Hot&Pink

HIYA🩷 19 she/her Demiromantic/sexual

[hotpinkarts]

HIYA! I make custom PC wallpapers cause nothing online really makes your computer feel like your dream room. My banner is my personal wallpaper. Like what you see? Check out my patreon. xoxo

patreon.com/HotPinkArts

[zizishleezy5]

Atlas problem with consent

Aangs characterization regarding his romantic relationships kind of follow the “nice guy” archetype. He’s 12 years old during the show, small, wide eyed, and over all very likable. He’s what any girl would want right? A nice guy who’s respectful and always sweet to the female lead, who wouldn’t want that? (I imagine that’s what bryke was thinking). Throughout the show, the writers depict his relationship with Katara through his eyes, making the watchers root for him, and genuinely want to see him succeed in his romantic endeavors. I’d say a certain amount of babying him happens in the show, but that’s to be expected because he is young. The creators (bryke) even pity him to a certain extent regarding his luck with Katara, using statements like “poor Aang”. I think this accurately reflects how watchers view him as well , seeing that’s how the creators want us to perceive him.

While Aangs crush on Katara is sweet, the show mainly develops their relationship in a way that makes you pity Aang, and want to see him “win her over”. It’s a classic “will they won’t they” story, and while I believe this trope can be used well, I don’t think it’s executed well in this story. I think it would’ve gone over better if we saw more of Kataras perspective regarding Aang but, there really isn’t much in the story that CLEARLY solidifies that she likes him romantically, and even if you were to argue that she had a crush on him towards the end of the series, that in itself is not explored fully, as we never spend enough time inside Kataras head.

I think what really hammers my point in is their interactions toward the end of season three. To be honest the writers really shot themselves in the foot writing their relationship. From the unfinished chakra ark, to Aang kissing Katara without consent twice, the writers show the viewers that it really is unclear if Katara likes him or not, and we’re left wondering if she is really is the best choice for him long term (and short term since he has to defeat the fire lord). There are a crap ton of debates out there regarding Aang kissing Katara. Honestly I feel like if you have to bend over backwards to prove she liked both kisses you’ve already lost the argument.

Let me make myself clear, consent is not something that is debatable, just because you’ve kissed someone in the past (since I think it’s canon that they kissed in the cave of two lovers), does not mean that consent carries through till the next time, especially if you aren’t dating the other person. Consent isn’t meant to be confusing, if you don’t know if someone wants to kiss you, you probably shouldn’t kiss them. If you aren’t clear on the other persons feeling towards you, you probably shouldn’t kiss them. Aang and Kataras relationship is strange (on purpose!) because the writers don’t want you to be sure about Kataras feelings towards Aang (really showing us how they view her agency…). Now, for the most part, the “kissing your partner unaware” is a pretty popular trope to use in romance media, particularly from the male pov but I’m not saying it can’t happen vice versa ( aka Sokka and Sukki season 1). However, the lack of clarity regarding where Katara stands within their relationship is what makes the first kiss not okay, in fact it’s only solidified later on because we NEVER KNOW what Katara thinks of it, it’s never brought up or acknowledged by the plot until the Ember Island Players Episode, where Aang DEFINITELY kisses her without consent again. I really want y’all to understand that CONFUSION IS NOT CONSENT. Saying “I don’t know”, or brushing off the other person also isn’t consent. My real problem with the writers approach at Kataang is that these instances are not seen as significant enough to be bright up again, and worse, Kataang becomes canon right after.

This is especially harmful to the children watching because it is SUBCONSCIOUSLY telling them, boys specifically, that is it ok to kiss your crush without consent as long as you “like them enough”, or if your feelings are strong enough/genuine, it’s ok to pressure them until they give in. All you need to do is just keep pursuing them, they’ll give in eventually. I’m not saying atla is the sole perpetrator of this idea, in fact, it’s already so common and in romance media that that’s why I’m being especially hard on them. Just to clarify, Aang feeling guilty for his actions is NOT the same as apologizing and learning from your mistakes. It is problematic that atla writers chose to include these tropes in their story, and double down on them instead of giving Aang a proper arc where he experiences hardship and LEARNS FROM IT.

[turtleducklingg-deactivated2026]

regards to that one comment on a tiktok video about zutara's dynamic

I'm baffled when antis just straight up says "katara is what zuko's relationship with azula would have been" or "katara is the sister zuko wish he would have" lmao wtf are these takes? nickelodeon BAITED zutara when the show was still airing omfg this isn't like the k//@ where bryke literally said they have that babysitter and sibling dynamic on that damn documentary and if you wanna talk about the sister that zuko wish would have that would be kiyi hell even toph is right fucking there omg its giving freud vibes 🤦🏻‍♀️

[depsidase]

[twinsarekeepers]

A big part of why the Aang vs Zuko morality debate irks me is because Aang is presented as the last of his people so that whatever he says immediately becomes ingratiated as “the right way” in the everyone’s mind (especially when he functions as a mouthpiece for neoliberalism). Comparatively, anything Zuko says about the necessity of violent resistance can be disregarded because of his history. Even if he’s agreeing with another genocide survivor, because she’s just a girl who’s “out of control”. And the wild part to me is that the show doesn’t even have to present any side as wrong or right but the fandom will run with this type of rigid “morality” because of how deeply ingrained aversion to resistance actually is.

[frogpropaganda]

Zutara enjoyers: I just don't think it's okay to show A.ang kissing Katara twice without her consent and then just having them end up together without ever addressing or resolving it. I don't think the way he's shown treating Katara in season 3 is fair, and it's a disservice to her character to give her to him like a trophy after the way he treats her.

People who hate Zutara more than they like Kat.aa.ng, for whatever reason: OH YEAH BUT THEN YOU SHIP HER WITH ZUKO??? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT ZUKO [thing he atoned for], [thing everyone forgave him for], [thing Katara specifically forgave him for], [thing he was punished by the narrative for], [mischaracterization], [textbook example of an abused child's behavior], [thing he atoned for], WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THAT HUH??????

[hotpinkarts]

Deadass just had this exact argument and had to block them for spewing rape apologia and calling it "nuance". Gross

[blahuzu]

Ppl who think zutara and taang should've been canon kinda just show to me that they don't actually care about the characters and esp the women because both katara and toph would have to be completely chained and watered down for those ships to ever work

[hotpinkarts]

Because of the terrible in canon writing regarding romance?

[amirazat]

I want to talk about what the guru meant by “letting Katara go”.

Aang, and a lot of KA shippers, seem to interpret letting Katara go as no longer loving Katara. However, as Aang himself points out “three chakras ago love was a good thing”, so we know that love itself isn’t the problem.

Let’s look at how the guru says that love is a good thing.

When unlocking the 4th chakra, we’re told that this chakra deals with love and is blocked by grief. We’re not told that Aang should not love the Air Nomads. We’re told he needs to let go of his grief about their being gone and see that their love is still in the world. We then see Katara’s face, showing that it is her love for Aang which is helping Aang recover from the grief of his loss.

This perfectly connects to the way we’ve seen Aang lose control of the Avatar state. In The Southern Air Temple, Aang loses control because of his grief at their loss.

We see in that same episode that Aang’s realisation that he still has people who can be part of his family is what helps Aang come out of the Avatar State.

The guru isn’t saying that Aang shouldn’t love the Air Nomads. He’s saying Aang needs to be able to carry on in the face of their loss, and be open to new love.

But the loss of the Air Nomads isn’t the only thing to trigger an emotional Avatar State from Aang. We see this again in The Avatar State when General Fong buries Katara.

In order to be able to control the Avatar State, Aang needs to be able to deal with the potential loss of Katara.

But it’s not only the potential loss of Katara’s life that Aang needs to deal with, it’s also the potential loss of her as a romantic prospect.

In The Ember Island Players, Aang tells Katara that if his chakra wasn’t blocked he’d probably be in the Avatar state because of an on stage depiction of Katara and Zuko in a romantic setting.

We are told in canon that Aang is so attached to the idea of his relationship with Katara that it causes him to be unable to control his emotions, and therefore the Avatar state. That’s not healthy, with or without implications about his ability to save the world.

So, what’s the solution? It’s clearly not that Aang cannot love Katara. We know of multiple previous Avatars who fell in love and had happy relationships.

I think that when the guru tells Aang that he needs to let Katara go, that doesn’t mean he needs to stop loving her. It means, as with the Air Nomads, he needs to be able to find peace with the idea of a life without her. He can want her to live, and fight for that with all his might, but if she dies he needs to be able to keep going. He can want to be with Katara, but he needs to be able to accept it if that’s not what she wants.

Aang doesn’t need to give up on the love he has, but has does need to be open to the possibility of new love. The only person who can decide whether Katara is Aang’s “forever girl” is Katara, but if she turns him down, that doesn’t mean that there will never be another love for Aang.

[burst-of-iridescent]

aang choosing katara over the avatar state being seen as a touching display of his love for her is honestly one of the most egregious misreadings of the source text that exists in atla fandom and i really wish this interpretation would stop being touted in support of kat.aang when it is anything but favourable to either the ship or aang himself as a character.

aang having to let go of katara isn’t — in fact, logically cannot be — about having to let go of love, because there is no mention of having to do the same for sokka, toph, appa or momo. and even if we make the caveat that pathik was referring only to romantic love, it still can’t be true because we know that previous avatars have loved and been loved romantically without issue. roku, kyoshi and kuruk all had romantic partners, so there is no reason aang cannot. then it follows that aang needing to let go of katara specifically can only be because what he feels for her is not love — true, pure, selfless love — but attachment. aang’s choice isn’t actually for katara at all; it’s a choice for himself, because he doesn’t want to let go of her.

there’s a reason that aang’s grief over the air nomads gets brought up in this same episode, because it is inextricably intertwined with both his feelings for katara and his role as the avatar. after all, it was his being the avatar that led to the fire nation’s attack; it was his abandonment of that role out of fear that caused him to survive instead of being slaughtered with the rest of his people. the weight of his responsibility, and his failure to meet it, is the weight of his grief, and he cannot accept the former without coming to terms with the latter. this is a large part of why aang has latched onto katara, as a crutch to avoid having to face not only the reality of his loss, but the reality of who he is, and why he has to let her go in order to master the avatar state, the embodiment of what he once ran from.

the narrative framing of the guru episode makes it clear that the audience is meant to view aang’s choice as the wrong one. there’s pathik’s ominous warning — aang intentionally concealing the truth about not having mastered the avatar state from toph and sokka — and even iroh’s advice about choosing love over power (which gets thrown around a lot to defend the narrative dropping this plotline later on) is notably given without iroh being aware of the actual nuance of aang’s situation. with knowledge of the full context, it’s highly likely that iroh (a proponent of meeting your destiny on your own terms) would have said something entirely different.

it’s also narratively inaccurate to attribute the choice of the avatar state to being the choice of power, just as it is to attribute the choice of katara to that of love. within aang’s arc and the set up of his character, the avatar state does not represent power but actualization: the manifestation of who he truly is, and must become. it’s the equivalent of aragorn taking up the crown of gondor, simba returning to pride rock — a staple of the classic hero’s journey, where the protagonist fulfills his goal by facing what he does not want to face and accepting who the story needs him to be. if we apply the Want vs Need paradigm here, then katara is the Want while the avatar state is the Need.

the same arc is mirrored with zuko in the book 2 finale, drawing upon the two characters’ relationships as narrative foils. both zuko and aang choose wrong — choose the Want — and pay the price. then comes sozin’s comet and the agni kai, and the conflict of love vs power returns again with katara as its lynchpin — but this time, when zuko leaps in front of azula’s lightning, we know it’s the right choice because the story has established the choice of katara as the Need, as the completion of zuko’s actualization as a character. in aang’s arc, the choice of katara represents divergence, leading him further away from his destiny; in zuko’s arc, it’s a convergence, the re-alignment of who he was with who he’s destined to be.

and if the show had followed through with what had been initially set up, this moment would have happened simultaneously with aang letting go of katara, making peace with his grief and so earning the avatar state on his own terms in his fight against ozai — completing the reverse triangulation of the CoD plot. but instead aang’s side of this story thread is dropped entirely, fracturing the narrative symmetry between him and zuko, and his own character development in the process. and so, despite how hard both the show and the fandom have attempted to retroactively justify it, aang choosing katara over the avatar state is less a grand romantic gesture and far more an example of one of the show’s biggest narrative failures and frustrating wasted potential.

[zutara]

Imma just play this on loop whenever someone says to me "I'm looking too much into it." Or that "it's not that deep." Because IT. BLOODY. DAMN. IS. We didn't make things up, we've lived it since day one of this fandom. I've been here since our LJ days, guys. Since the series came out. We're not making anything up! We've been living it!!!

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