#examining Toph's arc and how Aang helped her | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

firelxdykatara · 4 years

Note

ppl love to forget that katara: 1. has her own taste, 2. developed around aang, he needed her for his development and vice versa, 3. ZUTARA IS SHIP BETWEEN AN OPPRESOR X OPPRESSED!!! Ignoring all of the development they had with their respective partners and the trauma Zuko caused Katara!!

In the infamous words of one Luke Skywalker: amazing. every word of what you just said was wrong.

It’s actually kind of ironic that you bring up Katara’s taste, since, throughout the show, we have examples of the guys she likes, to greater or lesser extents in canon--Jet (explicit romantic feelings on her part, word of god that jet was her first kiss--a kiss that would have been consensual, incidentally, something you should keep in mind for later) and Haru (she denies the crush, but that could just as easily have been because of the abomination he’d been growing on his lip rather than denying those feelings ever existed), both of whom have much more in common (in terms of both emotional and physical maturity, and physical appearance) with Zuko than either of them has with Aang.

Zuko’s book 3 hairstyle is almost exactly reminiscent of Jet’s, even, if not quite as floofy.

(This is probably in part because of Jet’s function as a foil of Zuko within the narrative, particularly given their book 2 encounters, which I think just further solidifies my point that, were it not for extenuating circumstances [like the fact that Zuko was introduced as an enemy and they had significant obstacles to hurdle before they could be friends], Zuko would have been exactly Katara’s type. Had they met under different circumstances, she could have been the girl he went on a date with in Ba Sing Se. Just something to think about.)

So, yes, we’ve established that Katara has her own taste. Her tastes seem to be boys with great hair who are taller than her, the same age or older, and of a similar maturity level.

Aang falls short (heh, short) on all counts. So it isn’t Katara’s taste in boys that led her to be interested in him. Hm!

Next, you claim that Katara ‘developed around Aang’--that she was necessary for his development, and that he was necessary for hers.

Let’s take a moment to examine that, shall we?

I will absolutely grant you that Katara was necessary for Aang’s development--only to a point, of course, but we’ll get to that later--but was he really necessary for Katara‘s growth? I suppose I could grant you this on a generous technicality--he did, after all, provide her with the means to finally leave the South Pole and find a waterbending master to teach her (although she wound up largely self-taught anyway). But that had nothing to do with his relationship to Katara and everything to do with the structure of the plot--Katara and Sokka find Aang (and he never would have gotten out of that iceberg without Katara’s own righteous anger, so even that leads back to her own power), and then they go on a quest to find teachers for the Chosen One and save the world.

The story could not have begun without first finding Aang and then providing means for the other main characters to travel with him (or, in Zuko’s case, chase him), but this has nothing at all to do with Aang’s relationship to Katara. Aang was not a mover in Katara’s developmental arc--if anything, he acted as an obstacle more often than not, his actions ranging from innocent but obnoxious (playing and flirting with girls rather than helping with chores like picking up vital supplies, leaving Katara to do all of the quite literal heavy lifting and keeping her stuck in the role of caretaker that she’d been thrust into following the death of her mother), to deliberate and harmful (hiding the map to Katara and Sokka’s father, a truly selfish action, regardless of his lack of malicious intent, and one for which he never actually apologized), to somewhere in between (”she didn’t really mean that” he says to the man refusing to train Katara because she’s a girl, when yes, she very much did mean that, and Aang was no help in finally getting the old codger to eat his words--Katara had to shove them down his throat her own damn self).

While Katara’s overall arc wasn’t exactly big and dynamic (like Zuko’s redemption arc), or in-your-face (like Sokka getting force-fed Respect Women Juice and his eventual growth into a tactician and leader), it was very much present and woven into her character--and Aang had almost no part in it. He provided her with the means to get to the North Pole, but left Katara alone to fight the patriarchy herself. He messed around while Katara took it on herself to do the chores and keep the Gaang alive, but he did almost nothing to decrease that burden so she could grow out of the caretaker role. (Contrary to popular shipper claims, Aang didn’t actually teach Katara to have fun. She already knew how to have fun. But she couldn’t indulge, because she had a responsibility to her family and her tribe, and later to her brother and Aang and Toph, and Aang goofing off and trying to get her to do the same only added to her burdens rather than subtracting from them.) He provided Katara with the necessary motive to learn to heal herself, but he certainly didn’t seem to learn from the experience of accidentally burning her, preferring instead to claim he was never going to firebend again, despite already knowing, at that point, that he was going to need to master fire along with the other elements to become a fully realized Avatar and defeat the Firelord.

He didn’t help Katara keep them alive during The Desert. (In fact, he ran off, leaving her to desperately try to keep Sokka and Toph from succumbing to the heat while worrying for his safety.) In The Painted Lady, Katara makes the decision to stall the Gaang and do what she can to help the Fire Nation villagers on her own--Aang agrees to help her when he finds out, but he wasn’t actually instrumental in her making that choice. The Puppetmaster was, again, Katara finding a master of her own, and having to deal with the fallout from that. And in The Southern Raiders, Aang was--perhaps unknowingly, if I’m being generous, because he is a child and could not reasonably be expected to fully understand the implications of what he was asking her to do or why it was impossible--actively impeding Katara’s development! She desperately needed closure, something he could not understand and actively belittled and dismissed. The only reason he relented in the end (but not without a condescending ‘I forgive you! Does that give you any ideas???’ parting shot lmao) was because Katara was planning to take Appa anyway, and letting her go (and hoping she’d just magically wind up doing things his way) was easier than trying to fight her on it.

While Aang’s existence was necessary for Katara to start down her own path, she needed neither his guidance nor his approval to follow it--and absolutely nothing would change about Katara’s arc if you removed their romantic relationship entirely.

Possibly because the only changes needed to do so would be to remove the two times Aang kissed Katara without her consent (which, hopefully, no one would actually miss), and the epilogue kiss (which was awkward and unnecessary to begin with, since ending the entire show on a romantic kiss as the final shot kind of missed the point of the story to begin with, but that’s another discussion). None of these kisses (which are the only moments in which Katara’s feelings for Aang are so much as addressed; do note that addressing them, or hinting that they needed to be, is not the same as saying she exhibited any sign of reciprocating them) altered anything about Katara’s behavior, her personal arc, or (and perhaps most critically) her relationship with Aang.

It’s that last point that is really damning, as far as ‘Katara obviously had feelings for Aang, she kissed him in the finale!’ goes. Because she didn’t ‘obviously’ have feelings for him. And the fact that he kissed her before the invasion and then she forgot about it (she literally had no idea what he was talking about during the play’s intermission until he reminded her that he’d kissed her) is pretty clear evidence that she didn’t actually have feelings for him. Not the kind he had for her.

I’ve been a teenage girl. I know what it’s like to be surprise!kissed by your crush. And I absolutely for a full fact know that I had not completely forgotten about that kiss three months later and had, in fact, spent most of my waking hours thinking about it and remembering it and trying to talk to him about it. Now, granted, I was not in the middle of a war, but even if I had been, I doubt I would have needed reminding about the fact that the boy I’ve supposedly been developing feelings for had kissed me and showed clearly that he had those feelings for me too.

At the very least, if Katara was harboring feelings that she was worried about approaching until after the war, her relationship dynamic with Aang should have shifted. But it didn’t. She acted the exact same way with him after the Day of Black Sun as she did before it--that is, as a mother figure and a caretaker, responsible for his wellbeing. (And it’s clear she never took him down off the pedestal she needed him to occupy, either--let it not be said that the unhealthy aspects of their relationship only went one way.)

And book 3 is, incidentally, where Katara went from being vital to Aang’s development to being detrimental to it--or, rather, Aang’s refusal to let go of his attachment to her (despite ostensibly having done as much at the end of book 2) was. Because despite having been told by, perhaps, the greatest authority left in the world on Air Nomad culture (even more than Aang, who had left his temple with a child’s understanding of his culture that was never able to mature because he got stuck in the ice berg while his people were wiped out) that he had to let go of his possessive attachment to this girl who never even expressed the possibility that she might harbor romantic feelings for him to begin with, after Azula killed him and Katara brought him back, he went right back into the mindset of Katara is mine, it’s just a matter of time.

And the narrative validated him for it.

Notice how, during Ember Island Players, Aang says the following (emphasis mine):

“We kissed at the invasion, and I thought we were gonna be together. But we’re not.”

First of all, if you go back and watch the scene, it’s clear it wasn’t a mutual kiss. Aang sprang a surprise kiss on Katara, which left her shocked and unhappy after he flew off. (The decision to have her looking away and frowning was a deliberate one on the part of Bryke, who wanted Katara’s feelings kept ambiguous. Heaven forbid you allow the animators to make it clear that this fourteen-year-old girl who was just kissed without her consent by someone she’d never once demonstrated romantic feelings toward might actually have some. Heaven forbid she have a little agency in her own romantic narrative. But whatever.)

Second, he says he thought they were gonna be together.

He thought.

He never once even asked Katara what she thought--or even how she felt. He just assumes. He assumes that if he kisses her, she’ll kiss him back and they’ll get together. He assumes that she must have feelings for him, even though her body language is closed off and she told him with her words that she did not want to talk or think about this right now, and kisses her regardless of those signals, upsetting her and leading her to storm off.

And the narrative rewards him, because despite the fact that they don’t have a single significant scene together after that second disastrous kiss, Katara just decides off-screen that she Does Love Him Really and walks onto the balcony to make out with him.

The upshot of all this being that, while Katara was indeed instrumental to a lot of Aang’s early growth and development, Aang was not necessary for her own arc, and their romantic relationship (such as it was) actively hampered Aang’s development in book 3, while removing it would change absolutely nothing for Katara (except saving her from some painfully embarrassing memories).

As far as your third point, I’m simply not going to get baited into explaining how reducing Zutara to an ‘oppressor/oppressed’ relationship is not only insulting to interracial couples irl (not to mention any other couple with a potentially unbalanced dynamic of societal power, since there are many more axis of oppression than just racial), but demeaning to Zuko and Katara, their personal arcs as well as their relationship development together.

However, I will point out that Zuko was not responsible for any of Katara’s trauma. She did not find violence and fighting in bending battles to be traumatic--in fact, she reveled in it. She enjoyed fighting against Zuko at multiple points (especially noticeable in their battle at the end of book 1), because she wanted to fight--she always had--and once she had the ability, she was ready to throw down with anyone who gave her the slightest reason. (Including, by the way, her own potential waterbending master.) Aang’s death at the end of book 2 was Azula’s doing, and while I think that contributed to Katara’s extreme reaction to Zuko joining the gaang, it was not something for which she actively blamed him, and it wasn’t something she believed would be repeated--she let him go off alone on a journey to find the original firebending masters with Aang well before she chose to forgive him. So she already trusted Zuko’s intentions and that Aang would be safe with him.

Finally, because this has gotten long enough already, I hope you now understand that Zuko and Katara getting together would not require ignoring any of their development with their canonical romantic partners. We’ve already established that Katara’s arc wouldn’t change in the slightest if all of Aang’s romantic advances were removed, and I haven’t even gotten into how Mai meant nothing in the grand scheme of Zuko’s development because I’m pretty sure that’s just self-evident. I mean, the video compilation put together by Nick showcasing Zuko’s journey throughout the series doesn’t include a single scene with Mai, though it does include several with Katara, and even Jin makes an appearance--because Katara, and even Jin, played key roles in Zuko’s personal journey, while his relationship with Mai happened entirely off-screen and her only real function was to showcase just how unhealthy trying to force himself back into the role of the Crown Prince was for him.

What development, exactly, is there between them to even ignore?

At any rate, I’ve gone on long enough--I hope you enjoy the fact that you activated my wordvomit trap card right when i was about to go to bed, anon, because I just spent two hours writing this instead. In case you’re interested in the TL;DR: at the end of the day, there was no meaningful, mutual development in Kataang’s romantic relationship, and those romantic feelings that did exist were largely one-sided and ultimately detrimental to Aang’s development in the final third of his overall arc. Meanwhile, Mai meant nothing to Zuko’s journey--rather like Aang’s romantic overtures, she could be removed from the show completely and nothing about his story would change--while Zuko and Katara were both vital to each other’s overall storylines, arcs and development. This, coupled with the fact that Zuko never actually traumatized Katara and, in fact, helped her achieve closure from the biggest source of her own trauma, means that Zuko and Katara have better and more believable build up that could potentially lead to a romantic relationship than either of them have with their canon romantic partners.

So no, anon, I didn’t forget anything--I think you may have, though. Perhaps a rewatch is in order? Make sure not to close your eyes for the back half of book 3 this time.

#atla #zutara #zuko #katara #aang salt #kataang salt #maiko salt #salt for ts #just trying to cover my bases #asked #Anonymous

1K notes · View notes

neva-borne · 3 years

Text

Aang was infatuated with Katara, not in love with her

Look, he may have believed it was love. He was 12, after all, and how many 12-year-olds are actually astute in terms of their own emotions? Not many, for sure.

Katara may very well have been the first girl he’d ever really seen. In the show, in canon, all we see are male airbenders at Aang’s temple. I can’t say definitively that he never saw other girls, especially since he apparently traveled around the Earth Kingdom and even Fire Nation as a kid (since he was friends with Bumi and Kuzon). But the chances of Katara being the first girl he ever really got to interact with are quite high, based off the canon content we were given.

(This got way longer than expected so more under the cut)

So, back to the point. Let’s start with some definitions.

Merriam-Webster defines infatuation as:

a feeling of foolish or obsessively strong love for, admiration for, or interest in someone or something : strong and unreasoning attachment

It defines love as:

(1): strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties

(2): attraction based on sexual desire : affection and tenderness felt by lovers

(3): affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common interests

Going off that, we can examine the evidence from the show. First, Aang’s reaction to seeing Katara for the first time:

He’s just woken up from a 100-year Avatar State-induced coma, basically. Katara is the first person he sees. Katara is a pretty girl. On top of that, she’s nice. She rescued him. It’s natural for him to feel some connection to her.

Then, a few episodes later, we get this scene:

This is the most obvious mention of his crush thus far, combined with the blushing that Aang does whenever Katara touches him to improve his waterbending form.

This image itself is probably enough reason to argue that Aang was infatuated with her and not in love with her. This is effectively showing that Aang does not see Katara AS SHE IS, but as something perfect and untouchable, in a way. Sure, we all have our biases towards the people we like, but true love, the kind that lasts, goes beyond that - it recognizes flaws and accepts them instead of ignoring them.

This continues throughout the show, and this scene is ultimately repeated when the camera slow-pans up Katara to show off her Fire Nation outfit in Season 3 (just without the sparkles).

But Neva, there’s no sparkles, so surely that means he DOES see her as she is, and not as some perfect girl with no flaws?

To that I say, Aang has matured somewhat by this point. He’s realized he has to defeat the Fire Lord or have the world end. He’s finally facing reality.

However, the way he treats Katara still shows how little he understands the true Katara.

“It's okay, because I forgive you. [Pauses.] That give you any ideas?”

I know that The Southern Raiders episode is used all the time by Zutarians to show how much the Zuko/Katara dynamic works. In this post, I’m not going to compare Aang to Zuko. I’m just going to describe how Aang treats Katara.

Aang clearly is struggling to understand Katara’s anger at the man who killed her mother. He’s been through enormous loss himself, losing the airbenders and almost losing Appa, one of his last ties to his culture and his animal guide. And both of those situations triggered intense emotional responses from him. He went into the Avatar State upon discovering Monk Gyatso’s body and the destruction of his childhood home, and he flew off in a rage in the dessert and verbally attacked Toph for letting the sandbenders capture Appa (despite Toph having done literally everything within her power to save both Appa and prevent the library from sinking and burying her friends forever). And when Aang found the sandbenders responsible, he once again went into the Avatar State and destroyed two of their sand boats.

Yet, after all that, he acts all high and mighty and says Katara should forgive the man who murdered her mother in cold blood.

Based on this massive misunderstanding of Katara’s motivations, it is clear that Aang does not love her - certainly not in the way that would last romantically. His feelings are foolish and obsessive, based on the ideal image of her that exists in his mind. They are much more in line with the definition of infatuation than the definition of love.

Does he admire her? Maybe. But he admires a version of her that doesn’t actually exist. He admires the perfect, flawless Katara.

His strong and unreasoning attraction to Katara does not stem from a deep personal connection. The only common tie they have is that they both want to save the world. Katara always stands her ground to help people while Aang often runs away even when he should stay (see The Storm, The Awakening, etc).

His obsession with Katara also led him to risk the entire survival of the world because he chose her over mastering the Avatar State (which was the only possible way he was going to defeat Ozai). He was not sacrificing himself in this instance, he was not being selfless, he was being selfish, choosing to hold onto his obsession instead of let it go and grow as a person and an Avatar.

This, ultimately, completely ruined his character arc of growing up and maturing and learning to let go of things. Thanks Bryke.

Anyway, all that to say that Aang did not actually love Katara, he just thought he did.

141 notes · View notes

calmturquoise · 3 years

Text

Lighten Up

My Squealing Santa fic for @artymiswritesfics! I love Sokka and Zuko and while I think this reads more gen, I think it could easily be pre-relationship. I hope you like it, and happy holidays! <3

ATLA, Sokka&Zuko. Words: 1,100

“This is ridiculous,” Zuko muttered, placing his palms flat on the floor behind him as he leaned back to look up at Sokka, who was examining the small slip of paper in his hand. “You can’t play charades with two people.”

“Sure you can!” Sokka insisted. “It’s fun, and you, Mr-New-Firelord, need to have more fun. Besides, Aang and Katara are busy, and when I asked Toph to play with us, she said no! Can you believe her?”

“Wow. Toph turned down the chance to play charades?” Zuko deadpanned. “If only we could think of another sight-based game to insult her with.”

“I- you- shut up,” Sokka retorted, flushing slightly. He crumpled up the paper in his hand and shoved it into his pocket, looking determined. “You’ll have ten seconds to guess this one.”

Zuko watched with amusement as Sokka scrunched up his nose and squinted, then held up his hands formed into claws, pawing at the air in front of him. “Badgermole?”

Sokka dropped the pose and beamed at him. “See, that wasn’t so bad! Now it’s your turn.” He flung himself down on the ground next to Zuko, pushing at his side until Zuko huffed and got to his feet, snatching a folded piece of paper from the pile on the floor. “Do me proud.”

Zuko rolled his eyes and unfolded the piece of paper. He frowned down at it for a moment before putting the paper aside, then placing his arms by his sides and beginning to flap them.

“Uh, giant fly! Ant fly! Bumble fly!” Sokka exclaimed. Seeing the scowl growing on Zuko’s face he guessed, “Dragonfly? Eagle hawk? Cat owl?” Zuko’s scowling intensified as he began to move his feet, shuffling around in an arc. “Dragon? Phoenix? Oh, I know, you’re a viper bat!”

“Dragons and phoenixes don’t move like that!” Zuko snapped, crossing his arms over his chest as he drew to a halt. “And that was at least ten seconds.”

“Well, what were you?” Sokka asked, flummoxed.

“An otter penguin!”

Sokka stared in dismay. “Have you ever seen an otter penguin?”

“… no.”

“Why didn’t you try- I don’t know- swimming!” Sokka exclaimed, waving his arms in the air in an effort to convey his frustration. “Waddling? Why did it look like you were flying? They’re flightless!”

“I was waving my flippers!”

“Otter penguins have four flippers!”

“WELL I ONLY HAVE TWO ARMS!”

Sokka blinked, staring at Zuko as his cheeks flushed in embarrassment. “You know what? We’ll call that round a trial,” Sokka said consolingly, gesturing for Zuko to sit as he grabbed another paper. “Let’s try again.”

“I guess it’d be too much to ask that we could stop playing?” Zuko muttered. Sokka graciously ignored him, studying the words on the paper before tossing it to the side.

“Alright, ten seconds to guess this one!” Sokka said. Zuko watched in bemusement as the other teen placed his hands together, forming a sort of cup shape and beginning to wiggle his fingers. Then he lunged forward, making Zuko jolt back in surprise as Sokka’s wriggling fingers closed around his elbow.

“What are you d-“ Zuko broke off with a squeak when Sokka’s fingers pinched at a particularly sensitive area. Jerking his elbow away he cleared his throat. “What are you doing?”

“What am I?” Sokka asked, a bright grin on his face as he shoved his handful of wiggling tentacle-like fingers in Zuko’s face. Zuko barely resisted swatting them away.

“An… elbow leech?”

“There, you got it!” Sokka congratulated him, clapping him on the back as he handed Zuko another paper. “At least you’re good at guessing. Okay, let’s see this next one. Just try your best!”

Zuko glowered at him, then turned his frown onto the paper in his hand. To Sokka’s barely-contained amusement, Zuko slowly lifted his hands and placed them behind his head, flipping his fingers down in the shape of floppy ears. Then he bent his knees, and did a single hop.

Unable to help himself, Sokka burst out laughing. Zuko’s scowl deepened as he watched his friend rolling around on the floor, howling with laughter. “Come on, that one was obvious!”

“You’re just- you’re so- so bad at this!” Sokka hiccupped, wiping at his eyes as he sat up. “Was that supposed to be a hopping llama?”

“Yes!”

“Okay, first of all, you should’ve hopped at least five or six times,” Sokka said as Zuko flung himself down on the floor beside the other teen, looking disgruntled. “Second of all, you need to lighten up, dude. How am I supposed to guess what you are when you’re scowling the whole time?”

“I don’t need to lighten up, and I’m not scowli-ah!” Zuko jumped as Sokka’s fingers skittered across his side. He shot Sokka a glare, which the other teen returned with an all-too-knowing grin.

“You’re not ticklish, are you? Mr tough, grumpy firebender?”

Zukko gaped at Sokka before beginning to splutter. “Of course I’m nahahahaha, stohohop that!”

“What, this?” Sokka asked, grasping the hem of Zuko’s shirt and sliding his hands underneath to tickle Zuko’s bare stomach. “Wow, you’re really ticklish, aren’t you?”

“Nohohohoho, I’m nohohohot!” Zuko protested, well aware of the futility of his denials. He squirmed, not quite ready to push Sokka away but unable to hold back the growing need to escape the torment Sokka was unleashing on his belly. “Thahahahat doesn’t t-tihihihickle at all!”

“You tell yourself that, buddy,” Sokka said, looking more and more amused as his wandering hands made their way futher up Zuko’s shirt. With a yelp, Zuko collapsed onto the floor and broke into hysterical laughter as Sokka’s fingers wiggled over his ribs.

“Fihihine, that tihihihickles!”

“I didn’t expect you to admit it so quickly,” Sokka mused. “I guess your ribs are really, really ticklish.” The speed of his fingers wriggling on top of Zuko’s skin slowed, allowing Zuko’s laughter to trail off into hiccupping giggles.

“Is that your worst spot, or do you have others?” Sokka asked. His hands slid to the sides of Zuko’s ribs, then inched up a bit more so he could poke at Zuko’s armpits. Zuko squeaked and jerked back, forcing Sokka to pull his hands free of Zuko’s shirt as Zuko curled up into a ball on the floor.

“That’s it, no more tickling,” Zuko said, his voice muffled from how he was covering his face, though Sokka still caught the blush that was spreading over Zuko’s cheeks.

“I guess I’ll save the rest for later, then.” Sokka said cheerfully, leaning back just in time to avoid the half-hearted punch that Zuko threw in his direction.

“Don’t you dare,” Zuko muttered. “I bet you’re ticklish too.”

“Maayybe,” Sokka sing-songed teasingly. “But I bet you can’t find out where.”

He jumped to his feet and darted towards the door as Zuko rolled into a standing position. “Yes I can!”

“Only if you catch me!” Sokka called over his shoulder as he sprinted down the hallway, the grin on his face widening as Zuko took off behind him. It was nice to see the guy having some fun for a change.

#Squealing Santa 2k20 #ATLA #Avatar: the Last Airbender #Sokka #Zuko #ticklish!Zuko #tickling #mine #calmturquoise fic #artymiswritesfics

125 notes · View notes

sokkascroptop · 4 years

Text

traitor. (sokka x f!reader) pt 11

part 1 | part 10 | part 12

A/N: I’m over here like, “how to write Sokka and Y/N simping over each other, but like lightly simping?” Also, I guess we learn some more about Y/N family?

Y/N thought back to when she learned how to use a sword. She was young when her father told her she needed to choose something to master. If she couldn’t train to be a firebender, she was going to train to be something. She’d picked the sword because she’d seen him practice with her two older brothers in their courtyard, and spirits, she just wanted to make him proud for once. She worked nonstop and became the best she could be because there was no margin for error. Failure wouldn’t be tolerated.

“And this is supposed to train me how?!” Sokka asked. His arm dropped six inches. Y/N lifted it back up so it was even with his shoulder and straightened out his elbow more.

“Holding my sword out straight for hours will not only show me that you have the dedication to learn but it will also help you build up strength.”

“Hours,” he echoed.

“Look, if you don’t want to do this, that’s fine!” Y/N started to walk away.

Sokka grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around. “I’ll do it. I’m not happy about it. But I’ll do it.”

Sokka widened his stance and looked out over the water as he settled in. Y/N joined Toph in leaning up against the railing. “Is this really something that your teachers made you do?”

“The sword was much lighter but yes, Father said it was essential that I show my commitment.”

“Sounds like a nice guy.” Y/N didn’t miss the sarcasm in Toph’s tone. She also couldn’t refute it. He wasn’t a nice guy, and he was a worse father.

---

Half an hour and Sokka’s arm was shaking, Y/N could see it from across the deck.

“Tired yet?” she asked. Even though it was still morning, the sun was blazing. A drop of sweat dripped down his face and the tip of the sword dipped before he corrected it. “Nope,” he grunted. “Just peachy.”

“Sure. Let me know when you’re done?”

“What?!” the sword dipped again. “I thought you were the one telling me how long I was doing this.”

“I never said that.”

“But… that’s what you meant right?”

Y/N shrugged. And Sokka didn’t move.

“How long has he been at it?” Katara asked as she sat down next to Toph and Y/N. She handed them each a bowl of rice and smoked fish.

“Three hours,” Toph said around a bite of fish. Katara’s eyes widened in disbelief. “And whenever Y/N goes to check on him, his heart races like he’s afraid she’s going to make him do something else ridiculous.”

“Hey!” Y/N protested. “It’s not ridiculous. He’s training.” Even Y/N couldn’t keep a straight face while saying it. She hopped to her feet and approached Sokka.

“There it goes again!” Toph yelled.

Y/N ignored her. “You hungry?” she asked Sokka.

Sokka’s arm seemed to tremble a bit more. He forced a stoic look across his face. “Nope.”

“Are you sure?” Y/N asked. She picked up a piece of fish with her chopsticks and held it out. “If you’re so adamant about holding the sword, I can feed you lunch, if you want.”

An expression that Y/N didn’t recognize crossed his face and for a moment she thought he was actually going to say yes. But then he looked over her shoulder. “I’m good.” His voice was strained.

“Oh, for spirits sake, Sokka put the sword down and come eat!” Katara called from where she was sitting.

Sokka looked back to Y/N, his bright blue eyes drilled into her own. She held his gaze longer than necessary, because this was more fun than she had anticipated. And then Y/N realized what was happening. He was waiting for her to say something. Her stomach flip-flopped.

“Put down the sword,” She murmured.

She flinched when the blade clattered to the deck and her reverie broke. Sokka’s arm hung limply at his side and he collapsed on one knee. “Tui and La, that was the worst thing I’ve ever done!” He fell sideways on the deck and rolled onto his back. “My arm is numb. I can’t feel it. Is that normal?”

Y/N picked up her sword and examined the edge for nicks. “Sure.”

He leaned up and snatched the bowl of food from Y/N’s hands.

“Hey!”

Sokka balanced the bowl on his stomach and shoved the biggest piece of fish in his mouth. “I desermph it!”

“You didn’t have to hold it that long!” Y/N exclaimed. “I told you, you could stop anytime you wanted to!”

“I thought you were joking!” he shouted back.

Y/N turned back to the girls. “Is he always this dramatic?” She asked.

“All the time.”

“Always.”

“I am not dramatic!”

---

“No. Do that move again. Your shoulder is flying open too far. You’re leaving yourself vulnerable.” Y/N poked Sokka in the stomach to prove her point.

Sokka did, lunging forward with his sword but keeping his shoulders turned inward. He looked towards Y/N for any critique.

She leaned back on the rail with her arms crossed. “Much better.”

Sokka grinned. “Can we spar now?” He was always tired of just practicing new moves. He wanted action.

Y/N unsheathed her sword. “If we’re careful. Katara nearly killed me when I cut your arm last week.”

They’d been at sea for a few weeks now. Sokka and Y/N practiced every morning and every evening on the deck of the Fire Nation ship. There wasn’t much else for them to do but spar which meant that Sokka was learning a lot, and learning it fast. Only last week had she started letting them use real swords though; Sokka had taken a Jian sword similar to Y/N’s from the ship’s armory. In the weeks before, they had just used broken broom handles to make sure no one got hurt. After days of splintered hands and bruises all over from the “beatings” he said Y/N gave him, Sokka begged to use swords. With great reluctance she’d said yes, as long as he made sure he listened to her. It was an extra precaution for Y/N too, she was worried that if something happened to Sokka, they’d throw her overboard.

“Arm up, yes!” Sokka parried as Y/N thrusted her sword. She ducked under his sword and landed a punch to his side. “Gotta be faster though!”

She quickly backed away smiling as he caught his breath. “Was that necessary?” He asked with his hands on his knees.

“Absolutely. How else will you learn?”

Y/N waited a beat before she threw an overhand cut that Sokka blocked, reflexively. He swept at her in a long arc that she knocked away easily. They danced in a few lazy circles, blocking and striking before Sokka got bored. He moved to disarm Y/N, twisting the flat of his blade under her wrist. And lucky for him, she didn’t expect it and the pressure caused her to drop it. He let the point of his sword fall just beneath her chin.

Sokka’s eyes widened. “I won!”

Y/N pressed the flat of his blade between her two palms, moving it away from her face and kicking him in the wrist. The sword dropped from his hand as he sucked in a sharp breath. She swung the blade up and caught it by the hilt. She dragged her leg behind his and shoved him to the ground. He fell hard on his back and she pressed a knee to his chest.

“What did I say about being cocky?”

“It gets you killed,” Sokka grumbled.

“It looks like you lost!” Bato shouted from where he and Hakoda watched from across the deck. Hakoda laughed loudly and then said something unintelligible that sent them both into fits of laughter.

She moved off of Sokka’s chest and helped pull him to his feet. She held the hilt of his sword out to him and retrieved her own from the deck. “Again?”

“Will you please let me win one so my dad and Bato will stop making fun of me?”

Y/N looked over at the two men, who were just getting over their fit of giggles. Momo was perched on the chief’s shoulder and Hakoda reached up to pet his head.

She smiled at Sokka softly, he grinned back.

“No.”

Sokka’s face fell. “Oh come on!”

---

Y/N leaned her back up against the railing of the ship as she watched Sokka put his Fire Nation armor back on. She bit back a laugh as he slid his helmet on over a fresh bruise on his forehead. He caught her anyways.

“Yeah, thanks for that!” He kicked the bottom of her boot.

“Sokka, I told you I was sorry! If you’re in a high bind like we were you need to expect that the other person is going to hit you with the hilt to knock you down.”

“It hurt.”

Y/N nodded. “Yeah, I know it does. And I’ve had much bigger people do it to me so you should be happy.”

Sokka sat next to her and tapped her foot with his. “Thanks for teaching me.” He said that a lot. Y/N was pretty sure there wasn’t a day that went by when he didn’t say it.

His face was covered by the helmet. It made it easier to talk to him when he looked like a nameless, faceless Fire Nation soldier. “Oh you know. The price for my life,” she sighed.

“You know that’s not how it is anymore, right?”

Y/N blinked up at the sky and fiddled with the clasp to her Fire Nation cape around her neck. It was dark and the air was humid. “It’s going to rain.”

After a minute, Sokka looked away from her and looked up too.

Just then, there was a crash on the deck. Sokka and Y/N both jumped to their feet and went running towards the sound.

“Twinkle-Toes, that’s got to be you!” Toph exclaimed. They all created a semi-circle around the airbender, who stood hunched over with Momo on his back. The lemur was furiously licking the side of his face. Y/N was surprised to see the Avatar's head covered in dark brown hair.

“Aang, you’re awake!” Katara moved to embrace him in a hug.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “I feel like I’m dreaming.”

“You’re not dreaming! You’re finally awake.” She promised.

Sokka brushed past Y/N to hug him as well. “Aang, good to see you back with the living buddy.”

“Sokka?” Aang muttered. And then he fainted.

---

After making sure Aang woke up okay on the deck, Sokka nudged Y/N and walked her back to her room for the night.

“So, he’s awake.” Sokka said. Y/N didn’t meet his eyes; just looked back down the hallway to the staircase that would take you above deck. “I’m sure Katara will tell him everything. Nothing to worry about.” Then he did something unexpected. He placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Don’t worry about it,” He repeated.

Y/N shook her head, at a loss for words. Sokka had never initiated contact with her when they weren’t sparring. In fact, he actively avoided it.

“Training tomorrow, before breakfast?” he asked.

“Yeah.” And then he was gone. Back down the hallway to his room.

Y/N closed her door and leaned up against it. She was worried. And somehow Sokka had figured out exactly what she was anxious over. Being on the ship with Aang unconscious was one thing. They had nothing better to do other than stay and let him heal there. But now that he was awake, he, Toph, Katara and Sokka were going to complete their mission to save the world and there was no place for Y/N in that story. Her point of leaving was never to join the Avatar’s mission, that just happened to be a side to the same story.

And she was sure the others didn’t want her to join either. It didn’t matter how nice they were to her, or how friendly her and Sokka had gotten over the last few weeks; she was still Fire Nation. And she wasn’t one of them.

A knock at the door startled Y/N. “Come in.”

---

A/N: I think this might just be my first official cliffhanger!! We got some fightin’, some Sokka, we even got our Boy Aang back!! The next part will be a little short, but very important for Sokka and Y/N’s development.

Taglist: @myexgirlfriendisthemoon @reclusive-chicken-nugget@astroninaaa @aangsupremacy @beifongsss @crownofcryptids @welovediaaxx @littlefluu @lozzybowe @thebluelcdy @ohjustlookalive @sugarmoongey @fanficdepot @teenbiology @13-09-01 @riespage @davnwillcome @naanlianid @creation-magician @lunariasilver @vintagerose1014516 @bcifcng @rockinearthbending-marauders @francesciak @thia-aep @aphrcditeee @milk-n-cheese

387 notes · View notes

hyperfixationisamust · 3 years

Text

The Gaang and Weapon Symbolization

Mmm examined how the Gaang and their weapons/element match the user :D

Aang: Glider and Air

Glider: because mans, you know,, flies? But also it seems like just a stick like how Aang seems like a regular, happy-go-lucky kid, but it opens into a glider like how Aang is much more. He's the Avatar, sure, but he also has underlying problems such as losing his entire people and the inability to let go of people.

Katara: Water

Water: She’s versatile, good with defense and offense, and being able to heal with water is similar to her motherly, healing personality. Yes, she does get a bit rash and riled up, but like a raging sea in a storm, she eventually calms down and apologizes for her mistakes. Also, her ability to turn water into ice is similar to how cutthroat she is. I mean, she hates the Fire Nation with a passion and didn't trust Zuko until they kind of hunted down the man that killed her mom. In addition, she has depth. She like to seem calm on the surface, but she does, like I said before, get easily angered, holds grudges, and misses her mom dearly.

Sokka: Boomerang and Sword

oh boy. Two weapons. Bisexual Boomerang: He's loyal and always comes back. He never leaves the ones he loves and holds onto them, and even if he does go away, he always comes back. Even when he argues with Katara, he eventually forgives her. Even when Yue turned into the moon, he never forgot her. Even when Suki kept having to leave them, he always kept her in his mind. He stayed for even the possibility that his dad might be at the Boiling Rock. Sokka always comes back. Sword: BISEXUAL The sword symbolizes Sokka beginning to realize: hey, everyone else is learning new stuff, so I have to keep up. He makes the decision to go to Piandao and learn from him, he makes his own sword, he learned to change. Piandao may have made him forge his own sword, but his determination to make the sword himself and make it unique is all Sokka.

Suki: Fans

Fans: they don't seem dangerous, but when utilized correctly, it can be deadly, just like Suki. She seems like a sweet girl, but she can probably pin you in five seconds. Fans are also seen as relatively feminine. Don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a man use a fan until Mulan and The Warriors of Kyoshi. But the way that the Kyoshi warriors use the fans are a weapon, while still retaining its sort of feminine vibe. I'm not really sure where I was going with this, but don’t underestimate Suki or her fans.

Toph: Earth

Earth: Earth = Toph. next. Toph does represent earth pretty well in the literal sense because she's stubborn in her ways and resists change when it doesn’t suit her. She immediately jumped on the chance to join the Gaang, but she refused to help them out to retain her sense of individuality and self-strength. As she grows older though, like erosion, she begins to relinquish more and learns as she ages. Old Toph is still pretty set in her tough ways, but she learned how to push people the right way.

Zuko: Fire and Dao Swords

Fire: ATLA did his character arc so well because his fire was orange and red at the beginning meaning his fire had less oxygen and was less hot to symbolize how he was using anger as a way to fuel his fire. Then, later on when he learned to use his fire from the dragons, it was yellow, as in more oxygen and it's hotter to symbolize how he matured and learned that fire is not meant to be fueled by pointless anger, but controlled strength. His fire maturing and growing hotter is symbolism of how he's settled down and learned to utilize his fire/manage his emotions better. Oh, and you know how his fire only came from his fists? That's him being stagnant and unwilling to change, but he learned to like,, shoot it from other parts of his body. That sounds so wrong but I promise it means that he's learned to be more versatile and not stagnant. Dao swords: it's a metaphor for how two major bloodlines run through his veins and learning to balance between the two. ALSO GAY

#atla #avatar the last airbender #aang #katara #suki #toph #sokka #zuko

36 notes · View notes

comradekatara · 5 years

Note

sexism in the fire nation?? I want more examples!!

Okay, I’m not sure exactly to which post you’re referring, but you should know I have made a post expounding on this topic in the past. I do wish to speak on it further, though, because there seems to be this widespread belief among the fandom that the Fire Nation is the least sexist of all four nations during Aang’s time—and this bothers me for a number of reasons…

7 more paragraphs under the cut because it seems I have no self control???

The Fire Nation is an imperialist state that profits off of its colonialism, to the detriments of the territories it colonizes (obviously). Therefore, it makes sense that the FN seems more modernized than the rest of the world. But do not mistake their technological advancement for social progress. It is common propaganda that social progress moves with technological progress, in the same direction, and at the same pace. (For one thing, define “social progress.”) Colonialist states such as Israel will try to justify their occupation of Palestinian territory and oppression of Palestinians with, “Okay, yeah, maybe we’re doing those things, but we’re also the only country in the Middle East with LGBT rights!” And um, sure, Tel Aviv has a pride parade, but the Israeli gov’t also directly oppresses LGBT Palestinians. Or how when India decriminalized homosexuality and a lot of dumb liberals were like, “Good for India for finally catching up to the West!” when it was Western (British) influence that fucked India up in the first place.

And even so, these are not the best examples I could give, because the FN can’t even boast gay rights. Now, you all know I tend to see the comics as a buffet of canon; I pick and choose what feels right, and if I doubt its plausibility, I have no problem ignoring it. At first, I was dubious to the claim that Firelord Sozin criminalized homosexuality. Apparently, being gay was all fine and dandy in the Fire Nation before Sozin (which I highly doubt, but still) and then all of a sudden he’s rounding up his subjects and sending them off to… well, it never exactly specifies, but you can guess. Again, not many specifics are given. But, it would make sense for an autocrat boasting the glory of his nation to need a scapegoat, and “the homosexuals” seem a pretty decent target. I mean, it’s not like this doesn’t have historical precedent. So while I initially marked it as kind of immature writing, just the idea that Bad Man is Homophobe because Bad, the more I examined the Fire Nation royal family of ATLA, the more it made sense that the Fire Nation has a history of egregious homophobia.

Instead of looking to Sozin, who we truly know nothing about other than the fact that he liked to throw grass in people’s faces as a kid (which, uh, same—okay tangent, but why is ripping grass out of the ground and then throwing it like confetti so satisfying? Anyway), we need to look at the interplay among Ozai, Zuko, Iroh, Azula, and Ursa. Now, it’s really not hard to apply a queer reading to Zuko’s arc. I mean, the fact that it plays out like a 1:1 of a coming-out narrative wasn’t intentional on the part of the head writers is, frankly, staggering. And saying this isn’t to diminish the importance of his moral growth—one of understanding his own complicity in the war, and taking on the responsibility to mitigate his family’s legacy of violence and terror—but it is actually impossible to ignore the role Gender plays in all of this. If the Fire Nation was truly free of sexism, which, by the way, is impossible because its culture is too steeped in real-world influences to be able to separate imperialist values from upholding patriarchy, Zuko’s story would have played out much differently. For the record, you could switch out the word “Honor” for masculinity in not just ATLA, but a lot of other texts as well (especially those involving duels) and I bet we’d all come to understand just how silly and deluded the entire concept is. Of course, honor does not necessarily equate to masculinity. Acting honorably is whatever the culture defines it to be. For the Fire Nation, their culturally is militaristically-inclined, and so Zuko tries desperately to be a good soldier. Of course, Zuko is terrible at War, and thus is considered a failure. Being nurturing, compassionate, sensitive, or gentle is seen as weakness, and thus Zuko is forced to suppress these inherent traits if he does not want to be deemed weak. To be clear, Zuko does not learn how to be good; he learns that he is good. That he’s okay as he is, and that he should trust to act on his instincts, because they were right all along.

Concurrently, while Azula’s arc is certainly less Gender than Zuko’s is (Toph proves the closest parallel to Zuko in that regard), misogyny is a pervasive element in understanding why she is the way she is. Unlike Zuko, who is, frankly, encouraged to yell (as it is pretty much the only form of emotional expression men are permitted to display) Azula must remain poised at all times if she wants to stay in her parents’ good graces. She clearly had better discipline than Zuko did as a child—and that is partially due to raw talent, but talent can only get you so far. Her flames weren’t always blue. While, yes, Azula is valued for typically masculine traits, such as her physical prowess, cunning, and “stoicism,” she is the Crown Princess. It is expected of her to follow in her father’s footsteps and promote military dominance during her inevitable reign. And surely you must be saying, “Well, if there are female Firelords, case closed, right? If a woman can be supreme ruler, then clearly the country cannot be sexist.” Riiiiiiight. Because Ancient Egypt wasn’t sexist. Because Britain. Etc.

I also see people saying that there were female guards at the Boiling Rock. Other than the fact that the Boiling Rock seems like it’s a bit short on guards and will take what they can get at the moment (Sokka and Zuko are both children who do not fit into those uniforms and no one questions it. No one even says, “Hey, aren’t you a little too young to work here?” …which is a shame, because the response, “I’m an intern..?” would’ve floored me) working-class women have always participated in labor. The Boiling Rock is not a gender-segregated prison. The only thing they care about is whether or not you’re a threat to the Fire Nation. They don’t even care if you’re an actual child (see: Suki). Seeing as the Fire Nation is deeply concerned with the containment of rebel forces, and the prison is fucking huge, it makes sense that they would hire a handful of women along with the male guards. It doesn’t seem like a job many would want (although with the Fire Nation’s brainwashing it’s hard to say), and they could use all hands on deck. But do we see any female high-ranking military officials? Any female soldiers in their military at all? The worst jobs cannot afford not to hire women. The Firelord cannot afford not to turn his daughter into a weapon simply because she is female. (His dumb gay son is clearly inept and a lost cause.) Azula’s greatest advantage is that people underestimate her. She enlists the help of Mai and Ty Lee, two teenage girl non-benders, because she knows that agility is key. She would rather blend in, be able to move through crowds unnoticed, than to show off (not to say she doesn’t like showing off, but she is distinctly subtler than Zuko, not to mention Ozai). In this way, her cunning and prowess are feminine qualities. Her swallowing of her emotional outbursts is a distinctly female trait. Under patriarchy, men are, in fact, encouraged to display their emotions more than women are, because at least men get to be angry. Azula is hyperaware of how misogyny operates in society, and she uses that as yet another tool in her arsenal.

Now, I cannot go without mentioning Iroh’s treatment of Azula. We’re clearly all thinking it. Pre-Lu Ten’s-Death-Inspired-Epiphany-Iroh sends his niece and nephew some gifts from the Earth Kingdom: a doll and a knife, respectively. He sends the wrong toy to the wrong kid. First of all, he sends a ten-year-old Zuko a knife, which is decidedly not a toy (though he still manages to use it like one), and he sends a doll to Azula, which she immediately burns out of spite. Azula rejects gender roles in the same way Zuko does, but there is another layer to it, because femininity and women are so devalued; masculinity and association to it is a way of gaining power. Thus, Azula must perform femininity (physical perfection, “One hair out of place”) to gain approval and can never be caught slipping if she wants to be taken seriously. Unlike Zuko, who never once acts dignified, and is never taken seriously, Azula has learned to utilize these roles to her advantage in every possible way. And yet, Iroh does not care about how well she presents herself. She is a woman, and she wields too much power. Of course, the latter part is true. She is far too powerful considering her agenda, and she does need to be stopped (and helped). But when Iroh says, “No, she is crazy and needs to go down,” there are some heavily gendered implications at play here. To put it outright: Iroh is a sexist. He may have critically reexamined his views on war and peace after the death of his son, but that clearly did not extend to gender. Even a subtle thing, like constantly trying to set Zuko up with random girls in Ba Sing Se (it’s implied it’s not a one-off occurrence) (also, why would he be so rude to those poor girls as to force them to go on a date with Zuko, the actual worst person you could ever go on a date with except for perhaps a serial killer) seems a bit…. presumptuous. Not that I’m necessarily faulting him for his heteronormativity. Suki never had the chance to introduce him to Judith Butler after all, seeing as they had a war to win under intense time pressure and all that when they met. Maybe afterward, though. It’s the least he could do to better connect with his #Wells4Boys nephew (and #MyLittleStepchildren niece—though they truly have their work cut out for them).

So yeah, assuming that sexism does not exist in the Fire Nation ignores the real-world implication of those claims. The Fire Nation is largely modeled after imperialist Japan, among other cultural influences. To then claim that an imperialist, militaristic society can exist without patriarchy in a cultural landscape so similar to our own is heavily reductive and downright ignorant. Not to mention, there’s pretty clear evidence throughout the entire show that the Fire Nation is sexist, among every class, and on a systemic, structural level.

So when people say, “Sexism is bad for men, as they are taught to repress their emotions, and they hurt themselves and others in the process,” they are, in fact, talking about Zuko. QED.

#analysis #zuko #azula #iroh #yeah this is two thousand words...#hope its adequate!!! lol #anon #asks

198 notes · View notes

thethiefandtheairbender · 5 years

Note

Holy FFUK dude I am so crazy about your ATLA analyses, you’re so good at them! I’m a high schooler and literally all I want is to be able to do that like you. This is a really open ended question but what do you think I can do to get to being that good eventually???

I am answering this so late so sorry about that but thank you so much!!! This is such a sweet message!! I’m actually not that far beyond my high school years so I will definitely say yes, you can!!

I only got into writing meta a few years ago and practiced a lot, mostly over on my voltron sideblog @shiroallura. A lot of the thoughts I put in my Aang meta, though, are ones I’ve cultivated over the past... six years at least. I’ve always had a pretty good inherent sense for narrative — things like narrative foils, parallels, thematic arcs, etc. — ever since I was a kid, definitely helped along by ATLA, but I’ve also spent a lot of time nurturing it over the past six to seven years. I got really into reading meta and analyses when I joined the HTTYD fandom on tumblr back in 2013, and to this day it’s probably still the most meta-heavy fandom I’ve seen (at least, it was back then; I don’t know as much about the current state of it now).

My recommendation would be to read meta, but to also not like anyone else’s opinion really affect your own. That’s not to say someone’s meta can’t change your mind on something, but examining the text on your own and seeing what you see can be great for objectivity. For example, if I listened to the majority of ATLA (zuko/katara) shippers on tumblr say about Aang, I probably wouldn’t hold the opinions I do on his arc. So making sure your perspective isn’t skewed by shipping biases, no matter what they are, is important I think, as is looking at context and the work on its own, and then with stuff from the creators.

I would also say pick something you love - like say your favourite movie, or ATLA, or a book - and watch/read the Thing with only a specific thing in mind. It could be paying extra attention to a single character, a relationship, etc., or even something smaller. Whether it’s a line you loved, or a line that didn’t feel right, focus in on it, and then see what the text behind it actually does.

For example, one of my favourite little details in ATLA is about Katara’s line in “The Southern Raiders,” when she says to Sokka, “Then you didn’t love [our mother] the way I did.” It’s harsh, and not at all warranted - she’s lashing out, and it shows what a poor state she’s currently in. However, when I go back and watch the series, I completely see that that line isn’t the harsh throwaway most people seem to see it as, and I saw that for two main reasons. The first is in Book Two, “The Swamp.” The original gaang all see people in the Swamp, and they all reveal to one another who they saw. Sokka is consumed by the more recent loss of Yue, but Katara still sees their mother, and each of them know that. Then, in “The Runaway,” about a season later, Katara overhears Sokka admitting to Toph that he can’t remember what their mother looked like. And in that scene, Sokka’s confession moves to Katara to tears. So while these were things that she felt sympathy and empathy over in the past, in the face of her anger in TSR, she’s willing to use them against him when saying this line. However unjustified it is, there is a basis, and it doesn’t come from nowhere. That’s excellent writing. It’s a tiny little thing that says so much about Katara’s character, and her duality, her and Sokka’s differences, and how the loss of a parent echoes throughout the series for most of the main characters (sans Toph, mostly).

I also nurtured my analytical skills and narrative understanding of my own, whether through fanfiction, or the fantasy series I’m working on. I’d say that 55% of writing is intentional, 35% is unintentional, and the remaining 10% is figuring out the unintentional stuff and making it intentional. For example, there will be themes, concepts, character archetypes, etc. that you are naturally drawn to. Over the years I’ve figured out some of mine, and the messages I find personally meaningful (like not giving into hopelessness, no matter what) that I imbed my work in both on purpose, and just by de facto because books are nothing if not interwoven with personal beliefs or statements in there somewhere.

With those things you naturally gravitate to, there will be parallels and such that you did not mean to create, but did so anyway. I did not intend for a theme throughout all the books to be the complex relationship between mothers and daughters, but stumbled across it because most of my main and minor characters are women, and the story has a slight intergenerational slant especially in the earlier books. Then, when I realized this complex mother ( / mother figure) - daughter relationship was a common occurrence not only for my protagonist, but for other characters as well, I decided to lean into it, and make it intentional, and reinforce it as a theme or concept the books try to explore, because well... it was already there. I may as well just make it stronger.

So yeah! Start with what you love, and go from there. Good stories will reward you by having more layers beyond the surface reading, even if the surface value should also never be disregarded or flat out dismissed. And learning how to layer your own stories is a simultaneous process of looking at how other people layer theirs to know how to layer your own, and knowing how other people have layered their stories from how you layer your own.

Long answer short: practice makes perfect, have fun, and you’ll discover some really great things along the way. Thanks again for this message nonnie, it really made my day!

#atla meta #sort of #slightly??#dragons rambles #thanks for asking #anonymous #katara #atla #mine #writing advice

18 notes · View notes

sophieakatz · 6 years

Text

Thursday Thoughts: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Coming-of-Age Stories, and Where The Heck Are The Adults In This World

Recently, I finally watched all sixty-one episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender (ATLA) - a show that literally every friend I’ve ever had has been surprised to learn I never watched as a kid.

(Returning readers will already know that I never watched most TV shows as a kid. I’m making up for lost time now.)

Overall, I enjoyed ATLA. It’s an emotional adventure with complex morals and strong positive themes like the power of friendship and family. I had a lot of fun finally discovering the contexts for all the memes I’ve become familiar with because of Tumblr (like “Sparky Sparky Boom Man” and “That’s rough, buddy”).

But I also felt uncomfortable while watching, for one specific reason: how young everyone is.

Aang is twelve years old. So is Toph. The other protagonists, and several major antagonists, aren’t much older. It hit me in the middle of the second episode that I was watching kids play at war – a thought that I know wouldn’t have occurred to me if I had been watching as a twelve-year-old myself, but one that stuck with me for the rest of my watch-through. ATLA is a story about kids in a world of absent or incompetent adults, with the fate of the world in their hands. And that kind of weight just plain doesn’t belong on the shoulders of twelve-year-olds.

The show makes some ventures towards confronting the topic of the kids’ age, and how circumstances have forced them into adult roles far too soon.

Aang was taken away from childhood play because of his destiny as the Avatar and the monks’ fear of the impending war.

Sokka and Katara’s mother died when they were little, leaving Katara as the only “mother” Sokka can remember. Their father left to fight the war after that, leaving Sokka as the only “man” of their village.

Zuko’s father treated him not as a preteen son, but as an adult inferior, and physically tortured him in public over a perceived slight.

The show points at these situations as unfortunate, and in Zuko’s case outright states that it was wrong. But then it keeps going, as all stories about child heroes do, and shows that it’s necessary for the kids to save the world. It’s unfortunate that Aang and Zuko and the others were taken out of childhood so soon, but even when they do go to adults for help, they are turned away and told that only they can solve the problems. It is their plot-driven destiny to be adults before their time.

ATLA also gives us a supporting cast of children whose too-adult qualities are portrayed in a completely uncomplicated, even praiseworthy way.

Suki and the Kyoshi Warriors, Princess Yue, and Jett and his Freedom Fighters all are treated by the narrative as though in being responsible “adult” figures they are as they should be, even though none of them could possibly be older than fifteen.

Toph’s entire character arc revolves around her hatred at being treated like a child by her overbearing parents, and the narrative unquestioningly supports her – the only moment in which it seems her parents might actually support her (the letter from her mother) turns out to be a lie, and leads to Toph achieving her destiny as the world’s first metal-bender. There is no middle ground, and we never actually see or hear from her parents again.

And the villainous Azula, though she displayed a frightening level of competence in every other episode of the show, is finally defeated when she starts behaving in an age-appropriate childlike way. I might be reading too much into this (I am an English major, after all), but the four-episode finale arc left me with the impression that the show was condemning childhood. When push comes to shove, no matter how old you are, you better grow up, or else.

To be fair, this is a coming-of-age story. Naturally it’s pro-adulting. Also, twelve-or-so is the normal sort of age for these stories. That’s when Gregor enters the Underland in Suzanne Collins’s Gregor the Overlander, and when Lyra and Will’s daemons settle in Philip Pullman’s The Amber Spyglass

For a twelve-or-so-year-old reader, as I once was for both these books, it feels perfectly natural. As Neil Gaiman said about his book Coraline:

Reading audience number one is adults. Adults completely love it and they tell me it gave them nightmares. They found it really scary and disturbing, and they're not sure it's a good book for kids, but they loved it. Reading audience number two are kids who read it as an adventure and they love it. They don't get nightmares, and they don't find it scary. I think part of that is that kids don't realize how much trouble Coraline is in -- she is in big trouble -- and adults read it and think, “I know how much trouble you're in.”

A kid reading these coming-of-age stories sees “someone like me saving the world” and goes along with it, not having the external perspective necessary to stress about whether or not the child hero will be able to save the world.

But me? I’m twenty-three. I’m too old to see Aang and company as “someone like me.” I don’t connect with Katara or Toph nearly as much as connect to Uncle Iroh, the closest thing this story has to a constant responsible adult figure. I look at the child heroes and I think, “Where the heck are the adults in this world?”

The adults are gone, as is necessary for the plot. In order for a “kids save the world” story to take place, the adults must be absent or otherwise incompetent, as nearly all the adults in ATLA are. They’re dead, or they’re off fighting another part of the war in a distant land, or they don’t understand their children, or they’re just plain stupid. It puts me in mind of the make-believe games the next-door-neighbor children I babysat in high school would create: in those stories, their parents were always dead.

In her book Good Girls and Wicked Witches: Changing Representations of Women in Disney's Feature Animation, 1937-2001, Amy Davis examines the tendency of parents in Disney films and other fairy-tale kinds of stories to be either absent or otherwise unable to protect their children. This lack of adult guidance is what creates the circumstances for those children to go on an adventure. Grown-ups can’t solve the world’s problems, so kids must step up and solve it.

Or rather, the kids must step up and be grown-ups, and solve it.

But take it from a twenty-three-year-old: a twelve-ish-year-old is not a grown-up, no matter what they’ve been through.

When I was sixteen, it suddenly hit me that it’s ridiculous that Lyra and Will’s daemons settle at age thirteen. Settling indicates that their personality is done changing, that they are who they are and they’ve finished growing up. But at sixteen, I could tell that I wasn't the same person that I had been at thirteen. At twenty, I wasn’t the same person that I had been at sixteen. I’m different again now, though less dramatically. I’m still figuring things out, and there are still adulting steps that I haven’t yet taken, but I’m much more a grown-up than I’d ever have called myself at thirteen.

I can see the value in “kids act like grown-ups and save the world” stories. They’re not written for me, who’s beginning to find them troubling. They’re written for kids, who don’t find them troubled, because they don’t see the dangers that the child-heroes face. They see that the child-heroes succeed.

My mother doesn’t like The Lion King because it’s about a child being told his father’s death is all his fault. She told me so when I was little, and my response was that it’s okay, because we know Scar is lying and that Simba will defeat him in the end. I’m closer now to my mother’s perspective than to my younger self’s response in regards to how I watch ATLA.

We do need to tell kids that they can and will grow up to do great things, and the best way to do that is to show them people their age that they can relate to doing great things – even if it makes adults feel uncomfortable. While the adult behavior of the children might be unrealistic, the ideal that it encourages in them, to become people who save the world, is absolutely realistic.

ATLA is not a story intended for me, though it might have been if I’d watched it then. I’m content to recommend it to children Aang’s age, and to derive an entirely different kind of enjoyment from it by over-analyzing, critiquing, and otherwise completely picking it apart. As I said, I am an English major, after all.

By the way, I highly recommend Amy Davis’s book. It was an instrumental piece of my thesis research and a super interesting read.

Come back every week for a new Thursday Thoughts!

Got a suggestion for a topic? Send it my way!

Like what you read? Consider tipping the writer!

#thursday thoughts #avatar #avatar the last airbender #atla #tumblr originals #reviews

2 notes · View notes

firelxdykatara · 4 years

Text

people really will insist until they’re blue in the face that katara ‘never mothered anyone’ and ignore the fact that this was an explicit plot point in multiple episodes lmfao. it was the central plot to a whole episode in mid-book 3 my god

Katara: Don’t you walk away while I’m talking to you! Toph: Oh really, Mom? What are you gonna do, send me to my room? Katara: I wish I could! Toph: Well, you can’t! Because you’re not my mom, and you’re not their mom! [points at Sokka and Aang] Katara: I never said I was! Toph: No, but you certainly act like it! You think it's your job to boss everyone around, but it's not! You're just a regular kid like the rest of us! So stop acting like you can tell me what to do! I can do whatever I want! Katara: I don’t act that way! [looks at Sokka] Sokka, do I act motherly? Sokka: Hey, I’m staying out of this one. Katara: What do you think, Aang? Do I act like a mom? Aang: Well, I, uh- [rubs his eye] Katara: Stop rubbing your eye, and speak clearly when you talk!

like, is it heartbreaking that this fourteen-year-old girl takes it upon herself to act like the mother she hasn’t had since she was eight years old? of course it is! does that suddenly mean she doesn’t act motherly, when the show is incredibly explicit about the fact that she does, and that this behavior is rooted in her trauma? no!

Toph: So lemme guess, you brought me out here to tell me that your sister's not as annoying as I make her out to be. Sokka: Nah, she’s pretty much a pain. [Katara is shown sitting below them, listening to their conversation] She's always got to be right about everything and she gets all bossy and involved and in your business.... Toph: Yeah. I don’t know how you could deal with it. Sokka: Actually, in a way, I rely on it. Toph: I don’t understand. Sokka: When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom. Toph: I guess I never thought about that. Sokka: I’m gonna tell you something crazy. I never told anyone this before, but honestly? I'm not sure I can remember what my mother looked like. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture. [Katara, still listening below them, begins to cry.] Toph: The truth is, The truth is sometimes Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. She's compassionate and kind, and she actually cares about me. [She wipes away a tear of her own.] You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom. [Toph punches Sokka’s arm.] Don't ever tell her I said any of this! Sokka: Hey, my lips are sealed!

i guess i just don’t understand why some people insist on ignoring a significant chunk of katara’s personality and character arc, sometimes just because it may cast some unflattering light on her canon romantic relationship. (which should, maybe, idk, prompt some examination of said relationship???? could just be me though) personally, i love thinking about a future in which katara makes relationships and slowly learns to just enjoy being a kid, and even a young woman living her own life, as her trauma heals and she stops feeling the need to be The Caretaker and maybe learns to let other people take care of her for a change.

(she doesn’t get that in canon, apparently.... ever, but, yknow, that’s what transformative fandom is for.)

i guess my bottom line is katara deserves better, and that includes from big parts of the fandom.

#katara #katara meta #atla #katara is motherly and that isn't necessarily a bad thing #and you also can't have her develop and move past it WITHOUT acknowledging it #though part of her personality will also be nurturing #but once she heals from her trauma she will be able to avoid falling into that 'i must take care of EVERYONE because NO one else will'#mindset #anyway i just think she deserves better

171 notes · View notes