i really hope none of you avatar netflix fans come crawling back for the movie, sorry. i don’t wanna share this with people confusing watered down fanfiction with actual canon.

(we already have enough of those in this fandom)

((not to mention the disgusting whitewashed art starting to float around. have y’all no shame?))

The katara is selfish problem is bigger than z*kka though. The opinion that katara was unnecessarily mean to zuko especially pre-tsr is rather widespread and is constantly showed in fics, including a lot of zutara ones (and I say this as die hard zutara shipper). They expect her to be this infinite well of kindness and generosity that even when she resents people for valid reasons, she is called selfish, or worse, a hypocrite. I cannot tell you how many 'katara is mean to zuko pre-tsr and therefore she has to apologize' fics exist out there. It sounds so much like anger policing - it's like people cannot fathom the idea of a 14 year old girl being angry without chastising her for it.

the idea that katara is mean/selfish/bad has existed since day one. honestly the hatred against brown women is something a part of atla itself, with korra being constantly humiliated and punished for no fucking reason.

but the hatred against her used to be a LOT more explicit and obvious. because if you see older atla fancontent like memes and videos (which... i unfortunately did) they CONSTANTLY mock her for grieving her mom and going off on sokka, while praising the male characters for doing similar things. hell, they don't even criticise azula for being a war criminal as much as they criticize katara for... what? being a traumatised teenager? anyway. and i think this hatred for katara is why there's a lot of anti-zutara sentiment in the fandom, because people are uncomfortable with the idea of her ending with up the fan favourite zuko, especially in a manner that portrays them as equally complex and interesting.

so while yes, the katara hatred is definitely bigger than z*kka, I think z*kka is the latest manifestation of katara hatred in a fandom environment that no longer tolerates explicitly racial and misogynist bashing of female characters. and this really isn't new. look how hard the MCU latched onto thor/hulk the second valkyrie was introduced.

frankly zuko and sokka don't even have much to go on. the closest interaction they had was when they were focusing on their respective girlfriends. and yet the fandom acts like it's this huge obvious ship with lots of canon content and we just didn't spot it when we were homophobic while it aired and it's... just not. they've simply found a convenient way to erase katara while still having fanfic about zuko. that is all.

and yeah, zutara isn't immune from katara-bashing. I personally sideeye any fan content that like, paints her in a negative light. which there is a lot of. but z*kka is based on the fact the fandom hates katara, that the fandom can't stand seeing her as a love interest to most of the male characters in the show (which she is!!! she fucking is!!!) including their fave lightskin broody prince, and that's why they just ship him with their brother. katara hatred is definitely a bigger issue than one ship, but that one ship just embodies it totally.