white straight ciswoman mid-20s-ish. surrounded by telly. likes words,
I have a hole punch, let's not get big-headed now.
keppps << shallitellyouastory
I think my favourite thing about Katara’s arc is that so much of it is about weaponizing who she is, where she comes from and her emotions? A lot is made of the fact that Katara fulfils this conventionally feminine slot and role on the show, often in a really fantastic and empowering way which says that femininity does not weaken you or mean you should not be listened to and respected, but if you consider that emotions and Katara’s emotional responses play into that- Katara turns that into a weapon. It’s not that Katara doesn’t use traditional weapons in the way of her bending, but her motivation in the war is her mother, is her father, is what it’s done to her friends and brother and her family in general. Her great moments of strength come from emotional excess- seeing Zuko downed by Azula in the finale, or her anger at Hama hurting her friends, or when Azula kills Aang.
That’s what I meant when I made that graphic with the lyric ‘my heart is a weapon of war’ and said it fit her. Katara’s emotions are not only her strength, but also the weapons she uses to fight in the war. She takes these things everyone would claim made her weak- her grudges and her anger and her hope and her loss- and she turns them into something to not only fight for, but also WITH. And so many of them are emotions that aren’t usually seen in feminine, female characters like Katara. Katara isn’t even just angry, she’s full of RAGE, and she’s got grudges that she never lets go of. She doesn’t forgive or forget a lot of the time, not really.
Damn, I love Katara.
Stuff in bold but really everything.
This is such a great post. I love that Katara is both emotional and never weakened by that, but also that she has such a range of emotions. She is motivated by her mother and father, her brother, her friends, but she is also motivated by a deep sense of justice, hope for everyone, and a desire to provide whatever help is in her power to whoever needs it, from the people she personally loves, to Zuko, to the people in the fishing village. When people are being exploited or threatened, she just gets PISSED and stubborn, as pissed and as stubborn as if it were happening to her, and then you couldn’t stop her if you tried. I also love that she does get to have these really big reactions to her own pain and loss, to other people in danger, to unfair situations, and is never made to apologize for blowing up or reacting disproportionately. When she gets pissed like this, even when the other characters initially disagree with her or want to go a different way, the narrative almost always validates her feelings. She is never made to feel—WE as viewers are never made to feel—that she should take up less emotional space, that she should take her feelings out of the calculation, that emotions are not a constructive or valid response, or that she should express them in a smaller, more polite, more restrained way. Instead, it is a very large part of what makes her her, and it is a very large part of what makes her powerful.
Which, okay, is basically everything the post already said, but WORDS ABOUT KATARA, I like them.
Bolding in the most recent post, mine.
tagged as: katara. forever feels. ladies. favouritest. avatar: the last airbender. reblogging for the commentary. because yes all of this. i just can't get over how atla does so much to support and embrace its characters. and how it makes it all feel effortless and perfect and you watch and think -. yes exactly. this is how it should be.. and katara tends to be the focal point for my atla feels. so this post just. meep.
reblogged from such-heights
originally posted by i-can-be-found-at-ayries
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It bothers me how much people love to hate Katara. She’s such a realistic character -
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