love is brightest in the dark

So I am finally allowed to talk about it. I’m just going to write down all the things I liked about it and all the things I didn’t. Spoilers ahead btw.

What I liked:

1. the Kataang portrayal. Really, it was perfect. I don’t care about the haters slandering them, I loved every second of them on the screen and it made me wish for a film purely about their domestic life (or more like wish even more because I always wanted to see such a movie)

2. I liked the humor of the movie. It was simply funny. The first Zuko scene was just hilarious and in general the jokes landed very well.

3. The animation. It was beautiful. No other words for it. While I disliked some particular design choices, like Katara’s hair being straight, I enjoyed the animation. It was pretty.

4. The beginning of the movie with the casual Gaang activities. Nearly every scene, from Aang’s letter to Zuko to that intimate balcony scene between Aang and Katara was just… 🥹😭

What I disliked

1. The plot felt rushed. My issue with the movie is that… it was a movie. All the arcs and instruments were in the right place, but due to the film being 85 minutes long they just didn’t click perfectly. I felt it the most during that spirit world scene. They just hopped in, met some weird boar and hopped out. Everything happened so fast!

2. I hated how Aang was prompted to exit this weird spiritual corruption state in the end by a random piece of cloth. There was an entire episode of ATLA that said that the Air Nomad’s love transformed into Katara’s love for him and another that had Katara grab him by his arm and literally pull him out of the avatar state… yet they settled for a piece of cloth? It felt really dumb because we could have gotten a very emotional scene of Aang having to choose between Katara and the Air Nomads and choosing her.

3. I disliked the finale. The ancient temple falling on the republic city while Tagah turned into some beast corrupted by a magic staff… what? It felt like some MCU final fight.

4. I disliked how they handled Sokka. I hoped that Bryke would finally get their shit together and write Sokka as the brave, mature young man he was at the end of the ATLA but I guess that every mystery gang needs it’s Shaggy

The propaganda I’m NOT falling for:

1. That Katara was only reduced to a one dimensional character meant to please Aang. If you hold a belief similar to this, go watch the movie. And then maybe go to therapy. And stop being a zutara shipper as a consequence ig.

2. That the movie was bad. It wasn’t a bad movie. Just no.

3. That Aang „abused Katara” because of what happened on that airship. Bro. This film is essentially Aang’s Southern Raiders. He is blinded by his grief. He is going to make stupid choices, just like Katara in TSR.

By the way, I guarantee that these „Aang abused Katara” claims are coming from zutara shippers, same people who claim Aang was abusive because he didn’t enable Katara in killing Yon Rha. Because when Katara is overcame by her grief and being mean to Aang because of her trauma it’s a „healthy reaction” but when the roles are reversed it’s Aang being abusive.

In conclusion

I think this movie was all about Aang’s specfic grief from losing the air nomads to genocide and being the last airbender. I interpreted the scene as a visit from Gyatso reminding him of who he is and where he came from so that he wasn’t corrupted by Tagah’s (and by extension his own) grief and anger.

«Excuse me, I think you may have dropped your book»

There's something really interesting about the fact that Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfiction seems to be far more interested in the trauma the Fire Nation citizens faced for being an imperial power than in the trauma faced by the people of the Earth Kingdom or Water Tribes having experienced that imperialism.

Obviously some of this is because of the strong fan preference for Zuko, whether through the Zuko/Katara ship or the Zuko/Sokka ship or as the main character in gen fics. But it feels notable too that when looking at the top-kudosed fics tagged with "Southern Water Tribe (Avatar)" every one on the first page (aka the top 20) are directly or indirectly about Zuko. The same seems to be true about the top 20 top-kudosed fics tagged with "Northern Water Tribe (Avatar)." This isn't quite the case for "Earth Kingdom (Avatar)" where there is one, perhaps two, that aren't directly or indirectly about Zuko.

The top 20 for "Fire Nation (Avatar)" are, obviously, also about Zuko--but more of them appear to be about the Fire Nation and its culture than seen for the other tags I mentioned above.

Katara from ATLA