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bluespiritshonour · 3 months

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Water Siblings and Fire Siblings as Foils

Katara and Sokka are peak sibling rep: they bicker, they hurt each other, they take turns being the voice of reason while the other goes batshit crazy—and they'd die for each other.

And very clearly Sokka's daddy's boy and Katara's momma's girl: and for most parts, they seem to be content with that dynamic.

Look, parents have favourites, let's establish that first: don't come at me for it.

But in a healthy environment, where all of the kids’ emotional needs are met irrespective of which kid gets along with which parent, they're less likely to tear themselves apart yearning for parental affection.

Sokka and Katara's family was a normal one, a healthy one—as healthy as one can be in a war ravaged world—and Sokka and Katara are normal siblings. Even after their mother died Katara doesn't seem to care much that Sokka gets more time with their father. And everytime she brings up their mother Sokka gets this weird look on his face, which, I think is later explained by the fact that he feels guilty that he doesn't even remember what their mother looked like. And it's not because Katara seems to know more about their mother despite being younger.

Neither of them grudge the other for having been close to one of the parents—let's call it ‘being close to’ instead of ‘dad/mum loved you/me more’ because that's what would come up with Azula and Zuko.

One can say that Azula's daddy's girl and Zuko's momma's boy... Except it isn't like that.

Azula wasn't loved by her father; neither was she close to him. If anything she had the illusion that she's close to him. But children can sense when they aren't loved, which can explain why she took her mother being close to Zuko so hard. Because she didn't get that from her father and isn't she supposed to be daddy's girl? But dad's good to her; mum... isn't. Dad lets her do what she wants... As long as she obeys him or she'd end up like Zuko.

For Ozai, both his children are pawns. He uses Azula to abuse Zuko, which in turn is to get at Ursa. And honestly, Ursa was a bad mum and an abuse victim and not the villain are takes that can co-exist.

A lot of mums in primarily patriarchal cultures end up abusing their own kids while trying to protect them in an environment where they themselves hold little power.

Ursa and Hakoda can be compared in this.

Katara haters can look away: she isn't whiny. And even if she is, well, she takes responsibility when no one else does so I guess she deserves to complain if that's what it takes. Katara is extremely mature. When she was mad at Hakoda, she still had the critical thinking skills to point out that yes, she understands why he left. He had to! She doesn't blame him for that, it wasn't his fault that there was war going on—but it still hurt!

And what does Hakoda do? He hugs her and apologises. He doesn't defend himself, because he doesn't need to. She understands! She said she does and he doesn't insult her by making excuses. He acknowledges and validates her pain.

Unlike Katara, who grew up in a healthy family with parents and grandparents and a whole community—Azula was isolated and under the influence of Ozai. And she was so young! If you remember being that young, you'd remember thinking that parents are always right. You don't realise that parents make mistakes too—and while her emotional needs weren't being met by Ozai, she turned to Ursa—but Ursa was at her wits end trying to undo the damage of Ozai's abuse on Zuko.

If she had given attention to Azula, Zuko, who thought that Azula was perfect and already had father's approval would have gone off rails—and since she didn't... Azula went off the rails.

Which was exactly how Ozai would want it. I don't like the comics much but it made sense that Ozai would hold both the children as bargaining chips against Ursa. Ursa made her choice, or rather, the illusion of her choice and Azula had to pay for it: the real reason Zuko could turn over a new page while Azula couldn't was because from the very beginning, Zuko had his mum and uncle.

Azula had no one!

Like Hakoda had to go to war and leave his children behind, Ursa had to choose between Azula or Zuko; Ozai orchestrated it as such.

But while there were people to pick up Hakoda's slack, there was no one to guide Azula. Sokka and Katara raised each other and they had Gran Gran.

Zuko and Azula were constantly pitted against each other by a war-mongering father.

I don't like this unrealistic expectations that fandom has of a family where both the siblings not only love each other equally, they also process emotions similarly (see: the Sokka vs Katara debate on how they both react to trauma) and parents who love all the kids equally.

Katara and Sokka are normal and realistic in the way that they are both different people: they process grief differently. Katara takes up responsibly and grows up too fast, it takes a toll on her and she's vocally expressive. She turns her grief into anger. Meanwhile Sokka internalises it in a survivor's guilt kind of way.

There's also gender involved in the way both pair of siblings interact. It's more subtle for the fire siblings than the water sibling. Plus, Suki makes Sokka drink his respect women juice, please y'all don't call Sokka sexist. That was character development for him which was addressed. I could make another post for gender and A:TLA.

And they both love each other dearly and they're okay with the fact that one is daddy's boy and the other is momma's girl. It's okay.

In contrast Zuko yearns for his father's affection and Azula yearns for her mother's. And while Zuko feels inadequate, for Azula it's “behave or you'll end up like your brother.”

She also learns to derive a sick sort of pleasure from watching Zuko suffer—which is entirely her father's doing. Because in rare moments when she doesn't have anything to gain by getting Zuko into trouble...she actually kind of looks out for him. It's extremely rare and sprinkled here and there to show us the Azula that could have been.

And I don't think Zuko really realised that Azula was abused too—not until he lets go of his father. Until the final Agni Kai. What I love about it is that despite portraying Azula as Zuko's tormentor for 3 seasons (and she was his tormentor) they did not frame the Agni Kai as some epic good vs evil shit.

Because from Zuko's point of view Azula was perfect. He's out here vying for his father's affection while she gets it freely. She's so lucky!—until he lets go of his father and realises what a monster he was... And he also realises that father never really loved Azula either...

They didn't say as much in words. But the final Agni Kai is proof enough. Zuko doesn't rejoice bringing Azula down (technically Katara did it). At this point, I guess, he realises that Azula's a kid too. Even younger than him—that their father couldn't care less about either of them.

Okay. I really do think that Zuko suddenly becoming invested in Azula's redemption would make sense after the Agni Kai. I also read this Twitter thread by Aaron Ehasz where he says he had plans for Azula's redemption and it was fantastic.

So yeah. Without being overt, the water siblings and fire siblings are contrasted by each other. Which is why I don't like the comics trying to do this brother-sister thing where they put Sokka and Katara and Zuko and Azula in back-to-back panels like... Even if I'm a huge supporter of Azula-deserves-redemption I didn't like those panels in the comics.

P.S. don't pit Sokka and Katara against each other. You aren't Ozai. They're different people who process trauma and loss differently and hence, react differently.

Adios.

#atla #avatar the last airbender #ink rambles #katara #sokka #zuko #azula #azula deserves redemption #katara defence squad

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abbyofthefirenation · 4 years

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aang and katara are literally the two least problematic characters in the show but they get the most unnecessary hate in the fandom while they stay happy living their best lives ugh my sweeties deserve better

#avatar: the last airbender #avatar: tla #avatar #aang #katara #katara defence squad #aang defence squad #kataang defence squad

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usernamesuggestionsarefunny · 3 years

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Antis on tumblr are so cringey with their hatred of characters mixed with performative activism, it is all like:

"Lol you like this BLAND!! Pallle ass wHiiite character" and then they simply stan a different white character themselves.

Or the typical:

"I headcanon everyone in this show as lgbtq except this one character I hate, they are straight because I personally headcanon them as such and it totally gives me a suuper valid motive to hate them for some woke reason" or worse, they headcanon the characters they dislike as homophobic or racist with no canon evidence.

If they lack imagination, antis will just give the character they hate a different nickname based on a distortion of their real name, you know, like children in kindergarden.

I am not even against essays explaining why people hate (Or love) certain characters, I am all for the drama as long as there are actual arguments based on canon and not petty insults.

#antis #anti #performative activism #john walker positive post #john walker positivity #kylo ren #ben solo #fandom #toxic fandom #I know it is mostly done as a joke #but it is annoying #very #sansa stark #pro sansa stark #sansa stark defence squad #tony stark #pro tony stark #katara #pro katara

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fedonciadale · 3 years

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If antis claim Jonsa is a crackship without any literary evidence(Lmao the seeds are literally planted from Prologue AGOT),then why does it elicit so much hate in the fandom ? Crackships should be considered funny&not taken seriously like BrienneXTormund .I think the reason is because deep down many including antis in the fandom know that a romantic relationship could play out between Jon and Sansa and they are terrified of it. That's why Jonsa evokes so much passionate hate instead of ignorance

Hi there!

Agree 100%. And in addition I think every fandom sort of needs to “other” parts of the fandom, so that they can feel better about themselves.

Fandoms, especially if there are many dudebros in it or women who have internalized misogyny, tend to be misogynistic and therefore it is not really surprising that the GoT and ASOIAF fandom collectively decided to ostracize Sansa stans and Jonsas who want something good for a girl who is traditionally feminine. God forbid that something good happens to a girl like Sansa.

I must admit though, that the ASOIAF fandom is especially vicious. In other fandoms you have some of the same effects (look at how Katara is judged by parts of the ATLA fandom and you see what I mean), but the level of vitriol is far below the ASOIAF fandom.

Thanks for the ask!

#anon ask #Jonsa #Why is Jonsa hated?#Anti ASOIAF fandom #Anti tenured profs of ASOIAF university #Sansa Stark #Sansa Stark defence squad #Katara #Misogyny in fandoms #It's so absurd

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roselevesque · 3 years

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Over the last couple of months a discussion about the villainisation of radical movements within media has emerged and pretty often people bring up Hama and Jet as examples of this trend. I'm a person that doesn't agree that it can apply to ATLA and especially not for these two characters.

For one, people usually bring up Hama & Jet as examples of this trend, but it doesn't really work when one of them wasn't even part of the fight for liberation and the other was portrayed in the wrong for specific acts, not the overall mentality.

Hama's direct fight against Fire Nation forces stopped the moment she escaped prison. She forged a new identity and built a life for herself, but the trauma caused by everything she went through turned her towards a path of cruelty without justification. Kidnapping civilians did not help bring down the Fire Nation, forcing Katara to become the inheritor of her self-discovered bending branch against her wishes did not help in the fight and putting Aang and Sokka in danger for it certainly didn't.

Hama is the perfect example for what happens when scars can't be healed. Unlike what some may believe, pain does not make you stronger, especially when it's a wound left to seethe. It eats at you until the only way to fill in the gaps is to unleash the anger upon the world as Hama does. Hama is not villainised for being a survivor of Fire Nation genocide, her backstory speaks of a horrible tragedy not the making of a monster, what defines her into someone that shouldn't be admired is her current incarnation that does everything I've mentioned above.

Jet, however, is part of the fight against the Fire Nation, but he passes the threshold into considering every life associated with the enemy as inherently corrupt, thus not a great loss should it be extinguished. Jet is not wrong for hating the Fire Nation, is not for orchestrating operations against its forces or building up a rebel squad. What he is wrong about is his decision to sacrifice an entire town for his goals and hiding his true plan from his allies ( Aang & Katara ).

And his inability to separate himself from his hatred ( not forget it, but cross a line between that and himself when it's called for ) follows and haunts him even while trying to build a new path in Ba Sing Se. The problem is not that he kept an eye on potential threats, but that he let anger take a hold of him and push him towards a direct confrontation preceded by obsession. He couldn't truly look forward to this new life as consumed as he was. Such a situation is a topic ATLA often mulls over with its characters. In what measures does your past affect you? What should you let it define you and what not?

In the end, he is not the charming rogue, nor the one that went too far, but a victim in more ways than one and the one who helped our protagonists underground. Neither of these characters is presented as inhuman or not worthy of any sympathy, but merely a more tragic facet of the human experience.

For two, our main characters are fighters for the liberation that do not follow the authority. Aang was never meant to "Talk No Jutsu" Ozai into submission by bringing up the power of friendship and such. His own preferred solution to the problem is not it either and Team Avatar, from day 1, never tried to claim that achieving balance could only be done by appealing the the other Nations' tyrant. They break Earthbenders out of prison! They fight Fire Nation military forces almost everywhere they end up and are hunted for being a threat! They help the Northern Air Temple and Northern Water Tribe residents with their defence! They go against Ba Sing Se's censorship and reveal the truth to Kuei! They steal from and hide behind enemy lines before going ahead with an invasion plan! Aang and Katara destroy a factory affecting the environment to help civilians!

These are far from non-radical actions. What they are is non-extreme in their impact on people not involved on the war front. That is what differentiates them from Jet and even more so from Hama.

The question is not how to end the conflict, because standing up to the Fire Nation is the clear answer. The question is what are we willing to sacrifice? What is within our right to decide what should and should not be sacrificed? How does everything shape our mentality and is it for better or for worse?

#atla meta #hama atla #jet atla #the gaang #avatar the last airbender #atla fandom #atla #avatar aang #team avatar

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avatar-state-kate · 3 years

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17 and 23? Also wow u are so productive to be doing hw too

Well don’t be too proud of me, it’s already late aha

17. Instead of XYZ happening, I would have made ABC happen…

Okay, so I’m think season 2 of lok is the messiest (which I understand why, under the conditions it was made it’s a miracle but still, mess) I think I would try to fix it by merging the loss of Korra’s bending in with the spirit portal plot. So season 1 ends on a cliff hanger and instead of just happening to be in the South Pole and there being evil spirits I would have korra go seeking spiritual advisement, like they’ve tried physical healing but Katara tells korra its a spiritual wound, tenzin tries to help but can’t (maybe this is the first episode, it’d end with korra deciding she needs to find someone else)

Additional notes would be mako is not a cop, Asami is actually involved somehow, and if we’re keeping Bolin’s acting subplot nutuk has to be made by the fire nation to actually be an effective comment on the sort of films it’s mocking (ahem nanok of the North) but I’m not married to it either so I’d probably cut that too

23. An unpopular character you love

Mako hands down. although he doesn’t seem as unpopular as he used to be, the mako defence squad has pretty healthy numbers. But the old fandom and even now off tumblr he still is a pretty universally hated character (for literally no reason, he has never done anything wrong ever and I love him)

#thank you for the asks jay #kinda went off on 17 there is a lot to change #but also so much you need to keep #all the ravaa lore and avatar wan #the spirit portal #it’s the only season mako actually does police work so if you cut that he kinda isn’t a cop #but yeah more on that another day #mako defence squad

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