Aang didn't give Katara her childhood back, he helped steal it from her
I've seen a lot of takes about this recently going over how Katara is super serious and Aang being silly and goofy allows her to relax and be a kid again, when it's quite literally the exact opposite. She is forced into a more serious, maternal role prematurely because she feels she has no choice but to take care of Aang because he is irresponsible in a situation where him being irresponsible has disastrous and fatal consequences attached.
(I also have a problem with a lot of takes I've seen blaming both Katara and the audience for parentifying her: nope, that's intentionally included in the text. It was woven into the very foundation of the Kataang relationship. See beneath the cut.)
Katara stepped up in the absence of her mother and took on all sorts of adult roles for the other children both in the Southern Water Tribe and in the group. And people blame her for this, as if it's her fault for taking on these responsibilities, saying she could stop at any time and that no one is asking her to do these things. But if she stops, it doesn't get done and the stakes for things not getting done include the world ending and more people dying.
They will go without clothes, without food, without shelter, without emotional support (which for Aang means remaining in the Avatar state and actively endangering people!). She keeps the group moving forward, keeps them on track. Literally if she stops, the world ends because she's the one primarily concerned with Aang's training while he wants to play. It was a constant struggle for her to get him to do even the bare minimum of his responsibilities; he remains resisting training even until the very end of the show. Who knows how quickly he would have stopped if she wasn't there the entire time pushing him along?
That isn't him letting her have fun and act like a kid, that is him burdening her with more responsibilities because HE wants to act like a kid in a situation where they don't have the space to. Katara doesn't need to shirk responsibility and mess around, she needs HELP. She needs someone to take some of these necessary chores off her back. She needs freedom from being the one who is just assumed to take all these things on.
Yes, she is a kid. She shouldn't have to deal with this. But because she's responsible and moral, she won't just stop and let everyone suffer because of it. Every time she blows off chores to "be a kid" having fun with Aang, she has more work to do afterwards because no one else will have done the work in her absence. That isn't freeing, it's stressful.
It's also why him putting her on a pedestal and doing meaningless displays for her affections are not signs of real love. Real love is not distracting someone from work you put on their back in a way that makes their life harder, it's finding out what actually would make their life easier and doing that. Which for Katara would be helping her with work that was his to begin with: doing it without being asked, without expecting praise, without needing her to hold his hand through it. Doing it because it is his responsibility to begin with.
People often bring up that he was willing to give up the Avatar state for her. But I submit to you: that wasn't for her, it was for him. He doesn't want responsibility, he wants Katara. And he's willing to subject her to living in a world he no longer can save (a world where her loved ones will suffer and die) to hold onto his one-sided infatuation/attachment to her. Again, this wasn't a gesture of love, it was selfish. He didn't consider how it would affect or negatively impact Katara or if it's even something she'd want (it's not!), just how it would affect him. Just like he doesn't consider how she feels about him back and only worries about how he will feel if she doesn't like him back as if it's the only important factor in their relationship.
Aang doesn't give her back her childhood. He takes it away. She has to be the adult so that he doesn't have to. He gets to be a kid because she's taking care of everything else for him like a mother. Katara was forced to marry a guy she'd always have to be carrying in terms of both domestic labor and emotional labor because that's the dynamic they intentionally wrote. Carrying the weight of a whole other person in a relationship and having to fix all their problems like that is not sustainable and is an abusive dynamic. Love is selfless; it isn't benefitting from the toil of your partner nor doing whatever you want to their detriment.
That's why Zuko joining the group having learned the value behind this kind of labor is so important. He is the only other character shown to take up some of these responsibilities consistently: without being told, without expecting praise, without having his hand held. He packs, serves food, is strict and disciplined about enforcing training onto Aang. He is also the only one who allows Katara to process her negative emotions, another burden that she lifts from others but only Zuko helps her heal from. Katara acts way more like a teenager in front of him than she ever did around the others, teasing him and coming across way lighter. Because with him picking up the slack, she actually has the room and freedom to relax because she has less to worry about.
(How the relationship was characterized and the problems with it under the cut:)
And yes, this dynamic was intentional. Doing everything for him and taking care of him like a mother: intentional. Her feeling obligated to keep performing all this extra labor for him because he's the Avatar and she literally needs him because the world will end if he's not on track: intentional. Him distracting her instead of helping her with burdens placed on her by taking care of him: intentional. Him never actually becoming responsible and helping her pick up the slack: intentional.
This dynamic is intentionally written for Katara to be his supportive mother-girlfriend who does everything for him while he's just goofing around. Because it's a male fantasy. It doesn't matter how draining and frustrating it is for Katara, it just matters that she's eternally devoted to Aang and takes care of all his needs.
Also, it's super creepy that they even knowingly draw attention to the huge power imbalance between them forcing her into an oppressive role like this in that she thinks she has to do this for him because he's the Avatar. That should be considered a huge foundational problem in this dynamic, and it's instead glossed over as if it's a character flaw on Katara's part for Aang to feel insecure about... When Aang actively enables her to believe this all the times he shirks responsibility or puts them in danger when he's in the Avatar state and needs her to prod him back on track. Every time he runs away and leaves them in mortal danger. These all reinforce the power imbalance in their dynamic. Without Katara being forced into this role, again, the world could easily end: the Avatar would not train, or would go into an uncontrolled murderous Avatar state frenzy, etc.
Does she really have a choice here? If the alternative is putting the world at risk?
I saw that excerpt from the leaked series bible last nigh and it pissed me off so bad. they are coping so hard painting it as a good thing because "he makes her laugh!! he takes away her mind off her chores", when it's just basically male incompetence. I mean yeah I guess it's good that she gets to have some fun but at the end of the day, she still has to accomplish those tasks and chores because he is not gonna do it for her or help her at the very least? he has the time to goof around, play pranks, and distract her but not enough time to help or just do his fair share of work so she won't have to take up his chores anymore?
and him giving up the "avatar state" as if he did it for her when who has to carry the burden of pulling him out of it whenever he goes out of control?
and whenever you critize this dynamic they have, they would treat you as the problem.
Zuko had the sudden urge to bite down on her neck and shake her like a rabid pantherwolf. He settled for a threatening growl. It made her snicker.
We are here for the banter, the definitely not unintentional flirting, and their mysterious history together. Become a witness to Zuko's continuous torture in To Hesitate's second chapter: Say Enough (read here!).
@favlie No time to draw, but this is for you! I do like Katara's clothes in the new movie screencaps I've seen. I have not seen the movie because I'd never watch a leak, but a screencap or two o.o But yeah, Lightning scar emotions have consumed me.
This was based on a tweet I’ve been itching to draw. When I first saw it I knew I had to draw it and make it zutara because DUH. So yeah I did a different artstyle so I can finish it quickly.
If you have any headcanons in this AU please feel free to share :>>> pls my brainrot for this AU is so intense
Some of my fellow filipino zutara shippers were talking about what if Zuko and Katara are cast-mates but were secretly dating, at first nobody really thought about the possibilities of them being in a relationship since everyone knows they hate working with each other (but of course that will eventually change).
Then that’s when I knew I had to do a “Most searches questions interview” wherein they were promoting TLOK by doing interviews since they reprised their roles in some flashback scenes.
Would love to see more of these two in this AU!! 💜
I’ll be back to posting Zutara content on ZK week since I’m going to set up my patreon for some spicy content of my favorite ship (hoping to open it by the end of August??)
feeling nostalgic right now 🥹 I still remember being an 8 year old girl loving these characters and seeing them again now 20 years later, it's like you grew up alongside them
feeling nostalgic right now 🥹 I still remember being an 8 year old girl loving these characters and seeing them again now 20 years later, it's like you grew up alongside them
incoming rant, I'm sorry. I'm so pissed because of work yesterday and I go to my place of respite just to see that ppl are shitting on us again. I'm so exhuasted.
just saw someone say that K does not even like Z. did we even watch the same show? did we just skip the part where he went out of his way to accompany katara and how she forgave him and was there for each other during significant moments in their lives? the fandom is okay with zuk*a but for zutaras get shit on a lot especially in that app. they put our whole existence under scrutiny, accuse us of self inserts (as if the creators themselves did not create the mc in their image), and a myriad of things and think that we deserve no amount of respect. tired of people making me feel shitty about the things I like. I usually don't let this get to me but I'm just going through a lot rn so I'm extra sensitive
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