Multi-shitter

Then there’s this little tidbit...

And yet, she continued to be downright vicious...until the literal moment he proved himself to her, that is, at which point she swung as hard as she could the opposite direction with no hesitation and then acted like nothing had ever happened.

It was almost like she was trying to convince herself she hated him...trying to make herself hate him, trying to make sure they could could never get close...which was definitely possible.

Because her abandonment issues told her that if she let her guard down, there would always be the off chance that he would betray her, or worse...die

Zutara = Consistency, development, lots of parallelisms and symbolisms, passion, total authenticity between them, empathy, same viewing of the world and same ways of facing problems, supporting each other, complementation and overcoming problems together.

Kataang dynamic is one of a kid who gets the girl he wanted without having to learn anything, with the show not even daring to justify the reciprocity of her feelings.

rules: tag nine people you want to get to know better and answer these questions *\(^o^)/*

three ships: zutara from atla (of course), almost all the ships from the mlb love square, and jasiper from pjo

last song: pretty little birds by sza (this song is soo good pls check it out if you can)

last movie: probably hamilton (not really a movie but whatever)

currently craving: a lunch period ;p

currently reading: zutara fanfiction 😌

tags:

Three ships: Zutara (Supremacy), Saddye, Dramione

Last song: Everything Moves by Bronze Radio

Last movie: Die Hard (I know it's old but I don't really watch movies, I'm more of a music person)

Curently carving: next summer

Curently reading: A Throne of Glass, and Zutara posts :)

OR: My-Bated-Breath’s interpretation of Aang and Katara’s relationship in The Southern Raiders

When Bryke said that Kataang was in the DNA of ATLA, it was not a complete lie - Katara and Aang, in many ways, are each other’s anchors. For Katara, Aang is hope revived, the Avatar that has come to restore balance to the world. Meanwhile, for Aang, Katara is his guide in a cruel and unfamiliar 100-year war, loving him unconditionally in a world that hates him for abandoning it. As a result, Aang naturally loves her in return.

The narrative itself suggests that Aang’s love for Katara is nearly divine (and it suggests that it’s a love so blinding that it becomes his most selfish attachment). But for a love that appears so pure and untouchable on the surface, the episode “The Southern Raiders” reveals countless fractures lying underneath the surface.

Aang loves Katara, yes, but he is in love with an idealized version of her. In his mind, he holds close the idea of a gentle Katara, a smiling Katara, a compassionate and all-loving Katara. Even though he has seen her darkest moments when she bloodbends Hama - arms bent in disjointed angles, fingers curled as if manipulating puppet strings -  it does not tarnish his image of her because, at this moment, she is not the persecutor, but the persecuted.

After her experience with Hama, Aang is there to comfort her and help her come to terms with the terrifying power she now possesses. With her face streaked with tears and eyes widened with horror, it is clear that this is a power that Katara does not want, that it has been thrust onto her against her own will.

The conclusion that Aang draws from this is that Katara’s inner darkness is a separate entity from her inner light, and he perceives this acquired part of her as a blemish on her inherent goodness. As such, in “the Southern Raiders,” when he witnesses how Katara’s anger and grief drive her to hunt down her mother’s killer, he equates Katara seeking closure to Katara succumbing to darkness, tainting her purity and compassion in the process.

Dialogue from The Southern Raiders

Katara: Ugh, I knew you wouldn’t understand.

Aang: Wait! Stop! I do understand. You’re feeling unbelievable pain and rage. How do think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?

Many have stated valid reasons why Aang cannot possibly understand Katara’s pain in this scenario - he was not there to witness his people’s genocide or the theft of Appa; he has no way of confronting those who were responsible for his loss - but perhaps the reason why Aang thinks that he understands Katara’s pain should be expanded upon as well. As stated before, Aang has seen how bloodbending is a power Hama forced Katara to learn and how “bloodbender” is an identity unwillingly pushed onto her.

Maybe, in the same way that Aang believes that he knows Katara’s pain, he believes that he knows Katara’s inner conflict as well. After all, to take on an unwanted power and identity is something he knows all too well.

Me: Actually, Toph is the little sister to Zuko, not Katara. Besides, if Zuko and Katara had a sibling relationship, they wouldn’t be blushing and looking embarrassed when June called Katara Zuko’s girlfriend.

What I see:

Me:

A common pro-Kαtααng argument is that Katara is, in fact, attracted to Aαng throughout the series and that her friendly affection is an obvious indicator of a romantic inclination. A prime example of this argument, from here:

I’m sorry, but the fact that people are still making the claim that ‘Katara magically fell in love with Aαng at the last minute’ in 2016 is absolutely hilarious.  

It’s not like she and Aαng were practically attached at the hip for most of the series.  It’s not like they formed a powerful bond very quickly, had a strong friendship within days, and were on good terms with each other the vast majority of the time unlike a certain someone who didn’t befriend Katara until the fifth to last episode of the series.

It’s not like Katara was constantly giving Aαng cheek kisses, hugs, and otherwise couldn’t keep her hands to herself around him.  

And It’s not like she was the first one to suggest they kiss or anything back in Book 2.  

Clearly, there was no evidence in the show that Katara was even remotely attracted to Aαng.

Nope, Katara just magically fell in love with Aαng.  I can’t believe I never noticed it before…  I guess this is what people mean when they talk about “shipping goggles.”  

Let me first say, that the Kαtααng fandom has no right to criticize the Zutara fandom for over-sexualizing characters when a popular Kαtααng post talks about a 14-year-old being handsy with a 12-year-old and them being joined at the hip before they were even dating.

Secondly, Katara’s gestures of affection (hugs, cheek kisses, telling Aαng how proud of him she is) are not how she normally behaves toward a romantic interest.

How do we know this? In a word: Jet. I don’t think there is any Kαtααng shipper who would dispute the fact that Katara is attracted to Jet and wants to pursue him romantically (before she found out he was a murderous scumbag). So how does Katara show her romantic affection for Jet?

Hmm. I don’t see any hugs and cheek kisses or telling Jet that she’s proud of him. Why would she act so differently around Jet and Aαng if she were romantically attracted to both of them?

There is, however, one other person Katara kisses on the cheek, and maybe we can show that for comparison:

That’s right. The only other person Katara affectionately pecks on the cheek is Tom-Tom, a literal baby and someone she is showering with maternal affection. Scenes like this:

Are not framed as romantic shots, but rather images of a mother comforting her child, and portraying them as Katara being handsy is not in line with the rest of their tone or content. The same goes for pretending that Katara suggested the kiss in “The Cave of Two Lovers” because she wants Aαng, unprompted by a direct response to their being in mortal danger and huge hints from the monuments around them. Finally, if gestures like this are Katara being romantic:

Then why is there no blissful reaction shot from Katara, only from Aαng? Why is there any doubt in Aαng’s mind that Katara likes him back? Why is there so much teasing in the show about when Aαng will confess his feelings, and how Katara will react to it? It would be pointless from a writing perspective to have Katara not hear Aαng’s confession in “The Fortuneteller”, or have Sokka cut Aαng’s confession off in “The Earth King”, if both characters were unambiguously attracted to each other. There would be no reason to continue the “will they get together” tension because there wouldn’t be any tension to begin with.

But if anyone is still in doubt, let us talk about what happens when there is no ambiguity; when Aαng is flat-out making romantic overtures to Katara. Does she give him cheek kisses and hugs then?

Look at how uncomfortable and withdrawn Katara is in these images. As @katarafirelady has said,

all of the body language that katara takes there (crossing her arms, touching her hair, looking down and away, is body language that i find myself (and other women) slipping into when men are giving unwanted attention/trying to hit on me when i dont want to be hit on, or when i feel severely uncomfortable, like being among a large group of people i havent met before, and therefore don’t yet trust. obviously i dont know the feelings of every woman, but in general that body language tells of discomfort, and im pretty sure it does with katara.

Even if you then argue that it’s because Katara is holding back due to her stated “confusion” about pursuing a romance during a war, you then demolish your own argument of her being romantically affectionate with Aαng in previous seasons. If she’s drawing away from him because she doesn’t want a wartime relationship, why wasn’t she drawing away from those “romantic” gestures before if that’s truly what they were? It’s not as if the war wasn’t going on in Seasons 1 and 2. And for that matter, if Katara’s “confusion” was not merely an excuse for not returning Aαng’s affection, why was she not at all confused about pursuing a relationship with Jet, whom both Kαtααng and Zutara shippers admit she was attracted to?

The fact is, there is only one factor that directly correlates to Katara’s change in behavior toward Aαng in the finale:

I would have been fine with the Kat//aang ending had they developed the relationship in a more believable aspect where they don’t immediately get together after the war but choose to explore their feelings for one another at a slower pace after. Which is why I love Zutara more. Despite how long it took, they did develop their relationship enough for them to go from enemies to honest friends and confidants.

The idea that Katara has small budding feelings for Aang that then get crushed by Aang’s pushiness and expectations is a valid one. However, that was not what the original arguer stated. They opined that Katara “couldn’t keep her hands to herself” around Aang and that she was constantly hugging and kissing him, and therefore she was in love with Aang. I do not believe this is a valid interpretation for the reasons stated above.