to go. Could refer to this as top-down construction.

Interest/Relevance [[20220807144743]]

Zettels should not be dictionary entries. If there is nothing interesting/new to say about an idea, there is no need for a zettel just to state its definition. If an idea is not interesting but offers a useful link, use a tag. Exception to rule 1 made in mathematics and other areas where definitions are essential Amendment: Definitions may play same role in zettelkasten as primary data

Modes of Use Zettelkasten

Extracting knowledge from memory [[20220322161655]]

Introspection is the process of bringing information already internalised [[20220316215442]] back to consciousness to be re-assessed or recontextualised. (Usually the word is used to refer to information about self that was originally processed subconsciously). Requires ability to block out external stimuli to avoid distraction [[20220124155258]], but cannot occur well under overwhelment [[20220204212805]] as by the time that occurs all processing powers have been exhausted. Re-contextualisation allows building new connections, either between things previously seen as disparate, or between the concept being brought to the surface and things that have been discovered after it was first internalised. [[20220127164837]] Zettelkasten can aid introspection by using links to bring things back to the surface that would not otherwise have been remembered.

Establishing new knowledge from external source [[20220316215442]]

Information is integrated when it is allowed to pass from "out" state to "in" state of membrane [[20220124155258]]. Once in "in" state, it should be easily accessed and incorporated into mental processes. Bringing information into "in" state requires:

Binding [[20220125144819]] - concepts of a certain complexity require ability to be seen as units to be integrated; otherwise, they will contain too many parts for brain to hold at once, and attempting to may lead to overwhelment [[20220204212805]].

Membrane must be open to letting information pass through.

Easier to integrate if it builds on [[20220127164837]] already existing structure - e.g. answers question prompted by pre-integrated information.

Creating new ideas/conclusions [[20220322161655]] Reviewing external source Editing Finding specific note Reading/exploring [[20230124150130]]

Ways of exploring:

Begin in register. Refresh main concepts of a topic and wander down link paths to smaller details. Good for quick refresher but likely to re-tread well known paths. [[20220223141256]]

Look up particular zettel you remember, follow link path to places you don't remember. Risk of leading to dead end quicker than desired.

Pick interesting tag and browse it. More likely to bring up interesting things you don't remember but less focused than previous strategies. Requires good variety & specificity in tag use.

Adding internal structure