Katara Essay
So I've been analyzing Katara a bit lately. Dipping into fandumb's a bad idea, but in this case at least it fueled analysis?
Katara isn't an especially hated character in the Avatar fandom, she's certainly liked more than poor Mai, Suki and Aang. But she's had her share of bashers, mostly people who hate her for her shift in characterization in season 3 and her attitude towards a certain Prince Fan Favorite.
Early on, Katara was The Messaiah. Sweet and gentle and motherly and relying on hope and love. Later, she lost some of that and became more aggressive.
Perhaps TOO aggressive, as the fans started seeing her as a PMSing psycho who would bloodbend at the drop of a hat. And with her death threat to Zuko and general behavior in "The Southern Raiders", canon provided way too much fodder for these accusations.
Personally, I rather hate the idea that if a character isn't all sweetness and light, they're instantly pitch dark. Sadly, it's a popular opinion in fandoms, not just Avatar but fandoms in general. So naturally because Katara wasn't the nice sweet Sugar Queen anymore and knew a dangerous skill, she was taking a cruise to the dark side.
But she wasn't. Even with how she acted in "The Southern Raiders", she wasn't.
Let's start from the beginning. Katara lived a quiet life in the Southern Water Tribe, which was disrupted by the Fire Nation's attack and the death of her mother. Kya falsely proclaimed she was the last Waterbender to protect Katara, and Katara saw everything. Still, in the beginning of the series she was a sweet, motherly girl with the occasional fits of temper. This carried through the rest of season one, and with the Northern Water Tribe's victory against the Fire Nation at the end, it carried through season two.
Then things got darker with the introduction of Azula, followed by the dark side of Ba Sing Se. Finally, in the season finale Katara had a moment with Zuko, the gang's archnemesis, and got to see his softer side. He gave her every reason to believe he could be trusted, and that he was a good person...right before he chose to side with Azula. Aang nearly died in her arms, the Earth Kingdom fell, downer ending. Naturally, everyone was gonna come out of that a little darker than usual. Aang certainly did!
Come the third season, she was just as motherly and helpful as ever, albiet more prone to crankiness. It's clear throughout season 3 that nearly losing Aang has hardened her a bit. Not exactly "Break the Sugar Queen and make her a hardass", but she's reacting as any human would if they were revisited with THE worst part of any war: the death of someone they love.
And then, just after the invasion they'd pinned all their hopes on has failed and half the army is taken to prison, who should show up but Zuko?
THIS is when the bashing comes in. People have fits about her behavior towards Zuko, "how dare she be mean to him and not trust him when it's so obvious he's a good person now! Look at all he did for them! He's a nice guy, why can't she just forgive him?!"
Remember what happened last time? She was about to just before he helped Azula take over the Earth Kingdom. Oh, and Aang almost died.
She isn't the only one at first, Sokka and Aang also still have some pretty bad feelings towards Zuko and dismiss Toph's defense of him. This shows that just because Toph is a human lie detector and is obviously right about Zuko, that isn't gonna erase the bad feelings the rest of the Gaang have about him after all he's done. Aang is the first one to accept Zuko, then Sokka. Toph is pretty much ambivelant, cause she's Toph. Even though she claims she'll get back at him somehow for burning her feet.
Katara is the last holdout, Zuko even points out in "The Southern Raiders" that everyone trusts him now except for her. This WOULD come off as "the complainer is always wrong", but Katara gets to point out that she WAS the first one to trust him, and it ended badly. Even saving her dad and bonding with Aang isn't enough to erase that hurt.
During "The Southern Raiders", we see Katara at her darkest as the anger and hurt she's been carrying with her finally explodes. She becomes hellbent on tracking down her mother's killer, won't listen to Aang and Sokka who don't want her to let this desire for revenge consume her, even says some pretty hurtful things to them. She almost goes through with killing the guy until she realizes how old, pathetic and empty he is, instead leaving him crying on his knees in the rain. Finally, she's able to forgive Zuko and even hugs him. After this, she seems to become her S2 self again, thoughtful and sweet and easygoing but assertive and badass. She may not be the same Sugar Queen she always was, but it's clear that through her catharsis in "The Southern Raiders" she was finally able to let go of the bad feelings she'd been holding onto that eventually made her so rageful.
Am I saying Katara's actions are 100% excusable and people have no right to be unhappy with how they were done? No, of course not. Personally, I would've liked a scene where she smoothed things over with Aang and Sokka. I think she could've scared Zuko just as easily with "listen buddy, you step out of line or give me any reason to think you'll betray us, I'll make you regret it" cause he's seen what she can do when provoked. And yes, I admit to thinking Zuko saving her dad followed by her HAAAAET RAAAEG at him the following episode could be seen as inconsistent and have a plotbunny in which she goes to Boiling Rock with Sokka and Zuko, but that's also an excuse for some Suki/Katara bonding. Fans DO have the right to be displeased with how something was handled, after all, that's what opinions are all about.
But the point is...Katara is human, and humans are inconsistent. Especially when they've gone through as much as Katara has. She has every right to be upset with people when she feels they've upset her. She has every right not to trust a guy who burned her the first time she considered forgiving him. And she has every right to whatever she's feeling at the time.
Oh, and the bloodbending thing? She only used it ONCE after its initial introduction. She didn't even use it on AZULA in the finale. Using bloodbending once to save one's friends + using it once on some enemy soldier =/= another Hama in the making. :P
Opinions and alternate character interpretation are fine, but I'm just sick of seeing the fandumb and even places like TVTropes trying to shove the Psycho PMS Crazy Katara thing down people's throats and act like she shouldn't be allowed to have moods other than Smiley Sugar Queen.
Katara isn't an especially hated character in the Avatar fandom, she's certainly liked more than poor Mai, Suki and Aang. But she's had her share of bashers, mostly people who hate her for her shift in characterization in season 3 and her attitude towards a certain Prince Fan Favorite.
Early on, Katara was The Messaiah. Sweet and gentle and motherly and relying on hope and love. Later, she lost some of that and became more aggressive.
Perhaps TOO aggressive, as the fans started seeing her as a PMSing psycho who would bloodbend at the drop of a hat. And with her death threat to Zuko and general behavior in "The Southern Raiders", canon provided way too much fodder for these accusations.
Personally, I rather hate the idea that if a character isn't all sweetness and light, they're instantly pitch dark. Sadly, it's a popular opinion in fandoms, not just Avatar but fandoms in general. So naturally because Katara wasn't the nice sweet Sugar Queen anymore and knew a dangerous skill, she was taking a cruise to the dark side.
But she wasn't. Even with how she acted in "The Southern Raiders", she wasn't.
Let's start from the beginning. Katara lived a quiet life in the Southern Water Tribe, which was disrupted by the Fire Nation's attack and the death of her mother. Kya falsely proclaimed she was the last Waterbender to protect Katara, and Katara saw everything. Still, in the beginning of the series she was a sweet, motherly girl with the occasional fits of temper. This carried through the rest of season one, and with the Northern Water Tribe's victory against the Fire Nation at the end, it carried through season two.
Then things got darker with the introduction of Azula, followed by the dark side of Ba Sing Se. Finally, in the season finale Katara had a moment with Zuko, the gang's archnemesis, and got to see his softer side. He gave her every reason to believe he could be trusted, and that he was a good person...right before he chose to side with Azula. Aang nearly died in her arms, the Earth Kingdom fell, downer ending. Naturally, everyone was gonna come out of that a little darker than usual. Aang certainly did!
Come the third season, she was just as motherly and helpful as ever, albiet more prone to crankiness. It's clear throughout season 3 that nearly losing Aang has hardened her a bit. Not exactly "Break the Sugar Queen and make her a hardass", but she's reacting as any human would if they were revisited with THE worst part of any war: the death of someone they love.
And then, just after the invasion they'd pinned all their hopes on has failed and half the army is taken to prison, who should show up but Zuko?
THIS is when the bashing comes in. People have fits about her behavior towards Zuko, "how dare she be mean to him and not trust him when it's so obvious he's a good person now! Look at all he did for them! He's a nice guy, why can't she just forgive him?!"
Remember what happened last time? She was about to just before he helped Azula take over the Earth Kingdom. Oh, and Aang almost died.
She isn't the only one at first, Sokka and Aang also still have some pretty bad feelings towards Zuko and dismiss Toph's defense of him. This shows that just because Toph is a human lie detector and is obviously right about Zuko, that isn't gonna erase the bad feelings the rest of the Gaang have about him after all he's done. Aang is the first one to accept Zuko, then Sokka. Toph is pretty much ambivelant, cause she's Toph. Even though she claims she'll get back at him somehow for burning her feet.
Katara is the last holdout, Zuko even points out in "The Southern Raiders" that everyone trusts him now except for her. This WOULD come off as "the complainer is always wrong", but Katara gets to point out that she WAS the first one to trust him, and it ended badly. Even saving her dad and bonding with Aang isn't enough to erase that hurt.
During "The Southern Raiders", we see Katara at her darkest as the anger and hurt she's been carrying with her finally explodes. She becomes hellbent on tracking down her mother's killer, won't listen to Aang and Sokka who don't want her to let this desire for revenge consume her, even says some pretty hurtful things to them. She almost goes through with killing the guy until she realizes how old, pathetic and empty he is, instead leaving him crying on his knees in the rain. Finally, she's able to forgive Zuko and even hugs him. After this, she seems to become her S2 self again, thoughtful and sweet and easygoing but assertive and badass. She may not be the same Sugar Queen she always was, but it's clear that through her catharsis in "The Southern Raiders" she was finally able to let go of the bad feelings she'd been holding onto that eventually made her so rageful.
Am I saying Katara's actions are 100% excusable and people have no right to be unhappy with how they were done? No, of course not. Personally, I would've liked a scene where she smoothed things over with Aang and Sokka. I think she could've scared Zuko just as easily with "listen buddy, you step out of line or give me any reason to think you'll betray us, I'll make you regret it" cause he's seen what she can do when provoked. And yes, I admit to thinking Zuko saving her dad followed by her HAAAAET RAAAEG at him the following episode could be seen as inconsistent and have a plotbunny in which she goes to Boiling Rock with Sokka and Zuko, but that's also an excuse for some Suki/Katara bonding. Fans DO have the right to be displeased with how something was handled, after all, that's what opinions are all about.
But the point is...Katara is human, and humans are inconsistent. Especially when they've gone through as much as Katara has. She has every right to be upset with people when she feels they've upset her. She has every right not to trust a guy who burned her the first time she considered forgiving him. And she has every right to whatever she's feeling at the time.
Oh, and the bloodbending thing? She only used it ONCE after its initial introduction. She didn't even use it on AZULA in the finale. Using bloodbending once to save one's friends + using it once on some enemy soldier =/= another Hama in the making. :P
Opinions and alternate character interpretation are fine, but I'm just sick of seeing the fandumb and even places like TVTropes trying to shove the Psycho PMS Crazy Katara thing down people's throats and act like she shouldn't be allowed to have moods other than Smiley Sugar Queen.