Listen not to start the Disk Horse but I am 10000% on your side re: Zutara. And I also think that Zutara v. Kataang is more about Katara and her feelings/agency (like you said!!!) than Zukka which everywhere else on tumblr seems to be considered 'the perfect solution' without taking into account Katara at all-- the original point of Zutara v. Kataang.
Exactly!!!! You!!!! You get it!!!!
I think I mentioned it in passing at some point, but being honest? One of the things that bothers me most about Zukka is that, by and large, Katara is left with Aang (and tbh otherwise ignored). Sometimes lipservice is paid to pairing her with Suki (which has even less of a foundation than Zukka, because while I would dearly love more Suki&Katara friendship content, they virtually nothing in canon, and that’s actually one of my criticisms about the show as a whole--while i love the female characters, a lot of their relationships with each other are severely lacking, particularly among the gaang), but it’s half-hearted at best because they just... don’t care about Katara, and I can’t relate.
And that isn’t even getting into the ‘katara is the Token Straight’ or ‘katara is a homophobe’ sects of Zukka fandom which....are best left untouched tbh.
But that’s just the crux of my problem!!!!!! Zukka isn’t the miraculous ‘solution’ to the fandom’s problems, because the issue was always about who Katara would end up with--what was best for Katara, what choice she made and if she had agency when she made it. Removing Katara from that equation entirely, and shuffling her off to her canon ship bc it’s convenient? Not only does it not sit right with me, but it’s pretty telling of the fandom as a whole.
It’s misogyny, tbh, plain and simple. And it’s not new, but it is becoming distressingly prevalent with the rise in Zukka’s popularity, and I really don’t like it.
