I love how by the first episode that Zuko is a full member of the gaang (The Firebending Masters) even though he's pretty clearly uncomfortable and unsure how to fit in with them partly cause he knows he hasn't yet done enough to be redeemed to them, the other characters, like Sokka namely, are already fully comfortable pissing him off on purpose and find his angry reactions funny instead of intimidating. Like they figured out immediately that he's all bark no bite with people he actually likes or wants the approval of, that you can (literally) poke the bear all you want and all he'll do is growl at you. He knows it's part of his atonement to put up with them annoying the crap out of him, and they all know that Zuko's anger is actually safe. He's a safe person to be angry with and he's a safe person to make angry.
I know this is a touchy subject but I see this argument a lot, and since I feel like it is very wrong for a lot of reasons and I haven't seen a post before listing out those reasons, I decided to have a go at it. Full disclosure, I'm a white woman, I've never been a victim of racism or colonialism or imperialism, so if I get something wrong or say something offensive, let me know. I just think that the amount that this argument is bandied around by antis has always come across to me personally as somewhat insensitive because imho it uses a serious topic as a gotcha in unserious or unrelated situations.
The Water Tribe Was Not Colonized
One thing I think it's important to point out at the start of this discussion is there is a difference between colonization and imperialism. The Water Tribe (and Katara) was a victim of cultural genocide, a symptom of imperialism, but not colonization.
Cultural genocide is the systematic removal of important elements of a culture, such as the waterbending scroll that we see in the Pirates episode, for example. Waterbending itself was also an important part of Southern Water Tribe culture that was wiped out through targeted killings and imprisonment of waterbenders. The Fire Nation's idea was to take away the SWT's bending in order to weaken it and establish themselves as "superior" by removing a way for the SWT to fight back against their dominant position in the world. That is not to say that Katara and the SWT wasn't deeply hurt by the Fire Nation. It's just important to educate ourselves on these terms before we start throwing them around over fictional ships.
Colonization is actually the establishment of colonies and is different from cultural genocide. An example of colonization within the avatar universe is the establishment of Fire Nation colonies on conquered Earth Kingdom territory. Another example is the takeovers of Ba Sing Se and Omashu, where the cities were placed under imperial rule similar to the colonial system, although the cities themselves weren't established by the Fire Nation. Which brings me to my next point:
Double Standards
Song can be seen as a victim of colonization. Although her town in the Earth Kingdom wasn't colonized, she was a refugee from the war and states in her episode, the Cave of Two Lovers, that she had to flee when her home was taken over (and likely colonized) by the Fire Nation. But many people bring up that her and Zuko had some romantic coding in their episode and that Song probably had a bit of a crush on him. She shows him her burn scars, assuming that Zuko also received his as a refugee from the Fire Nation (the story him and Iroh tell her and her mother) in one of their attacks, tells him specifically not to lose hope in the war effort (again assuming he's on the side of the Earth Kingdom), and chooses not to try to stop him or rat him out when he steals her family's ostrich horse. Her confiding in him about her burn is pivotal to Zuko's character because hers is the first specific story he has heard about the way the Fire Nation hurts people, and a story he can relate to, having obviously suffered a burn himself.
Jin was also a victim of colonization. She lived in Ba Sing Se, which was colonized by the Fire Nation. And yet, when people bring up Jinko as a possible ship, like Zuko and Song, even though he lied to both girls about his identity and they didn't know the effect him and his nation had on their lives, these ships don't receive nearly the amount of vitriol as zutara due to the "colonizer/ colonized" argument. To make matters worse, Zuko was personally involved in the colonization of Ba Sing Se. He didn't create the plan to infiltrate the city like Azula, or carry it out like Ty Lee and Mai, but his involvement in the battle between him and Azula and Aang and Katara is implied to have tipped the scales in Azula's favor. In other words, Azula probably could not have colonized Ba Sing Se if it weren't for him.
Sokka was also a victim of cultural genocide in the same way that Katara was, but again, the zukka ship does not get nearly as many accusations as being colonizer/ colonized as zutara. The main reason for this might be a fandom phenomenon I have seen where people claim it is somehow worse to ship zutara than zukka because Sokka isn't a waterbender, and in their minds that makes him less of a victim, but that is not the case. Sokka was also a victim of cultural genocide. Sokka is literally Katara's sister. They are in the same family. If he were to have a child, they could be a waterbender. Waterbending is an integral part of Southern Water Tribe culture, and therefore Sokka's culture, that the Fire Nation tried to destroy. Sokka isn't less Water Tribe because he isn't a waterbender. Beyond that, much of the Southern Water Tribe, not just waterbending, was destroyed in Fire Nation raids. Nonbenders (like Kya, Sokka's literal mother) are implied to have lost their lives in those raids. Zutara isn't a "worse" ship because Katara is a waterbender and Sokka isn't.
And I'm not trying to say that people shouldn't ship Zukka or Jinko or Jetko or any other Zuko ship I didn't specifically mention. I actually don't really have a problem with any of the ships I listed and I've read fic for at least two of them. I'm just pointing out that for whatever reason Zuko's impact on the colonization (or other kind of imperialism) of those character's homes isn't brought up nearly as much as an anti argument against them. People just have a problem with Zuko being a "colonizer" when it comes to zutara.
Context of Character Arcs and Why They Matter
And the reason I don't have a problem with those ships despite Zuko being responsible or complicit in a lot of the horrible things that happen to those characters is because within the narrative, he is not viewed as a colonizer. His entire point within the story is a representation of the Fire Nation atoning for its mistakes. He realizes the error of his ways, makes up for them, becomes the leader of his country, and goes on to broker peace between nations. He personally makes up for his mistakes, then teaches his country to do the same. He is representative symbolically of what the Fire Nation (and real world imperialist nations) need to do in order for power structures to be rebalanced.
In fact, in a way, because Zuko and Katara's relationship is pivotal to Zuko's arc and therefore to the rebalancing of the world (since Zuko is fire lord and the symbolic representation of his entire nation), zutara is a way to further Zuko's arc or even the natural conclusion of his arc. This is seen most prominently in the last agni kai, the fight scene between Zuko, Katara, and Azula, which is their final fight in the whole series. The final act of Zuko's arc, and of his redemption, is to save Katara's life. The story chooses to acknowledge that he has hurt her and his people have hurt her people by making his service to her his last step in making up for his past mistakes. The narrative is telling us that Zuko would not be redeemed without selflessly putting his throne, his country, his future, and his life on the line for Katara. To examine that further, Azula is named after Azulon, the Fire Lord who ordered the raids on Katara's people. Azula is also representative of the cost of imperialism to the imperialist country's own citizens, and is a foil to Zuko by showing the difference between a path dictated by possessiveness and power and one dictated by genuine connection and humility. Katara in this scene is also the last Southern waterbender, the physical representation of both the memory of her culture and the loss of it. And if she were hit by Azula's lightning, she would die, and a large part of that culture would die with her. Symbolically, by taking the lightning for Katara, Zuko is not only redeeming himself, but also saving all that Katara represents: an entire culture, one that his family and nation have wronged for generations. Katara and Zuko's relationship isn't one that is meant textually to represent the horrors of imperialism, but the healing from imperialism, and what can happen when someone who has power within an imperialist system uses it to protect those that system victimizes instead of using it to benefit himself.
Beyond that, it is worth examining whether the show and what the narrative of the show is telling us about these characters is outdated. Because Zuko represents the Fire Nation making up for its mistakes, he is the meter stick by which we have to judge how atla handled atonement for imperialism as a concept. So did Zuko do enough to be redeemed in order to be viewed as a good guy at the end and become Fire Lord, or is atla itself a relic of its time and no longer appropriate to represent imperialism and its consequences to today's children? Since I think my opinion on that matter is already pretty clear, I will leave that up to the interpretation of the people reading this post, because if antis genuinely want to argue with me that even in the last scene of the show, Zuko did not do enough to be redeemed, then what they are saying is that atla itself doesn't handle the issue of imperialism correctly. If you are saying that because Zuko is viewed as redeemed even when he shouldn't be, you are also saying that atla does not properly examine the themes of imperialism it sets out to examine. And to be clear, I do think that there are problems with this show. We have twenty years of hindsight now and just because you find flaws with it does not mean it is inherently a bad or "racist" show, but I am saying that antis can't have it both ways. If saving Katara and Katara herself are so important to Zuko's arc, important enough to be the last step to his redemption, as I have spelled out above, then why is it not appropriate for them to be paired romantically? Either Zuko is not redeemed by the final agni kai, or zutara is perfectly fine and this entire colonizer/colonized argument has always been performative. It quite literally can't be both.
Zuko's Actions Towards Katara In Season One
The final problem antis seem to have with canon zutara (aka the situations that the show itself puts these two characters in, not the situations the fandom puts them in) is how Zuko's actions in season one towards Katara are "racist" or imperialistic. And yes, they are, but let's explore why his specific actions leave room for redemption.
When Zuko first comes to Katara's village in The Avatar Returns, Zuko is undoubtedly using his status as a prince from an imperialist nation to benefit himself. There's no getting around that his actions can be seen as an in-universe expression of racism and benefitting from racist systems. However, Zuko's intentions aren't to in any way progress the cultural genocide that has already occurred in the Southern Water Tribe. He just wants the avatar. He is using his imperial power to procure the avatar, yes, but he leaves the village alone the moment Aang gives himself over. He doesn't indiscriminately start burning down people's homes or take cultural artifacts or try to arrest Katara as the last southern waterbender. In fact, he doesn't do anything to Katara. He manhandles her grandmother, yes, but all of his actions in this scene can be chalked up to general cartoonish kids show villainy, not cultural genocide. Again, he leaves the moment he has Aang.
And as for the whole "I'll save you from the pirates" debacle, I think the main problem antis have with this is that when you really squint at it the scene has sort of rapey undertones, but I think that's where people need to take a step back for a moment because there is absolutely no way that it was the creators' intention to create those undertones or that implication. Again, it's a kids show. No typical eight-year-old is going to have anything weird to say about that scene. The villain tied up one of the protagonists and questioned her as a way to progress the storyline. It's really not as deep as antis try to make it seem. Genre and audience do matter when discussing things like this.
And in the end, Katara chooses to forgive Zuko herself. She decides that while she can never truly forgive the man who killed her mother, she can forgive someone who is trying as hard as he possibly can to make up for his mistakes. She remembers all of his past actions and feels betrayed by him, but recognizes herself that he has changed.
Fire Lady Katara and Ambassador Katara Headcanons
Finally, let's examine fanon a little bit here because I have seen people claim that it isn't necessarily the show that makes zutara problematic, its the shippers, specifically in the implication that if Katara married Zuko she would be Fire Lady.
One anti argument is that shippers are in some way making Katara responsible for the welfare of the Fire Nation and the people that have hurt her and her culture. It isn't the intention of zutara shippers with the fire lady headcanon to imply that it is somehow Katara's duty to help Fire Nation people, but that she would likely want to be involved somehow on the world stage and this is a way for her to achieve that. It is in character for Katara, who has always wanted to have a positive affect on the world and is conscious of her ability to do so, to want to be on the world stage after the war is over. She's a fighter, she says in canon that she wants to fight, so why would she not want to continue fighting politically after the war is over? As for the idea that she wouldn't want to help Fire Nation people specifically, a large part of Katara's arc is realizing that no type of bending, and by extension no nation of people, are entirely good or entirely bad. She has to come to terms with this in her fight with Hama to save the Fire Nation people she kidnapped and through her discovery of bloodbending, which the narrative uses as a representation of the "bad" parts of waterbending. Katara is also not a person who has a problem with general citizens of the Fire Nation. She plays with Mai's little brother during his "kidnapping" in Return to Omashu, helps save the people Jet is targeting in Jet, offers to heal Iroh when Azula hits him with lightning in The Chase, and is one of the first people to believe that Zuko has the possibility to change in Crossroads of Destiny. She also canonically helps Fire Nation people as the painted lady because she wants to save the citizens from the military industrial complex of the Fire Nation. She canonically wants to make changes to the way the Fire Nation government is run to help its citizens. In a hypothetical world where she was in a relationship with Zuko, why would she not want to be Fire Lady?
Another anti argument is that Katara would have to abandon her culture to become Fire Lady, which again is not the intention of shippers who have this headcanon and is also logistically false. If Katara were to become Fire Lady, she would have power over the country that once hurt her people as the second most powerful rank in that nation (and I have also seen people headcanon that she and Zuko would rule jointly, so simply one of the most powerful people in the FN, in that case) and mother of the future fire lord. She would be able to personally oversee reparations and relations between the Southern Water Tribe and the Fire Nation. She would be able to shape the country into something better and thereby help her people preserve their culture.
Now, that's not to say that if zutara were to become canon, the writers behind that wouldn't have to tread carefully in order to make sure their relationship never veered into problematic territory. But since it isn't canon, it isn't worth thinking about that hypothetical. If zutara were canon and something problematic that made the ship seem like it had a power imbalance or was feeding off of in-universe structural imbalances in any way, then that would be an entirely different argument. But like I said, it isn't canon. Fire Lady Katara isn't in atla, she is a figment of shippers imaginations, and, for the most part, that headcanon is handled delicately by the fandom.
And yes, there are some zutara fanfics or fandom posts I have personally stumbled across that I find problematic, but those opinions, tropes, and shippers are not the majority in the fandom. Every fandom has "bad apples" and other ship fandoms within the avatar fandom are not exempt from that. Racism, believe it or not, is not a problem that is exclusive to the zutara fandom.
Conclusions
All of that being said, I do think this is important to talk about and I hope we continue talking about it (albeit in an educated, intelligent, and understanding way) going forward. I think it's important to take a look at media, especially media from twenty years ago, along with the fandom that goes with it, and reexamine it from time to time just to make sure that it is up to our current moral standard in society as we continue to learn more about the affects of and educate ourselves on serious topics like imperialism and colonialism. But by those standards, zutara is not colonizer/ colonized. It doesn't even come close to problematic when you consider some of the popular E2L ships out there.
Ty Lee’s character: an attempt at a deeper analysis through symbolism, context clues and her place within her social circle
Foreword - why I’m writing this
To give you the full context, I’ve recently been dipping my toes back into ATLA and some of my meanderings have made me develop newfound appreciation for characters from the fire nation, most notably Ty Lee. It is meaningful, because she was one of those characters I didn’t really pay that much attention to before, as she never made a strong impression on me back in the day.
But since I’ve been exploring the character of Azula through various fanfic ideas (we’ll see if I ever get to finishing those ahem), by extension, I’ve been interested in trying to analyze how the mean girl triumvirate functions and- well. Turns out Ty Lee is kind of an underrated oddball, and my brain decided to fully latch onto her.
So here I am, trying to figure out how to best portray her for the stories I have in mind, while also trying to stay true to her character and doing it justice. And through various readings sessions of meta, something becomes clear.
Ty Lee is one of those characters that is very easy to misinterpret. She appears simple, fairly straightforward; she is capable while still retaining manners and personality traits that make her girly, cute and subservient, her having a decidedly supporting role throughout the show. With that, add the fact she is put next to characters that are either much more assertive, charismatic, or stubborn than her, and she kinda… fades in the background. She bends (ha, get it?) in a way that makes her surprisingly evasive, and as result, she is actually harder to nail down and figure out than what first meets the eye.
And something else stood out - the various metas I’ve read didn’t really spend time trying to analyze the situation and various settings she navigates. Although it is very easy to fall into that kind of oversight - I feel this is what actually informs a lot of her character. So here’s, hopefully, a perspective on her in the OG tv series (and only within that series) that is a little different and that’ll bring something new to the table.
Buckle up, this is fairly long. (More under the cut)
Starting point: audience contention regarding Ty Lee at the end of the show’s canon
Let’s start with a situation most people who’ve watched show will be familiar with, and one of the things that is at the forefront of the discussions surrounding Ty Lee: her decision to join the Kyoshi warriors. More precisely, some people would point this choice of hers as either arriving from left field and/or being OOC.
I think this perception is not illogical and perhaps even expected. But it’s mostly a consequence of the rushed finale + her being a supporting character and thus the development we see of her is bound to be smaller compared to others. Now, with that being said I’d argue her joining the Kyoshi warriors is not OOC. But’s let’s unpack that and see where that thread lead us, shall we?
Let’s start with the immediate situation and its implication.
Some people rightfully pointed out the circumstances in which Ty Lee would have bonded with the Kyoshi warriors would allow for a connection to be both authentic in nature, and go deeper than surface level. Namely, bonding in prison (a very particular kind of setting) and because she defied and stood against an important authority figure within the fire nation, short of standing to the firelord himself, and as a result, she also effectively resisted the very nation she was previously fine enforcing the rules for.
Of course, we as an audience know the reasons that enabled this choice. And these reasons aren’t motivated by idealism or a sudden understanding of her role within the larger context of the war.
She isn’t an antagonist seeing the errors of her ways and this isn’t a conscientious decision to ‘’change sides’’. She is a person who is put into a tense, grueling situation, someone that is essentially asked to choose between two friends and whose answer is to go against the one with more power over the situation (and unsurprisingly, the one that was potentially at the helm of most of the mistreatment she suffered during her time with her).
Regardless of intent, this choice is significant and holds weight.
It is courageous, and yes, I’d argue it is also noble even if it is selfish. And if Ty Lee was truthful with the Kyoshi warriors about the circumstances directly causing her to end up where she did, explaining her choice without leaving place for ambiguity (which, yknow, is up for debate, this is taking place off-screen), the Kyoshi warriors would probably still see this decision as brave, regardless of their personal opinion on Ty Lee’s motivations.
Change doesn’t happen overnight, yet, this is an action with deep ramification: Ty Lee suffers the consequences immediately and drastically. There is no ambiguity about what she did, as well as the gravity of her action, so she cannot walk that back. That creates a potential catalyst for her to adjust her perpective, something that could lead her to actually stand up to authoritarianism and injustice outside of purely interpersonal incentives. And I think the Kyoshi warriors would recognize that, first and foremost. Especially seeing their own history as an independent political entity and the founding of their order.
Now, with that part acknowledged and out of the way, there’s also several other aspects of Ty Lee’s character that makes this choice to stand against Azula logical, and yes, also the choice to join the Kyoshi warriors not so far fetched. And I’d also argue, aspects that make her overall decisions / motivations as a character much more obvious to us.
Let’s get into the meat of the analysis, shall we?
Ty Lee’s introduction scene - framing where the implicit is king
First, remember, Ty Lee is introduced in a very particular way.
We very quickly come to understand she basically said ‘’fuck this I’m outta here’’ to her old life, getting away from her family and, by extension, the social circle she also developed throughout her training at school. We can speculate how much that was a spur of the moment decision, or something she pondered on for months, if not years. We can also speculate on whether this was the result of a singular and remarkable incident, or a series of repeated events / persistent dynamics that made her situation regarding life at home feel untenable. But essentially, we as the audience are shown she ran away.
This is not neutral at all, although I insist on the fact this is shown. It is not outright stated, as Azula seems particularly avoidant regarding the exact circumstances leading Ty Lee to ditch her old life in the first place.
QUOTE: ’’Tell me what is the daughter of a noble man doing here? Certainly our parents didn’t send us to the royal fire academy for girls to end up in’’ (pregnant pause) ’’-places like this?’’ Azula — EP3, S2
So while the scene has a serious undertone, it still remains fairly light and we already have a very highly significant bit of information. But wait, there’s more. Where does she run off to again? Oh, yeah, the circus! Now this is even more interesting.
Yes, this means she can revel in the attention she would get as a performer. And of course this plays to her strengths (flexibility and agility, athleticism, showmanship, charm), which allows further recognition for her abilities as a unique individual. But I find that it’s highly meaningful that the place she chose, the place where she thinks she would belong and be appreciated, if not the place where she could be appreciated most, is the motherfucking circus of all things. Why? Well.
The circus is a highly symbolic and dramatic setting. It is a place of wonder but also of tragedy, as it centers a lot of dynamics surrounding both performances for the sake of an audience as well as social hierarchies.
Perhaps you see where I’m going with this…
The circus as a framing and foreshadowing device; a setting that informs Ty Lee’s past, her motivations and echoes her eventual role within Azula’s orbit
Now I need to specify this part is a little more speculative by nature, simply because we don’t have that much context to go off of on that aspect of Fire Nation culture as a whole - circuses and the likes I mean. But we certainly have enough to infer a few things, don’t we?
Let’s start with what is outright stated to us, the audience.
This decision? Oh, this is a decision that is both unexpected and that reflects badly on her - as far as conventions go. I mean, from Azula’s comment alone the circus is implied to be low brow entertainment, a place that is without a doubt beneath Ty Lee’s social status; she shouldn’t be there. It is also unsurprising the only affirmation she receives regarding that decision later on (as it is not judged) is coming from Mai - someone that has a few unconventional tastes and attitudes herself.
QUOTE: (Puzzled and soft voice) ’’I thought you ran off and joined the circus, you said it was your calling.’’ Mai — EP3, S2
So there’s already a not so subtle element of nonconformity from Ty Lee, as well as perceived class betrayal / class traitor behavior from Azula’s perspective taking place in that scene.
And alright, let’s play devils advocate for a hot second. Maybe it is the most convenient thing to do for Ty Lee, the most efficient, the fastest way to get away, and she doesn’t care as long it allows her to put enough distance between her and her initial situation. Maybe not. Maybe this is informed by a lot more than just practicality (we’ll get to it later). Regardless, Ty Lee still made that choice.
Now, let’s add another layer to the analysis by looking at what kind of places circuses are IRL. And more particularly by noting the specific time period that is hinted at within the show’s timeline (industrial revolution) - the direct result of the fire nation’s being a technological powerhouse.
In that era, circuses were places of popular entertainment, and most notably places where freak shows were taking place.
Now, this is perhaps another element that causes Azula to find the whole thing distasteful, perhaps not (does she know?). But with that dimension, this shifts things into something else, doesn’t it? Much more grimy aspects come into the subtext, as well as potential social commentary. Because, there comes the unavoidable dynamics inherent to entertainment as an economical sector, especially popular entertainment: exploitation and objectification, where physical differences are made into a spectacle and that are othered further through the process.
Hm. Wait, wait… doesn’t some of this sound… familiar?
Sub-section; life in the circus: potential exploitation
While Ty Lee may not be at the bottom of the barrel in the circus hierarchy for the (unknown) amount of time she spent there, she is a performer first in that particular context, and the extent of her agency probably begins and ends at her own numbers and her routine.
Now, perhaps her status as a noble could prevent her from full on blown exploitation, or at least the nastier aspects of it (if she doesn’t hide that fact from the ringmaster). But I’d say there is enough lingering ambiguity about the whole she-bang where that info could also be used against her own interests, depending on how exploitative that circus headmaster is.
If she did mention it, he’d likely deduced she ended up on his doorstep because there’s a problem in her life she can’t solve, and she likely wouldn’t have chosen THIS whole thing as a career path otherwise. A noble girl? Choosing the circus purely out of passion? Yeah, right! There must be something else going on in her life, something she is trying to escape.
If she didn’t, there’s no additional leverage she could use to even the playing field if he decided to push her boundaries, and extract as much work as he can while she is underneath his authority.
Either way, as her boss he can certainly lean into pressuring her and demand more of her, especially over time. Which… well. Since we see that same circus later on in the series with Appa’s episode, and how that same ringmaster insists one of his employee, the tamer, plays that number with the sky bison even though the guy tells him this is too soon and Appa is not ready… yknow, hm, it’s probable, at the very least.
QUOTE: ’’Too riksy? What are you talking about, this is the circus, home of fear and danger! I want the wind buffaloo playing tonight!’’ Circus Ringmaster — EP16, S2
Now while we don’t know if this happened - and it may very well not have - isn’t that interesting how we are introduced to Ty Lee primarily through her role as a performer? And how that role is directly tied to an exploitation that DOES happen in the show and which we actually see unfold? And which is also enabled through ANOTHER hierarchical dynamic?
(You could say this also introduces and reflects Azula’s role within her own nation, symbolically speaking - as she is taking over the mantle of the ringmaster in that infamous scene, dictating the performance according to what she thinks is the best way to act so her singular desire for domination is satisfied, and all with very codified and theatrical manners to boot. And well, yeah, it certainly can, food for thought! But this meta is not focusing on that. Moving on!)
With that in mind, there’s also another really iffy aspect to Ty Lee’s position as a circus performer, and what function she could potentially occupy within that specific sphere - and yes, you guessed it, also one that is actually echoed further in the show.
Sub-section; life in the circus: unavoidable objectification
If you really take the time to ponder on how Ty Lee can bend her limbs with incredible ease, how effortless she makes it look, and how consistently it is shown throughout most the show… It becomes clear - she is not just an acrobat, she is a contortionist. And with the comment Katara, but most notably Zuko, made at her expense? The circus freak insult? This only adds credence to it.
Despite this, I’d argue it’s almost a blink and you’ll miss moment.
First, her abilities are remarkable, yes, but she exists in a fictional setting where she is put next to people who 1. also are very athletic and 2. who can literally manipulate the elements on top of their physical fitness. Even if her abilities are acknowledged sporadically throughout her fight scenes, they end up coming short in comparison to the performances of the other actors, so to speak. If anything, it is her skill for chi blocking which has the most attention drawn to it (even though this feat is also incredibly understated for the potential disruptive power that it has).
So, to come back to this contortionist angle : it is there, but it is not overt, especially because it's showcased outside of battle. In other words, this is not presented as incredible. Rather, it’s introduced as mostly quirky, an odd habit of hers she likes to show off. Combine this with her easy going personality, and you can predictably end up being rather forgetful of that very specific ability of hers (this is fully intentional on part of the writing, mind you).
Second, even if you see Zuko’s treatment of her in the infamous Beach episode, and rightfully recognize it as not simply a mean comment but as prejudice, there’s a decent chance you won’t end up associating the remark to her abilities but rather to her choices. Because while Zuko insults her person, he also insults the place she ran off to. And by way of proxy he insults her ‘’lifestyle’’ and how ‘’she makes a fool out of herself’’.
(Very small tangent regarding his reaction - this is unsurprising. Zuko is blunt and emotional, doubly so in that episode, where he is in a situation (regaining his place by betraying his uncle) where he still feel conflicted (and guilty) over. Add with that he is both a prince (social class aspect), and is someone that had a lot of expectations put on his shoulders for his firebending ability, which was supposed to be demonstrated through ritualistic performances at an early age. Performances he couldn’t do properly, most of the time. As a result, you have this boiling hot pot of a man predictably acquiring shame and an inferiority complex over it. Of course, he’s gonna project his own feelings of inadequacy onto Ty Lee and feel embarrassed by proxy over anything that might resemble goofy or unabashedly quirky demonstrations.)
But even if you only have the classist / class traitor angle in mind when this scene unfolds, there’s certainly another layer of subtext there, isn’t it? It is even acknowledged directly in the same scene - as Ty Lee reclaims the insult (subtext, oh wonderful sweet subtext).
QUOTE: (Teary eyed, emotional voice) ’’At least, I'm different now. Circus freak is a compliment!’’ Ty Lee — EP5, S3
That’s where the freak shows come back into play; and that’s where the extent of Ty Lee’s potential role within the circus could have taken a darker turn, as she could have been made to be an object of both fascination and repulsion for her audience. Someone who is othered through the process of a literal show, a show made possible because of physical traits and abilities that are deemed abnormal.
And, to come back to what is actually shown to us in ATLA - isn’t that interesting how Ty Lee’s subsequent exploitation at the hands of Azula primarily takes the form of her fighting, thus demonstrating her physical skills? Putting her in situations where chi blocking - a rare ability - is made into a literal show of force, a declaration of prowess meant to be seen as intimidating, even disturbing? Using her as an actual weapon?
This is something that would, and without the added messiness of her relation with Azula thrown into the mix, understandably alienate someone’s sense of self over time - even if they were incredibly good at it and valued for it.
And especially within someone who seemed content to use said abilities within a purely non-violent context. Now that is not to say Ty Lee is a pacifist and that the fact she leaned toward a purely theatrical setting for the use of her abilities is the product of actual convictions; I’d warrant it’s a consequence of her interests / skills being valued as forms of entertainment above all else, as Ty Lee doesn’t seem to mind fighting all that much. But that theatrical setting is deeply tied to nonconformity nonetheless.
Which brings us back to her choices that leads to her introduction.
Sub-section; the circus, a place for oddballs and marginals
Ty Lee’s decision to go with the circus also hints at a something else surrounding her character. Namely, Ty Lee eventually stands out not only because she wants to, but because she needs to.
People’s perception of her social class and her gender (a noble girl), and them inferring her ‘’proper’’ place and behavior within the world in accordance to it, is what allows others to deny her agency and her sense of self. She is denied individuality by her parents because of it, as well as being denied full agency as a person by her elders and peers - with her ending up caught between various shows of deference, various rituals she HAS to go through if she wants to be acknowledged and taken seriously.
Of course, this applies to both Mai and Azula as well. But in Ty Lee’s case, not only does she knows it’s not for her benefit but for someone else’s (contrary to Azula, who acts primarily in the interest of her father and seems convinced enough of the stable nature of their bond, convinced of his recognition for her competence and legitimacy to not question him - until it comes back to bite her in the ass), but her decision to leave and go to the circus suggests she can’t find it in herself to completely shrug off the performative and transactional dynamic underneath these various relationships, even if she seems to manage it just fine, even appearing to be great at it at first glance (contrary to Mai, who knows very well what she has to deal with is bullshit and has certainly stuff to say about it, not putting up as much of a front, but who also is mostly unwilling to act in ways that would durably threaten her position and thus the status quo - until, you guessed it, it comes back to bite her in the ass).
And it’s not difficult to see how Ty Lee would develop that kind of acute yet fretful awareness - as her introduction to that facet of a noble girl life, whose family only values her for what she can be or do for them, takes place earlier in her life and in a much more overt and symbolically violent way - and that is the situation with her sisters.
QUOTE: (Teary eyed, emotional voice) ’’Do you have any idea what my home life was like, growing up with six sisters who look exactly like me? It was like, I didn't even have my own name!’’ Ty Lee — EP5, S3
I find it interesting that Ty Lee doesn’t actually use the word ‘’septuplets’’ to qualify her sisters and her in that scene. It is implied, but there’s also just enough wiggle room for us to have another way to interpret what she says - and that is even more mortifying to think about.
Ways to interpret what Ty Lee says
She is a septuplet, and her parents don’t really bother to try and tell them apart, perhaps even going so far as naming all of them with names that sound very similar. This interpretation implies various degrees of fixation on image and neglect / heavy neglect.
She is not a septuplet, and her parents are actively modeling her image so her and her sisters look identical. This interpretation implies a heavy obsession with image and psychological / emotional abuse.
Regardless of which interpretation you personally prefer, we come to learn she is indeed primarily valued through image — through what it reinforces within her familial dynamics and what it mirrors back toward her parents. In other words: Ty Lee is showed in a very unequivocal way that she is property and commodity, first and foremost, not unlike a doll would be.
This effectively makes it impossible for Ty Lee to not have cognitive dissonance about the whole thing. And in turn, makes it impossible for her to fully satisfy the norms and expectations she was born and raised with in the long run. No matter how much she tries to placate others through conformity or through compromise, no matter how much she tries to stick at it. She cannot be entirely boxed in, as being boxed in results in a deep denial of herself, therefore it is a death sentence.
And, we forget this because we are introduced to her that way - but she made plans to change her situation and she was the first amongst her friend group to take action, following through. Those were not perfect plans, mind you. But she arguably already had a little character arc on her own before the show even began. Of course there’s obvious neurodivergent / disability / queer subtext here, and it’s really, really not surprising that people see this, see her, Azula and Mai, and end up shipping them as a result.
(No it’s not only the strong and capable all girl team aspect, all of them have various subtextual degrees of nonconformity - and all the logical implications following that - sprinkled in through their characters and their dynamics. And the messiness adds realness and stakes too, I’d wager.)
But to back to her decision - Ty Lee’s choice to go with the circus could very well have been motivated by a very romantic ideal of life on the road / life as a performer, or an earnest passion for acrobatics and tricks. She is young and impulsive, and she might not be aware of everything that life entails, especially all the darker ramifications. She also may also have seen this occupation, been informed enough to know some of the sordid aspects of what a circus performer life is actually like, and found the whole prospect to be empowering enough to be worth the risk.
But, with the previous core aspects of the circus world I described (exploitation/objectification), there’s also ambiguity being introduced into her motivations.
Ty Lee’s decision to go with a traveling troupe could both look like a passion come true, an unexpected escape route for an eccentric girl, and also like something that was born out of desperation and/or deeper self-awareness/self-perception within her familial and larger social circle, an impulse that leads her to seek connection on the fringes. Her attempted reclamation of Zuko’s insult certainly seems to lean into that particular brand of subtext.
Short character study; Ty Lee - ''Not your toy''
[ She can’t help but stand out.
So, perhaps she is a freak and perhaps that’s where she truly belongs - with others that can’t help but stand out too. At least, there, people would be honest with their perception of her. At least, there, they wouldn’t seek her out without a very clear, unambiguous goal in mind. At least, there, they wouldn’t make her participate in games she wouldn’t want to play in the first place.
Yes, she would need to put on a show for them, but that would be a show she would actually enjoy doing - contrary to the show her parents wants, contrary to the show the school wants, contrary to the show Azula wants. Attention in exchange for validation. Validation in exchange for entertainment. Performance at its most basic level. Transactional still, yes. But on her own terms and out of her own volition.
Freedom always has a price anyway. And perhaps she prefers to pay that price then navigating the regimented life of a noble, prefers this to the dutiful path of servitude to higher powers, prefers this to the pampered existence of a girl made to join the ranks of pristine little dolls.
She is not made of porcelain. Even if circus life can be grimy and painful, it is thrilling. It makes her feel alive, just like eating spicy treats by the dozen and running at full speed against the wind makes her feel alive. Blood runs through her veins - so let it flow, let it flush her cheeks red and make her heart ache.
For she is not made of porcelain. ]
Conclusion - Ty Lee’s choices put into perspective: defying Azula and her decision to join the Kyoshi warriors (+ Kyoshi warrior analysis)
So, to loop back to the original starting point - what am I getting at?
Ty Lee, whether she made a fully informed decision on the basis of interest/passion, and/or something that was also brought on by rashness/desperation, entered a specific social sphere of influence (the circus).
That sphere, while also subject to performance imperatives and hierarchical dynamics, is also deeply associated with nonconformity, thus with marginalized people and queerness.
The circus also points to pre-existing traits within her as well pre-existing dynamics that were present in her life - she is abnormal in some way (contortionist/chi blocker) and ultimately doesn’t want to fit in (denial of identity and of her desires). But because she is constrained by strong societal pressures (parents, school, her friend and the royal heir Azula), she ends up performing that abnormality in a way that is available to her and in a way that is palatable to a potential audience, so she can escape the brunt of the violence directed her way. Whether that is with Azula as her friend and teammate, or with the circus as a performer.
The choice to join the circus - because it is about choice, about agency - also implies self-awareness on some extent, and a willingness to follow through. Through that decision, she is defying societal norms whether those come into play through class (noble ditching responsibilities), gender (young girl on the run), or through unusual and iconic bodily performances (making her abilities visible and undeniable, making them take center stage).
As the choice is taken away from her, yet again, she is made to go back to one of her initial social circle and routines seemingly goes back in place - business as usual. But she still has experienced enough of this temporary reprieve for it to make an impression on her, and she had succeeded in achieving her goals, if only for a time.
Her decision to defy Azula on that prison pontoon isn’t just her standing with Mai or just her standing up to Azula. Symbolically, it’s also her standing up for herself and denying the hierarchical and societal powers that have plagued her life so far (that Azula wields and embodies), and that would continue to demand her obedience and surrender of her identity if she didn’t put her foot down - because they are never really satisfied, are they?
So, her joining the Kyoshi warriors - an all women institution outside of her own nation, that is geared toward protection, toward the ideal of justice and of resistance in the face of oppression - well, it doesn’t appear that illogical in an of itself now, does it?
Although I can hear some people bring the very obvious visual aspect of the Kyoshi uniform as a potential point of contention.
And alright, yes, I can see it and it could be something that initially puts Ty Lee off, as this is an order of fighters that puts emphasis on a traditional apparel and thus a standardized presentation. But I would try to keep in mind that not all standardized presentations are made equal, and in the case of the Kyoshi warriors, it carries deeper implications than just a simple ’’uniform’’.
Here’s a few thoughts regarding that:
The Kyoshi uniform visual presentation has room for compromise, and we see it through the variety throughout hair styles, accessories and the likes. Kyoshi warriors are very much allowed to add tweaks and additions to their attire. It’s different than a purely militaristic uniform, as the unified front is there but individuality is not denied.
Kyoshi warriors value community and group cohesion. Primarily because they come from an insular community with a population that is implied to be much smaller in numbers than the big players on the chessboard. Their dress code is a representation of that cultural/communal component, a thread that unifies them on a very basic level. But it is also meant to signal who they are to outsiders and so they can assert themselves on a larger scale than just their homeland. And it goes further than simple appearances, as that cohesion also expresses itself through either shared cultural knowledge and values or/and shared goals and ideals, aimed toward protection / justice / resistance.
Their order is not ancient, but it is has history. And that history is tied to both the figure of the Avatar in general (an intercultural agent of mediation and conflict resolution, ready to act in defense of others and through force if it is deemed necessary), but also to the very individual that founded their order and which resides underneath that role, Kyoshi herself. You know, Kyoshi, a woman that basically said ‘’fuck you’’ to a conqueror (Chin) right to his face and to the whole nation he represented (Earth Kingdom)? A woman that basically denied demands for submission of her and her people, and effectively formed a society free of oppression from those same imperialistic powers, asserting herself as both an independent agent and as a leader throughout her life?
If Ty Lee made the decision to join them, even if it would understandably create friction in the very first stages, I think the Kyoshi warriors would value her identity, her inputs and her perspective. Because in their society women are not only people with agency and whose voices matter, they also are the primordial agents of societal change, and protectors of that change. Not to mention Kyoshi herself was also an Earth Kingdom citizen until she took her own path. There is probably a very prevalent understanding in their ranks that people can change their minds and take matters into their own hands, regardless of where they come from.
Also, Kyoshi the individual is long dead, and the Kyoshi warriors are not serving her or anyone who claims to speak in her name. This isn’t a group tasked to implement a singular individual’s vision or agenda onto their society or the world at large. They are honoring Kyoshi’s legacy and following in her footsteps, asserting what they want for themselves and their people while making sure they’re not trampled by outside forces looking to define their destinies in their stead.
To come back to Ty Lee and the symbolism associated with her background - dolls - the Kyoshi warriors stand in stark contrast to the metaphor unveiled there.
They are not dolls. They are taking on something that could be misconstrued as the appearance of dolls, at first glance, but they are anything but - they are not passive, they are not subservient, they aren’t made to just look pretty and to be gawked at, nor are they meant to elevate someone else’s image exclusively through their presentation or/and mere presence. Kyoshi warriors are capable, assertive, equally graceful and lethal. The attire and the artifacts they don are elements of a performance they are infusing with something greater than themselves (Kyoshi’s sense of justice) but that has space to carry something deeply personal within it as well (their conviction, their refusal to deny themselves their voice, their sense of self against adversity). The facepaint they wear is a mask that allows them to channel Kyoshi’s spirit, undeniably not to just emulate her but also to be inspired by her. To have that reassurance that yes, they have the capacity to manifest what they want into the world, just like she did.
To be a Kyoshi warrior in the ATLA setting (at least in the OG series) is occupying a position inherently tied to subversion. And to various degrees, it’s also embodying progressive values, if not outright revolutionary ones (without getting into the political organization of Kyoshi as an entity, because we don’t have that many information about it, see how Sokka instantly bonds with Suki as a result of him donning the attire, and that gendered non conformity he is embodying can also implied to be drag - a practice of radical self expression, aimed toward performance, pioneered by marginalized people? See how it echoes potential elements of Ty Lee’s character and her arc?).
Oh, and let us remember that the only equivalent we see in the canon where a woman could achieve a position of power/agency within her own society similar to what the Kyoshi warriors already have as a base line is: Azula with her firelord nomination, which turns out to be a farce, a mere symbolic gesture meant to appease her, as her title is rendered meaningless (since Ozai appoints himself to a higher position in the very same breath).
So. Yeah. Is it any wonder Ty Lee would want to join an organization that would be well suited to her talents (fighting skills + performance), while also affirming her gender, allowing her to have choice, and with a potential enormous range of action to enact change into the world?
With that, this concludes this very long post. Thanks for making it to the end, hoped you enjoyed it!
I saw someone say it's important for Aang to choose his responsibilities and is more important to save the world than be attached to a little crush (its much more than that but sure). So why is it important for Aangs character to choose Katara over cosmic energy in that moment? Has it to do with Aang grief with his people and is tied back to the 4 part episodes in the end?
Firstly, I’ve written numerous metas on this which I’ll link because I don’t have the time rn to lay out all of these thoughts once again.
💬 10 🔁 233 ❤️ 569 · thank you SOOOOO much for your aang meta because the way this fandom doesn’t understand its own main character is insa
💬 1 🔁 429 ❤️ 769 · Thinking about how Aang is punished for choosing power over love and his own happiness, punished for sacrificing anothe
Katara is inherently tied to the love Aang has for his people and nation. Yes, this whole moment is just as much about Kataang as it is about Aang’s grief over the air nomad genocide.
Aang does give her up to save her life, and he is narratively punished for it. The whole narrative tells us that Aang should NOT give up his attachments, because this is the entire reason he exists as the avatar, and more importantly, the expectation of him to give up his attachments and love for others is the very thing that CAUSED the imbalance to begin with. The council members at his temple were plotting to separate him permanently from Gyatso’s care, and ship him off to be rigorously trained as a weapon of war that THEY could use as protection. They didn’t see Aang’s humanity and didn’t care to at that moment. They were willing to strip him bare of anything until he was deity only. That was why he ran away, and that is why the entire story exists.
This expectation goes against everything the story lays out for us, and it’s even explicitly verbalized on screen when Yangchen tells Aang he cannot detach himself from the world the way other airbenders do. Because his purpose is to serve the world, and Katara is his tether. In other words, he narratively serves her character. That’s why she is the narrator at the beginning of each episode. It’s her story just as much as it is Aang’s.
Aang isn’t able to master the avatar state until he confronts his grief over his people. Which he narratively can’t properly do until the 100th anniversary of their deaths during Sozin’s Comet.
Also, Aang didn’t have a crush on Katara. He was in love with her by this point, and she was in love with him throughout the show too. A crush is shallow, temporary, and typically born from not even knowing the object of interest. Aang knew Katara deeply and had seen good and bad sides of her. She was his best friend and he loved her deeply.
Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn’t watched it! Read at your own dissatisfaction!
So the first hours of the release and even after the premiere it was pretty obvious that the misdirection NATLA took in season one had changed completely this season. They had taken the memo and I’d be lying if I said the watch wasn’t enjoyable. However I’m focusing on how Azula looked this season since I watched this to see her exclusively.
The good:
1- We could go back and forth on which girl could be a good Azula casting but Elizabeth is stubborn and insanely talented to hold that role to herself. Her voice and delivery were really good, and if you closed your eyes, you’d probably think that for a split second it was Grey de isle talking. She really had her foot on the pedal.
2- the outfits she had: yea, I know the complaints and it doesn’t look very natural on the live action, and I will include this in the negative sections, but I still really like the outfits Azula did get.
Incredibly princessy, fierce, very Azula
Very lovely and a totally different dimension from the treatment on season 1.
3- Azulas standing- Standing I mean in personality and status. She seems to have gained the upper hand and does not look as openly insecure as she was. It’s pretty much the classic Azula that we know of most of the time. It was a strange direction for the “oh Zuko is deemed dead but actually he isn’t” even though that makes sense knowing what went down on the North Pole, but I do like how Azula has a strong say on occupations of cities like Omashu and even Ba sing se. At the end of the day however, Ozai is still in charge.
4- Her using a general to get into Ba sing se was verrryyyy well done. What went down after that was very disappointing however but it started off pretty well, while she used the generals loyalty.
5- Ursas banishment and her presence in there. It was so…wow. I was kinda “ehhhh” with the scene Ozai and Ursa shared BUT the attempted escape?Azula being scared on why it was just the three of them? Zuko blaming Azula for exposing them while they snuck out? Azula watching Zuko and Ursa holding hands in Zukos dream sequence with the saddest face possible? OH they cooked. Still, I got a few nitpicks here and there and I think it was kinda rushed and showed a bit too much vulnerability. That dream sequence was an incredible watch for me tho.
6- Zukos and Azulas interactions: chemistry 10/10, emotions 10/10. The one where they meet in the town was rlly incredible, the other one in they have in Ba sing se could’ve been done better. But Lizzy and Dallas dlivered anyways.
7- Azulas fight scenes. Sooooo good. Her destroying that building with the fire ending slice, and changing Zukos orange fire to blue…it was on point. I do have one teeny problem with Azula lighting bent before Toph catches her, but I loved the fact she threw lighting at Iroh without finishing the sentence. I loved the fact she was so quick with lighting. and I rlly wanted her to have just two-three scenes of her doing it with a very loud sound which comes to the viewer like a jump scare. I think it was also what the directors wanted to deliver.
8- I’m gonna put Azulas take over at the nitpicks put but… her one shotting all the generals in the table was very cold. I like it honestly. It’s a bit too much for her character but it’s one of those annoyingly pleasing things you see. Her patting Ty Lee and the girls reaction afterwards was mwah. I like that azula keeps a “sadistic” streak, like almost burning a man’s face so his eyes can direct to where the gaang has run off to. Mwah.
9- I think a lot of people are going to complain about this but it wasn’t bad at all that Azula apologised to Zuko and was more open about them being together. If it were me, I’d change up the dialogue, but it shows her that she cares and makes a very good buildup for her slipping to insanity on book 3. Zukos betrayal and distrust is a contributor to that and that’s what the show is directing to.
10- the tale of the dragons. I think it was a nice touch. But didn’t like that they utilised it for Azula hitting Aang in avatar state. Maybe should’ve been utilised as her being the great dragon and Zuko the smaller one. It makes it a lot more nuanced. Maybe they’ll do so in book 3.
The mid:
1-the makeup isn’t bad but the artists need to add some more eyeliner and a good red lip or let lizzy do the makeup herself. Thin her brows too. It’s really ridiculous how she manages to look more like Azula when she isn’t in the set.
2- should’ve had the earth kingdom outfit. And kept it in the fight.
3- the dialogue with Zuko in ba sing se could’ve been a bit more assertive and maybe should’ve included/mentioned Iroh.
4-should’ve had a flashback on Ursa being harsh on Azula. Maybe have the scenes where the kids find out about Iroh losing ba sing se.
5- retrieving Zuko. I think this was mostly ozais fault but maybe his phrasing meant as putting Zuko to jail. It’s a bit confusing all around.
The ugly:(add on: the test scene is added to the ugly)
1- obviously the earth kingdom scheme. It started so well, then it got intensely confusing. What did she do? What happened exactly? Wha-. It came off odd and a bit weak from the writing part. They should’ve stuck with the original because even if they wanted to compress it, Azulas take over of ba sing se happens fairly quick and like…less than 10 scenes in total. Her attracting attention of all the earth kingdom citizens by firebending towards Joo Dee??? What???
2- her defeating the avatar happened very slow and it was Stupid. Azula wouldn’t be casually grabbed even by avatar state Aang, and even if she hadn’t shot him with lightning as quickly. Her missing the first shot? Oh thats absolutely not…
3- the dynamic with mai and ty lee. Should’ve been much warmer. Because yes that’s a princess and her subordinates, but they’re still friends (even in that nasty test she gave lol). I think they should’ve included the scenes where azula recruits mai and ty lee without the full chasing in omashu. The actresses do make a good trio but it seems like the direction is holding them back to make sense of the boiling rock, which is a wrong move on their part. They messed it up since season 1. But who knows…Maybe we leave this up for book 3.
4- the last scene not being her sitting on the throne. 🙄😒
5- after the third edit, I’m adding the test scene here. I gave it some more thought, it makes 0 sense for this to happen. Azula trusted Mai and Ty Lee (and yes, even when she forced Ty Lee to join). She could not have done this test on any circumstance, again, because she perceived mai and Ty Lee as her real friends whether shed treat them as one or as her subordinates. She trusted them with capturing Zuko, the avatar, ba sing se, when they had so many chances to have left without trace or much consequence. That’s why the boiling rock hits hard. Mai had no way of getting out of it, but she faces azula head on, Ty Lee chooses having both of them alive, rather than one dead. Honestly, they would rather fight azula than kill each other, because there would be a chance that none of them would be dead.
ADD ON: the “she threw rocks at the turtle ducks” scene. This was definetly taken from a fan site because Azula had never thrown rocks on ducks. Just bread, but she threw it in large pieces at them. It was the fans misinterpreting it that way.
So ummm if I give this a rating I’d be a 6/10. There was obvious improvement, but it still left me wishing for more. They should’ve been a lot more loyal to the original material and maybe added a bit more to it (like they did in the confrontation between azula-Zuko-aang) rather than try to change it and messing it up.
Over the years, much of the fandom has totally flanderized the characters in a lot of the common headcanons and creative depictions. I know this happens in a lot of fandoms (especially big, older, ongoing ones), but I see it pretty commonly here, across the board in all ship spaces. This isn't to try to police how anyone makes content by any means, but pointing out how things can devolve into ridiculousness because of how audiences anticipate tropes to play out, and they then home in on them and whittle a character down to it in a way that's at odds with the depth of their actual portrayal.
Below the cut, I discuss how I believe the fandom has done this to each member of the gaang after floating around the fandom the past 15ish years:
Sokka
I think Sokka's fandom flanderization is the most commonly seen, and it was the most doomed to happen because part of the nature of his character: comic relief. The show actually does an excellent job making Sokka both comic relief and someone with serious depth, personality, struggle, and heart. The fandom remembers this at times, and I totally get memeing Sokka's silliness, but in many portrayals he's often completely overlooked as a buffoon, as is the case for comic relief characters typically.
But Sokka is not a buffoon. He has buffoonish behaviors from time-to-time, sure, he's a 15/16-year-old boy and he's funny. But, he's actually one of the most intelligent members of Team Avatar, if not the most intelligent member of Team Avatar. He's often the brains of the operations, a man of common sense, and very innovative and brave. To see him constantly depicted as fumbling over himself, shouting gaffes, and just being an idiot doesn't align with his actual character. He's very multifaceted.
This goes so far that even [spoiler warnings for The Legend of Aang ahead] in the movie where the Gaang are adults, Sokka is pretty much a walking buffoon. He basically just mumbles one-liners for comic relief and is running from danger and downplaying the danger and risks throughout the movie in ways even teenage Sokka wouldn't. So, for Sokka, I would say this goes beyond the fandom. Bryke has even done this, I think, as a form of fanservice to a degree, and also because they have consistently struggled to depict their main cast with the same depth and complexity that the original writing team did as a collaborative whole.
So this is likely to just further cement the fandom's treatment of Sokka in fics, fanart depictions, TikToks discussions, headcanons, and memes. It's unfortunate because Sokka is done so well and is given a really compelling arc in his original story. It's not super common to see a character who's written as comic relief get such multitudes. I think Bryke tried, and failed, to replicate this in Bolin, but he just was not nearly as well done.
Zuko
I would argue that Zuko is actually the second biggest victim of flanderization within the fandom. Zuko, is also, a very complex and well-written character and people do remember this about his redemption arc, but not so much about his personality and depth as a character. He is very often whittled down and mislabeled as, conflictingly, aloof and socially inept/unable to read between the lines.
Zuko is not aloof, he's shy and emotionally reserved from child abuse. Aloofness is someone who is distant and detached usually from nonchalance in a social setting. This is not the case for Zuko, he is shy and lacks confidence because of growing up isolated in a palace until he was thirteen, and then living among a group of old men the next three years. He is seen consistently craving to be a part of something and yearning for approval.
When Zuko is comfortable, we seem him wearing his heart on his sleeve and yearning for connection. As soon as he joins the gaang, he's very eager to not just make amends with them, but forge genuine connections with them. He is warm with Sokka during their interactions in the Boiling Rock, gives him advice, and opens up to him. He is also warm with Aang the further along they get in The Firebending Masters, and makes jokes with him. He is highly attuned to Katara's emotions in The Southern Raiders and almost desperate to connect to her. Even Toph, Zuko opens up to and shares an earnest heart-to-heart with in The Ember Island Players.
Suffering child abuse that makes someone stunted and afraid doesn't equate to aloofness as a personality trait.
Now for the "socially inept" or "Zuko can't read between the lines" types of portrayals.
This is also glaringly false and overdone, like Sokka's flanderization, for humor. Zuko can be awkward, especially in new social groups or with new people. He was raised in a palace and seemingly did not even go to a real school, like Azula got to. Presumably, he was privately tutored or something. So, growing up he literally had no peers to interact with his own age. The closest thing he had to that was presumably Mai and Ty Lee, who were more so under Azula's thumb. So of course, he's going to be awkward and stumble over his words.
He also, is traumatized, so his confidence in himself and who he is is not very strong. When people are self-conscious, they are awkward as well, and struggle to believe good things about themselves. This is not the same thing as being unable to read people, their feelings, or social situations at large.
We consistently see that Zuko is very empathetically attuned to people's feelings and is actually very good at connecting the dots, or reading between the lines. He is clearly very aware of his uncle's feelings and how he thinks of him as his own, even before Iroh has ever said it. He knows well that Sokka will go off to try to rescue his father to "restore his honor" and why he's doing it in advance to crash his trip.
He pieces together Katara's anger towards him is connected to her mother's murder and intuitively understands her feelings of anger, resentment, and desire to avenge her mother. He anticipates her needs by staying up all night for her, encouraging her to rest, and listening patiently is she opens up about her grief.
When he does believe things foolishly, it's often a symptom of his abuse as well. He is in denial about his father banishing him because he doesn't love him as a coping mechanism, not because he's so "socially inept" he doesn't see the truth. That's why he so eagerly believes Azula is inviting him home and why he so fervently chases after the avatar despite no evidence.
Zuko also is not stupid, as the fandom likes to play for laughs because of the gaang calling him this and Azula's teasing. He is often shown being very cunning in his plans and ideas. He strategizes leagues ahead of his years and bests adults at their own games consistently. He's impulsive and rash, yes, but not stupid. If he was supposed to be seen as a stupid character, they would not write him to be fire lord and restore balance to a nation 100 years into imperialist warmongering. He wouldn't be the other person alongside Katara keeping the gaang in check. Throughout the finale, he's the one staying on track and reining the gaang in to keep focus. He's the one who comes up with the game plan for their Plan B to defeat his father when Aang disappears without a word. He executes that plan too, takes charge and takes everyone to find his uncle and get things in order. Stupid people don't do that!
They like to overplay the awkwardness and morph it into social ineptitude or inability to read between the lines for people, too. Zuko's awkwardness in The Western Air Temple makes sense and awkwardness is not the same thing as social ineptitude. He reads people very well, he just lacks the confidence and life experience to behave anything but awkwardly around his peers. A lot of it's social anxiety as well.
Azula is the same way among peers she isn't dictating, as seen in The Beach. She's almost just like Zuko, but instead of resorting to shyness, she resorts to assertiveness because that's what she knows. And Azula, of course, has no trouble reading people. But unlike Zuko, she does struggle to connect to them emotionally.
Speaking of Azula, this idea that Zuko isn't an extremely talented firebender is also false. He may not be on the prodigal levels of Azula, Katara, and Toph (let's go girlsssss), but he is an excellent firebender. It takes effort, practice, and time -- but Zuko is a very skilled fighter in his element. He consistently defeats his opponents in firebending and holds his own.
Toph
Toph is victim to fandom flanderization to the point that she is made out to be emotionally rigid, cool, and uncaring. The fandom portrays Toph as someone who could not be bothered to listen to someone's pain, is too tough to care about anything, and is kinda always just looking out for A#1.
That's how Toph presents herself as a coping mechanism, sure, but as the show consistently depicts, this is not truly the case. Her parents had her propped up like a delicate flower and fragile doll, pushing her into a box for their expectations and limitations they imposed on her because of her disability. In defense of this, Toph has created a tough exterior shell to counter her parents' beliefs.
Toph pretends she doesn't care, but deep down she really cares. This is why Toph breaks down when talking to Sokka about how Katara cares about her — the real her — more than her actual mother ever did. (Which also reminds me how crazy it is that certain parts of the fandom are trying to say Katara was not motherly and that Sokka was more parentified than she was…)
And Toph might have a rough exterior, but she's a very caring and loving person. She's always the first to stand up against situations of injustices and very passionate about stopping the fire lord, despite growing up in wealth and privilege herself. Her tough edges when teaching Aang is her own personal approach to earthbending — taking this bluntly and head on, like a rock. It doesn't mean she doesn't care.
She shows in the Tales of Ba Sing Se that she also is a regular girl in that she is insecure about things, including her appearance, even if she can't see it. She cries when talking to Katara, confiding in her about it, and is touched when Katara warmly tells her that she is pretty while sending the girls (literally) down the river.
She also shows vulnerability in how hurt and upset she was in having to let the benders who abducted Appa get away. She feels tremendous guilt in having to hold up the tower to keep the gaang from dying at the expense of Appa's safety. She is offers Zuko very sage and compassionate advice in The Ember Island Players too, knowing that he, too, struggles to be vulnerable with people and taking his trust to confide in her seriously.
Just because Toph wears a tough mask does not mean she's an unfeeling person who doesn't have just as much love in her heart as the rest of the gaang. The way the fandom paints her, again, leaning into the comedic side of things, as bluntly unfeeling is really whittling down the depth of Toph's character and everything at play here about her.
Katara and Aang…
Now, for Katara and Aang, I honestly do not see a ton of flanderization. I see mischaracterization, but not so much flanderization. They're connected, but not one and the same.
Katara is presented as someone simply, whiny, annoying, and preachy. Talking about Katara as "whiny" or "annoying" is likely some misogyny. If you think Katara is "whiny", but Zuko is "deep" and "suffering" about his trauma, then you're probably just sexist. But this is common in the fandom from the early days on.
Again, if Katara is "preachy", but Iroh and Aang are "wise", then again, it's time to look inward and start asking yourself the big questions.
Katara is also strangely portrayed in fandom as hating Zuko's living guts post canon, which is just… not accurate. I see many fandom comments, such as "she really haes that man fr" and stuff, as if they never watched the rest of the show following The Southern Raiders and skipped their connecting moments, such as Crossroads of Destiny, or The Chase. But, I figure this goes back to hating Zutara, which also is, a majority of the time, misogyny.
Katara also gets this strange rap for being absolutely cruel and cutthroat. She has moments where she lashes out in anger, yes, she has a temper. But overall, Katara is the most compassionate, loving, and empathetic person in the entire gaang. Her biting remarks in the heat of the moment to Toph, Sokka, and Zuko are not indicative of her overall personality. Of course, portraying the multifaceted sides of her is great, but this whittling down of her to portray her as a "bitch" almost is absolutely bizarre to me.
Now, for Aang, this is a doozy. There is so much idoloization of Aang's character as a perfect hero from people's childhood and also some over-the-top critiques of his character that makes it hard to pinpoint what's going on. Aang's character is also kind of all over the place and there are moments that don't add up from the writers' side of things, so it makes nailing this one down tough.
But Aang is not a happy-go-lucky character all the time. He leans into his juvenile traits as a literal 12/13-year-old, but also he has a serious streak, especially Book 2 onwards. He gets livid angry, lashes out to the point of going into an Avatar State rage, and has tantrums that are unfair to people.
He behaves selfishly at times, like taking away Katara and Sokka's chance to see their father out of a fear of abandonment. He's not this perfect, does-no-wrong character. He also runs away from his problems as a common theme throughout the whole show up until the finale, which is weirdly never addressed as a hurdle to overcome for him by the narrative.
But, Aang is also a very loving, earnest character. He genuinely loves people. He's a people person and wants to befriend everyone. The writers, imo, didn't flesh him out to his full potential in the cartoon. I wish that he had gotten more time to explore his grief, showcase his grief, and experience it. Instead, they seemed to be too afraid to break the portrayal of him as a happy kid, and just didn't go there too much. There was far much more angst from Aang about being the avatar and the weight of those expectations than grief he would be feeling as a lone genocide survivor. And I really wish we got to see more of him grappling with that. His character deserved that, imo.
He also didn't get the full chance to overcome a lot of character flaws. The show sort of decided he suffered enough (without showing him grapple with that fully) and that he kinda didn't have to overcome other things that were set up as if he would. I think that Aang's character sometimes gets over demonized as well for things that are writing flaws that aren't adding up, and making him seem like multiple characters rather than one, consistent MC.
But, Aang is a complex case for fandom dissection because there seems to be two prevailing trains of thought for him, and a lot of mistakes in the writers' room pertaining to his character that bleed into this fandom dichotomy.
Overall, it's frustrating when fandoms bastardize characters and reduce them to either entirely mischaracterized traits or memeified tropes. Of course, memes are fun, but like how show writers do this in late seasons, fandoms do it late into fandom (sometimes early too). They whittle the character down to a trope that either has some basis, or something they anticipate will happen because of the trope's common themes, even though it did not occur with this specific character.
So many fandoms do this, and the Avatar one is no exception, in fact, I would argue that it's a huge culprit of it. These characters, for the most part, are so well fleshed out and deep, that it's exhausting and disappointing to see the fandom flanderize and mischaracterize them, even if it seems inevitable. And of course, these flanderizations speak the loudest, even if the majority in the "real" (not casual) fandom, don't do it.
The ATLA characters are why this show has had such an indelible mark in TV storytelling and animation. The plot is good, the world is exciting, and the creatures are creative, but above all, it is these characters that keep people coming back. They connect with people because of their complexities and depth. When that's the crux of a show, watching the characters get flanderized and mischaracterized is even more disappointing.
So I wanted to write about what I'm seeing and open the discussion further for fans here. Thanks for sticking with me in this long post and meta! We'll see how many edits I make later as I think of things.
To anyone who thinks Aang choosing Katara over the avatar state was bad writing: in a world where spirits are real and the universe can show people the past & future, I think Aang seeing the vision of Katara being locked in the Crystal Catacombs was the universe telling him it wanted him to save her and choose love over power. And when he ultimately chose to let go of Katara because he thought it was the only way, he was immediately punished. Aang was always destined to go on this journey.
