Things to consider when Writing about Schools/Academies!!
⊹ What is this school actually for. training mages? knights? spies? just normal education? because "prestigious academy" means nothing if you don't know what they're prestigious at
⊹ Who gets in and how. is it merit based, do you have to be rich, legacy admissions, secret tests, random selection, born with the right abilities. what happens to kids who don't make the cut
⊹ What's the age range. are these literal children or young adults or mixed ages. because a school with 11 year olds has very different problems than one with 18 year olds
⊹ How strict is it. prison vibes with tons of rules? pretty chill? different rules for different student groups (which is unfair and causes drama)?
⊹ What are the social hierarchies. obviously there are cliques but what are they based on. wealth? power level? what year you're in? family name? talent?
⊹ What happens if you fail or get expelled. are you just sent home in shame or is it worse. do people sometimes not survive the training. how often do students drop out or disappear
⊹ Who are the teachers and why are they teaching. washed up former heroes? people who never left? actually passionate educators? suspicious people using it as a cover? mix of all of them probably
⊹ What's forbidden. certain magic, certain areas of campus, relationships between students, leaving grounds, specific books/knowledge. and obviously your protagonist will break these rules
⊹ How do students get sorted/grouped. houses? teams? specializations? randomly? and do these groups have rivalries because they should
⊹ What's the curriculum actually like. is it actually useful or are they learning weird outdated stuff. are there classes that are just covers for something else. what are the hardest classes
⊹ Where is this school located. isolated castle? middle of a city? pocket dimension? floating island? does it move? can students leave or are they stuck there
⊹ What traditions does the school have. tournaments, festivals, hazing rituals (the dark kind), graduation ceremonies, weird old customs nobody questions
⊹ Is there corruption in the faculty/administration. favoritism, taking bribes, secret agendas, covering up student deaths, embezzling, working for the villain
⊹ What's the diversity situation. is it segregated somehow (by class, species, magic type)? integrated but with tension? do some groups face discrimination from staff or other students?
⊹ What happens outside of classes. clubs? underground fight rings? secret societies? banned parties? students sneaking out? romantic drama?
⊹ Why is your protagonist specifically there. chosen one nonsense? hiding from something? forced to attend? actually wants to learn? found out they have powers and got dragged there confused?
I, as a bi person myself, support this headcanon 100%, let's be clear ✨
At the same time, don't get me wrong this is not against you, I want to cheer one of the healthiest and best straight ships out there, cause they are very rare, too, from that point of view it is a rare gem ✨
In the tags you said you meant straight ship as in both straight characters and also the relationship itself. But Katara and Zuko are not confirmed to be straight, infact there is good evidence that they are not. Katara has some romantic coding with Jiang from one the comics. And zuko mentions in the movie (spoilers) finding a guys face objectively attractive.
I'm just talking canon confirmed ships tbh, again I also kinda headcanon them as bi based on the hinting and the coding, but I can appreciate them also as a healthy straight ship because I don't see it a lot and I still enjoy it as any other ship
Oh yeah I think its fine to headcanon the characters however you want straight or not. But yeah all of its a headcannon until the characters sexualities are confirmed. Like yes there are good arguments for bi readings of zuko and katara but also they are still not canon. Anyways Im glad you like zutara the way you do <3
Pixel post dividers for everyone! It's not much, but feel free to use them if you'd like.
I don't know the ideal size for these, so let me know if they're too tall. I can make them a bit shorter next time.
I, as a bi person myself, support this headcanon 100%, let's be clear ✨
At the same time, don't get me wrong this is not against you, I want to cheer one of the healthiest and best straight ships out there, cause they are very rare, too, from that point of view it is a rare gem ✨
In the tags you said you meant straight ship as in both straight characters and also the relationship itself. But Katara and Zuko are not confirmed to be straight, infact there is good evidence that they are not. Katara has some romantic coding with Jiang from one the comics. And zuko mentions in the movie (spoilers) finding a guys face objectively attractive.
KA shippers are talking on X about how they dislike the fact that the Zutaraanti account's anti blackness is being reduced to shipping discourse.
I, however don't understand what they mean by this. They say not to reduce it to "ship wars" but that was what caused this to begin with, correct?
The Zutaraanti and their friend wanted to come up with Zuko slander and their friend came up with the Zukkko joke. The Zutaraanti then proceeded to make several posts on Tumblr using that tag.
You literally cannot remove the shipping aspect of this situation because the shipping aspect is what caused this to begin with.
Nothing was off limits when it was about the Holocaust but NOW we're drawing the line here? Antisemitism was cool as long as it was used to aid you in ship wars, right?
My theory as to why they're trying to remove the shipping discourse and zero in on the anti exclusively is simple.
They don't want to acknowledge that they helped create the environment that breeded the Zutaraanti. They don't want to ruin their perfect image as the "hopeless victims that were harmed by the evil Zutarians back in the old days."
They don't want this situation to break outside of X and possibly reach broader fandoms. Because that'll reveal how much they let slide until now.
That's why instead of condemning them, they say "you're making us look just as bad as them."
That's why instead of sympathizing with Zks, they say "Zutarians are annoying but this is too far!"
That's why instead of accountability, they say "Both sides were in the wrong."
They have dehumanized us so bad that even when they're "defending us" they need to simultaneously insult us as well. Almost like to signal to other KA's that they're not one of "ours", that they're still on their team.
What more could they possibly want from us?
The main ATLA reddit blog is very hostile to Zutarians. Twitter/X speaks for itself. Pinterest Zutara content is flooded by antis throwing shade or outright hostility. Facebook is apparently bad for Zutarians too. KA's on Tiktok claim they'd rather be chased by Diddy than be in a room with us. Tumblr is one of our ONLY safe spaces and even THEN they can't let us have this.
They don't want a future where we all live happily ever after or simply tolerate one another. They want to chase us out of the main fandom spaces AND our own spaces as well.
A lot of these accounts are minors, meaning they weren't even around when the show initially aired. They're trying to enact revenge on the behalf of people that either already left the fandom or don't even trip about it anymore.
A Statement on Being Anti-Harassment and Pro-Tolerance in the ATLA Fandom
I think everyone in the Zutara community is aware that there was recently some very targeted harassment directed at shippers on Twitter and Tumblr by an account that has now been exposed as racist—if the behavior prior to that wasn't enough to indicate they were not an individual to be supported in any way, shape, or means. The account in question built a following on quote-tweeting, harassing, and serial stalking accounts of people who’d already blocked her to screenshot their tweets out of context for dogpiling purposes. The following is the final line being crossed: a KKK "joke" next to a Black Power GIF...
There are some that are shocked that such an account could ever think weaponizing the KKK as "slander material" was permissible, to which I think we need to be frank and honest.
Can we agree that she thought racism and anti-Blackness was permissible because her echo chamber had defended and downplayed every other form of bullying/bigotry until now?
DON’T ENABLE HARASSMENT. DON'T DEFEND HARASSMENT. CALL OUT BAD BEHAVIOR. DON'T BE A BYSTANDER.
It is very good to see that people are correctly denouncing her now that she has shown herself to also be anti-Black, but this was a clear pattern of escalating dangerous behavior enabled by a negative feedback loop of support. This didn't happen in a vacuum.
If these statements don’t apply to you, let them fly. All KAs are not a monolith and should not be generalized as such. But there was a sizable amount that were vocally and enthusiastically supportive, and that enabled an environment of monitoring -> screenshotting -> dogpiling -> rinse and repeat. Various tweets that were screenshots/quotes of my moots’ tweets (despite them having the anti blocked) garnered thousands of likes and a sizable amount of retweets, in addition to the many accounts who not only commented in support of the anti’s actions but also sought out the original tweet to directly harass the original poster. This is not a case of just one "bad apple".
"BUT the KKK thing is "too far" like the bar was ever supposed to be "Don't invoke a terrorist organization that still kills Black people." That's not a high bar. That's a floor. And it still had to be spelled out."
Very well said, @kore-dani!
This is the sort of environment the anti built/encouraged and many others eagerly took part in until an undeniable line was crossed. It is horrible that explicit anti-Blackness was what it took for people to see the situation clearly: a negative blight with no place in fandom spaces.
An environment of vitriol and toxicity is something that should be impermissible in every fandom. Harassment, hate, and the constant violation of boundaries stand in direct contradiction to the spirit of fandom itself: a community built by fans for fans to come together to create transformative works such as fanart, fanfiction, fan edits, etc.
Aligning with others based on harassment is NOT camaraderie. It is not community. It is not fandom. Rather, it is emulating this meme in real life:
Ingroups, Outgroups, and How We Become Polarized Because of Tribalistic Mindsets
I'd like to use this as a jumping off point to introduce the idea of how important practicing TOLERANCE is. This situation is a clear instance of Ingroup/Outgroup, us vs. them thinking. The following is quoted from EBSCO's "Research Starters" page on Ingroups and Outgroups:
"Ingroups and outgroups are sociological concepts that describe the dynamics between groups of individuals based on identity and social interaction. An ingroup refers to a group that individuals identify with and feel an emotional attachment to, often contrasted with an outgroup, which is the group that ingroup members oppose or view with resistance. This binary categorization fosters an "us versus them" mentality, leading to loyalty among ingroup members while simultaneously creating misunderstandings and stereotypes about outgroup members. The existence of outgroups enhances ingroup cohesion, as members often define themselves in opposition to others. Social Identity Theory posits that individuals derive a portion of their self-concept from their group memberships, influencing how they perceive themselves and their own group compared to others. Ingroup bias is a common phenomenon, where individuals favor their own group over others, which can manifest in positive self-image for ingroup members and negative stereotypes of the outgroup. Political and social contexts can exacerbate these biases, potentially leading to conflict. Understanding ingroups and outgroups is crucial for addressing issues of prejudice and fostering intergroup relations in diverse societies."
The sections on Ingroup Bias, Moral Authority, and Perceived Threat Among Groups are of particular interest, as well as the mention of Gordon Allport's Intergroup Contact Theory.
From The Nature of Prejudice, a work commonly touted as "probably the most read volume in the history of social psychology", the Allport's contact hypothesis essentially states that "tensions between two groups can be reduced if members of one group have positive contact with members of the other." Reading through this study published on PubMed, a database maintained by the United States' NIH, is quite fascinating. The findings are in line with Allport's original claim, and they even discuss how this theory relates to online interactions.
TOLERANCE plays a critical role in successful social contact between different groups. That is further explored here if you're interested. Lest I get more verbose than I already plan to, let's refocus on the topic at hand. Put a pin in the ideas of tolerance and ingroups and outgroups.
Apologizing retroactively for the impact is fine and all, and please hear me clearly when I say I do think many people are being sincere in their denouncement. But we cannot ignore the ill-intent behind the anti's actions including but not limited to serial stalking, harassing, and repeated crossing of boundaries. A situation like this did not just happen out of the blue; it was expected by everyone who knows how to spot bullying and dogpiling behaviors in action.
Quoted from a moot:
“From the very start, the intent behind that account was already nasty but they kept hyping that account up. now suddenly they are denouncing them as if they weren't enabling them in the first place. IDK it doesn’t come off as a sincere reflection on their end. It sounds like they simply got concerned that this is gonna affect their image considering how some of them are saying “We now look as bad as ZKs”. And it shouldn’t have taken this long to call out the bullying.”
Again, I'd like to make an effort to say again that I am not generalizing KAs as one hive-mind that all supported this. But escalation to the point that happened the other day was certainly expected by those of us who watched as people defended her as she emphatically doubled down on justifying her harassment of an Iranian Zutara shipper who'd tweeted about a headcanon over perceived inactivity. This Zutara shipper has "Persian" in her bio. Her display name contains a popular Iranian political rallying cry: زن زندگی ازادی. It's not hard to make the connection that perhaps an Iranian individual might be offline for...BEING IN AN ACTIVE WARZONE? People went to bat defending the anti for this, by the way, which consequently emboldened her.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
It was this constant positive reinforcement from those who actively supported and downplayed the vitriol she was spewing daily that empowered her to decide that the invocation of the something with the historical magnitude of the KKK was even remotely permissible. Others have covered how the anti's defense of "not knowing" what the KKK was does not check out when taking into account the context of its invocation was as "slander material"(their words, not mine)...
For anyone who does the reasonable thing and looks up supposedly unknown words before using them, here's the second result after the KKK Wikipedia page when Googling "KKK":
This series details the work of the FBI to protect the American people—especially minorities—from the evils of the modern-day Klan.
More resources are linked at the end of that FBI article for those not fully educated on the KKK's role in systematically discriminating against and perpetuating abhorrent and inhumane levels of violence toward Black Americans for the "crime" of existing with different skin tones than the people doing harm unto them.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Not so fun fact, but lynching was JUST made a US federal hate crime in 2022. There were over 4,000 confirmed lynchings between 1877 and 1950. Over 200 previous attempts to outlaw lynching had failed. Nothing about the KKK should ever be weaponized in any manner of supposed “levity”. EVER.
There is a clear aggressor AND clear enabling behaviors on display here that led to a line being crossed that should have never been approached in the first place. I do not want to hear anything about “both sides” in this situation. This is real life and real harmful rhetoric was being spread and propagated all over which two fictional characters from a 2000s cartoon two groups would prefer together...
Whatever business Zutara shippers were getting up to on AvatarSpirit.net back in 2008 does not justify harassment in 2026 of people who had no part in that.
Just as KAs are not a monolith, Zutara shippers are not a monolith either.
I certainly do not condone personal/ad hominem attacks directed toward real people over fictional material. Real people matter more than pixels. Period.
Not a soul is asking you to “convert” to ZK over any of this—just that you call out racism/harassment when you see it. Even IF the person in the wrong is someone who ships something you ship: CALL THEM OUT WHEN THEY CROSS A LINE. Never be scared to stand against bullying, harassment, and targeting of real people in the name of…pixels. By being a bystander or even worse, an active participant, you are doing real harm to real people in the name of pixels that inherently can feel no harm by any perceived “slander” (usually just critique regarding a character’s writing or functional role in a story). At this point, I will reiterate the importance of tolerance and respecting people's individual preferences.
Critiquing a fictional character does not warrant personal attacks in retaliation. One person's opinion of your favorite character doesn't diminish your enjoyment of your favorite character. You're still allowed to like them. No one is taking your enjoyment away from you by holding a different opinion.
More on Critiquing Writing Choices and People Falsely Perceiving That as a Personal "Attack" to Themselves Later...
But calling real people SLURS over pixels, attempting to claim that a real genocide is somehow on the same level of importance as a fictional genocide, and generally trivializing concepts like colonization, imperialism, racism, genocide, misogyny, etc. to feel as if you can get a leg up in a silly ship war? I just have to ask—how do people genuinely put pixels over people? That type of thinking reaches a level of disconnection from reality that is hard to wrap my head around.
A Singular Example of the Dogpiling Behaviors Displayed by the Anti and Her Followers: A Case Study in Mob Mentality
Read from left to right, top to bottom. This is just one example of how the anti and her followers were moving DAILY on multiple tweets on multiple accounts. I feel the need to call back to this cycle I already delineated:
"But there was a sizable amount that were vocally and enthusiastically supportive, and that enabled an environment of monitoring -> screenshotting -> dogpiling -> rinse and repeat. Various tweets that were screenshots/quotes of my moots’ tweets (despite them having the anti blocked) garnered thousands of likes and a sizable amount of retweets, in addition to the many accounts who not only commented in support of the anti’s actions but also sought out the original tweet to directly harass the original poster."
Observe that cycle in action here:
Notwithstanding the very casual and unprompted mocking of Zuko's disfigurement/disability from the individual in the second row, let's count how many ad hominem attacks Clarissa was dealt by "mariah" all to defend poor Aang (not a real person who can't feel harm, by the way) from a bald joke. 1 + 2 = 5 for some it appears. Or at least five wrongs make a good argument? Yeah...
"Not really??? There's no way you're this ret*rded and you're racist like"
"The airbender culture is very much a real thing? You're playing slow on purpose and yes I'm gonna call you a t*rd because that's exactly what the fuck you are"
No need to commentate on those. I think they speak for themselves. Let's continue on. The number continues to climb.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
I'm going to ask you to put another pin in the idea of being able to differentiate between fiction and reality, in addition to understanding fictional characters are just pixels. We are getting to that, I promise.
Who Is the Other Dogpiler? The Switch-Up!
Are you wondering "Where did this account with the red profile picture come from? They came in swinging for the fences with the whole "cracker" and "misogynistic" attacks LOCKED and LOADED! What does this account tweet about in their space?
Duh...duh...duh...
They're all up in the anti's comments.
But not to fear. As quick as that account was to dogpile and insult a stranger on the order of the ringleader, they were just as quick to turn on the deposed ringleader. On the left are tweets of support left as recent as four days ago. Two days later, it's a completely different story.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
I do not wish any ill-will to this individual. They were just the first account that showed up under the original thread that presented as a prime example of why I mentioned this at the beginning of this post:
Aligning with others based on harassment is NOT camaraderie. It is not community. It is not fandom.
A "friendship" is only as strong as the foundation it was created upon.
REAL PEOPLE Matter More Than Pixels
As to why it is dangerous to treat fictional characters as more important than real people...Grab that pin now and buckle in.
If the insensitive obduracy behind attempting to morally grandstand on serious, impactful, real life concepts for the purpose of fighting other people online over pixels isn’t already evident, let’s put this into perspective using another real life atrocity that the anti and her followers have weaponized. A real, ongoing, decades-long genocide that everyone around the world is witnessing and has bared witness to since Resolution 181 was adopted in 1947.
More than 73,000 Palestinians have been murdered since October 2023, with 922 having been killed since the "ceasefire" was announced last October. Hundreds of thousands are wounded, and countless more are trapped "in an endless cycle of suffering". Almost two million Palestinians have been displaced in the Gaza Strip, in addition to around 40,000 more people in the West Bank. As of 2024, approximately 134,000 Palestinians and Arabs had been killed both inside and outside Palestine since 1948.
In no world will I care more about pixels than the horrors that real people are being subjected to in Gaza 24/7 for the "crime" of existing with different religious beliefs than the people doing harm unto them.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Some very broad generalizations are being made here considering Zutara shippers span pretty much every demographic you can conceive of. Indicators that the line between fiction and reality doesn't exist for some of these individuals are on display too. Perhaps they need to check back in like Peeta Mellark post-hijacking on what’s real and what’s not real. Let's see...Peeta says "Fictional characters are NOT REAL."
Fictional Characters are NOT REAL
If you disagree, respectfully get offline and reconnect with real life. Touch grass. Go to a political demonstration, pick up a picket, and put your money where your mouth proclaims to be online. Real life will always take precedence because REAL PEOPLE CAN BE HARMED. Pixels cannot. Real people come first and prioritising real people has no correlation to being allegedly "insensitive to him [Aang] being a victim of genocide too." No one is denying Aang is a genocide survivor, my goodness. These whataboutisms to deflect from any critique about how Aang was written in the story are just about ridiculous.
And really, all of this over some random stranger tweeting about a personal headcanon, a normal fandom activity...You, another random stranger, don't have to like it or support their headcanon, but to call into question a whole group of people's right to live over a cheating headcanon? Get real. Touch grass. Play Peeta's Real/Not Real game.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
Just going to leave this here...
Let's Be Clear, I Don't Hate Aang
I like Aang. I think Bryke dropped the ball with his arc in Book 3. Critiquing how the Deus Ex Rockina to end all Deus Ex Machinas is a weak writing choice that undercuts Aang's character arc and strips Aang's narrative agency from him isn't "hating" or "attacking" Aang.
Just another reminder, Aang is not real. Everything Aang does in the story is dictated for him by real people making deliberate choices. Aang is a pixelated puppet/vehicle/a plot device that the ATLA writing team utilized to craft a story. Just as every other ATLA character was/is.
Say it with me. Critiquing writing choices is not an "attack" on a fictional character, nor does my opinion diminish your enjoyment.
ALSO, SHIPPING IS NOT ACTIVISM
Stop tying your real life morality to which fictional characters you like and dislike. Stop acting as if your ship of choice means that you are somehow "ethically good" compared to the dastardly, evil, and corrupt "others". I'd ask you now to recall the tribal meme from earlier.
Do you see the Ingroup/Outgroup thinking in this circumstance?
You lot are starting to sound like Javert from Les Misérables. You lot would've HATED Jean Valjean with the way some of you hold such a rigid, black-and-white worldview and moralize every single fanfic, fanart, headcanon, etc. in fandom spaces. ALL NORMAL FANDOM ACTIVITIES IN CASE YOU ARE NEW. The Javerification of fandom spaces. Never thought I would see the day, but I shouldn't be surprised.
Javert would be so proud of us buying into the concept of the social panopticon. Some of you lot are out here policing yourselves and others over thought crimes (aka headcanons). It's absurd to think you can control other people like that. You all make Javert's job easy. SIGH.
Ultimately...
To reiterate, the biggest lesson to be learned from all of this is TOLERANCE. It must be accepted and acknowledged that everyone has their own individual preferences, and that we should respect their freedom to do so even if they are polar opposite of your individual preferences. Don’t yuck on other people’s yum in their clear eyesight. Don't try to police their preferences. Keep it pushing and focus on yourself. And understand that critiquing the writing choices behind a popular, published work in the public mainstream is not at all equivalent to the targeted tearing down of the output of individual fans in fandom spaces. Don't like a fanart? Scroll. Don't like a fanfic? Close the tab. Don't like an edit? Move on. Don't like someone in a fandom? Block and ignore. Don't want to see a certain topic in your feed? Hit "Not Interested" or block the tag.
A lovely meme made by a lovely moot:
Scroll and block if you don’t like something in order to curate your space to your preferences. And utilize Tumblr’s wonderful tagging system. I hope that we can all move forward without constant scrutiny and without approaching one another with an attack-first, consider others as real people with feelings-second mindset. I hope that tolerance can be the word from now on. Happy shipping! :)
One last thing while you're here...
Make sure to drop a like, leave a comment, and repost this modern masterpiece of a Zutara art! Truly one of the most beautiful fanarts I've ever seen.
lmfao if you have to recommend a fanfic to "let it convert" someone to your ship over the show itself you better believe the canon did not do a good job to start with
Due to recent events this post of mine seems relevant again.
I really want people, especially Kataang fans, to understand that zutaranti's behavior is not a one-off. It's not new. There have always been people like her in the Kataang fandom. People that made me, a woman of color, feel unwelcome, even when I still shipped Kataang. Because it was bad enough for them to bully people, but on top of that, even if they weren't harassing me specifically, they were harassing people like me, and over cartoon characters. They were calling people slurs, calling them race traitors, and telling them that they deserved terrible things to happen to them, because they didn't ship Kataang, or worse yet, shipped Zutara.
Or using terrible things that I, and my family, and my ancestors experienced to score internet points and use as gotcha moments to defend Kataang and fight Zutara, without understanding or caring about the real life context, and the real life people they were "defending" from Zutara.
Shippers like her didn't make me stop shipping Kataang, but they did push me out of the Kataang fandom. No one should be surprised by her, because this is the way things have been for a long time now.
Kataang shippers, I'm holding your hands and looking you in the eyes when I say this; there are toxic people in every side of every fandom, but you guys have a disproportionate amount of stans who bully and harass real people over a cartoon compared to the other shipping subfandoms in Atla, and compared to a lot of fandoms in general. You need to be better about calling each other out and staying in your lane. And not just because they make your ship look bad, but because they're actively making real people feel unwelcome and unsafe.
I hope people realize that whatever is up with that Zutara anti account actually has something going on in their lives that make them miserable enough to make a whole account to go after people in a fandom.
Genuinely you have to have something wrong with you or at home to make others as miserable as you.
That is some loser shit right there. go to fucking therapy.
There are actually real problems in this world that deserve that attention and you would rather use your energy to bully and hurt others that like a different ship than you.
They keep posting about how totally unbothered they are at being called out and their actions not having the intended result of scaring anyone, and it's like, yeah, sure. This is definitely the behavior of a cool cucumber.
have y’all noticed how our tags have been getting flooded with anti-zutara content and constant cross-tagging lately? that’s not a coincidence. on twitter, some kataang shippers are literally encouraging people to come onto tumblr to “fight back” against zutara shippers; and, as you can see from some screenshots, to straight-up bully them.
these people are not in our tags looking for respectful debate or polite conversation. they’re here looking for fights and excuses to harass people over a cartoon ship. (saying that out loud is honestly embarrassing enough already).
another important thing to note: zutaranti is a genuinely problematic person, and you can read more about it. her little bootlicking followers aren’t much better either, constantly copying her behavior, eating up everything she says, going through the trenches to defender her, moving like an actual cult sometimes lol.
and she constantly screenshots our posts to post on twitter so people can dogpile us. a lot of those screenshots are intentionally cropped or taken out of context just to push a narrative. she even screenshots posts from people who responded to her. because her goal was never to have a civilized discussion, clarify her points, or genuinely engage with what zutara shippers are saying. she’s just here to screenshot, mock people later, and encourage her followers do to the same.
so seriously: just block them. don’t engage. that’s exactly the reaction they want.
Your response to that anon makes it pretty clear they're right lol. Katara did support Aang unconditionally, especially with his trauma as she could empathise as someone who is ALSO a survivor of genocide and the last of their people (water bender and air nomad). But Aang also was supportive of her- when she wanted to free the earthbenders, him and sokka helped, he wanted to refuse to continue teaching from Pakku because he wouldn't teach Katara, he helped her with the Painted Lady, and the Southern Raiders comment is not as condescending as you think. Yes, it was shitty, but you really think they would've turned their back on Katara? They shouldn't have said that to her but him and Sokka know if she kills Yon Rha, it will not bring her closure. And as for her doing all the labour, that's blatantly untrue. In Bitter Work the whole argument between Toph and Katara is that Katara is (rightfully) mad that Toph only wants to do her share, arguing that everyone around camp does their part.There’s multiple episodes in which the gaang help pitch the tent and perform campsite duties. There’s a whole episode dedicated to how katara and sokka are both sick, resulting in aang having to run across the world to retrieve them medicine, and he continued trying to get the frogs for his friends even when captured. There’s an entire episode dedicated to how the gaang cannot get anything done without sokka, who usually manages their schedules and itineraries and helps ensure that they’re on track. There’s plenty of moments in which aang and katara are goofing off, and sokka gets mad at them for not sticking to his carefully curated and meticulous schedule and for putting a wedge in their plans to save communities (see: imprisoned and the painted lady). There’s moments when toph assumes responsibility; there’s moments when aang assumes responsibility. and then there’s moments when none of them have any clue on what to do, when they literally act like children navigating a world that’s constantly trying to kill them. Because they are children, which in episode 1 we see Aang telling Katara she is still a kid. Whether you ship it or not, a big part of their relationship is that they are children. They're a team, they all support each other. Saying she shoulders everything and that Aang is just selfish and callous is a blatant lie. They have helped each other throughout the series a lot. There are moments when they both say and do things that aren't good to eachother, but that doesn't make their relationship instantly toxic. Aang kissing Katara w/o consent was wrong, it's why I don't ship it, but saying Katara was reduced Aangs mother figure, especially when he played a large role in her acting like a kid again, and also grew up communally so the concept of a mother isn't something he would even think about. The constant adultification you insist on of Katara is just weird, there's a reason black and brown women hate it so much, especially when katara has stated she dislikes being seen as motherly
wow that is a whole lot of words you're trying to shove into my mouth, huh? don't worry though; unlike you, i know how to make a good argument, so let's go through this flaming pile of garbage you've dumped in my asks to see exactly what that looks like!
i don't know where you got this idea that i think katara does everything for team avatar while the rest of them sit by and twiddle their thumbs; i have never said that, and i never will. my argument isn't about katara's relationship with the gaang (though for all that she says they divide the chores equally in the chase episode, you will notice that much of the time it is always katara you see in the background cooking, training aang, or doing work around camp - make of that what you will), it is about katara's relationship with aang, and the severe imbalance of emotional labour in that relationship.
let's look at how many times katara supports aang in the show when he's in need of it:
S1:E3, The Southern Air Temple: katara pulls aang out of the avatar state when he's grieving over the loss of his people, then holds and comforts him afterwards.
S1:E12, The Storm: katara listens to aang's regrets over running away, assauges his guilt, encourages him, and ultimately inspires him to move on from his past and start anew.
S2:E3, Return to Omashu: katara listens to aang's worries about bumi and tries to reassure him.
S2:E9, Bitter Work: katara coddles aang when he's sad about not being able to master earthbending, motivating him to keep going and trying to convince toph to give him an easier time.
S2:E10, The Library: katara pulls aang out of the avatar state again, this time actually putting herself in danger (the only one to do so, you might notice) by walking into the middle of a sandstorm while aang is in an highly volatile state of extreme power. keep in mind that katara knows exactly what can happen when aang isn't able to control himself, because of that lovely incident back in book 1 where she was burned thanks to his recklessness, and yet the duty of calming aang down falls to her yet again.
S2:E11, The Desert: aang snaps at katara and then leaves her to take care of herself and the rest of the gaang all on her own in a highly dangerous environment. don't worry though, she'll still find the time to sympathize with him and comfort him, though he certainly isn't going to apologize and will, in fact, have this lovely exchange with her instead:
"What's anyone else doing?! [Pointing his staff at Katara.] What are you doing?!"
oh nothing aang, just keeping everyone alive and together, and being the entire reason they survive the desert at all. thanks for the support, though!
S2:E12, Journey to Ba Sing Se Part 1: katara reaches out to aang multiple times in this episode, offering her love and support, and ultimately helping him to snap out of his depression over appa's loss (he still hasn't apologized for his behaviour in the previous episode, in case you were wondering).
S3:E1, The Awakening: katara tries to help aang deal with his feelings of guilt over Ba Sing Se, heals him, brings him food, and even stays behind to look after him (funny you don't see either sokka or toph doing that)... all while dealing with her own sadness and anger over her father. aang does notice this, by the way! though naturally, he does nothing about it.
S3:E9, Nightmares and Daydreams: i'll cut this one a little slack, because sokka and toph do try to help out with aang's anxieties too. note, however, that katara checks on aang five separate times in this episode alone - far more than either of the other two by a clear margin.
S3:E17, The Ember Island Players: katara is the only one to notice aang is upset after the play, goes to see if he's okay and... well, you know how this one ends.
let's do a little tally and... that clocks in at a whopping 10 times that katara offers aang her love, support and comfort, including almost all of his lowest moments.
now let's look at the number of times aang supports katara when she is in need of it:
S1:E9, The Waterbending Scroll: aang encourages katara to waterbend, pushing her to have faith and be confident in herself, allowing her to waterbend successfully and defeat the pirates.
S1:E18, The Waterbending Master: aang defends katara against pakku and cheers for her during her fight; he does also, however, undercut her very real anger at pakku and tries to dissuade her from fighting at all under the impression that it's for him instead of the injustice that's been done to her so... we'll consider this a wash.
S2:E17, Lake Laogai: aang rests a hand on katara's shoulder in wordless support after jet dies.
S3:E8, The Puppetmaster: aang pulls the hand-on-shoulder move again while katara cries after defeating hama... except this time, sokka's on her other side doing the exact same thing so it can't even be counted as an emotional support moment exclusive to aang, the way all of aang's are to katara.
final calculation: 2, 4 if i'm being generous. four against ten, and even if you combined all of them together, aang still doesn't provide even half the depth of support and care that katara does for him in just a single incident.
see how that might be what we call an imbalanced relationship?
They shouldn't have said that to her but him and Sokka know if she kills Yon Rha, it will not bring her closure
except who brought up killing yon rha? aang. who immediately conflated justice with revenge? aang. who pushed his own culture's values of pacifism onto katara? aang. and who was ultimately wrong about blanket forgiveness and inaction being the path to closure for katara? aang.
you don't need to take my word on it. katara corrects aang herself when he inaccurately assumes she did what he wanted her to: "But i didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him."
if aang had his way, if katara had never confronted yon rha, her rage and grief and resentment would've simply continued to fester inside her. katara made peace with her trauma on her own terms, by finally getting to see yon rha for what he really was: not a nightmarish bogeyman who left her powerless and afraid, but a weak, pathetic, human man who didn't even deserve the mercy of death, and whom she was able to reclaim her power over.
aang doesn't extend to katara even a fraction of the empathy, understanding and faith she always offers him; rather, he instantly jumps to the worst judgements about her intentions, preaches to her about how she should heal from her trauma, and only deepens her stress and anger while she's reliving the worst moment of her life.
that is not support. that is not friendship. that is aang making katara's struggle about himself, just as everything else in their relationship already is.
saying Katara was reduced Aangs mother figure, especially when he played a large role in her acting like a kid again, and also grew up communally so the concept of a mother isn't something he would even think about
buddy, i assure you i'm not the one making katara aang's mother. you can take that up with the writers who made a self-referential joke about katara acting motherly to aang (unless you think "stop rubbing your eye and sit up straight when you talk!" is somehow a romantic thing to say to your future husband), who have katara coddle aang multiple times, who framed katara holding aang's dead body like the virgin mary holding jesus, and who literally had her dress up and pretend to be his mother.
and for your information, katara is a motherly figure - not just to aang, but to every member of team avatar besides zuko (and suki, if you count her). that's not my opinion btw, as you seem to believe. that's canon, confirmed by both sokka and toph in S3:E7, The Runaway:
Sokka: When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara? She had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom. It really seems like my whole life, Katara's been the one looking out for me. She's always been the one that's there. And now, when I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture.
Toph: The truth is sometimes Katara does act motherly, but that's not always a bad thing. She's compassionate and kind, and she actually cares about me. [Wipes away tears from her left eye.] You know, the real me. That's more than my own mom.
so no, anon, i'm not the one "insisting" on katara's adultification. she was adultified the moment her mother died, because she was forced to step into her mother's shoes - and she did it so well that she became a surrogate parent to her own older brother. she is a child who was forced to sacrifice her childhood, and who will never be able to find it again. that is the fundamental tragedy at the heart of katara's character, and an integral part of what makes her who she is.
there's a reason black and brown women hate it so much, especially when katara has stated she dislikes being seen as motherly
really? women of colour hate being pushed into motherly roles, and seeing female characters like themselves being forced to do so? damn, i wonder if there's any way that i, a south asian woman living in southeast asia, would know that?
i don't need you to tell me what brown women think and feel. i understand first-fucking-hand what we go through, because i've seen it in my own female relatives, in my friends, in their families, in every aspect of my society. i've felt the expectations of my culture on my gender since i was a child, and that is just one of the many reasons why i ship zutara: so that at least in a fictional world, some fictional brown girl is able to have an equal relationship with a partner who respects her, admires her, supports her, cares for her, and loves her just as much as she does him.
i'm glad we can both agree that katara hates being seen as motherly. i hate it too, which is why i despise kat.aang, because the last thing that katara needed after losing her childhood being a mother was to lose the rest of her life to it too, stripped of her agency and legacy, forever stuck looking after a man who will always make her do too much labour without once recognizing it, let alone returning it.
now kindly get out of my inbox with your faux progressive concern, and take your subpar media literacy skills with you while you're at it.
I really don’t understand when people say that because Aang grew up outside of the nuclear family unit, he doesn’t push Katara into a motherly role because that’s just taking Aang’s intentions/backstory into consideration and completely ignoring Katara’s. His carefree nature bordered on irresponsibility and it forced Katara to take on more duties than less. This is part of their conflict as early as season 1 episode 3, where Katara is upset because she has to do all of the chores while Aang is goofing off.
Katara doesn’t want to be motherly, and doesn’t like being seen that way, but she also believes that she has to behave that way because she stepped into that role for Sokka at the age of eight in order for them to survive. It’s very difficult to stop acting like that after you’ve already become a parentified child, especially if nobody else is going to step up. Unfortunately, for a majority of the show, the rest of the gaang, especially Aang, are big parts of why she has to continue being the “adult” (even though it’s unfair to her).
A huge reason zutara is so popular is because of how Katara gets to have someone else support her in the position she’s in. Someone who takes the burden off of her solely and shares responsibility alongside with her. Not only does Zuko become another distinctly parental figure to the rest of them (because he is very much giving Dad in his scenes with Aang and Toph, and sometimes even Sokka lol), but he also brings out more of the childish emotions in Katara that she had seemed to abandon in the third season. She’s stubborn and mean and rude to him. She lets herself be angry. And after she forgives him, she teases him, listens to his advice, and defers to him about how to find Aang.
It’s unfair to Aang to expect him to take on more of an adult role so he can match Katara’s maturity and allow her to be more of a child when he’s not ready for that, and it’s unfair to Katara to pigeon hole her into a relationship where she feels like she has to be more mature than she already is to take care of her partner. They both deserve people who will compliment their established characteristics and help them grow.
Zutara shippers pointing out the mysogyny, the sexism, the direspect of real cultures throughout the writing of the show instead of kissing the creators's asses is not being 'disrespectful';
Zutara shippers suggesting how Zuko's and Katara's arcs were mirrored and could have been a good conclusion if they had been canon is not 'being toxic',
Zutara shippers criticizing that the writing and 'development' of the official couples left much to be desired is not being 'malicious'.
You know what is disrespectful, toxic and malicious though??
- Zutara artists being harassed, quoted with toxic comments, compared with 'better' or 'more accurate' representation from other ppl's art;
- writers and shippers whose own Zutara post are being screenshoted across all social platforms to mock and further their harrasment of the Zutara fandom;
- WOC whose sexuality and ethnicity are being questioned and called into doubt;
- making a poll for your little followers and (sexually) harass an ZK user who gasp! has the audacity of not keeping her head down and is actively replying to your insults and harassment.
I could go on and on with numerous examples but thats the irony here: it could go on and on (and it will, of that i have no doubt), it wouldnt matter because it stopped being abt fictional characters a long time ago, now Zutara 'problematic' dynamics is just a piss poor excuse to bully ppl off using morality brownie points and call yourself a good little sjw behind your screen.
Okay but ever since I learned that it's a popular fanon trope that Katara restarts Zuko's heart with bloodbending after the Last Agni Kai I can't stop thinking about it cause it would have been so perfect.
Like first of all, in the actual canon it's pretty vague how she manages to heal him and from what exactly (obviously getting struck by lightning but what specific injury was killing him?).
And then secondly, it would be such a perfectly executed, full-circle moment where this form of bending Katara was forced to learn against her will and that she is scared and ashamed of suddenly becomes something she'll be forever grateful for knowing, maybe even feeling some weird form of thankfulness to Hama for having forced her to learn, because without it she would've lost Zuko. It would be a curse that she turned into a gift, a weapon turned into a tool of healing.
It would parallel how Zuko (and Aang) formed a new, more positive relationship with firebending. Both of them saw fire as destruction and hatred, but learned that it is also a source of life and warmth. In the same way, Katara would learn that bloodbending is not just a means to reach into someones body and take control of them, to take away their agency and autonomy, it is also the gift that allowed her to save the life of her best friend after he sacrificed himself for her.
But noooooooooo bloodbending is inherently evil nevermind the pre-established theme of non-duality and separation being an illusion and that no form of bending is inherently good/bad or superior/inferior to any other. Bloodbending eviiiiiil always and there are no good uses for it because we here at Bryke incorporated have the imagination of a jellyfish.
The problem is that there isn't much else to talk about when discussing Katara in LoK, because she doesn't do anything else--and she doesn't even get the respect of being able to heal a single significant injury, which adds to the insult of her being sent to the healing huts for the rest of her natural life.
I genuinely would have loved if literally any facet of Katara's personality was respected, but it wasn't. She doesn't get to act as a respected matriarch for her people (in fact, she isn't even present during the Civil Wars episodes where one would think she'd have the greatest chance to at least give one of her famously inspiring speeches), she doesn't get to act as mother or grandmother (she watches sadly as her children pick on each other, and Meelo doesn't even recognize her in the pilot implying that the grandkids haven't been taken to visit in years), she doesn't get to lift a finger to protect or fight for her family (and don't bring up her age, that doesn't stop Zuko or Toph and it didn't stop Bumi or Pakku back in AtLA, either!), she doesn't even get the respect of being the person who knew her own husband best (Korra, who was raised by her! tells Zuko that he knew Aang better than anyone), she doesn't get a single statue, she doesn't get a single major accomplishment recognized (except getting bloodbending outlawed, but since she's absent from the flashback to the one bloodbending trial that we see, it doesn't count).
I suspect people focus so much on her being a healer and nothing else precisely because, in the original show, she says explicitly I don't want to heal, I want to fight.
