finally realized why i always found “the waterbending scroll” to be a little uncomfortable.
it’s a pretty good episode exploring katara’s frustration with aang and her own feeling of inadequacy… except it’s not?
i feel like there is a bit of lack of depth regarding WHY katara is jealous. we can see she is merely jealous because she took a lot of time to do something while aang gets it quite easily. obviously she is wrong in this feelings since aang is the avatar, even though he was being obnoxious about it (though i’ll let it slide since they’re literally children).
there was one thing i wished they explored a little more about WHY katara was upset and WHY she wanted so badly to understand the scroll. the actual canon reason is linked to pride, but i think there is actually a deeper and more emotional side to this that i think would’ve been better.
katara spent her entire life knowing she’s a waterbender but being able to do nothing about it. her combat skills leave much to be desired and she doesn’t even know she can heal with it until after she meets aang. she’s been stripped from a vital part of her culture due to the fire nation’s colonialism and imperialism, and the northern water tribe’s neglect (perhaps neglect isn’t the best word but i can’t think of anything better rn rip).
it would’ve been a better reason for katara to act this way because she has always felt in the dark about her culture and ability as a waterbender, and for aang who isn’t even a person of the water tribe to be better than her… she feels like she has wasted all these years and this cultural identity has been slipping through her fingers to the point where her bending is no better than that of someone who has never waterbended in their entire life. and then later on for the reveal to be that she LOST her mother because she was a waterbender… it would’ve set up and honed in on katara’s insecurities with her own bending and how she interacts with the spiritual side of her culture.
unfortunately this is a very common thing in indigenous communities. it would have been a great way to represent this feeling many indigenous people have felt from colonization and imperialism. aang deals with this sometimes but it’s less about his loss of culture and more about the loss of the people around him. it would’ve been nice to also see how he dealt with trying to keep this dead culture alive, and how he felt being the last airbender, the one who was basically tasked by the spirits to further this culture.
anyway, just my thoughts as an indigenous woman myself. i always felt a little uncomfortable with this episode because of how they treated for katara, who seemed justified in her anger and drive to keep learning from the scroll. of course most of the blame on her comes from “you stole” but that’s not really relevant lol.
i’m curious if anyone feels similarly or different so pls let me know if you do :D
