#bryke

TW: Grooming, Racism, R*pe, Grooming Dan Schneider

This might have to be one of the worst Avatar takes I’ve come across, claiming Katara of all characters is a punching bag and that she and her relationship with Aang is a racist, trade-wife fantasy. I have no words.

And then saying that Bryke are trying to GROOM children, WHAT?

I shouldn’t have to explain how wrong this take is.

First of all, Aang himself ain’t even white, there’s literally nothing to suggest he “emotionally breaks” Katara, or that he cut her off from her culture and turned her into a tradwife, or forced her to have kids, or abandoned her, literally NOTHING in any Avatar media supports this, why TF is OP lying

This literally has every and I mean EVERY bad Anti-Kataang argument in the book. 

“They always make Katara look younger around Aang”

Avatar (like most cartoons) has different animators per episode, sometimes they all look younger or older depending on who’s animating. Also OP calls Katara a f*cking SEX OBJECT!

“Katara is sexualized”

This is literally Aang’s POV, nothing about this sexualizes her.

“Katara was pretending to be Aang’s mother”

Sokka was also PRETENDING to be Aang’s father and Katara’s husband, that’s his sister.

“La Pieta”

REPRESENTS GRIEF, it’s been used for romantic couples in other media for decades.

“Katara does all the work”

SHE LITERALLY SAY IN “THE CHASE” THAT EVERYONE DOES THEIR FAIR SHARE OF WORK!

“Self-insert claims”

Using out of context interviews, screenshots from the PITCH IDEA of the show, a freaking wedding topper from 2014, ignoring the fact that Bryan specifically relates to ZUKO and considers him his MAIN DUDE! 

OP falsely claims Bryan and Michael have fetishes for r@pe and colonization (along with the “demonization” of bloodbending) I’m dead serious.

Again, there’s nothing to suggest this, the closest I can think of is various non-consent kisses between various characters, but that’s a HUGE stretch, I shouldn’t even mention it.

OP claims “Aang colonizes Katara's body, mind, and soul, in the name of healing his own genocidal wound”

They are aware Aang and Katara mutually agreed to have kids, right? And it wasn’t even for the purpose of “repopulating”.

But one of the worst parts of this is the ZUKO GLAZE FEST.

How Zuko, the guy who raided her home, attacked her, betrayed her trust and sent an assassin after her group, apparently treated her the best and is a POSITIVE foil to Aang, because he learned that doing all this was a BAD THING?

For f*ck’s sake, Zuko didn’t even help Katara until she called him out for being indignant that she rightfully didn’t trust him. I love Zuko and his relationship with Katara, I love that they form a genuine friendship, but glazing Zuko for “amending” all the bad stuff he did by basically doing one nice thing, while treating Aang (a genocide and colonization survivor) as a rapacious colonist? Screw you.

OP tries to justify this absolutely tone-deaf post by saying they’ve studied this type of thing.

but I genuinely cannot believe that, because how you do you come to the conclusion that A:TLA, a show about colonization victims banding together to end an oppressive regime, is colonist porn?

How do you come to the notion that Katara’s ONLY purpose is to be some indigenous, eye-candy that is abused by Aang and only serves to be a his tradwife?

How the flying f*ck do you assume that Zuko, the guy who literally raided her village, kidnapped and attacked her is NOT a colonist fantasy, but her simply having feelings for and being in a relationship with a FELLOW colonist survivor as PRO-COLONIST propaganda?

Lastly OP, compares Bryan and Michael to DAN SCHNEIDER of all people.

If you don’t know, Dan worked on a majority of live-action of Nickelodeon shows and was a child groomer with multiple allegations made against him, treated his child stars downright horribly, traumatizing many of them. 

I don’t wanna sound like a Bryke glazer, but they shouldn’t even be compared to THAT GUY, NO ALLEGATIONS have been made against them, they never actively abused or sexually harassed any of their actors, they’ve done next to NOTHING on that level of controversy. This is a very serious allegation, and it barely makes sense considering A:TLA was an animated division and Schneider worked with live-action on set sitcoms.

Really this whole post makes me sick, OP doesn’t give a f*ck about Katara, it all comes back to being pissy that their preferred ship isn’t canon, and Katara didn’t make-out with Zuko like in their AO3 fics, so OP desperately and pathetically tries to make Aang and his relationship with Katara as problematic as possible with next to no basis, and even accuses the creators of A:TLA for being in cahoots with a literal child groomer. 

The OP is a genuinely disgusting person to make such vile claims.

It’s honestly okay to prefer Zutara and NOT like Kataang, but this is pathetic in every way, please touch a field of grass.

Also, don’t harass OP, they ain’t right, but harassing this person won’t solve anything.

This is a term for creatives that means that even though you may like some part(/scene/character) very, very much, you need to be able to make decisions for the betterment of the larger story.

It refers to being able to step back and see the whole project and make decisions for THAT instead of your personal feelings.

This is how creatives improve. This is how creatives in places of privilege (they get their projects on the big screen) stay humble—for lack of a better word—and prioritize their story and audience, instead of their personal wants.

“Feedback isn’t a personal attack.”

Another BIG, important lesson for creatives. The artistic process is dialogue and that dialogue includes feedback. Said feedback can’t and won’t be nothing but praise. Not all feedback needs to nor ought to be taken seriously and enacted, but it still leads to improvement—especially those who are in uninterrogated places of privilege and leaning on biases. It also includes being able to listen to others in the writing rooms!

Good artists understand THIS (both points), instead of being lauded as the most talented. Praise and the demand to have nothing but it creates stagnation, even deevolution, and a needy, immature creative that can’t handle what the artistic process involves, especially when they’ve “made it big.” These creatives throw public fits, attack people who “hate” on their creation even if they’re ostensibly fans, and even insult such fans and send their fan base after them. “Proof” that they’re a good creative and deserve their place and whomever’s “hating” on them is stupid and childish is that place in the industry.

Various creative classes do this with peer reviews, and some form of feedback day involving the whole class or groups.

Notable creatives are:

James Cameron, who made a colonization white-savior fantasy that exotifies native/indigenous women (literally used a MINOR’s features without consent nor reimbursement, Q’orianka Kilcher), uses extant indigenous peoples/cultures as an easy cheat to making alien cultures (not real representation and using), hasn’t done anything with his vast amounts of wealth to actually help any of these peoples, could not try to step out of his whiteness and westernness to have truly “alien” soundtrack nor have bipoc co-creators (has token actors who took on a LOT), couldn’t even hire people of those peoples to be those aliens, and couldn’t interrogate or try to step out of his whiteness nor Christianity for his movies.

Vivziepop, who dismisses things she’s done in the past—as an adult, hired a cowriter and VA who’s known for rape “jokes” and has been recently outed for blackface. Who does not, in fact, have real representation for the queer community nor sexual violence victims, hired a rape fetishist on the team and had them handle that character/dynamic, defended that employee’s position by lying about their own victim status and weaponizing victim status against those (many of them victims) speaking out against how wrong it was, sacrificing narrative and characterization for a gay relationship that’s abusive but victim blames the victim in it, uwu-ifying the abuser, platforms a surprising amount of sexual harassment (obviously in a way that enables it; it’s a punch line), fetishizing incest/twincest (it included merch, and very obviously wasn’t just for a bit in the narrative), has no real BIPOC representation, sacrifices her female character LEADS for whatever the male characters are doing, only writes the same dynamics of main casts, and weaponizes her audience (fans) against “haters.”

That Marvel comic artist who can’t draw women and throws a fit whenever someone points it out.

Emerald Fennel, who made that “adaption” (white woman fanfic) of Wuthering Heights.

Kojima, of MGS creation, who can’t let go of his racism, colorism, and misogyny, and gets too big on himself about making insane plots and plot twists.

Gooseworx and co, who can’t take true responsibility for racism and enablement of such (micro) aggressions that led to larger actions.

Bryke, of AtlA creation, who couldn’t diversify the writers room of their series revolving around eastern and Inuit cultures, and forced a romance between two of the cast (12/13 and 15/16) that did not fit well into the narrative—and apparently also bullied a minor fan for not shipping it.

Has complaining about the same show over and over for 20+ years now not gotten to you yet?

Has seeing millions of other people enjoying the franchise without a care in the world made you feel like your efforts are just a waste of energy?

Have you ever thought about just ignoring the franchise as a whole and moving onto something else?

Is there any self-awareness that other stories and pieces of media may fulfill your excruciatingly specific yet generic standards you have for storytelling and characters?

Do you ever get a little embarrassed of spending so much time and energy on trying to insult the creators of a kids’ show?

Have you ever sat and realized that most of the content in the franchise doesn’t entice you, and that it may not be worth the energy to continue to larp as a fan of it?

Have you ever thought that your interpretations of the story and its characters being so at odds with what is happening means you simply just don’t like the show as a whole and maybe should look elsewhere for entertainment?

Are you exhausted of finding new ways to hate on every single piece of new content and media to drop in the franchise?

Are you bored yet of having to fit your criticisms into new stories in the franchise where you have to twist the narrative so far that it doesn’t even resemble what happens?

I used to be a mod on here when the show was airing (as @rashaka).

I read recently that Livejournal may be soon taken down entirely as a platform. It hasn't been itself in 15 years but I will be sad to lose all of the fandom content that existed there through the 2000s. Zutara fandom was a huge part of my fandom experience and I have a soft place in my heart for it.

If anyone wants a time capsule, look at this ship community and go back to the dates when the show was airing. See what people thought about the ships, the showrunners, the fandom.

Some highlights

Episode discussion: Cossroads of Destiny

Episode discussion: The Southern Raiders

Episode discussion: Ember Island Players

Episode discussion: Sozin's Comet

rec: large rec lists

fan-fiction

On a related note, you may enjoy the ATLA tag for the ship-manfiesto community, which has two Zutara manifestos and some for the other major pairings as well.

For reference, here's the tags on the katar_zuko community:

⚠️: Do not download anything from the ads on this site. Livejournal has been compromised as a platform owned by the Russian government for years now.

Yet another critic, im aware that this is a very hot take but im willing to share my thoughts:

Looking at how LOK handles Katara vs Toph in their older years reveals a contrast in how women who live for themselves are framed compared to those who settle into traditional roles. Since the beginning of Avatar Toph was written as self absorbed in the best way possible. Fiercely independent, and completely unconcerned with traditional female norms or romantic desirability (more or less). Yet in LOK, that exact independence is framed as undesirable. Toph never marries, has two daughters with two different fathers, and becomes a neglectful, emotionally distant mother whose hands off approach leaves her family broken and lands her living alone in a swamp. Meanwhile, Katara is portrayed as the ideal, desirable wife who has Aang’s children and lives out her days as a respected widow. What makes this framing even more frustrating is their physical roles,Toph is still out fighting and participating as a warrior in her old age, while Katara completely reverts to a passive healerthe exact role she fought so hard against Master Pakku to prove she was more than. It almost leaves the audience (young girls) with an uncomfortable subtext: see girls? This is why you don't live entirely for yourself, or you'll end up like Toph, manless and destructive, too wild to tame. Toph’s choices weren't inherently wrong, but the narrative writes her self reliance as a flaw that costs her a healthy family, punishing the woman who refused to conform while rewarding the one who stepped into traditional domesticity.

Too many seem to just have seen it once years back and let their negative takes sit without reconsideration or just... get them from a YouTuber (say their name rhymes with... Milly), take their biased word for it and repeat the same script verbatim. I much respect when someone actually say to engage with the work. If nothing else, it feels less like I'm talking with a brick wall.

Obviously not everyone has to like it buuuuuuut I feel that too many take it for granted that the season is "bad" and follow the consensus too much since it's easier.

First hot take: losing the connection to the past lives wasn't the whole thing. The point is that she's lost Raava, the very thing that made the Avatar the Avatar. Her devastation isn't over her lost connections so much as failing to save her spirit half, the one constant companion to the Avatar for generations being lost in one battle. THAT is the emotional weight of it. It's not free of criticism but people could at least see what the show was getting at.

Also? Aang barely contacted his past lives outside of Roku. Kyoshi manifested herself through him once before a later callback. Yangchen and Kuruk. In the finale. I like Roku but only because he's basically Obi Wan to Aang's Luke and his own time as Avatar informed the events of Aang's journey.

So... losing the past lives was largely dramatic in that Korra was losing a piece of herself as the Avatar via Raava. Hell, one thing I liked about the Aang movie was how Aang's search for Sonam involved contacting new faces from times long past.

Second hot take: the Lion Turtles didn't give humans bending. THEY gave many humans the power to control the elements and from there, the power was refined into specific martial arts techniques.

Like some complain bending was made into a genetic ability. I'm sorry but then why couldn't Sokka just... learn to bend and went to take up swordfighting? Why couldn't Mai and Ty Lee just... learn to bend either, relying on non-bender martial arts to compensate or counter?

Third hot take: Raava and Vaatu aren't a departure from the East Asian inspirations of the series nor are they strictly "good and evil" so much as "order and chaos." MattCMG puts it well here:

But to not fall back on too many videos, I will also say that the show is still very much dripping in East Asian culture in every season as evident by the behind the scenes info that's currently out there. While the writers might mostly be from America, they have always put in the work when it comes to researching what they are dabbling in.

Third Hot Take: Unalaq: not such a great character yet a good antagonist

I mean, whether or not he’s on your Top Ten lists, people overlook how he definitely got shit done.

-He gain Korra’s trust by undermining her’s in her father and mentor, using secrets they kept from her.

-Said trust kept her from realizing his true colors until it was too late (I mean, it’s not like he was actually going “Mwahahaha” in front of her so much as being a stoic old fogie).

-Got her to open the southern portal with her trust and the north by way of holding Jinora hostage.

-Went toe to toe with the Avatar at her best and managed to fuse with Vaatu.

-Had an epic Kaiju fight with Korra. Like... HOLY F**K

Even if he wasn’t exactly fleshed out (I was bummed too), he was certainly no slouch when it came to this.

Fourth Hot Take: Korra as a spirit kaiju fit very well into Avatar as much as the Ocean Spirit and Aang going all Godzilla on Zhao's fleet. The mechanics behind it maaaaaybe could've been explained better but it's consistent with what we've had so far.

I'm sorry but Avatar has ALWAYS bounced between dumb but cool Anime shit and really deep stuff. You can like it or hate it but I feel too many hold Avatar up on a pedestal that, if you actually rewatch the show, you'd know it's good but not in the way one prop it up as.

Fifth Hot Take: The love triangle was... not my cup of tea but consistent with the characters we've had so far. I just would've had Asami be the one to bust Mako's chops on the boat for not letting Korra recall that they broke up. I do appreciate it in retrospect in how it informs Korra and Asami's love to come but I see where some spit and polish could've been applied.

I feel like the problem with this fandom is a severe case of putting the original at an impossible standard to reach, at not letting the world develop what ATLA establishes, at being so slavish to what's considered "canon." It's the same with the discourse surrounding Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. There can be nothing new that might "contridict the lore" as the fandom sees it.

I could make a whole different case as to why The Legend of Korra's worldbuilding expands on what Avatar set up and makes sure that the franchise doesn't play it safe with a static world. I love they're going with an East Asian Mad Max for Seven Havens. They're not afraid to do the story they want rather than the story fans want. I want more The Last Jedis and faaaaar less The Rise of Skywalkers.