there’s a reason why the entire story of avatar the last airbender begins and ends with katara. there’s a reason why we are introduced to katara first before we are introduced to any other character. there’s a reason why katara is the narrator. there’s a reason why the creators have emphasized over and over again that katara is just as titular to the story as aang - she’s the other main character.

when you water down katara - remove her compassion, her ability to connect with others, her nurturing role, her ANGER and RAGE and DRIVE - you water down the very fundamentals of the story. you drastically and severely alter the core dynamics of the gaang, because katara was so important to the development of every single one of them. she was the rock and glue that held team avatar together.

katara was unlike any other character to ever appear on television; she was a young brown girl who took no shit from anyone, yet at the same time remained kind and compassionate and nurturing. katara was a force of nature; proud of her heritage and culture, burdened by the responsibility of being the last southern water bender of the water tribe, angered over the death of her mother and everything that the fire nation took from her, determined to help every single person in need, determined to change the world, angry and resentful because old men and rules and laws kept telling her what she could or could not do, thus, she was determined to restructure thousands of years of patriarchy that stood against her from accomplishing her goals and dreams.

watering down katara into at most 2-3 tangible characteristics, stripping her away of all her motivation and agency and nuance, telling the audience that she wants to help and change the world only to have her stand in the background with an air of grief, demonstrates that the writers of the live action fundamentally misunderstand the spirit of avatar. and that’s something so unforgivable. no matter how many changes they decide to make, or how much they decide to stay true to the original story in other areas, no matter how many flashy VFX fight scenes we get - if you fail to properly understand katara, you fail to understand the heart and soul of avatar the last airbender, everything that makes avatar such a timeless classic.

Rant

Why must people act like liking a non-canon ship over a canon one is going to end the world? Like, so long as the ship isn’t literally like illegal just fuck off. Or in general just bashing a ship because it’s not your favorite?

First off, all your doing is being an ass by saying something bad about a ship you don’t like in the ships tags. (If you make a tag specifically for bashing a ship that’s your business, but at lest keep it out of the actual ship tag, your not doing yourself any favors).

Second, if someone likes a ship it’s literally none of your fucking business. None. Nada. Nothing to do with you directly. Its a ship that they like and you don’t, best thing to do is ignore it.

Third, if someone likes a ship and you don’t they probably don’t care that you don’t like the ship beyond a small shrug and an ‘okay’ or maybe a ‘why’. Your ranting into the void and being an ass for nothing.

Biblical references in ATLA

I know I said I restraint myself from doing complicated analyses on ATLA, but what can I say? It’s quarantine and I’m bored. 

Besides, this is something that I wanted to point out since quite a while ago:

We all know this image is inspired by the Pietà by Michelangelo, which is a sculpture that embodies the Holy Mary holding Jesus’ lifeless body after His crucifixion, and many argue that this piece of subtext was a clear sign that Katara was indeed designed to be a mother figure towards Aang.

Granted, if we had only this biblical reference in the entire narrative of the show and its storyline, then that argument would lack a little substance. But that’s not the case.

Take a look at this:

This is Aang preparing himself for the Invasion the Day of the Black Sun. And look at that fluffy little koala-sheep! Don’t they remind you of someone?

Exactly, Pam!

This means Aang was intended to be portrayed as Jesus – which is not difficult to deduce – that means he was intended to be portrayed as Jesus on the Pietà-like scene, which means Katara was intended to be portrayed as Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. And while the subtext is beautiful and I could never pull it out so well as the writers team did on this one, you can’t say that two characters were always scripted to end romantically involved when you pull out writing and artistic moves like this.