I think you might be interested in considering that maybe Katara was not willing to be with Aang at that moment because of the still ongoing war with the Fire Nation,; not because she does not want to have a romantic affair during such a process but because loss has traumatized her to the point of fearing getting further traumatized. She almost lost Aang at the hands of Azula , it broke her heart and they were still friends back then. I believe she only agrees to be with him after defeating Ozai because Aang's possible dead is way less likely to occur once he wins,. Had she said Yes anytime before that fight and she would have been at risk of getting brokenhearted again but by losing a partner instead of a dear friend.
@@nsoromma9505 I think it would have been great to show Katara having nightmares of Aang being killed by Ozai or Azula, that would have made the ulterior reason for her hesitation way more evident for the audience.
If ATLA was a high school, Katara, Sokka, Suki, Azula, Mai, and Ty-Lee would attend. Toph and Aang would not attend, because they would be in middle school.
Agree with what you said. And while I personally like the idea of Katara and Zuko ending up together, I don't think there needed to be a romance at all (aside from Sokka and Suki, I do think they were actually developed well and were also old enough that it wasn't completely unrealistic). Why did Aang have to end up with anyone, he's a 12 year-old child. What child that age is in a relationship that lasts longer than a few weeks and involves kissing? Let alone with a girl that's older both physically and mentally? An ordinary girl Katara's age would be more interested in older guys and Katara is even more mature than most girls her age, so it's even more unlikely she'd notice a guy younger than her. If they had to end up together, they should've gotten together in their late teens or as adults.
I too would’ve preferred zero romance in this show, as it would’ve just made it better to do without, but here we are. I agree with you. Not to mention the entire time she’s been more of a mother to Aang, a big sister at the very least. When did he ever show that some kind of equal treatment to her? At least worked to lessen her workload? What kind of a sane woman wants to be constantly taking care of somebody like that? The comics and Korra show just show us how badly she got it after Aang got his prize.
Really great analysis of why the Katara/Aang pairing felt so “off”. I’ve watched ATLA more times than I care to admit, but never caught that there was no resolution for Katara between that awful Ember Island scene and the final kiss. Further, I completely missed that Katara never expresses her feelings about Aang beyond the “Aang’s just a good friend, a sweet little guy, just like Momo” comment. Your analysis brought those to light and illuminated why the pairing felt so forced. I completely agree that the end kiss could have been left out. Imagine instead an ending showing the Gaang in Iroh’s tea shop, bickering over Sokka’s drawing, then panning to a gorgeous Ba Sing Se sunset. No weird kiss, no awkward romance between a 12 and 14-year-old, just a tsungi horn and a gentle fade into final credits.
the jump from the awkward ass kiss to the finale is so strange and not to mention the silly little rock fixing aang's whole chakra and "letting go" problem. basically retconning all that guru stuff
Atla didn't do romance well in general, but kataang being the main pairing had a lot of good moments and a lot of worse moments, it doesn't help that they're all kids
Yeah, the fact they ended things with zuko being with Mei is wild. Like at first it made sense right. But then when you look back at their relationship it was so toxic and it basically represented his misery in the fire nation, how everything there he had to fake and he couldn’t be himself cuz every time he tried to open up with Mei she literally yawns and laughs at him, or would bring up things to disc rouge him from talking about it. And that scene in the prison break, where out of none were she’s not afraid of Azusa cuz she loves zuko more, but like this girl was never that scared of Azusa from the way she let certain things happened. I’m not gonna excuse zuko as well, this guy has a temper, and it was just reaching a breaking point when he was with mai, and he shouldn’t have yelled at her like that, it makes it worse when they broke up in the comics if that’s true I don’t know but yeah
I agree with all your points. Have to say though, I definitely ship zuko and Kamara, but honestly, that's mostly because I'm a huge sucker for the enemies to lovers trope. But I also genuinely feel like they would've been a better pairing. Zuko understands where's coming from in the southern raiders and goes with her because he gets her need to confront the man who killed her mother, just like he confronts his own father at the very end about where his mother is. He takes the time and effort to understand her and earn her forgiveness and trust. Asks besides that one shocked look, he doesn't seem to ever really judge her for letting her answer get the best of her so much that ends up blood bending that guy. Plus, he takes that shot of lightning for her. And even before that, she was the first one to extend him an olive branch down in the crystal catacombs with the spirit water healing thing. Granted, he betrayed them all, but he eventually made it right. So of all the characters, I could actually see a romance blossoming between those two organically after the fact, and I could see them growing into a love that makes sense. But that's just me. I think you're right tough that avatar doesn't actually need any romance to be a good, full, and well rounded show.
yeah honestly not sure what my preference is for what should've happened romantically. a lot was set up for zutara but i don't think there's any way it could've been fit into season 3, and also kataang needed some payoff after all the buildup it got. maybe leaving it ambiguous at the end could've been cool?
@@monkfruit given the way everything else in avatar worked, i honestly think that would have been fine. The show wouldn't have suffered for it. Even if they'd done it like Korra, and just showed them hugging and then wandering off holding hands, some kind of gesture that hinted at a romance to be explored, that would've been fine too. And then it would've made the reveal that Katara and Aang did end up together in LOK that much sweeter, you know?
@@monkfruit well they did a bad move they can develop a romantic relationship with kataang but they didn't and you know what happens next they massacred the kataang in the ending and btw they put zuk and kata in almost every scene in the lasts few episodes like no wonder people like it and, mostly girl because some of them can relate to katara slowly putting the guy gently if the guy is asking her out and they kinda see the red flag in aang because of the force kiss and you can't deny that and if you ask why I answered this way because when me and my cousin btw a girl tell her opinion and I also ask why she like zutara so that's my IMO 😊
@@monkfruitI heard there was supposed to be a season 4 that was axed for whatever reasons. It was supposedly going to have Aang try to find hiding Air Nomads, the Gaang figure out what they want to do in a world with no war, Zuko and Kataras blossoming romance, tie up some loose ends like the Headband episode, and so on. We were cheated.
I actually can think of a few things I avatar could’ve done to fix this problem 1) I never even noticed until now, but why in the world did aang not apologize? He should have, and then Katara could have put her foot down that she wasn’t ready 2) there could’ve been a scene on the way to the final Agni Kai between Katara and Zuko, where is Zuko makes an offhand comment about Katara and Aang and they’re non-relationship status Katara could have further elaborated on why she was so scared to start dating
As a kid I thought it would have been more powerful if Aang had let go of having Katara for himself, and that was how he unblocked his chi *and got the avatar state back. One of the last scenes they have together is Katara saying she didn’t want to be with him right now. Aang respecting that could have been a really cool moment. Also…that time Aang compared Katara’s mom being murdered to him losing Appa for a brief moment is something that I will never forget. It’s so bad it borders on absurdity and therefore swings back around to being hilarious.
He was trying to comfort Katara and show that he had also been through loss like how Katara brings up her mother to relate to others about their losses
I don't think it's that bad, because even if Appa is an animal, as the Avatar and as an Air Nomad, Appa is Aang's spirit animal, bonded for life, his best friend and most importantly, the very last piece of living air nation culture Aang left. The same Air Nation that was brutally genocided, including more of Aang's friends and the closest thing he had to a father. He even says that right after, saying "how he felt when he lost Appa, or when his people were wiped out". For all he knew at the time Appa was dead or worse. In hindsight Appa was just lost, while Katara's mom is dead, which is permanent. But Aang's *feelings* at the time were potent and similar.
To me Kataang is just kinda mid. I don't like how they muddle things up for no reason just to make something interesting between them. Because up until season 3 it was just vanilla and mostly boring, Katara hardly got to develop her feelings from this boy is our savior into this boy is my crush. I will never say that Kataang wasn't written on the wall from the beginning. However that doesn't mean that the execution wasn't really messy and kinda blah at times. I can only really think of the cave dance and the maybe kiss in the cave of two lovers. That's basically it for their romantic development
Shippings stuff aside, they also did Katara dirty AFTER the series with the comics and Legend Of Korra. At the end of the series, Katara had shown the potential of being a great leader, a world renowned master Waterbender who could share her knowledge and wisdom with the world, a bringer of peace and unity, a symbol of how the nations can come together, etc. And what becomes of her? Well, let's see: In the comics, she becomes a "yes man" to Aang, literally always going along with whatever he says and wants and whatever decision he comes to about anything, even when she disagrees with it. Case and point, when Zuko becomes hesitant about evicting Fire Nation people from the Earth Kingdom (even those who lived there for generations now), because it would separate friends and families, tear people from their homes, and destroy everything the Fire Nation built and developed there in the 100 years, even though Katara disagrees with it, she says that if Aang feels like he needs to kill Zuko to force the evictions, she would just trust that his decision is the right one, or that if he feels the need to segregate the nations means they had to break up, then she would go along with it. In LoK, it gets even worse. Instead of embracing her potential, she becomes a stay at home housewife and baby-maker to repopulate the Air Nomads. Her lack of involvement in the world's affairs because she's a stay at home mom doing nothing but taking care of the kids while Aang is off being the Avatar and everyone else is doing their parts to maintain the peace and make the world a better place prevents her from doing the real good she could or getting even a fraction of the recognition she deserves or the others get. She's literally the only member of the GAang to NOT get a statue of her, all recognition for her deeds go to Aang, and she pretty much just becomes known as the Avatar's wife. She doesn't become the world-class Waterbender or teacher/master she could be, and best becomes known as being the best healer around. You know, just a healer, the very thing she literally fought against Pakku not to be struck as and prove that women can be more than, and then literally getting stuck as that, never reaching her true potential. Such an inspiring role model. Because Katara is always being the adult and mothering and taking care of Aang, he never grows up, not even when he becomes an adult (confirmed by the creators), leaving Katara to always have to be the mature and responsible one and take the role of the adult to her whole family. Because Aang openly favors and over-pressures Tenzin and greatly neglects his other two kids, to the point where his Air Acolytes didn't even know he had other kids, Tenzin becomes resentful of Aang and jealous and resentful of his siblings' easier lives, who become jealous and resentful of Tenzin for the attention he gets from their father while being resentful of Aang for neglecting them. And because Katara is so focused on always making sure Aang is happy all the time, she never addresses the way he treats his kids, and so the problems never resolve, and her kids become resentful of her as well as a result for not doing anything, resulting in their family being broken and dysfunctional. And while they do make some amends, they never get over their resentment or heal as a family and remain distant (these are literal plot points of several episodes). Aang dies at 60, leaving Katara alone as a widow with a broken family that rarely sees each other or gets along. So yeah, they really did Katara dirty. And, truth be told, most, if not all, of this can stem back to how incompatible Aang and Katara are as a couple, as these problems never would have arisen if she had ended up with someone else like Zuko or Haru or even some other rando. It was specifically the way her relationship with Aang worked that this was the result.
For Kataang, Katara not ending the life of the man who kiIIed her mother because she thought of what Aang said is a good idea. But that episode is for her character, I’m glad they didn’t include ships into it. She made that decision because she didn’t want to do it, it had nothing to do with anyone else. Although in some way it’s good to have people like Aang to remind you of your morals. In the long run, Katara probably would regret doing it.
@@MegaMilencheyeah, definitely re-read that comment. That line about being, “… glad that ships were left out.”, doesn’t sound like Katara was holding back for loves sake.
I agree. Kataang was obviously going to happen, but imo it wasn't done well. It would have been better if they at least had a conversation in the final scene instead. I like the choice of a silent finale, but it wasn't earned with the way they were developed. I'm a woman and I can say I don't like how they handled Katara's agency. Afterwards and in Korra they make it seem like her most noticeable accomplishments are being the Avatar's wife and a good healer.
I agree will basically everything you said. Aang doesn't understand or respect Katara. He treats her more like a price to be won then who she really is. In fact the show treats her like a price to be won just so Aang can get the girl. Katara deserved better.
Haru would have been the perfect guy for Katara. He had a good relationship with his parents so he’s emotionally stable and independent, he shares Katara’s deep respect for bending beyond it’s combat potential, and he has all the passion for saving the world without Jet’s aspirations for mass murder. In a show full of genocide survivors and traumatized children, Haru would have given Katara a much needed emotional break.
i agree, I think she should've ended up with haru and I feel like they would balance eachother out too, they also went through some things but she could even have like a family (his dad and his mom plus her dad) where they could have bonded
The only way Kataang is Better than Zutara is that its canon other than that nah... is Kataang a Well developed friendship, yes absolutely no doubt. As a romance...No Its not quite toxic or particularly unhealthy... but it has 3 major problems is very unbalanced, unequal and underdeveloped. 1) *Unbalanced* Katara does all of the emotional and mental heavy lifting , this is half because of their age difference and personality amd the other the tyoe if friendship they have SHE comforts and empathizes and coodles Aang physically and emotionally but Aang Aang doesnt (CAN'T) do the same for her -Zuko can tho- and taht DOESNT CHANGE! Their age differences continue to impact the relationship and Aangs needs are met while Kataras are pushed aside! She ends up widowed and alone as a single mother at 40 until her old age! When Aang was alive he was travelling around the world doing Avatar crap or mentoring Tenzin she had to stay home and raise the other 2 kids herself as a stay at home mom (trash) because SOMEONE had to. Oh and the only reason they HAD 3 kids was because Aang wanted an Airbender kid! 2) *Unequal* And while Katara gad to do all that all of the romantic feelings and focus Came solely from Aang! Katara had no focus on how _she_ felt about Aang romantically (or if she liked him at all) Idc what anyone says Katara's feelings for Aang were AT BEST ambiguous and confused it was NOT clear until the last scene (not episode SCENE as in the last minute of the last episode) that she liked him, and at worst (which was 99% of the time) she was coded as harshly friendzoning Aang. This is prehaps the 2nd biggest problem with the ship, how unmutual it is! And its quite obvious when compared to other ships! With Sokka and Suki or Yue BOTH parties feelings were clear and equal! Both made moves and unabigous gestures or words that clearly expressed their interest before and after getting together! And before you say "there were hints Katara was was interested" 1st of all small read betwen the lines HINTS is NOT enough! And 2 NO there _wasnt:_ (*)We KNOW what it looks like when Katara's is interested (Jet)! Its very obivous and with Aang it doesn't look like that! (*) what we for was it was IMPLIED that she _thought_ about it, but never seriously considered it until Aang PRESSURED her to! That alone makes Kataang as an endgame ship in a Kidz show *fail* 3) *Underdeveloped* And all this leads to the last but biggest problem! It wasnt a set up or well developed or well written ship! Outside of what ive already pointed out the *conflicts* between Kataang is NEVER FIXED, like the fact that Aang doesn't accept ot understand the full imperfect Katata, she skways has to sensor herself for him and then theres Aangs problematic and childish feelings itself, IT doesn't get better or change! Even the PLOT of the show made Aangs feelings for Katara a PROBLEM, it was holding him back form the Avatar state and that. ISN'T. FIXED! Katara and Aang fight *3 times* in Book 3, once about Aangs feelings and his actions because of that, and neither of these fights are fixed or addressed! _Ship it or not you cannot deny alta did this ship dirty!_ and thats why I dont agree with it! PS: Katara kisses Aang ONCE! On the cheek
totally agree! There is also the episode of the cave of the 2 lover that is used to demonstrate that she might be interested , but they were in a life or death situtation, and i think she did blush a little, but seriously, who wouldn't if you have to kiss someone, even in that type of situation ? With one of your friend ? plus the episode does parallele a lot with the moment with zuko and katara in the last episode of season 2, with the story of the 2 lover separated by war , being the first earthbender, yet being color coded has red and blue, at least 2 panel of that story being quit close to some panel of katara and zuko, a physically close moment with aang where she run away from without looking back, to a intimately close moment with zuko, where she does look back, and some passage with zuko, where a earth citizen girl ( song) try to touch his scar and he doesn't let her, with the moment where he does let katara touch it ( and the music while she does, you cannot tell me it was just a " medical touch, i doesn't matter !")
You raise some great points here and I totally agree. I actually think the ship is alright and the dynamic between Katara and Aang makes sense, but did we actually need to see them get together at the tender ages of 12 and 14? So much of the problems can be chalked up to their emotional immaturity and I think it would’ve been way nicer to see them as a postcanon getting-together
yeah this is definitely true. I think if they didn't get together at the end (and also if the Ember Island Players kiss was either address or simply never happened) then it would've been way better
I think you'd have to imagine that marriage at that age was common in their time! They most likely never saw it as a problem and let's just be honest, we witnessed aang grow from a kid to a man by the end of the show, under the war they were in, they all grew up faster than they had too. To me the ending makes sense, her feelings towards aang wasn't realized in my opinion until the war was over, who can think about love like that in those circumstances, other than Sokka and suki . Which were older I presume. Heck Zucko left his girl in order to train Aang , his priorities were in order after realizing what needed to be done for the war to end. Katara just needed closure on her mother and the war to be over for her to set her priorities in which were to be with Aang
@@rogercolon619 But we saw Zuko and Mai talk out their relationship issues. A few words, or slightly different setups in some of the later episodes of season 3... or not ending with a kiss, that's all it would have taken for it to not feel forced.
Why I’ll always prefer Zutara over Kataang is because Zuko actually listens to her and her needs while Aang just expects her to be perfect and to soothe him whenever he need it, but I’ve never seen Aang meet any of Kataras emotional needs.
@@sebastiansuazo2734 c’mon now, that’s such a straw man argument. Their dynamic was much more than that, zuko was willing to hear her out when nobody else would not even her brother, zuko validated and acknowledged her feelings irrespective of his own (something Aang just wouldn’t do). Zuko sees Katara as a flawed human being with her own problems, trauma and needs. Aang sees katara as a mother figure, someone who is without flaw and someone to pacify him whenever he is having tantrums in the desert or the southern air temple.
@Schnyder you do have a brain problem. Zuko only said that to get katara on his side he told her what she wanted not what she needed Anng never disregard what she said so did sokka they just warned her why that it wasn't the best way to deal with trauma You also say anng sees katara as mothers figure I almost thought you were sane till you said he sees katara as perfect 🤨 and someone to pacify him 🤨 I don't know how you'd be able to tell if anng sees katara as perfect but anng tends to what she would like. look at when zuko tried to join group Anng:Guys, it might be cool Katara:no Anng: Yeah Zuko you need to leave You seem to have this view of avatar that's divorced form avatar you demonize anng relationship with katara for no real reason
Hot take: Katara should have been with Haru and Zuko should have been with Jin. The girl from the Ba sing se tales. Btw, Aang doesn't treat Katara like a prize to be won, he treats her like an idol. Remember the Guru episodes? The reason he doesn't have so much grief is because Katara became the surrogate for his community. P. S. The age gap is weird, creepy and just wrong. They are children. If it happened at later point in their lives it wouldn't be that bad.
I'm so mad at the Ember Island Players for single-handedly making Kataang non believable AND the number of episodes per season uneven. It's the only flaw of this perfect show. I usually pretend it doesn't exist.
In my options; Beginning of s3, Katara places Aang at an emotional distance as she as lost so much to the fire nation and is afraid that Aang will be next when he fights Ozai (reasonalbe, as aang is pretty underpowered/undertrained) which explains her standoff nature in all of s3 until the end; However her inner feelings for Aang become a reality in Painted lady, when she discovers Aangs feelings of compassion for strangers are inline with hers which is her biggest character beat as a 'combat nurse' persona; so when Aang defeats the firelord, shes all open to have a relationship with him, if anything i think K chooses A, after the first 2 seasons of A chasing K.
I mean… she did lose him… Azula killed him. So of course she is going to become emotionally distant. She has a crush on the guy that could die in an upcoming battle for the world.
@@andrewrivera190 You know, when it's love, that whole life and death situation actually makes you grab it by the horns and make it official sooner, rather than place the distance.
Kataang was the worst story conclusion in Avatar. This pairing always felt so off (especially the Oedipus complex feelings I got and how Aang was idolizing Katara and ignored her edges so his picture perfect image of Katara wasn't tarnished). I'll always support Zutara.
and let's not forget how katara is dead in tlok, it wasn't jinora's ceremony, probably because zuko was there, she didn't fight amon or unalak, she didn't talk to her children about her shitty father, in short, a lot of disappointment
I do think the Aang-Katara paring is a bit lazy, and it does feel rather unearned to me. It seems to me that it happens because it's expected, and I guess because Aang is the active party, it's natural to see the series as failing Katara. It absolutely plays into the "hero gets the girl" trope, but I'd also point out that it's more or less expected for the male and female leads to get together in any television show, with or without anything heroic going on. And, like it or not, cultural norms are such that the guy is normally the one who pursues the girl in romances. As a result, if the basis for a relationship doesn't feel properly constructed, I think it's more often going to feel like the it's the girl who hasn't been done justice, because we reflexively accept the guy's attraction to and pursuit of her, but are more likely to question her acceptance of him. In the case of Avatar, I think there shortcomings on both ends. With all of this said, however, I certainly think that Katara's romantic development is comparatively lacking, but _some_ of this comes down to the fact that Aang is the main character. Yes, it's an ensemble piece, but Aang is definitely the primary protagonist, and we're experiencing the relationship more from his point of view. I'm sure that the fact that the main creative forces behind the show were men plays into a more male-oriented perspective on the relationship as well (and probably the selection of a male protagonist as well), but I don't think that fundamentally changes things. So in the end, I feel less like the show failed Katara and more like it failed Kataang, even if the lack of development is more obvious on the Katara side.
Also, on Aang's end of things at least, I don't think we should read too much into his ill-advised Ember Island kiss. He's twelve and has likely never been romantically involved with anybody, so it's understandable that he's awkward about things and screws up here. Yes, it's cringy, inconsiderate, disrespectful and intrusive, but it's also predictable and realistic that something like this would happen. And while I want to be very careful to say how important it is to respect the consent of women, I also think that we need to recognize that people aren't perfect and there are going to be... missteps that shouldn't reflect too badly on the character of the people making them. And given who is more often pursuing whom, the guy is going to be the one who more often transgresses the girl's boundaries, rather than the other way around, through no greater deficit of character. And I do think the kiss in question reads very differently coming from an inexperienced twelve year-old than, say, somebody in their twenties. Aang screws up big time, but I don't think we should conclude from this that he doesn't, in general, respect Katara's wishes. I also think we should be honest in admitting that the situation would probably feel less transgressive if the genders were reversed, which should probably have some impact on how we assess the extent of the offense.
But Aang's part aside, Katara's reticence is a clear indication that she's not ready to embrace a relationship with him, and I wish that, at the very least, we had seen them grapple with this (and address and move past Aang's misconduct) in the future, rather than things just magically turning out okay on their own, in the end. I do, however, think that, for their relationship in general, we need to assume that things are developing off-screen. We clearly aren't being showed absolutely everything, or virtually every interpersonal relationship on the show would be unrealistic. With that said, I feel like the kiss and Katara's confusion about their relationship are big enough that they needed to be addressed onscreen. But informing this all is the fact that Avatar is not a show about romance, and I think it's vital to keep this in mind. You could entirely eliminate the romance, and the show would still work just fine. So I think it's more forgivable if Avatar doesn't properly develop a secondary facet. But yeah, I've never been entirely satisfied with the Aang-Katara relationship either.
@@stuffyouotterlistento1461 wow, nice breakdown! and username haha. definitely agree that kids are kids and make mistakes and Aang shouldn't be crucified for his kiss, and your comments about gender norms. I do think it should've been addressed though, like you said in your last comments. I guess one of the reasons I wanted more from Katara's side is that the other two girls in relationships in the show, Mai and Suki, seem to me to take more of an initiative romantically despite their relationships having comparatively less screen time, so I feel like Katara could've been done a little better. Thanks for watching my video regardless!
@@monkfruit Thanks. You're right that Mai and Suki take a more active role in their romantic relationships, but other than that, I'd argue that they're not really any more developed. Mai-Zuko happens off-screen and Suki-Sokka happens incredibly abruptly. In the case of the latter pairing, we're not even able to fill in the gaps by imagining that there was development we just didn't see, because there really wasn't any opportunity. All of this points to the fact that the show isn't focused on romance or overly concerned with developing it in a strictly realistic fashion. And that's okay. It'd be better if the relationships were more convincing, but no show is perfect (even an excellent one like Avatar), and you have to make sacrifices: neglecting one thing to focus on another. Where I think Katara and Aang are different, is that those characters were together in almost every episode, and so there was plenty of opportunity to better develop their relationship, even if it was a secondary or tertiary focus/priority. And the little bit of nuance that was written in-Katara's reticence and Aang's clumsiness-just served to make it seem all the more contrived when they just moved past it without being properly resolving it. So I probably wouldn't ask the Avatar people to create a romantic drama for the television network or streaming service I seem to be in charge of in this hypothetical example, but otherwise, I think they did a really good job.
@@stuffyouotterlistento1461 yes definitely was not trying to say they're more developed! moreso just trying to say if Mai and Suki can take a more active role in their relationships why couldn't Katara? Clearly the writers know how to do it. Also yes totally agree that romance is not the focus of Avatar nor should it be- I was just a little disappointed with the way Kataang played out and wanted to express that :)
Yes, Katara deserved so much better then just being Aang's girlfriend. If the show treated Katara as her own character and gave her more backstory ,depth , and growth I think she would have been just as a great character as Zuko, Azula, and even Sokka. But instead she's just played off as a almost like just a pretty face for the hero to look at. And all her episodes are played off just as filer. She deserved to have more time to herself and more backstory. She deserved so much more then she got.
Katara is my favourite character and she was absolutely treated well. Her motivations, her sense of justice and vengeance being tested with first Jet and random civilians, then amped up to a southern water bender to hit even more close to home then ultimately the direct source of all her pain and anger, the man who killed her mum. Katara was most definitely not just aang's girlfriend. You should look into this more, coz that's just wildly inaccurate
Man you summed up all the main issues I have with Kataang. That scene in Ember Island Players is the bane of my existence. I love the entire show except that one damn scene. I have no idea how they fumbled the ball so hard in the romance department. You touched upon exactly what made me so uncomfortable about Kataang which is that Katara’s feelings never get fully resolved or explored (in contrast, at least she was able to resolve her feelings for Zuko). For how good this show writes female characters, they really flung Katara around like a doll in this aspect. It’s so sad to watch and as someone who has been the victim of others who feel romantically entitled to me, it cuts deep.
I appreciate Kataang and Zutara and think both have their goods and bads. This video was interesting and I agree with the points you raised. All of them in fact. Kataang developed at a nice pace. They have qualities (and ideologies) that complement one another. Katara helps Aang stay grounded and Aang helps Katara remain hopeful. But was their romance perfectly depicted? No, exactly for the flaws you addressed. Katara plays a very backseat role when it comes to their relationship, so much so she feels dragged along at times rather than actually invested. If I recall correctly, she only takes the initiative ONCE in the entire show and that's in the Cave of Two Lovers when, in her mind, it was "kiss or die" lol. I also wished the show addressed Aang's unwanted Ember Island kiss. That was ya know... A Problem™ but, from what's shown, they never talk about it again. I can enjoy Kataang, but it does fall under the often misogynistic "hero gets the girl" trope, especially when looking at the wordless and unexplained smooch they share at the end. I do still like Kataang, and while I think their writing was decent, it was far from perfect.
I disagree with this the reason why Katara dose give direct feelings is 1.it creates suspense 2.of done correctly it’s good writing also if you pay attention to the little details in the series you should know Katara has feelings for aang and she is better at hiding them
@@Devinisapimp2019 Of you pay attention to the little details in the season 3, Katara likes Zuko as well as she likes Aang. The third season completely undermines the first two when it comes to validity for Kataang.
@@MegaMilenche no lmao she likes Zuko but not in that way there great platonic friends katara literally threatened his life for aang and got pissed when Zuko started to attack aang on the last episode
@@Devinisapimp2019 I can easily reverse that and say that she likes Aang platonically since her affection for him wasn't romantic enough ever and she was mostly reacting to his advances.
@@MegaMilenche the headband cave of two lovers she kissed back on the submarine there’s is literally cannon proof from the legacy book on her letter to tenzin,she said she fell in love with aang “ I over the course of time the thing that caused me to fall in love with your father was watching him grow from the joyful and playful boy he was when I first met him to the amazing thoughtful, powerful and Wiseman he became on his journey to accept his fate and embrace the power and responsibilities of being the avatar”
@@monkfruitI think they meant how everyone else in the gaang literally got famous basically and were just these grand figures, and katara is reduced to the avatars wife, and the best healer in the world (which is so ironic when all she wanted to do was be a good water bender and was put into a healing role bc of sexism) and also banned blood bending but yeah that’s pretty much it. And even before that, she was just treated so badly in the comics and there relationship is so badly written, like she still treats him the same as in the show like mothering him a nd such but with them being a couple. Still so weird
@@2triedforthis830Also if you're gonna complain about them not fighting specialy Katara, it's cause there was an era "relatively speaking" of pace so the did a Gohan AND not train as hard
Katara was my favorite as a child and I wish we knew what she felt more in the relationship other than that, I could assume she was turmoiled by war and high alert trauma mind and after the war they talked it out offscreen...
I am strongly Zutara, but I appreciate your outlook. I would like to add that arguably, the fortune teller episode would have made Katara like Aang because he was a powerful bender and ergo- feeds into the "hero gets girl" issue. Katara would have only been with him because he was the hero. Despite what the writers or creators meant, that IS how it comes across for a lot of people. But I can tell you from the POV of a girl who has been in Katara's position, not once have I ever changed my mind and suddenly liked somebody I view as a little brother. I honestly see that more as some sort of k*nk or fantasy with guys who don't get chosen. But in reality, it DOES feel a bit creepy. Maybe, if they'd fleshed out Aang and Katara years later when they're both full fledged adults, okay. Sure. But based off of canon?? No. I feels entirely to creepy and I did get a bit creeped out watching it for the exact reasons you state. I do definitely agree with Aang ending up alone. The ENTIRE show, I thought that was what it was building up to. When his chakras were blocked, I assumed it was a clear sign of his requirement to let go of his own human needs to serve the greater good as the avatar. It is confusing to me, because I watched the entire show as an adult and that message was so LOUD to me. I 100% knew that was where the writers were going with it, that in the end Aang would be put into the very position he was running away from. Then, it didn't happen.... WAT. It was the biggest let down aside from the GoT ending. I have never been more disappointed with a show ending. Don't get me started on the LoK and how they handle Katara. It went from being a masterpiece to a self-insert of the creator in that final episode for me. The creators, Mike and Bryan, made a point about how every boy has a crush on their baby sitter at some point and that was where the inspiration for Aang came from. Somehow, Aang is supposed to represent the "good guy" that would normally be overlooked and not noticed by somebody like Katara. If Aang was not the Avatar, I strongly believe that Kanaang falls apart. :/ Because Katara had no other purpose than to be his support since he was the Avatar. She says it in the first episode. If Aang was not, she would have looked past him. It is giving, the girl could have chosen a more equal partner (like Zuko) but instead chose the silly, goofy, boy who is just a kid and has no idea what he is doing. But since he saved the world, why wouldn't she choose him? It is just annoying to watch. I have read hundreds of YA romance novels and had this been created by a woman or this were a YA novel, then Katara would have ended up with Zuko. If this were a romance novel, then Katara would have ended up with Zuko. ALL of the symbols pointed to Zuko. I think the creators knew that and just wanted to flip the audience on their head and have the girl like Katara end up with a goofball like Aang just because! After all, they get the final say. But what made it infuriating to watch as a woman is the fact that it just does downgrade Katara to the wife of the avatar. All of her character growth for what?? To never really fight again and raise Aang's babies while he is a distant father? But somehow Katara is okay with it? It annoys me so much because everything about her growth SCREAMS male involvement to me. I can tell it wasn't a woman that had a final say, but a man. Lastly, to drive my point home as a woman, no woman is attracted romantically or sexually to a man who she views as a brother/son. I have noticed that seems to be a specific fantasy for some men, where they want the woman to be motherly to them in a way that ignores the woman's actual feelings and desires. In actual relationships, it can be a problem real fast if a woman has to be a parental figure to a man. It gets toxic really quick and it isn't cute at all. So, it does strongly bother me to see Aang dismiss Katara's feelings MULTIPLE times. It bothers me even more seeing fans not acknowledge that...? You don't have to be pro-Zutara to see the issue there. I would be WAY more open to Kanaang had the writers left romance out of the ending of ATLA. IF they just left it up to imagination and then we find out that in the future Aang came around to understanding Katara and started respecting her boundaries, that would be fine! Or Katara rejects Aang, but then after some years, he gains her affection as a matured adult. Okay, yes yes. Even as a Zutara fan, I would actually be game to read or see something like that. That is cute and that I understand. But this ending? No. It is just... a bit disgusting to me, I'm sorry. I know I am going to make a lot of people mad and I am really not trying to. But I do think in today's day and age, this deserves a little bit of light. It does bother me as a girl, seeing how Katara's story ended. Her whole life purpose was to support the avatar.
THIS! I always felt that Aang was too immature, didn’t respect boundaries, and was just given Katara as his “prize” for saving the world. The Zuko/Katara dynamic felt so much more balanced as you actually see each of them trying to understand each other while it felt so one sided with Aang. It just bothered me because I could see myself in Katara as the eldest child and the role I usually take up in groups with younger or more emotionally immature people, so her ending up with Aang felt so gross, as if she ended up with a little brother or small child. I also just hate the trope of “hero gets attractive girl just because he’s the hero”. Zuko actually felt like an equal for Katara unlike Aang.
To me, these are middle schoolers trying to make a relationship work. They're easing into a first romance with no adults or structure to guide them. Then throw in all of the trauma of war and expectation from other adults for the avatar and anyone with him to be valiant saviors, it's a recipe for non developed frontal lobe pre teens to be an emotional disaster. And via story plot, they only have each other. Katara and aang only have each other on a consistent enouhh basis to experience any romantic interactions. I think a more realistic approach would be when balance has been restored from the war and the gang goes their separate ways (at about 20ish yrs old), katara and aang experience a normal life, realize they have nothing in common besides a shared closeness in childhood, they break up and experience life and romance separately. They can still find their way back to each other and end up together, but being their own people for a period of time makes more sense.
Why do you think they would get back together after breakup and growing as their own people, though? Sometimes, that make people realize they never should've been in the relationship.
@@MegaMilenche they would have to bc they had kids in the future. I'm saying if they do a storyline showing what the group did after the comics and before having kids, they should let them go their own way and experience life then come back together. That would make the end result more believable and relatable.
I agree with you and love the videos! The relationship between Katara and Aang didn’t really develop much in the show. I wonder if it has to do with the target audience which was tweens and pre-teens for this show. The Korra show had a lot of romance since that was targeted to older teens.
After watching the video, I have to say that I agree with a lot of the points you made. But here are some things I thought of while watching: first, a romance at 12 and 14 is just kind of uncomfortable for me to consider. That's really young, even if you consider that girls usually develop interest in romance and that kind of thing earlier than boys. But disregarding their ages, since it's okay for there to be a two year age gap between two partners, they're fighting a fricking war. Why are they focusing on romance?? Shouldn't stopping Ozai take precedence here?? But then again, I myself prefer stories where romance isn't the focus. It's okay if it's there, but there are so many more things to explore besides a romance that should really wait for a later time. The EIP episode really made me dislike Kataang a bit more though, for a lot of the same reasons that were stated in the video. Aang should NOT have kissed her when she said she was confused about her feelings. Nowadays, guys get in a lot of trouble about that sort of thing! But yeah, main issue is that Aang kissing her then is never brought up again and Aang never apologizes for doing that. All in all, though, AtLA just did not do any romance very well, with the possible exception of Sokka and Suki. So I honestly wish they'd just scrapped the romance plots entirely.
yeah, totally agree. there are so many good Avatar-esque shows out there (including many of the anime that inspired Avatar) that don't really have romance, and I think Avatar could for sure have taken a similar route
@@monkfruit Thanks for replying; I appreciate it! I kind of wished that Avatar had replaced some of the not-good romance for something more interesting...like instead of Aang and Katara, why couldn't we get some info on Lu Ten, Uncle Iroh's son? He's a pretty important guy, but we don't know anything about him. Or maybe we could've had a legendary scene of Uncle Iroh talking to Ozai. I would've loved to see more of familial relationships in the story, rather than the lackluster romances we got. Like Hakoda! Don't see very much of him in the show, but I wish we could've seen him and Zuko interact, right? All the parallels between Zuko's family and Katara's, it would've made an interesting storyline.
It's crazy I recently rewatched the show 15 years and viewed it from an adult lens compared to when I was 6- 7 years old. I honestly do not understand how Katang was a thing Ang is hella childish ( you know he's 12) and Katara acted like Angs Serogate's mother. And to add Ang never seems to try to listen to Katara and her feelings, especially regarding her wanting to avenge her mother. All and all it would have been better if Ang and Katara just stayed as friends.
i know sakura isnt the main focus of the video but i feel like sakura couldve been a good character if she grew out of the "living for sasuke" thing. because its very real that people do things solely for their significant other or for someone they like. but just like people go through that, many people also realize that its not a way to live. everything you do for another person, basically living for them. if sakura evolved and maybe even still liked sasuke but started doing things for herself she couldve been a way better character
The video doesn't go into katara fear and trauma of losing Ang and how much he means to her,and how he bring so much happiness and playfulness in both her people and the world's and her life, at the first episode she already had a profound fascination of Who ang is and learns her first ever bending lesson from Ang which is to let go of fear, Ang is the first person katara cry for wen he sacrifice his freedom for her people and mostly her brother and gran gran, the admiration this girl feel towards Ang is a spark of desperate love one she can't help but protect, to her Ang is like a gift sent to her God, and she shows her devotion and appreciation by being ever present in Ang life, anything Ang needs she there for him, in yoga they call this the path of bhakti, many time katara has shown that tho the world needs him she needs him to
idk man i see where you're coming from but none of what you're saying is really made clear in the show, which is what my criticism is- they don't elucidate Katara's feelings
@@monkfruit that's what makes katang the best the ship is not rubbed in ur face, buts it's still there, katara first episode she madly fascinated abt him and who he is, she can't wait to share time with him, she has her first ever lesson from Ang by letting go of her fears, and she does she the first one out of kataang to get jealous scared Angry happy joyful admiration protective serious playful for Ang, she fears Ang leaving without her, she equally obsessive of Ang threw her action, like is of her, she says something but her action speak louder then words, the Dance, that girl was jealous as hell, and like why is she jealous
None of that is explicitly romantic. Everything you described, whether it was actually depicted in the show or what you filled in between the lines, is amazing relationship development -- relationship development that applies for friendships and/or familial bonds. These things can evolve into romantic tension (strictly speaking for the friendships 💀) but they do not inherently result in it. Katara obviously adores and admires Aang, she also calls him "a sweet little guy like momo." There really is not enough basis in the show to indicate Katara is romantically interested.
@a.half.cadence Katara on many occasions have expressed her feelings threw her action, towards Aang, Aang is the only Male character Katara has physically desired affection from, Asng opinion from, Katara always seek Aang Thought, she doesn't seek anyone else not zuko or sokka, becuz she doesn't care abt those two, the way she cares abt Aang,
i find it strange that people seem outraged by the 2-year gap between aang and katara, but NOT with the 2-year gap with zuko and katara. it's like people can't stand the idea that a girl could be older than the boy and it's actually okay. they were all KIDS. people talk about katara as though she's a grown woman while aang is a toddler. they were 14 and 12. guys, a 14 year old teen is still in many ways a kid. and 12 is a pre-teen, NOT a toddler. people infantilize aang and at the same time age up katara as though she is a grown woman. THAT is what's weird to me. what ever happened to puberty? they were both at the very border of pre-teen and teen. edit: i ship zutara, but the age gap thing just doesn't make any sense.
I have gone on record as a massive Kataang shipper so I was ready to hate this video but I actually agree with quite a bit of this. The Ember Island Players kiss was a massive yikes. I don't know if Katara's feelings not being explicitly explored didn't mean her feelings weren't clear to the viewers, or at least to me lol. But I also watched the show for the first time when I was a little younger than Aang so I can definitely understand the hero-gets-girl trope, even if I don't know if I would chalk Kataang up to that. Kataang is definitely my favorite ship and, honestly, I think the best ship of the show, but I would be lying if I said it was the healthiest or if it had no red flags.
Love Kataang and it’s development and I thought it was super cute for the most part but I do absolutely agree that we needed a resolution for the ember island players scene.
it's amazing how in sourthem raiders aang objectifies pain:-how do you think i felt when appa was stolen from me? is it serious aang ? try harder , be more articulate
on the question if kataang is develloped , i would say no . Because while they share a lot of screentime together, their relationship doesn't really change and , act that could make them change doesn't , it's rebouted at the end of the each episode. And that is until the last part of season 3 were they start to fight ( fight that aren't resolved in the show , or never , for what i have seen - the last words they exchange are in a fight, wich aang run away from) . Even the kiss they " share" before invading in the eclipse episode doesn't change anything after that . ( or the kiss they might have shared in the cave of two lover, that even though is proposed by katara, that does't mean she is interested, she is proposing because it's a life or death situation )The only exception to that, is when after being told in the fortuneteller episode that aang could be a romantic pairing for her, she stop comparing him to momo in term of what she think of him, and does seems quite uninterested in him through the show , with one notable exception being the headband episode.
Kataang just felt obvious & heteronormative from the start. I know I'm biased, but I much preferred Korra in terms of romance & relationships. (But then again, I binged it just for the wlw ending.)
I find that out of all the main characters in this series Katara has the least amount of character development. Aang goes from being the happy-go-lucky kid to finally accepting the responsibilities and consequences of being the Avatar, Sokka becomes humbled after realizing that he may not be the great warrior he believed himself to be, Toph learned to accept that asking for help is not the same as admitting weakness and the bulk of Zuko's character arc is dedicated to him reevaluating his values. Katara, on the other hand, started off as the strong-willed mother figure of the team, and she remains the strong-willed mother figure of the team for the duration of the series. Her flaws are never exposed long enough for her to reexamine her personal values and she's more often portrayed as being in the right than the wrong.
The southern raiders completely made her out to be in the wrong. The tragedy of her mothers death overshadowed her morals. She lost sense of what was good and wrong because the person who gave her the most trauma can finally experience vengeance. Her whole childhood was stolen. She really doesnt need to change her role in the team to have character development. She went from a naive, emotional, sensitive little girl to being a responsible full fledged adult. If you think about it, if you applied the logic you used with katara with all the other members of the team itll look like none of them had development. Sokka is the goofball who can be serious if needed. Toph is the absolute badass that she is etc etc. Their roles can be the same as it started, that doesnt mean they dont have character development or is underdeveloped. None of them are really underdeveloped and thats the thing atla is so great at.
@@Carlos-hz1le Yet Katara's ideology is the only one's who's never directly challenged. For me, significant character development comes from the reevaluation of beliefs.
@@ThePrincessCH The southern raiders focused on this though. Her belief of wanting to do the right thing or just following the basic rules of society is directly challenged. Her revenge or forgiveness question isn't answered. Because that's just how it is. It's not a black and white situation and she accepts that these things just happen wether you like it or not. I know im focusing on the southern raiders a lot but that episode is too damn good.
@@Carlos-hz1le Yet there is little to no consequence when she follows her beliefs. Aang's reluctance to be the Avatar prevented him from protecting his own people, Zuko's pride nearly blinded him to the truth, Toph's recklessness nearly landed her in jail and Sokka's places his own self-worth into question. Katara has yet to suffer the repercussions of her beliefs are resolved rather quickly. Like when she encouraged Haru to continue Earthbending, knowing that the Fire Nation would have taken him from his home. The matter was resolved because of her speech of hope, so from her perspective she didn't do anything wrong, and while Haru should not have his right to bend suppressed, she didn't consider the full consequences until it was too late. Or when they ventured into the North Pole to learn Waterbending, only for Katara to be denied her chance to learn combat because the Northern tradition forbid women from doing so. On the one hand, their beliefs are incredibly misogynistic, but during the first episode she talked about how bending was so significant to their "culture", since the North and South are sister tribes then there may have been a time where they shared the same ideals before the war and given that only the men of the Southern tribe left for battle, I'm inclined to believe it, and yet the idea is never taken into consideration. Her "cultural" values of bending are further explored after meeting fellow Southern Waterbender, Hama when Katara refers to the practice of Waterbending as her "heritage". And yet even after learning of the darker aspects of her practice, she still stands proud and defiant as a Waterbender.
To quote Roku “being the Avatar doesn’t hurt your chances”. They could have done more to set it up but it makes sense. Not very many girls are going to turn him down if he’s interested, especially if they went on a couple month long journey.
That, and Karata starting to see Aang "romantically" only after the fortune telling episode where she's told 'you will get a powerful bender', makes Katara seem like a gold digger type of girl.
Not only that they really f***** up our protagonist character development he need to let go of his lust for for her to unlock his power that would be great sacrifice and great character development
I never really had an issue with Aang and Katara’s pairing. From the very beginning we have the dude that gave Katara hope and the girl who literally saved Aang’s life. They are an odd pairing but they do have moments of mutual attraction sprinkled in, it was just never the main focus. As for Zuko and Katara. I mean, Zuko has those cool one liners when taunting her when tied to a tree. Then he betrays her in Ba Sing Sei. Then she threatens to kill him when he joins the team. Then he helps her get closure and they reconcile. Then they save each others lives at the end. I guess if the story was structured to have them end up together it could have worked at the expense of Zuko’s arc. I like how Zuko’s journey is more or less just him and Iroh, if you shoehorned in feelings for Katara it would have clouded his journey. Like, his journey is HiS journey, he didn’t change because he had affection for someone he changed because he finally was able to find his own path when he realized what he was doing was wrong. Me personally, I am glad the romance is in the background and I am glad that Aang ended up with the girl that freed him from the iceberg. As for Zuko and Mai. Their emo chemistry always gets a laugh out of me. I hate that the comics did them dirty.
0:42 Age gap? It’s 2 YEARS & they’re both minors! My partner & I have 4 & a half years between us & my parents have 8! I honestly think it’s more to do with Aang looking younger than Katara due to their height difference. Yeah Katara was taller than Aang in the beginning but if you look at the end of the series (when Aang’s 13 & Katara’s 15) you see the difference in height isn’t so noticeable anymore - ESPECIALLY in the post series comics where Aang gets a little taller with practically every comic, catching up to Katara quite quickly!
your commentary and dive into the problems of how the creators handled this romance is the exact reason why Zutara shippers (including myself) back up their ship so much. Sure Aang and Katara had 3 seasons of "development" but the respect and understanding between Zuko and Katara in just the few episodes of season 3 wins easily. If the creators had put more emphasis on Kataras feelings as well, Kataang being end game like that would have felt more organic and not like a prize. if They werent going to elaborate in Kataras feelings or add in a conversation before that finale kiss, I'd rather them not end on the note of Aang gets the girl. I would have preferred it to be open ended and they could have built their relationship up in the comics.
My thoughts on these points: 1. The face: I don't see it as her being unsure of what to think at that particular moment but rather her being sad that it has to be now. She's constantly having to be separated from those she cares about in this war and this is just another instance of her wondering if this might actually be the last time she'll get to see Aang again. This is debatable, faces and emotions are very subjective so this is the weakest point for me to argue. 2. Southern Raiders: Sokka sided with Aang, she dismissed him too, this literally means nothing. She's out for vengeance and anyone who disagrees with her is wrong in her eyes. She knew he wouldn't understand because it's Aang, the pacifist. This is probably my strongest opinion on the video. She was out for blood and hurt Sokka pretty badly too, I don't see how this is evidence. 3. Ember Island: Yeah we all agree it was a yikes moment. I see it from her perspective as "how much of what I'm feeling is caused by the circumstances/stresses of the war and how much of it is actual attraction to Aang". While Aang is like "I've liked this girl since I met her, we had a moment and we were gonna live happily ever after but now it's slipping away. I need to try and capture that magic again before I lose her." He dropped the ball but he is a kid panicking that his crush is falling out of interest, understandable but not excusable. Nothing to argue, she's unsure of what she's feeling (although we may disagree about what in particular she's unsure of). 4. Yeah there needed to be some screentime were they reconcile what had happened, this is 100% a valid argument. I don't think they swept it because they're dismissing Katara, the writers have shown how much they love her, but rather they kinda had to rush a lot of things for the final few episodes. Another fumble due to time constraints was Azula's breakdown, which was not given it's fair weight overall. Her love wasn't a prize for Aang to win, she was also interested in love, it was a good deal of the fortune teller episode. She has her own personal goals as well as a desire to find love, her half of the romantic subplot was finding it in Aang. Which you could say falls under the Hero gets Girl trope but it's more like "we have main characters of opposite genders so of course they'll get together" which happens even in shows with female leads who get with the main male friend. It's just tying it up in a little heteronormative bow.
I agree with a lot of what you're saying! I guess my point in the Southern Raiders isn't that Katara was in the right- she definitely isn't. Just that the episode showed a massive difference in values and opinions that wasn't ever reconciled, and that Aang didn't seem to be willing to listen and instead preached at her. I'm glad you found the video compelling enough to comment regardless :)
how is aang "lecturing" about forgivness when 1. the end of the episode says he's right 2. she's basically taking his car and one of his closest companions to go do something he doesn't approve of She's basically like fuck you lemme borrow your car to buy drugs
Only reason I don’t ship kataang is cause of the episode where Katara rejects aang saying she’s confused , all that build up to friendzone aang near the end of the show? If aang wasnt a simp for katara he could’ve repopulated 100 airbenders with multiple women in korra. He had bunch of Fanclubs but only revived 1 airbender
i am soooo sorry for the giant rant on a year old video. I am forever a zutara stan but it's so frustrating. because the PIECES are there for good Kataang content. Maybe if this was a different story, maybe a darker one, Katara and Aang would be able to bond and have more conversations over what it's like, being the last survivors of a culture that has been genocided by a war. Katara actually living through the south pole's gradual destruction, her mother's death buying her life, being an out of place relic - the only waterbender in the south pole. A culture that so clearly relied on waterbending for its development of infrastructure, and now only left with what can be built by hand. The only survivors of this purge being left alive because the fire nation thought the south pole so thoroughly defanged through the lack of benders. And Katara, alone, with no one to teach her, being a mother figure for her brother, and forced to grow up so fast, taking on domestic duties to help with the young children and helping Gran Gran, with a (justifiably) absent father. And Aang, leaving his people, and essentially waking up the next day to find that everyone he knows is dead - murdered. An entire population and bending element wiped off the face of the earth, except for him. Whatever was left of the art of Airbending, was left with Aang. There was no improvement or learning, at airbending, no teachers he could learn from - he was it. That weight alone is incredible. They COULD find strength in each other through this. But instead... it felt so much like Katara had to extend her motherly role she had been forced into through trauma - repress her feelings, comfort Aang and Sokka and whoever else needed attending. Did aang ever comfort katara the way she did when Aang saw Monk Gyatso? Did he ever comfort her through her pain and rage at the injustice of it all? No. And that's not his fault - he is a kid, and more importantly... she didn't want him to see her like that. Which is why southern raiders is so heartbreaking to me. She is finally vulnerable, expressing her rage and pain and grief, and Aang dismisses it as emotions that she needs to let go of. Because he was able to forgive, she should forgive too - no! That's not how it works! She needed someone in her corner, validating her and trusting her to work through it. And Zuko was that person instead, who saw her intimately, at her lowest, and accepted it without comment. Fuck man, Zuko saw her BLOODBEND a dude and his only reaction was shock before immediate acceptance. She was able to let loose her grief and pain for Zuko, perhaps in part because she doesn't need to PERFORM the caretaker role with him. In my mind, that's what Katara deserved. To be able to put the mother-role aside, and for Aang to take her off the pedestal he put her on and see her as a person. And that didn't really. Happen. Which sucks. FWIW bryke is notorious for handling romances horribly. Zutara is best left to fanon, the version in my head is something I'm happier with than whatever bryke would have potentially come up with. Theyre much better at writing friendships.
Aang was the healthiest option for Katara. The Southern Raiders episode proved that Zuko just brings out the worst in her, and dating Jet would have absolutely sent her down a horrible path. That said Aang and Katara’s relationship dynamic was cute, but definitely not sustainable in the long term. In my headcanon they had a serious break up and spent some time apart before they came together and actively and maturely chose one another again.
def agree on the Zuko thing. might do a Zutara video and cover this but it's so wild to me how that the Southern Raiders is sometimes interpreted as Zuko and Katara having a good, healthy dynamic
I'd like to add this. I don't like when people say "Zuko brought out the worst in her" Again that is taking her agency away. Her pain in already there and no one has yet to do anything to aid her pain expect for Zuko. She did need to confront her dark side, she needed the cathartic release. And she made her own conclusions. Aang didn't make them for her nor did Zuko. And that's all I will say on this..
@@stephylynnpatch I agree that Katara needed to process her pain. But from a relationship standpoint, acknowledging Zuko’s enabling role in Katara’s decision-making doesn’t remove her agency. Katara let Aang process his grief and anger, but intervened when it became unhealthy. Zuko brought up a trauma unrelated to why Katara distrusted him, then helped her cross almost all of her personal boundaries in an attempt to expedite her forgiveness of his betrayal. Katara’s ultimate choice shows her strength of character, but what she truly needed was someone to provide the same emotional guardrail to her that she gives to everyone else.
@@catherga She didn't needed to hear that her mother being killed was the same to Aang as Appa being kidnapped. People disregard how much violation this could've influenced Katara's bad side. I will just add that it's generally wishful thinking two people getting back together after breakup.
What irritates me about Aang and Katara is all the times Aang keeps deciding to smash his face in her face when she is clearly (and verbally!) unwilling and not remotely in the mood. That should not have been a trait of his. (And that is generally the only complaint I have of him, really. He is an adorable little kid. I can say that, I'm GenX, I could be his damn grandma)
I agree with your opinions. However, there was a brief foreshadow in The Fortune Teller when Katara looked at Aang’s display of power as Sokka mentioned what a powerful bender he is, echoing Aunt Woo’s prediction for Katara’s love life.
My personal ship would probably have to be Katara x Suki, or KatSuki/Katsuki. They're both very nice people, and I think they would have genuinely good chemistry with each other!
I think something that explains Aang's approach to romance, is Aang is a monk, there isn't exactly a culture of romance and relationships among his people, and I also know what Gyatso was like. I imagine Gyatso had a secret trove of romance novels that were a guilty pleasure of his, and Aang read them. It explains EVERYTHING. "Oh yes, I shall kiss my beloved before charging off into a glorious battle I may not come back from!" "My beloved is confused about where we are in our relationship, I merely need to prove to her the strength of my love!" And what reason would he have to think these novels are wrong? These novels are usually written for women, and the women always swoon over these acts in the novels. It's only with experience do you learn what women find romantic in fiction is creepy in reality.
hmm I'm not actually not sure about there not being a culture of romance / relationships among the air nomads. That's true in a lot of real life monks, sure, but I remember in the comics Kya told Korrasami that the air nomads had very strong romantic culture (both straight and not straight)
hm not sure what you're referring to- if it's the kiss at Ember Island Players not criticizing him for doing the kiss, moreso criticizing the writers for never addressing it
And you’re acting as if Aang is a real person 😂 please…the romance between them was forced and Bryke even admitted that in their response to the Korrasami backlash
It's not that I think katara, being the mom of the group, can't have feelings. It's that she only ever treats aang like a little bro just like she's used to. She never thought about romance, aside from jack(?), throughout the entire show. Kataang is one sided and forced. Meanwhile Zuko hears her and tries to help her, maybe the wrong way but, he still tries. Idk I'm just super sad it didn't turn out to be Zutara
Ngl but the way i understood it is the importance of their relationship was not greater than the importance of ending the war. When i saw that kiss in the finale, i read it as that was her reciprocating the feelings that Aang showed her because the war had ended. Not because Aang had done his job, but their major goal was ending the war. She wasn't able to come to terms with those feelings, or even act on them while the threat of the world was not dealt with. Why wasn't it resolved? Because Aang was told by katara she was confused. And after he steals a kiss from her, he sees how wrong it was to do so and leaves her alone. Thats why it wasn't resolved on screen. Aang was smart enough to realize that she needed time to work things out for herself. At the end of Avatar, She makes the move to kiss him, showing him that she was ready to take that next step in their relationship.
5:46 To me, Aang said he was proud Katara didn’t kill someone, not that she forgave the man. He just mistakenly assumed not killing Yon Rha meant she’d forgiven him.
honestly i feel now adays that the only relationship that deserved more attention and development and the only one worth exploring at length was sokka and suki. it more or less confirmed that suki and sokka broke up but our of all the cast they had the best relationship. not only that but we all know that sokka loved yuea deeply but there is a huge oppurtunity to teach greiving and moving on in life. i think suki and sokka broke up over this which is a shame cause we know that sokka was deeply influenced by his expeiriance with yuea. he even rejects a kiss from suki because its infront of the moon. this means that sokka could have gradually been consoled by suki and would ultimately result in a very fulfilling relatiionship for them but out of all the relationships in the verse that we know of theirs is the only one that didnt work out.
It seems like the live action completely removed all of the Katanng stuff. Likely because of the age difference in the actors. I'll be surprised if they ever introduce that aspect of the characters into the series. They had no problem with Sokka and Suki. Those actors are much closer in actual age.
I think that that was never there intention to kataang to be canon because this is really underrated and that only development in GATE is on season 3 and that moment accept for dance women everything else was cringe anda kiss from the end of the series was good but I never feel satisfied I believe that should never include romance in this series
I never once sensed any form of romantic attraction from Katara towards Aang, until the ending kiss. Then, it was over. What's more, when you think about the type of guys she DID show romantic attraction towards (Jet and Haroo), they looked NOTHING like Aang and everything you'd expect a guy to look like that would attract Katara. Zuko. However, Aang earned Katara, after everything. It would have been sad if he didn't get her in the end since you know he'd have been utterly heartbroken, and Aang doesn't deserve to be heartbroken. He lost too much and did so much, for everyone... In the end, he is rewarded with the love of his life.
4:11 4:59 6:39 Aang being the young kid he is, doesn’t understand what a relationship is, but being raised by monks means he should’ve at least learned to respect the human body and mind, no matter what(unless for defense ofc) but the only time their relationship would ever flourish, would them being at their best 24/7, them feelings good and happy to actually put up with the relationship, another thing, Katara acted motherly towards Aang, a reason I don’t like the relationship, Aang is just a silly little kid with a great stress on his shoulders, Katara, even at her age, had to grow up for her village, for her family, since her mother died, and her father left for war. So Katara acts motherly, especially towards Aang, since his whole nation, an entire culture was destroyed. And Aang only liked Katara, since he saw Katara would be there for his needs, and his only, he never really as much sat down to talk about feelings for once, but Zuko, even being evil he actually sat down to talk and listen, in the beginning he was lost, since his father left him with the almost impossible task, just because he spooked out of turn. He and Katara could grow more, both could grow with more development.
The problem I have with katara and zuko pairing is simple, the way I see it it would be like if a high ranking offcial in Nazi Germany married someone who survived the Holocaust.
Except Zuko wasn't high ranking official of any kind. He had absolutely zero say and took zero action in war and genocide against other nations before he was exiled. And even after he was exile, he didn't kill anybody, not even in the first season.
@@monkfruit You make it sound like these things couldn't have happened in real life. Can you explain why this theoretical romance would be shitty or politically insensitive?
@@MegaMilenche "wasn't high ranking" he's the prince there's literally only one maybe two people above him. Just cause he didn't kill anyone doesn't mean he didn't burn villages to the ground and last I checked that's still a war crime. Also while he didn't exactly invade like most fire nation soldiers but he did help conquer ba sing se and he did end up helping azula and taking credit for conquering it and fighting aang. That's participating. Lastly saying he didn't kill anyone isn't a very high bar in this show considering it's a kid show and only two or three characters were actually shown or hinted at they were dead
I going to have to disagree with you on the last part a little bit. I feel like we do see Katara’s feelings towards saying a lot in the show she is usually the one that initiates physical contact and also let’s aang touch her and places where a normal friend shouldn’t although like you said it wasn’t completely explored. I feel like it was explored a little bit. Also, I feel like it does work as a romantic relationship because aang learns in the comics to respect Katara, in the north and the south comic aang comes back from avatar that is to see Katara in the south pole when they see each other they hug and ask if he can kiss her she says, maybe not in front of my dad and he says OK, implying that he did learn from his mistakes and I like that, but anyways, great video man I feel like kataang did have a downfall, and that was only because of bad writing because realistically after the emerald players Katara and aang would definitely talk about what happened and also after the southern raiders.
this video is a good critique of the writing in atla in regards to character relationships w/o going into the shipping conversation (not that that’s bad, it’s just a whole other topic) .. romance was not at the forefront of the story’s themes in atla, so the few moments that aang & katara had that Did play on this theme explicitly.. hav some very 2005 problems w writing women. in another writer(s) hands, it could be great! but ultimately it does feel like much is unresolved by the end…
Great video man. To be honest as a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, I am not really interested in the romance. I was interested in their adventures and their friendship. When it comes to relationships, I find friendship to be more cooler and more fun than cringey romance because romance is so annoying & so lame.
When it comes to the age gap thing I just think of it as the 1600s or earlier where teens were getting married and stuff at that age, cause I do feel like it would take place during that time in avatar. And also I think katara made that face on black sun cause she wasn’t sure if she would see him again at least that’s how I took it
definitely a reasonable interpretation! I interpreted it as being uncomfortable especially with what she said later during EIP but could see how how you could interpret it that way. I wish Katara's feelings in general were more clear
I think that katara and aang are a good pairing but not great because I feel like they are more like siblings than lovers but I do love that they support each other and I know that katara falls more in love with aang in the comics which is beautiful but honestly I feel like Zuko would have been better for katara because they both lost their mom in different ways and opposites attract! I feel like Zuko would had supported each other way more because they understand each other! While aang is just like can we have peace now!
If Katara and Aang's genders were swapped, nobody would complain about the 2-year age gap. Unless of course the complaint is that he is technically 112.
People would definitely have a problem with a 12 year old girl and a 14 year old boy. Hell, people have a problem with Zutara because it's 14 year old girl and 16 year old boy (one of more hypocritical reasons against Zutara). Maybe, if the show started with Aang already being 14 and Katara being 15/16, some people would've liked it better. 12 and 14 is just weird, no matter how you mix the genders.
@@MegaMilenche I really don't think a 2 year gap at that age is that weird. They're both children, let's not act like one is grooming the other or whatever. For all potential differences, there are far more similarities between 12 year olds and 14 year olds. And if you actually think gender doesn't play a role here, that's extremely naive. Also I have never seen a single soul raise age gap concerns about Zutara.
@@BrianStorm742 Gender does play a role, that is what I have said. So, you don't be the naive one. I have seen people have issues with Zutara because Zuko is 16 and older 2 year, even though it's the same gap with Katara and Aang. When they start talking about it, you'd think the boy was 22 or something and Katara was 10. The only reason people have no issue with 12 and 14 is because the girl is older. If Aang was older, they would've had the problem, since the boy would be clearly pubescent while she's still prepubescent.
The only good argument here is aang dont respect her feeling agre but first of all kataang isnt debate with zutara kataang is absolute better but this is not important katara say is confused because is in the middle in the war after katara kiss him first because after the war understand her feelings and definitely in the S3 first kiss she blushes when aang leaves katara smile him and blush so is clear romantic anyway this is the truth-feats and everyone accept that but nice video
Katara beat Azula before that in a 1v1 before Zuko showed up. Plus, Azula might have been slipping, but she also had the comet boosting her firebending and lightning bending to the point I think it far makes up for her lack of cunning in a fight. Besides, if you have to rely on manipulating your opponent in a battle to win, maybe you're just not that physically strong.
