just keep swimming

fashion au kataang by me pt 1

🎨 Commission art by the amazing @strawderrystart / strawderryst (twt)

comic for a little seattle anthology i did. this is my cat db cooper :)

I know it's a basic fact to most people, but I'm still going to write a post about it. Lately a new misconception in the fandom arose, that being the supposed parallel between the Painted Lady and the Blue Spirit. To understand why it's not the case, we must take a look at these alter egos and what they represent.

The Blue Spirit represents Zuko's worst traits. It's his persona he uses to achieve his selfish goals. While prince Zuko is still limited by the expectations of his uncle and the fire nation's law, both of these things don't apply to him when he dresses up as the Blue Spirit. It's a physical manifestiation of his selfishness, selfishness that leads him to ignore his uncle's feelings, the law of his country and most moral norms. The big part of Zuko's arc was letting go of his persona and accepting the responsibility for his actions instead of hiding behind it. The Blue Spirit is a symbol of Zuko's pre redemption arc mistakes, something he let's go of in the process of becoming a better human being.

Now, let's look at the Painted Lady.

Unlike Zuko's alter ego, the Painted Lady is a representation of Katara's desire to help others. She dresses as the Painted Lady to aid the opressed. Her alter ego serves a good purpose. It's a complete opposite of the Blue Spirit, it's selfishness vs selflessnes. Finally, Kuzon. It's interesting that people don't notice the parallels between "The Headband" and "The Painted Lady". In "The Headband" Aang creates the persona of Kuzon to show the Fire Nation's school students that they don't need to obey the facist apparatus and that self expression is something fundamental. While not helping them physically, Aang aids these students in resisting their oppressive country. And who is there with him to help? Katara. She is onboard with the idea and she helps Aang to complete his objective successfully. In the very next episode, Katara goes on her campaign of re-distributing goods and helping the villagers. Aang catches her, but instead of scolding her for delaying the invasion like she expects him to do, Aang decides to help her with his full enthusiasm. Why? Because Aand did the same thing the episode earlier. He understands her urge to help random strangers who need their help and he is onboard with the idea.

TL;DR both Kuzon and the Painted Lady are alter egos created to help ordinary people in resisting the Fire Nation. The Blue Spirit is an alter ego created to help Zuko achieve his selfish goals.

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