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Written 3-18-24

I forgot to even mention all the recent Katara “mothering” Aang so some people find it creepy smh

Can't believe I have to say this but Katara is not Aang’s mother figure

She's not any of the Gaang’s mother figure

She's just the most compassionate and responsible which gets translated into being maternal

I spoke on tropes and to continue with that Katara is the heart of the group

Aang and Zuko are the hero and lancer, Sokka the smart guy and Toph the big guy

Her role is to hold the group together so she picks Aang up when he's down, she gets Sokka in line when he's crazy, she tries to bring Toph into the group etc

As much as I can appreciate the analysis of characters and dynamics I think people dove too deep into Katara and got the wrong idea

Yes Aang doesn't technically have a mom but it does not mean he has a mother void that Katara filled and the love is more of a mom-son love and not romantic

If anything Aang was the one character that didn't have that parental need as Sokka had his father, Toph with her parents, Zuko and Azula with their parental issues, Katara with her mom, etc

I don't think it's beneficial to try to insert something there for Aang as at most is that Gyatso was like his father figure and Roku was like a grandfather figure for Aang but nothing to me indicated he was even in need of a new father figure let alone a mother figure

The other aspect is the whole Sokka pictures Katara when he tries to remember their mom

I think people read it wrong it's not that Sokka literally sees Katara as his mother figure, Sokka lost his mom young and with no pictures and her death didn't seemingly scar him like Katara due to the circumstances her face wouldn't be as clear to him after years. Whether it's on purpose or just cartoon characters all looking the same but Katara bears a resemblance to their mother, Katara is basically a young Kya. It's not crazy to see whatever you remember of your mother in your sister that already resembles her

But that episode combined with episodes like The Desert has made people view Katara as the mom of the group

This is correct in a sense but I think people again misread what that means

The “mom” of the group isn't the friend that people use to fill that mother hole, it's purely they're the ones that are most responsible and emotionally available

Like the mother friend is the one that makes sure everyone has their stuff before they leave or if the group is drunk they make sure they're sober to take care of them. So yes in some ways they “baby” their friends but it's also just their way of showing they care about them

And that's what Katara does

Can't believe I had to explain this

I know some of it is just Zutara fans or Kataang dislikers doing whatever they can to justify their dislike of Kataang but I've seen it so many times that I fear this is a case of telephone

One person said Katara was the mom of the group and through various retellings of that people came to the conclusion Katara was Aang’s mother which makes their romantic subplot gross

I don’t want to put people on blast but this is an example of what I've saw that prompted me to add this

https://x.com/notjustbtstras1/status/1768639709591257342?s=46

Zutara and Kataang: my thoughts

Basically Zutara is the enemy to lovers ship

Kataang is the friendship to lover ship

Combine with other things like opposites attract, and love at first site and so on

With the Netflix adaptation stirring things up for this old ship rivalry just wanted to share some general thoughts

General thoughts as you can go anywhere for Zutara hints or why KatAang was actually good and don't need to analyze every moment

Enemies to Lovers

Disclaimer: I dislike the enemies to lover trope. It’s one of those things I genuinely don’t understand why they would like each other in most cases, as the cases I do like it it’s more like they’re the two friends that don’t gel as well like Sam and Freddie in iCarly not actual enemies on opposing sides of war, but I don’t feel this about Zutara due to Zuko

I brought up the ship tropes before as I think this shows more of the discourse amongst the fans

There’s a ton of people that love the enemies to lovers trope whether it be actual enemies or just the two friends that don’t get along that well and can argue/fight often

As people think things like opposite attracts or that when characters fight and argue and etc it shows their chemistry and potentially (sexual) tension of the two

And this isn’t every enemies to lovers ship but some people are genuinely more into the bad boy or bad girl or bad person, more than then opposite of good boy/girl/person

From appearance wise, some see dark and edgy > simple and clean, personality wise with crazy > generic heroic, to the story aspect as the dark story of the enemy can be more interesting then the normal story of the hero a lot of the time due to complexity and writing quality

Friends to lovers

On the flip side

Friendship to lovers is the ship that covers the exact opposite of enemies to lovers

As some believe you’re supposed to be with someone similar to you in morals, ethics, spiritually, emotionally, etc

And a way some people find that is through their friends / people in mutual interest group (sports, church, clubs, and so on)

It’s why there are tropes of the person finally realizing their best friend was the one or childhood friend were their perfect match

Let alone some people just like it more when people seem to enjoy being around each other in peace vs the opposite of fighting and arguing a lot

Aang-Katara-Zuko shipping stuff

So even after all that I do think some understand that and that isn't the cause of the divide for some

and their disagreements become more of a personal thing or how times have changed since the showed aired back in the early 2000s whether socially or just the fan themselves growing up

Like for example as I've seen this a lot, if you’re a girl it can be hard to put yourself in the place of Katara a 14 year old girl (which would be that 9th grader in high school range) being attracted to a 12 years old (essentially a 7th grader middle schooler (Aang) ) especially when that same girl was attracted to seemingly 16 year olds (11th graders before (Haru and Jet))

But I do think it’s not as cut and dry as a teen being attracted to a person two years younger as unbelievable as some also say that's a pretty shallow reason and people write those people off

Some think Aang is cringe for all his especially early attempts at flirting with Katara. Which not nonly ties into the age thing but the whole sometimes being persistent is bad and harassment which is more and more true as the years goes on as a lot of shows back then had that element of boy tries repeatedly and gets rejected repeatedly then eventually “wore her down”

And on the flipside Zuko harmed that group for a long time and even if unjustified Katara saw him as the representation of her hatred for a period which can have its own downsides when compared to things like abuse and not racism exactly but hating that whole nation almost (there’s a word but I can’t think of it)

They both have things against them

Some aspects just don't appear the same to different people

Like a popular example is the fortune teller episode

Where Katara only thinks of Aang as potential person for her when a fortune teller foresees it

The intention is this cosmic supernatural aspect saying these two are meant for each other

Destiny

Like on one hand Destiny can be super romantic like this person was destined for me, like this is my perfect match, they were made for me

On the other it can feel like you have no agency, like this is the only person for me? Am I just destined to be with this one person I might have never looked at in that way, am I allowed not to choose them?

Some people like that Katara realized Aang was a potential match via this supernatural aspect

Some hate it as it feels like Katara didn't come to become attracted to Aang naturally

On screen vs potential possibilities

Like it was kinda obvious Aang and Katara would end up together despite the distractions from guys like Jet. So the series being written that they naturally have more moments which leads to them being the ship makes sense

So whenever Katara kisses Aang cheek is just evidence that this clearly the ship

Even more than Aang and Zuko at times, Katara and Zuko are parallels so they're interactions even if on opposite sides can also be seen as evidence

But I think this on-screen and potential aspect is mostly on the Zutara side because of how the show went, which gives them more what-ifs

Like Zutara has a lot of what ifs like what if Zuko joined them in Ba sing se? Some genuinely think that would of kicked of Zutara for real

Let alone other aspects that I think people mostly like for story potential like if Katara marries Zuko she becomes the Queen of the fire nation which has a lot of story potential

It doesn't even have to be Zutara alone, can say if they did go Zutara for the writing back in Book 2 they could of easily wrote Taang (Toph and Aang) to be Aangs ship

As just minor example but Toph just being attracted to Aang and not Sokka from a writing viewpoint would make people like them as people like Tokka (Toph x Sokka) for similar reasons

Basically the show was building up to Aang x Katara and if they diverted from that there would be a decent amount of disappointed if literally all that changed was that at the end Katara kissed Zuko

But I think when people see the potential chemistry and interactions of different pairs not just Zutara but people like Sokka with Toph or maybe Katara should of just got with Haru they would have liked it if they wrote around those ships vs the KatAang one

Zutara thoughts

My quick thoughts on zutara is that for me…

I think this is more of a I like Zuko and Katara as characters but not necessarily together

Like I think if the show would of had Zuko with Ty Lee and not Mai people would feel different since Ty Lee is so loved while Mai seems more of an acquired taste and people might not like Zuko with Mai

Like I like Mai but her and Zuko together weren’t handled the best to me, even in the comics they broke up for a period where with Ty Lee at least she would be generally more well liked due to personality differences

Plus people really don’t like how they handled some of the more cringey moments of KatAang which is basically all on Aang which I’ll save for later

So when their main ships are not perfect I see the logic of putting them together along with all the other stuff I mentioned before

I however think what Zuko did while eventually forgiven by Katara doesn’t make him the best option for her but for Zuko Katara is lowkey the best option if we can’t put him with a Ty Lee or somebody like that

As Katara even if not with Aang I could put with someone like Haru or a hypothetically alive Jet whereas if Zuko isn’t with Mai he has the one off characters like the ba sing se girl (I forget her name, the one he went on an actual date with) but no one that comes back making Katara his next option it seems

KatAang thoughts

I don’t mind all the cringey stuff Aang has done lol

I think people really don’t like the kiss during the play as it’s one of those he kissed her without permission moments that gets people riled up as there are definitely examples and instances where it’s not ok irl and in media

But not even including the time the show came out in which definitely is a different time culturally than now

He kissed her before and didn’t have the same reaction and he’s 12/13 they’re allowed to make these mistakes

Plus even though she was confused and doesn’t outwardly say it all the time like Aang does, Katara did like Aang at this point at least that’s how I read it.

So it’s not like he kissed a girl that didn’t like him. Aang to me was basically asking her to be his girlfriend and she’s like maybe after the WAR, whereas he took it as doubt and tried to reassure her. To me it’s two people that like each other but are prioritizing different things as Aang just wants Katara and Katara wants this war over with

And could go on but all their cringey moments aren’t bad worse thing is how realistic some of it can be lol

I think the whole love at first sight and destiny and all that is take it or leave it though

As I know some people don’t believe in love at first sight or just don’t like that trope and that’s admittedly the basis of this ship

I think while they eventually worked up to it well I can see to some their beginning are just as shaky narratively as Zutara

Also Aang doesn’t really have another ship tbh, like someone pointed out that the only person Aang called pretty was Katara and the Painted Lady who was Katara lol

Like if they would have actually played into Ming from that fortune teller village, Toph the only other character his age or even someone like Ty Lee I can see an argument to not make Katara his main ship

Conclusion

I think the KatAang ship is harmless especially given their ages, the show release time period and just general point of the ship narratively therefore I think it’s a good ship

But I won’t lie and say especially earlier on that Zutara, Taang, and other possibilities wouldn’t have made some good if not even better stories depending how it was written just off potential

#kataang #zutara #aang x katara #zuko x katara #katara

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