小雪花

I want to start this off by saying that when it comes to media analysis, I personally don’t tend to give authorial intent a significant amount of weight – at least, not by default. I understand why authorial intent is so often debated among media analysts, and why so many metas and critiques often hinge their arguments on paratextual information that serves to provide potential insight on what the authors were thinking or planning. But I myself tend to follow more of a “Death of the Author” framework. There are some exceptions, such as when I believe the author’s stated intent – or even details such as their background, life experiences, advocacy etc – has bled through their work so heavily that it becomes impossible to ignore its impact on the final product. (E.g., reading Fyodor Dostoyevsky compare murder to state-ordered execution, it is hard not to contextualise the passage with the knowledge that Dostoyevsky himself faced a firing squad and was given a pardon at the very last minute). Even then, I tend to treat paratextual information like – Understanding the context behind x scene or y narrative choice potentially adds a layer of meaning to it, particularly why some scenes may have been framed the way they were, or why the author chose to tell/expand/conclude the story like this instead of like that. I use paratextual information to deepen my understanding of the author’s reasonings behind their choices. I don’t use paratextual information to form my opinion on whether their choices were good.

(I prefer to form my own opinion on that, based on what I think of the text itself.)

That being said, like most of you readers I too had heard the many rumours surrounding the writing/production process behind ATLA, especially when it came to the ships. Which ship, if any, was planned for, when were the romance arcs finally decided, were there conflicts/disagreements between writers, were there script changes and animation edits to strengthen one pairing while weakening other, and so on and so on. I’d heard the rumour that The Southern Raiders went through multiple rewrites/changes, because it was originally “too shippy”. I’d heard the rumours that Aaron and Elizabeth were pro-Zutara, Bryan and Mike were pro-Kataang, and that their respective positions/opinions on these two pairings seep through their writing in an acutely perceptible way.

I’d also heard the counter-argument, the official narrative endorsed by the creators that any chemistry or subtext between Zuko and Katara was always intended to be platonic, and that readers who saw anything romantic between these two characters were simply setting themselves up for disappointment by projecting their own expectations or preferences onto the show, nothing more.

Over the past 15 years or so, these debates shaped much of the ATLA “shipping discourse”, sometimes even dominating discussion on the subject. I myself have gotten many a variant of “Zutara was never going to happen, get over it” – even when I’ve made a deliberate effort to omit any mention of authorial intent in my analyses, because, as I’ve said, I still don’t consider that kind of paratextual information relevant to my own opinions on why I think Zutara just works better. But given the intensity of the arguments surrounding behind-the-scenes shenanigans, their impact on the final product, and even their supposed significance in determining shipping validity, it was impossible not to wonder at the truth behind all these conflicting rumours.

So when I set foot in the WGF, it was admittedly difficult to contain my bubbling excitement and anticipation. Even still, I resolved to keep my expectations low. Rumours are rumours, after all. Secondary sources must always be taken with a healthy grain of salt, and some of the rumours weren’t even second-hand information at that. And I already knew that no matter what I found, my own opinion that Zutara is the best love story almost written, would not change.

All that said and done, let’s just say that I found the discovery… highly rewarding, and for those of you who have spent years refusing to accept that you were just “reading into things”, I hope my findings bring you some long-awaited vindication.

There are two other disclaimers I need to get through before we continue:

1) The Writers Guild Foundation is not a lending library. You may make an appointment to view the scripts in person, and you are allowed to take notes and manually copy as much as you like. But you will not find copies of their scripts online, and photos and screenshots are strictly prohibited. From what I understand it’s a copyright issue. Legally I’m fairly certain that embedding photos in this post and accompanying it with critique and analysis would/should count as “Fair Use”; however, I know that at some point I’d like to be able to return to the library, and I don’t want to risk being blacklisted for not following their rules.

As such, all the images embedded in this post are reproductions of snippets that I had to manually copy and type up, word for word. It was slow work, so as much as I’d love to be able to just plop the entire script of The Southern Raiders (or any ATLA episode) here for you to read, I had to narrow my focus a fair bit. I mainly noted down, in order of significance:

additions, omissions or changes in the original script compared to the show

bits where the writer’s notes/storyboard directions contained insight or descriptions that I found interesting, surprising, or just plain funny

scenes that weren’t really all that different or unexpected, but we love to see it in writing anyway (ahem Crossroads of Destiny *cough*)

I’m sure there’s a lot that I still managed to miss - even visiting over two days, I couldn’t read every episode. I highly encourage Zutarians living in or near LA to make an appointment and read the scripts for yourselves. You’ll be able to see more than what I’ve posted here, and you might even unearth some goodies that escaped my notice.

(Credit goes to @lady-of-bath for taking my boatload of notes and reformatting them to look like scripts again ❤)

(Also apologies that some passages are split across two images; that just means they were long enough that they spanned two pages and I couldn’t be bothered splicing them back together so I just embedded them here as separate image files. I promise I didn’t cut/remove anything; images not separated by a line of dashes should be read as one continuous snippet 😊).

2) The second thing I ought to clarify is that, from my understanding, the drafts I read were final drafts. These were scripts submitted to the guild just prior to storyboarding, voice acting, animating etc. As I read them, I noticed that the only changes to the script that I could tell were non-dialogue related - so things like, descriptions of the characters’ actions, movements, facial expressions/body language, what you can or can’t see in the shot, etc. Otherwise, voice lines have been essentially kept intact. This suggests to me that the changes made to the script after submission to the guild, were also made after lines had been recorded, possibly even after scenes had been storyboarded. It also suggests that the scripts the voice actors read were the same ones I read in that library. (There is one notable exception that I found, a very interesting exception in my opinion, which we’ll get to later.)

While I would have loved to have seen the earlier drafts, to be able to see how the script changed with each revision (including revisions made to the dialogue prior to voice recording), it’s my understanding that the guild rarely ever receives these scripts, and such was the case again this time. I did also have a look to see if they had the ATLA Series Bible, but unfortunately that hadn’t been submitted either. It is what it is. Still, I’m not mad about what I found. :)

And on that note - ONTO THE SCRIPTS!

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I’m going to start off by defending Kataang a bit here. (I know, I know. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the juicy Zutara stuff in due course.) In my 2 hour long video analysis I talked about lack of development being one of the biggest structural problems with Kataang as a ship. Specifically, I showed how you can take the scenes that we know to be “Kataang scenes”, jumble them up so that they appear in a different order than they do in the show, and the end result still makes just as much narrative sense - or maybe even more sense than they did in the show. 

Interestingly, the original scripts for these scenes do not fail this test - at least, I don’t think they do. Let’s start at the very beginning:

It’s love at first sight for Aang, which we all knew already. For Katara, it’s less “love” and more “wonder”. But it’s a powerful meeting for both of them. Honestly, this isn’t all that different from how I perceived this scene on television when I watched it. 

Let’s continue with the Fortuneteller:

Okay, so again, roughly what we see on television. Katara realizes Aang could be who Aunt Wu was referring to, and is unsure what to make of this. Fair.

Next, the Cave of Two Lovers:

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Unlike in the show, Katara doesn’t blush in this script (I also checked the ending of the script where I remember her blushing again in the show, but the script doesn’t mention any blush, anywhere). However, Katara seems to be taking the possibility of Aang as a love interest a little bit more seriously here. In the show version, they hug, Aang seems a little awkward and is clearly hoping for some closure/confirmation of where they now stand, but Katara doesn’t seem to spare it a second thought - she just yeets it out of there. The slow parting and the “awkward look” these kids share in the script suggests, at least to me, that script!Katara is placing more weight on what just happened than show!Katara does, and she at least seems aware, maybe even nervous, of the fact that sharing a maybe-kiss in a secret love cave might do something to their dynamic that she’s not sure how she feels about yet. 

The divergences get more interesting now. Enter The Earth King scene, where Aang attempts to confess his feelings to Katara:

“They both know what he’s about to say.” 

WELL. Not only did they cut out the “he looks her directly in the eyes” part, but they completely took out any shot that might have indicated a mutual understanding between them, as was written in the script. Instead, we get a deer-in-the-headlights look from Katara, then her head cocks to the side “What is it, Aang?” and then… nothing. Everything about her body language on screen is written to suggest she either has no idea what’s coming, or is doing a great job of playing coy about it.

The cheek-kiss is intact in both versions, however. Let’s keep going.

I didn’t take notes on the Headband. I probably should have, but I didn’t bother because there weren’t really any notable differences between the script version and the show version. What you see is basically what you get - Aang dances with On Ji, Katara is agitated but acts aloof, Aang invites her to dance, she hesitantly accepts, they dance and it’s all very cute. She says “that was some dance party, Aang” and gives him another cheek-kiss at the end. If there were any differences from script to screen, I didn’t spot them.

But there was a pretty big difference for Day of Black Sun:

(By the way, this confirms an earlier version of the rumour that had been based on alleged edits made fairly late in the storyboarding process. Credit to @lady-of-bath​ for procuring this receipt).

So, what I’m basically getting here is that, in the original script, up until the midpoint of Season 3, the writing was originally heading towards a Kataang conclusion. And actually - you may disagree with me here but you know what? I actually don’t hate this version of Kataang. (So far, anyway).

There were two main issues I had with Kataang - the structure/pacing of it was all over the place, and on a deeper level I felt that the conflict they set up regarding Aang’s character arc and “letting Katara go” were not properly resolved in the show, leading to a lack of cohesion in the storytelling.

Combing through these passages, script!Katara reads way more natural and realistic, to me, than show!Katara. Let’s look at the progression here, from Katara’s side:

She meets an “adorable” boy and forms an instant attachment to him

She sees their dynamic as platonic until a comment from Sokka makes her question whether it will always be so in the future. She doesn’t quite know what to make of this at the time.

She shares a maybe-kiss with him in a secret love cave, and seems to be aware/nervous that their dynamic may change as a result. 

Some time later, he works up the courage to confess his feelings with her, and the script makes it clear that she understands what he’s trying to say and may even have been anticipating it. 

They go to a party where Katara is moody seeing Aang dance with someone else. Then Aang asks Katara onto the floor, and they dance, and Katara seems genuinely pleased/delighted.

Finally, just before the eclipse, he kisses her. She may not have been expecting it, but her reaction (smiling after him as he flies away) shows she didn’t see it as unwelcome. 

If Kataang were actually written like this, I think that would solve the structural problems of the ship that really bothered me, and I probably wouldn’t have stopped shipping them. It’s very clear to me that taking any of these scenes, as written, and jumbling them out of order, would completely mess up the steady (if subtle) progression of Katara 1) seeing Aang as a potential love interest, 2) understanding he sees her as one, and finally 3) realising she does actually return his feelings.

It also makes Katara feel much more like a real person, and less of an objective for Aang to try to reach in a “two steps forward, one step back” sort of situation.

I think, even then, I still would have shipped Zutara as well, because I don’t think the symbolism and depth to Zutara can be beat. But I’m pretty sure I would have kept a soft spot for Kataang, for the fluff. At least, I wouldn’t be strongly opposed to it. My position would likely be “eh, there’s flaws, and it probably could have been written better, and I think writing Zutara instead would have been more compelling and thematically satisfying but you know what, this is cute. I get it.”

Of course, that’s before we get to the second half of Season 3, where Kataang goes from oscillating in place to taking a nose-dive out of … nowhere.

And in a way that seems to seriously contrast with how the ship had been written from Cave of Two Lovers to Day of Black Sun, the downward spiral of Kataang coinciding with a deepening friendship/connection for Zutara - seems to be exacerbated in the original script.

Remember how uncomfortable it was to watch Ember Island Players in the show?

…

It’s quite a bit worse here.

Aang comes off significantly less sympathetic in this version of the episode. Here he is, looking at Katara “accusingly”, and even “glaring” at her, because the actress playing her on stage is flirting with actor!Zuko. Why is he so angry, and at her? And meanwhile, she “pretends not to notice”? Ick.

I’ll be honest, I never had a strong opinion of Aang being “possessive” in this scene. I understand why other people did, and I totally see where they’re coming from with that. Personally though, I kind of gave him the benefit of the doubt and just perceived him as immature, not really getting it, and I always perceived his jealousy to be more hapless than disturbing. This is just my personal opinion, but I felt that their clash in this episode was more indicative of a lack of compatibility and understanding between them than anything else, and obviously I think the non-con kiss was wrong, but generally I didn’t think the kid had bad intentions - I just saw him as… too young, to be honest. He did get pushy and demanding, and either way Katara deserved better, but with Aang, I kind of understood it to be stemming from hope/desperation rather than anger/entitlement.

The writing here, however, does not leave room for me to be charitable. Aang hearing Actor!Zuko suggest that Katara was supposed to be “the Avatar’s girl”, and glaring at Katara as if to say “Yeah!” - I don’t know how to read this as anything other than possessiveness. Yikes on a cracker.

ALSO, did you notice that Zuko and Katara don’t scoot away from each other in this version? Read it again; the absence of that bit escaped me on my first read-through. (Credit to @zutarawasrobbed​ for spotting that difference!) Zuko and Katara are still sitting next to each other here (the earlier “I wanted to sit here/Just sit next to me, what’s the big deal?” scene is still intact), and all it says about Katara is that she’s pretending not to notice Aang simmering at her from two seats away. Wow.

The non-con kiss is kept intact and most of it is just dialogue so there isn’t much deeper insight to gain from the script, though again, Aang comes off more explicitly volatile/angry at the end of it:

Later, Aang rejoins the group in the theater, and sees Actress!Katara reach a goofy platonic understanding with Actress!Aang, and reacts to this with chagrin and embarrassment. There is no reference to Katara averting her gaze from the screen in a sad or awkward manner, as how she does in the show. 

Overall, I find that Kataang looks worse here, a lot worse than in the show. The omission of Zuko and Katara’s “awkward scoot” is intriguing as well. To be honest, I never perceived “the scoot” to be explicit confirmation or denial of any potential attraction between them (that clip can genuinely be read two ways depending on what trope you’re trying to invoke; neither are inherently invalid), however, the fact that it wasn’t originally written but was added in later… that’s interesting.

Some of you might be forming some opinions by this point. I have some of my own as well, though I want to hold off on them for now. Let’s have a bit of a palate-cleanser with the snippet of Zuko sharing some vulnerability with Katara before we move on:

❤

Now I am going a bit out of order here - I know that EIP actually happens after The Boiling Rock/The Southern Raiders, but as I was already on the topic of the Kataang arc, I decided to continue with that before I delved into the other episodes. So now we’re going back a little bit, chronologically.

(Also, you know me, gotta save the best for last 😉)

Ultimately I had a very brief look through The Boiling Rock, and nothing really jumped out at me - except for this bit:

I can’t be the only one tickled at the idea that Zuko just yeets himself out of that prison cell and doesn’t seem to spare Mai a second thought 😂 (if you’ll recall, the show has the two of them share a glance through the cell window after Mai yells “Get off of me!”; Zuko looks apparently apologetic/sad while Mai just glares at him). I know people have pointed out how amusing it is that Zuko seems to forget about Mai completely after TBR, right up until their last scene together, but the way this scene is scripted here just makes it even funnier to me.

But I know which episode it is that you guys all want to read.

*record scratch*

Oh ho HO, what have we here Elizabeth Ehasz 😉

Imperialism kills.

there was once a little boy.

he is born disabled. his body hurts, and he can’t walk properly the way the other children do. he doesn’t understand why. he’s a little boy. but he plays with wooden boats and pulls toys on a string.

somebody makes him a tunic. they sew ducks onto it in red and green and yellow and blue. the bright colours of a child.

the little boy is eight years old, and he’s going to be king now. there’s a big ceremony about it. he doesn’t really fully understand what’s going on, because he’s eight, but he wears the tunic with the brightly coloured ducks for the occasion because he loves it. look at his ducks! aren’t they great?

he is a child. the adults around him manipulate and coax him to gain more power for themselves. he still plays with toys.

as a teenager, not yet an adult, he fathers children. they do not survive. he’s not even old enough to have full agency in his job and is still being manipulated, but he had babies and they died.

he does not make it to his twenties. at eighteen or nineteen years old he dies, and is buried. his babies, so tiny, are buried with him.

and so is his tunic with the little ducks that he loved so much he kept it long after it no longer fit.

yeah i think that like. especially with historical figures in your mind people who were kings and queens or important nobles were adults. even if you know how old they were it doesn’t really click. it doesn’t seem real

but then you get something like a little tunic with brightly coloured ducks on it and it hits you like a fucking truck that this really was a little kid and no matter how far removed you are a little kid is still a little kid. their brains didn’t develop any quicker back then. he was just as developed/mature mentally as any 8 year old now. he had cartoonish animals on his clothes and he played with toy boats and probably terrorised the local cat population.

tutankhamun was a child and he didn’t make it to adulthood because he was unfortunate enough to be a very important child

his dad died when he was 8. he saw his own babies die when he was still just a boy himself.

tutankhamun had a little pair of sandals with ducks on them. he had earrings decorated with ducks. he kept those, and other items of childhood clothing. some toys. keepsakes. things he loved, and treasured. he kept them all in a little wooden chest. the chest… was carved with ducks.

and that little duck chest, filled with things he kept from his childhood, was buried with him. maybe he was keeping them for the little babies who did not make it. maybe they just reminded him of good days and fun times.

WITH PLEASURE

(greyscale makes it hard but the duck head is on the right above the toe strap. always takes me a while to find it too)

CANONICALLY, this is what the Clones look like.

So I don’t EVER wanna hear “the Bad Batch ARENT white washed” EVER AGAIN

BECAUSE THIS

IS NOT THE SAME SKIN TONE AS THIS

POC BELONG IN YOUR FANDOMS

POC DESERVE REPRESENTATION

POC DESERVE TO BE SEEN

Little disaster 'Soka

I have no doubt that in the author’s mind, they are actually painting the Order in a good light, letting them acknowledge their mistakes and grow from them. I also don’t doubt that they genuinely like the Order - or at least, like the image of what the Order should be that they have painted in their head. 

There’s nothing wrong with appropriating content and transforming it to your liking - that’s what fandoms do. My point isn’t to say what people can and can’t write - my point is to see what the source material is about. And sometimes, I do point out that interpretations that present themselves as true to the spirit of the universe actually aren’t. That doesn’t mean people can’t enjoy them, it means I don’t agree with them being presented as the “real thing.” 

My biggest problem with this particular trope being presented as a positive take on the Jedi is the assumptions it makes. Notably, that yelling at the Council is a valid eye-opener for people and results in a “better” Order.

Like it or not the Council is highly respected by their community, and even loved. Plo, Kit, Obi-Wan, Shaak Ti, etc, are all very popular. They are close to the Jedi, even the Padawans (as evidenced by their interactions with Ahsoka, for example - Plo and Kit are demonstrative with her, allow for physical contact and light banter). We are told and shown Yoda is the younglings’ favorite. Even if you are of the opinion that the rise of the Empire is partly on them (which I’m not), they aren’t unduly harsh, blind leaders everyone holds fearful reference for. They aren’t boogeymen. Yoda’s vision of the Temple at peace (like it was before the war - as in it’s not just wishful thinking) shows the Masters mingling with the Knights and the Padawans and enjoying each other’s company. 

Even Anakin, arguably the only one whose relationship with the Council appears consistently strained - as opposed to a few instances of tension, like in Qui-Gon’s case, or Obi-Wan’s, or even Yoda’s - is shown to call several members of the Council by their first names, to freely banter with them, to plot mischief with Yoda… They are not the cliché stone-faced religious leaders who don’t mingle with their community and are separate from it.

Featured here: three Council Master, one Master and one Knight, males and females of four different species, all wearing different outfits, all presented as equals.

Obi-Wan was also shown to be close to Council members before he became a Master.

Everything points to the Jedi as a whole looking up to the Council and appreciating them. (Jaro Tapal trusting the Council with his Padawan’s future when he himself is dying, everyone still admiring and trusting Dooku years a full decade after his departure from the Order, Ahsoka hugging Plo… The list goes on.)

So to have a character harshly berate them is not speaking for the whole Order, and it’s not some grand empowering gesture. Going against the Council is not some heretical, taboo thing nobody would dare to do, and it’s not going to blow their mind and change their entire perspective to have someone stand up to them.

 Jedi like Qui-Gon, Sifo-Dyas and Tu-Anh openly disagreed with the Council all the time with little to consequences.

“Tu-Anh was something of a maverick. Much like my own master, Qui-Gon Jinn. She would disappear for long periods, conducting rogue investigations. Her activities often unknown to even the Council.” ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Jen June on Tu-Ahn [src] 

“Master Yoda, I gave Qui-Gon my word. I will train Anakin, without the approval of the Council if I must.”  ―Obi-Wan Kenobi, to Yoda

And in an open, rather light-hearted conversation:

“Do not defy the Council Master, not again (said long-sufferingly, not in fear)

“I will do what I must, Obi-Wan.”

―Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi

Hence, having someone rant on and on from their moral high horse is not a grand liberating speech, it’s no someone working up the courage to say what all were always thinking but couldn’t express - it’s just rude, and a lot of the Jedi we know would take offense. 

In fact, the few people we see doing that in canon explicitly are shown to be in the wrong. Anakin throwing a tantrum because he isn’t made a Master certainly isn’t meant to reflect well on his understanding of them - and Barriss tries to accuse the Order of war-mongering when she herself is a terrorist and a murderer. Disregarding the fact that the choices made for her character were rather tone-deaf, the fact remains that she had a woman feed explosives to her own husband, blew up that man, killed clones and Jedi indiscriminately, later strangled her accomplice to death, killed more clones, and tried to blame it all on Ahsoka. 

Both Anakin and Barriss had fallen/were close to falling. Both were absolutely convinced that they were in the right, and that they were righteously standing up against the Council’s perceived rigidity and hypocrisy. Funny how the storytelling appeared to disagree. 

In contrast, Ahsoka - who had a much stronger case for criticizing the Order - never screamed/ranted in the Council’s face. She did that with Obi-Wan, and openly admitted to not even being fair. She was always respectful of them as a whole, even during her last conversation with Mace and Yoda in s7. She certainly never hinted to the Order needing to “improve” itself through massive, inorganic changes. 

So no, I don’t see characters going on a rant to the Council’s face as friendly to anyone, much less the Order.  

Similarly, “fixing” the world by telling the Council not to single out and belittle Anakin (the one thing that I saw Rex accuse Mace of doing in a fic, which prompted me to write my post in the first place) is a highly debatable take on their relationship with him, for all the reasons I listed earlier and more. 

Anakin: 

calls most of the Council by their first names

gets in zero trouble for not answering his comm for hours when he’s with Padmé (it’s even a major thing in one episode… they’re all waiting for him and he doesn’t even explain himself or face any sort of repercussions)

is not constantly burdened him the mantle of the Chosen One (he doesn’t even believe the Chosen One is a thing prior to Mortis + Mace leaves him out of a potentially universe-altering battle because of his inner conflict)

only gets assigned the hardest missions because he’s the best (tbh Obi-Wan gets the worst missions)

faces zero consequences that one time he lost a droid full of Republic military secrets (his ass would have been sooooo court-martialed in real life) 

jokes around/banters with the Council Members

goes to Yoda for advice even if he doesn’t actually open up - Yoda also calls him his friend (and has a vision in which he chooses to save Anakin rather than to unmask Sidious)

isn’t under any particular scrutiny for his relationship with Padmé, despite the Council knowing he and “Senator Amidala” are “close” (see them sending him to ask her to spy on her ex *cough*)

I could go on. In a word, I don’t believe Anakin is singled out (and honestly he should have been since he shirks his duty constantly and is already a mass murderer in TCW) and the Council isn’t “mean,” or always on people’s back. They are grown adults dealing with a hotheaded twenty year old, and sometimes they have to tell him no. (Not that he listens.)

Therefore, I think it’s an extremely uncharitable interpretation to characterize the Council as petty, blind, out of touch with their fellow Jedi or “the real world” (as if Mace, Yoda, Kit, Obi-Wan, Adi, Eeth, Stass and Ki-Adi aren’t shown leading troops from the front), even if it’s to show them growing and improving later on. 

To have them agree with that interpretation is even more unfriendly in my opinion. Leaders should know what they are made of, they should be aware of their flaws and their strength, and neither overdersell nor undersell themselves. The Council constantly acknowledges their shortcomings (as early as AotC, when Yoda admits that many Jedi have gotten arrogant over the years), which points to them being self-aware. I could develop that part more, but this is already far too long. What isn’t in line with Jedi philosophy is self-loathing. 

So yes, the Council is capable of recognizing that they aren’t perfect (as Obi-Wan says, in those exact words in s7) but they usually do so before anyone has to spell it out for them, and I do not believe dismissing themselves as completely in the wrong/worthless/oh-so-deluded is true to reality or their characters.

Finally, I vehemently object to the “bettering” of the Order being achieved through a total reformation of their most essential tenets. Firstly, because Lucas himself is very much in favor of Jedi philosophy - which at the very least means that canon was meant to portray it as objectively good - and secondly, because those reforms can often be boiled down to “romance is allowed now uwu.” 

As it is, it’s patently unfair to monastic and celibate lifestyles, and dismisses them as inherently wrong when many people in real life find value and joy in them. Furthermore, it supposes that for thousands of years, all Jedi yearned for this change yet it never happened at all. That makes no sense. If Jedi as a community really wanted to see the changes put forward by this trope, then they would have implemented them earlier, or else fractured. (Please do not try to argue against this by using the Altisian Jedi - they were never part of Lucas’ universe or vision, and they were created by a woman who possibly didn’t watch the whole prequels and openly despised the Order and its culture - hence: not Jedi-friendly at all.)