It's been a year since Calamity aired, and I still have not been able to stop thinking about it. This was drawn referencing Michelangelo's Pietà, as a spiritual successor to the Creation of Adam redraw I did when the finale first aired.
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Addressing the La Pieta pose in Crossroads of Destiny:
(I was raised Catholic so let's do this)
The scene is %100 a reference to Mary holding Jesus. I've seen a lot of zutara shippers use this to support the motherly nature of Katara and Aang's relationship as an obstacle to shipping them, and I agree.
What I disagree on is whether the scene is meant to be romantic. Although La Pieta absolutely has mother/son imagery, it doesn't preclude it from being used in romantic scenes. Atla is hardly unique in doing this.
And the reason why is because the imagery is not just mother/son, it conveys themes of sacrifice and healing. It's not a coincidence that Aang is positioned in the same position as the christ, and the show also uses a lot of madonna imagery with Katara. All of this is used in conjunction with Katara and Aang's relationship. It's a powerful image that is frequently used to describe relationships between men and women, because it follows a lot of well-established archetypes.
I've said this before, but it's not that the mother/son dynamics are in opposition to Katara and Aang being romantic. It's that they're used to enhance the relationship. We're supposed to see Katara being motherly and carrying the burden of Aang being The Savior as romantic.
The problem is that it's a one-sided and male-centric way to write a romance, and carries implications of men as doers and actors in a story and women as supportive, virginal figures who carry the brunt of the emotional labor.
In short, it's not that people who don't ship Katara and Aang don't get the symbolism. We just don't like it.
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Frank de las Mercedes (1972- Nicaragua) Madre y Hija
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An interesting commission.
So, y'know that big tree-guy boss from early on in Blasphemous..?
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