it’s very telling that you came across this post discussing the mistreatment and mischaracterization of katara in natla and your first immediate thought was to bring in shipping, because your only ability to engage with katara as a character is through a shipping lens (specifically zutara shipping).
i think you came across my post and agreed with my points, clicked on my blog fully expecting zutara content (because katara has become synonymous with zutara and zuko for you), saw that i enjoy kataang instead, got angry, and decided to take it out on this completely unrelated post discussing natla katara’s mischaracterization, even though i never even brought up LOK katara’s treatment (which i also dislike). or maybe someone directed you to my post. whatever it was, who cares.
in my experience, i’ve seen many kataang shippers discuss at length how natla did katara incredibly dirty. I’ve also seen zutara shippers religiously defend her mischaracterization because of the strong possibility that their ship could finally be canon. for instance, i’ve seen BNF zutaras on here constantly praise katara’s feminism and character arc, using it to argue as to why her endgame with aang did her so dirty and why an endgame with zuko would have been much better writing that valued her characterization and principles — only for those same blogs to do a 180 and call her feminism “outdated” once natla came out. you should probably be more concerned that your fellow shippers are willing to praise absolute sloppy, lazy, passionless corporate writing that neutralized a powerhouse of a character and misused an incredibly talented actress, so long as their ship becomes canon and endgame. it’s very telling to me that natla’s fanbase is primarily composed of zutara shippers, and that it’s mainly zutara shippers that do not see issues with natla’s writing of katara in the live action adaptation.
if you’re going to overlook or ignore or even tolerate your fellow shippers praising the wet blanket of a character that is natla katara, with a chunk of her personality and characterization removed (sorry “remixed”) to make her appealing and digestible to sections of the audience that hated her in the og, then you don’t have any right to lecture me on what i can or cannot ship. because why isn’t natla katara’s writing getting the same level of critique and rage that bryke’s versions of katara get from your fandom?
in addition, I’ve come across plenty of pro zutara/anti kataang arguments - disguised as “pro katara” - and i do have to question just how pro katara many of these arguments tend to be. the one that stuck out to me the most (due to the sheer audacity) was a defence of the hypersexualization of ember island players katara. op was arguing that the audience is made to be “uncomfortable” by a female character taking ownership of her sexuality, in the particular scene where eip katara ravages herself over eip zuko (and normal katara and zuko are clearly disturbed by the hypersexualization of their friendship). however, that example is NOT of a female character taking ownership of her sexuality, because, in that same regard, the scenes in which cassy from euphoria becomes a sexual object for nate’s voyeuristic gaze would also be considered an example of a female character “owning her sexuality”? rather, the scene makes us uncomfortable because it’s intent is to sexualize and objectify an indigenous young girl; IN ADDITION to portraying zuko as a weak-willed individual who could not resist the advances of the “exotic foreign women,” which of course has to be the REAL reason why he turned against their beloved nation (and not, of course, because he gained the genuine understanding that the fire nation was committing all kinds of barbaric acts and his family was at the center of it). it’s sexual propaganda 101 - so why the fuck your fandom interpreted it as something feminist and empowering, and praised the depiction of the imperialistic propaganda play as an accurate retelling - is absolutely beyond me. if your fandom is willing to interpret katara’s character like that, among many other examples, then you’ve got bigger issues to be concerned than me shipping kataang.
now let’s talk about why i enjoy katara and aang’s relationship. i think avatar the last airbender is a much more rewarding experience when you view it from the lens of katara and katara’s love for aang (which first started off platonic, then became romantic in it’s nature PRIOR to the end of the show - no matter how much you disagree with the latter). i know so many kataang shippers who value and care for katara much more than they do aang, so your first statement is a result of your limited fandom experience. even among those that prefer aang, i’ve never come across anyone that didn’t love katara (and no, i do not count incels and dudebros as part of the active shipping fandom because again, we could bring up the incels and dudebros that self-insert onto zuko and ship zutara, that say the most egregious and outlandish things about katara, like headcanons of katara being zuko’s slave-turned-wife).
i enjoy and ship kataang because:
aang is the first person to remind katara that she, who is traumatized by war, is still a child and should embrace her inner child (“the boy in the iceberg.”) if you’re a parentified child as a kid, you’ll come to find just how valuable this lesson is in life and what it means to have someone say that.
aang offered to take katara across the world so that she could learn waterbending upon their first encounter.
aang, on multiple occasions, encourages katara to step outside of her comfort zone (example: “if you want to be a bender, you have to let go of fear.”)
aang was the only one until book 3 who wqs vocal about katara’s waterbending progress and regularly praised her (“that was amazing!” “i’m lucky enough to have a great teacher.” and “a team of rhinos, or two waterbenders.”)
aang was willing to reject learning from a sexist because he refused to teach katara
when katara calls haru brave, aang tells her that SHE must’ve inspired him. if you look at katara’s major episodes (imprisoned, the waterbending master, the painted lady) aang is the first person to take katara’s side and agree with her plans, no matter how much sokka may protest.
whenever katara doubts her abilities, aang reminds her that she saved his life (the awakening) and calls her a secret hero (the painted lady).
aang and katara communicate their fears for one another, as we see in “the avatar state.” at the end of the episode, aang is the one to apologize to katara because she was right.
aang is the one to comfort her AFTER jet (her first love) dies and AFTER she begins to cry from being forced to bloodbend (to save aang’s life).
aang compares the love that he has for appa (his spiritual soulmate) to the love that he has for katara, after witnessing a new family. this makes katara so happy that she proceeds to cry (and then he gives her a hug).
and there’s so many examples of emotional and physical support that aang gives to katara. that’s not even getting into what aang means to katara; how he’s the physical manifestation of her hope, how she had faith in him up until the final battle, her blushing around him, her desire to kiss him and her offence when she thinks he doesn’t want to, her threatening anyone that dares to hurt him (and his threatening anyone that dares to hurt her), etc.
i do not like the ember island players episode, but i will not permanently hold that writing against aang because he demonstrates learned behaviour and respects katara’s choice and agency by the end of the final episode. katara initiates every single move, with aang only following her lead. then in post-canon when they’re in a relationship, when he does want to kiss her, he asks for her consent. however, at the same time, i am critical with the depiction from eip to the final scene, and how that’s portrayed to children, so i agree that it was indeed clumsily handled. if that’s one of the reasons that turns someone off from kataang, then by all means, I understand. at the same time, a lot of people who dislike this writing also are obsessed with the pirate scene, in which zuko has katara kidnapped & tied to a tree and held as hostage. in addition, many people who use eip as the reason why kataang is so detrimental to katara’s character, ship a lot worse in other fandoms between two canon love interests. so how much can i take this as sincere criticism and how much is it motivated by fandom shipping wars?
and as much as i do enjoy the relationship development between zuko and katara, i haven’t observed much canonically that makes zuko out to be this perfect boyfriend that is always prioritizing katara’s needs. we don’t see that their connection in the catacombs impacts him the way that it does to katara, to the point where she needs to remind him why she’s mad at him despite the fact that HE betrayed her. i don’t see him do any chores or as this parental figure you guys keep insisting he is. i don’t see him thinking about her throughout majority of the show, unless in the context of the avatar. he opens up to katara in the same way that he opens up to toph, or sokka, or aang. personally, i find his relationships with iroh, aang, and azula much more pivotal to his character than his relationship to katara.
i also don’t think the issues with LOK katara would be fixed if she got married to zuko, since canonically the firelady has very limited role in the franchise other than to basically provide heirs. so the depiction that we would get from katara in LOK would perhaps even be less or no screen time. would she even be mentioned? would she even be korra’s teacher? fanfictions aren’t what necessarily will happen in canon.
also, going by that logic, post-canon zuko is still alive and well while aang has been dead for 20 years. what’s stopping zuko from commissioning a gigantic statue for katara, like he did for his best friend aang, in republic city? what stopped him before while aang was still alive or right after his death? if zuko supposedly loved and prioritized katara so much, where was the tributes for her?
if you heavily must alter canon for zutara, why can’t i do the same for kataang? why do i have to agree with everything in canon that comes out for kataang? additionally, if you must pick and choose parts of post-canon that contribute to your shipping narrative, why can’t i do the same for my ship?
i will say: i do thank you all for the intense criticism surrounding bryke’s portrayal of LOK katara, even the false narratives that are painted of her such as her being a housewife. because now the post-canon is doing everything in its power to disclaim those. you would think that would make people who claim to love katara content, knowing that there’s currently an active improvement in her post-atla depiction. but all I’ve seen are zutara shippers dreading a better portrayal of adult katara (since they can’t use it as a leverage) all the while praising a poorly done Netflix depiction of her. but yeah, those are the people who clearly love katara. do tell me more.
maybe years ago your attempts to gatekeep katara might’ve worked, but as of 2024, after everything i’ve seen as supposedly “pro katara,” i genuinely am not listening to a word you have to say LMAO. i will continue to love katara and kataang AND I will continue to spearhead the katara stans that are kataangs (which are growing in number btw to hopefully your shocking dismay). if that is enough to invalidate what i said in my post about natla katara for you, then awww that must suck for you.
