Why did nobody tell me Avatar was the best show ever?
Because it totally is. So perfectly realised I don't even want to have fanfic. I don't even ship. The love had to spill over somehow, though. Here, have 1600 words of meta I wrote.
(I LOVE SOKKA. THIS IS NOT IN THE ESSAY. HE RAPS HAIKU AND FACEPALMS SO HARD AT ILLOGICAL PEOPLE THAT IT LEAVES A MARK.)
Let’s be honest. Both Sokka and Katara spend most of the series getting smitten with the first teenagers they've ever met outside their immediate family. Could we really have been more than one cold winter's night away from Watercest?
- Comment on AV Club’s weekly review of Avatar
Twelve Going on Fourteen or Fourteen Going on Sixteen? Shipping and Katara: the problem of her age.
As every internet denizen who’s heard of Avatar: The Last Airbender knows, the fandom for this children’s cartoon is riven by ship wars. Should the central female character get with her best friend who’s destined to save the world, or with enemy-turned-ally Prince Zuko? So far, so Draco/Hermione. But whereas Hermione is swarmed over in fanfic by boys in her year at school, neither of the main Katara ships are age-appropriate.
Harshly put? Perhaps. Two years isn’t a great difference. But 14 is a curious age. Travel two years in opposite directions and you reach some very different places.
“You’re just a child!”
“Well, you’re just a teenager.”
-Zuko and Aang, “The Avatar Returns”
This is a lovely little establishing exchange, the first between two of our most important characters. It cements Aang firmly as the fun-loving giggly ball of energy that he’s shown himself to be. He welcomes the ‘child’ moniker and owns it. Yes, he’s a child. He loves it and he’s having fun, AND he knows he’s a strong enough and agile enough airbender to run rings around potential threats. He accepts that Zuko is a stage of life ahead of him, but doesn’t think there’s anything special about that. He’s not mocking Zuko, exactly - Zach Tyler Eisen makes Aang sound a little friendly and quite puzzled even as he punctures Zuko’s pride!
I was pretty spoiled about Avatar. But I watched it in strict order and didn’t learn for a while that the entire show takes up less than a year. Revisiting the first episodes, it’s hard to believe that in such a short space of time, in “The Ember Island Players”, Aang will be pining for romance and briefly seeing Zuko as a rival. Granted, Aang matures a lot over the space of time. The very next episode, we see that his childish exuberance is a persona he fiercely clings to in an attempt to wish away the terrifing events that have been wrenching him from an idyllic childhood. As late as “The Western Air Temple” he reverts to that persona when he tries to wish away the failure of his first, best chance to save the world. He’s not as much of a child as he wants to be - but neither is he a teenager. And Zuko has just as much of a claim to fire-forged maturity beyond his biological age as Aang does.
“I’m just going to Mai’s house. It’s not far.”
-Zuko, “Nightmares and Daydreams”
It could have been guessed at before. After all, he’s the same age as Princess Yue would have been married at. But it’s made crystal clear in this episode that Zuko and his girlfriend have a sexual relationship. Not sleazily in an evilly decadent atmosphere. Not in a desperation for release fuelled by a knowledge that their participation in war has robbed them of innocence. Just the normal teenage sex that results when one party has a house to themselves and they’ve been together for a few months. He pops over, which he clearly does a lot. They make out on the couch, chat as they snuggle, make out some more, and then we cut to the next morning when Mai brings him tea. You have to admit - it’s kinda nice. And it’s perfectly healthy.
“She is NOT my girl friend!
“I am NOT his girl friend!”
-Zuko and Katara talk over each other in a frenzy of denial, “Sozin’s Comet: Part 2”
Fast forward. A few scant weeks after that interrupted breakfast with Mai, Zuko has deserted to join the Avatar, leaving Mai a note saying ‘It’s not you; it’s my treachery.’ Let’s imagine a simple enough Zutara scenario: Zuko feels Mai is part of the life of evil that he’s put behind him, and gets together with a passionate member of the group of heroes he’s joined. I take it as a given here that a) Katara is not ready for sex; b) Zuko would never try to pressure her into it. Is this really sustainable? Zuko’s not only biologically older, but he’s got used to the notion of sex being a normal part of a relationship.
Maybe it is perfectly sustainable. Maybe after a lifetime of jumping straight into emotional volcanoes, Zuko’s happy to take things slow with the right girl. After all, if he’s a highly-sexed person, he certainly didn’t show it in Ba Sing Se. Remember when he took his shirt off in “The Beach” and immediately set off a sea of squee? He looked pretty much the same when he was living in Ba Sing Se, so I think we can take it that Jin wasn’t the only girl who showed interest. But Zuko was far too freaked out to even consider the nookie potential.
So... Katara and Zuko share sweet kissytimes, Katara gets some pubescent tingling in her loins but waits for a special day when she’s ready, and meanwhile she’s certainly emotionally mature enough at 14 to date 16-year-old Zuko. Right?
“If anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang. I mean, he is the Avatar.”
“Are you kidding? He’s just a goofy kid!”
(“He’s right!”)
“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl!”
-Katara and Sokka, with an interjection from Aang, “Jet”
Katara and Sokka may have been more than one winter’s night away from Watercest. But it’s true that their village was stripped of everyone of fighting age some time ago, and if Katara so childishly mocks her 16-year-old brother for (maybe) never having kissed a girl, it’s a pretty safe bet that she’s never kissed a boy. Suddenly she’s sounding a lot more similar to the ‘goofy kid’ than she is to Zuko.
This is a show that’s not afraid to linger on the dark side (genocide as early as the third chapter, the capital of the ‘good side’ being run by a gulag-loving secret police in book two, a nuanced argument that refusing to kill a man can be a selfish choice in book three) and that means that all its child heroes get the levelling-up in maturity that only tragedy and absent/abusive parents can bring. Aang deals with his throughout the show. Zuko has suffered his before the show and works through it during the show. Katara has had hers well before the show began. It would be foolish to claim that Katara is not far, far wiser by show’s end than when she was living in her small village, but she can still be a bit silly. See above.
Aang is 12. When he gives her a ‘now or never’ kiss as the Black Sun invasion begins, can we not all agree that the idea of him having full-on sex is repulsive? Katara is 14. Would we agree that Aang has matured more than she has during the show, and that when it comes to boys - especially when it comes to boys - she’s immature for a 14-year-old?
(Just look at Azula. There’s a 14-year-old who wields sexuality like lightning bolts. For a less psychotic example, look at 14-year-old Ty Lee. Aware that boys flock to her, she smiles and sweetly asks them to be parasols. They comply.)
Meanwhile, Katara is the Painted Lady of the Embarrassing Blush. Although, she is so much more.
“When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom... When I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture.”
-Sokka to Toph, “The Runaway”
Sokka tells Toph that he’s never told anybody all of this before. It’s pretty impressive that a boy can think of his sister, two years younger than him, as a fulfilling mother substitute. Sokka’s 16. Zuko’s 16. If Sokka thinks Katara is mature enough to mother a 16-year-old, will he think she’s mature enough to date one?
It’s hard to tell. This is the problem with analysing Katara in a romantic light. As evidenced by Sokka’s heartfelt words and by what we know of her through the two-and-a-half seasons of the show so far, she’s had responsibility and courage far beyond her years for a long time and has met the challenge admirably. Yet she knows nothing about boys. She’s not intimidated by Zuko and would never giggle and blush around him the way she did around - well, around pretty much every other teenage boy ever. It’s a start, but it might not be enough.
In trying to pull Katara first younger, and then older, I can’t really find myself getting behind either of them without a vague feeling of unease. It was sweet when she kissed Aang on the show after the world was saved, but... ever so slightly icky. It might or might not be passionate and sexy if there had been a Zutara build-up and kiss, but... it might have been ever so slightly icky.
Tytara, anyone? At least they’re both the same age!
(I LOVE SOKKA. THIS IS NOT IN THE ESSAY. HE RAPS HAIKU AND FACEPALMS SO HARD AT ILLOGICAL PEOPLE THAT IT LEAVES A MARK.)
Let’s be honest. Both Sokka and Katara spend most of the series getting smitten with the first teenagers they've ever met outside their immediate family. Could we really have been more than one cold winter's night away from Watercest?
- Comment on AV Club’s weekly review of Avatar
Twelve Going on Fourteen or Fourteen Going on Sixteen? Shipping and Katara: the problem of her age.
As every internet denizen who’s heard of Avatar: The Last Airbender knows, the fandom for this children’s cartoon is riven by ship wars. Should the central female character get with her best friend who’s destined to save the world, or with enemy-turned-ally Prince Zuko? So far, so Draco/Hermione. But whereas Hermione is swarmed over in fanfic by boys in her year at school, neither of the main Katara ships are age-appropriate.
Harshly put? Perhaps. Two years isn’t a great difference. But 14 is a curious age. Travel two years in opposite directions and you reach some very different places.
“You’re just a child!”
“Well, you’re just a teenager.”
-Zuko and Aang, “The Avatar Returns”
This is a lovely little establishing exchange, the first between two of our most important characters. It cements Aang firmly as the fun-loving giggly ball of energy that he’s shown himself to be. He welcomes the ‘child’ moniker and owns it. Yes, he’s a child. He loves it and he’s having fun, AND he knows he’s a strong enough and agile enough airbender to run rings around potential threats. He accepts that Zuko is a stage of life ahead of him, but doesn’t think there’s anything special about that. He’s not mocking Zuko, exactly - Zach Tyler Eisen makes Aang sound a little friendly and quite puzzled even as he punctures Zuko’s pride!
I was pretty spoiled about Avatar. But I watched it in strict order and didn’t learn for a while that the entire show takes up less than a year. Revisiting the first episodes, it’s hard to believe that in such a short space of time, in “The Ember Island Players”, Aang will be pining for romance and briefly seeing Zuko as a rival. Granted, Aang matures a lot over the space of time. The very next episode, we see that his childish exuberance is a persona he fiercely clings to in an attempt to wish away the terrifing events that have been wrenching him from an idyllic childhood. As late as “The Western Air Temple” he reverts to that persona when he tries to wish away the failure of his first, best chance to save the world. He’s not as much of a child as he wants to be - but neither is he a teenager. And Zuko has just as much of a claim to fire-forged maturity beyond his biological age as Aang does.
“I’m just going to Mai’s house. It’s not far.”
-Zuko, “Nightmares and Daydreams”
It could have been guessed at before. After all, he’s the same age as Princess Yue would have been married at. But it’s made crystal clear in this episode that Zuko and his girlfriend have a sexual relationship. Not sleazily in an evilly decadent atmosphere. Not in a desperation for release fuelled by a knowledge that their participation in war has robbed them of innocence. Just the normal teenage sex that results when one party has a house to themselves and they’ve been together for a few months. He pops over, which he clearly does a lot. They make out on the couch, chat as they snuggle, make out some more, and then we cut to the next morning when Mai brings him tea. You have to admit - it’s kinda nice. And it’s perfectly healthy.
“She is NOT my girl friend!
“I am NOT his girl friend!”
-Zuko and Katara talk over each other in a frenzy of denial, “Sozin’s Comet: Part 2”
Fast forward. A few scant weeks after that interrupted breakfast with Mai, Zuko has deserted to join the Avatar, leaving Mai a note saying ‘It’s not you; it’s my treachery.’ Let’s imagine a simple enough Zutara scenario: Zuko feels Mai is part of the life of evil that he’s put behind him, and gets together with a passionate member of the group of heroes he’s joined. I take it as a given here that a) Katara is not ready for sex; b) Zuko would never try to pressure her into it. Is this really sustainable? Zuko’s not only biologically older, but he’s got used to the notion of sex being a normal part of a relationship.
Maybe it is perfectly sustainable. Maybe after a lifetime of jumping straight into emotional volcanoes, Zuko’s happy to take things slow with the right girl. After all, if he’s a highly-sexed person, he certainly didn’t show it in Ba Sing Se. Remember when he took his shirt off in “The Beach” and immediately set off a sea of squee? He looked pretty much the same when he was living in Ba Sing Se, so I think we can take it that Jin wasn’t the only girl who showed interest. But Zuko was far too freaked out to even consider the nookie potential.
So... Katara and Zuko share sweet kissytimes, Katara gets some pubescent tingling in her loins but waits for a special day when she’s ready, and meanwhile she’s certainly emotionally mature enough at 14 to date 16-year-old Zuko. Right?
“If anyone’s the leader, it’s Aang. I mean, he is the Avatar.”
“Are you kidding? He’s just a goofy kid!”
(“He’s right!”)
“Why do boys always think someone has to be the leader? I bet you wouldn’t be so bossy if you kissed a girl!”
-Katara and Sokka, with an interjection from Aang, “Jet”
Katara and Sokka may have been more than one winter’s night away from Watercest. But it’s true that their village was stripped of everyone of fighting age some time ago, and if Katara so childishly mocks her 16-year-old brother for (maybe) never having kissed a girl, it’s a pretty safe bet that she’s never kissed a boy. Suddenly she’s sounding a lot more similar to the ‘goofy kid’ than she is to Zuko.
This is a show that’s not afraid to linger on the dark side (genocide as early as the third chapter, the capital of the ‘good side’ being run by a gulag-loving secret police in book two, a nuanced argument that refusing to kill a man can be a selfish choice in book three) and that means that all its child heroes get the levelling-up in maturity that only tragedy and absent/abusive parents can bring. Aang deals with his throughout the show. Zuko has suffered his before the show and works through it during the show. Katara has had hers well before the show began. It would be foolish to claim that Katara is not far, far wiser by show’s end than when she was living in her small village, but she can still be a bit silly. See above.
Aang is 12. When he gives her a ‘now or never’ kiss as the Black Sun invasion begins, can we not all agree that the idea of him having full-on sex is repulsive? Katara is 14. Would we agree that Aang has matured more than she has during the show, and that when it comes to boys - especially when it comes to boys - she’s immature for a 14-year-old?
(Just look at Azula. There’s a 14-year-old who wields sexuality like lightning bolts. For a less psychotic example, look at 14-year-old Ty Lee. Aware that boys flock to her, she smiles and sweetly asks them to be parasols. They comply.)
Meanwhile, Katara is the Painted Lady of the Embarrassing Blush. Although, she is so much more.
“When our mom died, that was the hardest time in my life. Our family was a mess, but Katara, she had so much strength. She stepped up and took on so much responsibility. She helped fill the void that was left by our mom... When I try to remember my mom, Katara's is the only face I can picture.”
-Sokka to Toph, “The Runaway”
Sokka tells Toph that he’s never told anybody all of this before. It’s pretty impressive that a boy can think of his sister, two years younger than him, as a fulfilling mother substitute. Sokka’s 16. Zuko’s 16. If Sokka thinks Katara is mature enough to mother a 16-year-old, will he think she’s mature enough to date one?
It’s hard to tell. This is the problem with analysing Katara in a romantic light. As evidenced by Sokka’s heartfelt words and by what we know of her through the two-and-a-half seasons of the show so far, she’s had responsibility and courage far beyond her years for a long time and has met the challenge admirably. Yet she knows nothing about boys. She’s not intimidated by Zuko and would never giggle and blush around him the way she did around - well, around pretty much every other teenage boy ever. It’s a start, but it might not be enough.
In trying to pull Katara first younger, and then older, I can’t really find myself getting behind either of them without a vague feeling of unease. It was sweet when she kissed Aang on the show after the world was saved, but... ever so slightly icky. It might or might not be passionate and sexy if there had been a Zutara build-up and kiss, but... it might have been ever so slightly icky.
Tytara, anyone? At least they’re both the same age!