The Light Years Between Love and Hate
Okay, so, before we get into the... erm... actual content of this post, I know I said that as a general rule, I wouldn't be talking about buzzkilly stuff but only squeeing over the canony-goodness of the show. And that's still true. I've still been avoiding the Fandom Proper, and still plan on doing so.
However, I've kept reading fabulously well written meta in response to the crazy Crackshipper "theories."
(Parenthetical Note: I wish I didn't have to keep adding disclaimers like this, but, SRSLY here... "Crackshipper" is NOT an insult in any way, shape, or form. Heck, I've shipped crackships and fanon ships in other fandoms, so please don't misunderstand me and think labeling Zuko/Katara a crackship is an insult: it's not. It's just being honest. Zutara IS a crackship from a canon perspective, and that's all I'm reminding us of when I refer to canon!Zutarians as "Crackshippers." I'm certainly not denigrating the ship itself.)
And so, anyways... because of reading all of that great meta... I couldn't resist compiling more quotes for the AFS. (For the AFS Table of Contents, click here. Want to know what the AFS is all about? Check the FAQ.)
The Death Threat Scene
Before we respond to the Crackshippers, I think it's important to establish exactly what Katara was doing in that scene. If Bryan Konietzko were here, he would tell you that the answer is in the show itself. And I completely agree with him.
It's called OBSERVATION SKILLZ.
And our OBSERVATION SKILLZ inform us that Katara is really furious at Zuko, thinks he is a scummy, less-than-human manipulator (in a word: she thinks he is Azula). She hates his guts and wants him to die in a pool of boiling lava whilst being eaten by a pod of ravenous shark-squid. He's subhuman trash she's willing to kill for, especially to protect her boyfriend.
Her death threat is very straightforward, and she means every word.
Now, a few people have tried to say that she did not mean what she said (i.e. that the meaning of what was presented is... different from the meaning that was presented to us), and was perhaps instead trying to overcompensate for the guilt she feels at what went down in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se.
I don't agree. Here's what Haro said about this:
I think it's less that she did it for herself and more that due to that situation she walked away from it feeling that Zuko was emotionally manipulating her and was very good at it. In her eyes, that may very well have happened here again except this time Zuko succeeded in manipulating the entire group. Of course we know that isn't the case in this situation, but to Katara it sort of seems a repeat of last season and so she's still extremely wary since she was the one who experienced it first hand last time. Last time she let her guard down around Zuko- Aang almost died, and so she sees Zuko and him "playing nice" as a danger to Aang. Thus, yes I absolutely believe she's doing it because she loves Aang. She is afraid for him. I don't think it's because of her guilt.
I agree that Zuko's arc is about redemption and that Katara will learn to forgive him, but I don't see how that changes the intent of her threat? Katara will of course, not have to go through with it so Zuko's story arc remains intact. Personally to have people still so wary of him to the point that he has to really earn their trust is both realistic and a much stronger way of doing this sort of redemption arc than just everyone being cool with him after one episode. The more Zuko has to overcome here, the more powerful his redemption will be.
It's not in Katara's nature to kill, but I do believe she would be able to do it if it came down to it. Like Blood-Bending, which she did when forced as you said. This isn't to say she wouldn't feel guilty or what have you, but if anything were to get her to kill it would be to protect Aang and especially after he almost died last season. I simply can't imagine Katara not being completely serious about her threat. The scene was deathly serious. We have never seen Katara so ruthless with someone.
(Haro)
Rawles agrees:
Katara isn't guilty and afraid. She's wary and very, very angry. In her mind this is the exact same shtick he pulled before that made her pity him and then Aang died and she literally had to resurrect him. She's pretty clearly not going to let that happen again. She's not afraid to believe Zuko. Saying that she's afraid to do so implies that she has some desire to do so. She has no such desire. She just flat DOESN'T believe him because she thinks he's a manipulative subhuman monster just like his sister. I think a lot of people miss how unrelenting Katara is. She's such an idealist that it's completely believable that you get one chance with her. You get one chance to be conflicted, to understand that there is another path you can take, and when you don't, like Zuko didn't, she doesn't want to hear later that you've changed your mind.
And the fact that Katara will inevitably learn to, at least, tolerate Zuko doesn't mean that she wasn't utterly serious in that scene. I talked about the blocking [see below for her discussion of the blocking] and I hold to that. She was scary and ruthless and dark because she was MEANT to be. This was clearly not supposed to be taken as Katara just running her mouth. This was a honest-to-goodness threat against Zuko's life. Ominous closeups, foreboding music, and all.
(Rawles)
Where is this character-arc headed? Will Katara bloodbend Zuko or something? What will make her see Zuko in a different light? Rawles gives her spec:
I'm also ambivalent on whether Katara will do anything too horrible to Zuko before she accepts that he actually is a human with emotions. What I am not ambivalent about however is the fact that Zuko exhibiting human emotions is going to be directly related to Iroh, Ursa, and/or Mai.
(Rawles)
We'll see where the story goes, but she will definitely realize that he is human and sincere and not the sociopathic mastermind manipulator his sister is. And I agree with Rawles that it will involve his love with one of the three people in his life who truly love him.
Now that we've got the canon straight, let's move on to the Crackshipper craziness.
Crackshipper Argument #1:
"There is a thin line between hate and love. There was so much sexual tension!
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
What a dumb argument. Senigata notes:
A romance of that kind (which they so desperately claim it to be) should actually be called thin line between dislike and love. Hate is really just hate most of the time.
(Senigata)
Rawles elaborates further:
Of all the stupid cliches and tropes that people, this fandom ESPECIALLY, use to justify shipping everyone who ever interacts in any way (well, in any way, except BLATANTLY ROMANTICALLY, apparently) "There's a thin line between love and hate" has been my most despised one for EIGHT YEARS.
There is NOT a thin line between love and hate. Not actual hate. There is a thin line between attraction expressed through seeking positive attention and attractive expressed through seeking negative attention. Little kids and arrested adolescent adults SOMETIMES pick on or act aggressively towards people they like because they don't know any other way to attract their attention. People SOMETIMES throw mud in people's faces and push them into fountains and punch their arms a lot and make jokes at their expense because they are into them and are not the best at expressing it.
People threaten to kill people for helping to kill their boyfriend because they hate them, think they are subhuman, and wouldn't mind if they were dead. Let's not confuse the two.
If there is one thing I could stand never to see again, it's people seriously arguing for ships based on the fact that the people involved hate each other. Drives me up the frigging wall. Not to mention makes me inclined to start being sad about people's ideals about relationships.
Not all intense emotion is positive. Just because someone feels strongly about something doesn't mean that there's something beautiful there, under the surface. Sometimes, a lot of the times, it's just ugly. And Katara's completely serious threat on Zuko's life was ugly, by design.
(Rawles)
And... "sexual tension!?" You've got to be kidding me. Try, "murder tension."
There were intense murder rays coming off of Katara (assisted by the Ominous Doom Music of Death Threats). But Zuko was actually extremely passive and "...whuh?" about the whole thing. Which is extra hilarious. But also sad because Zuko is someone who is just so earnest and straightforward about his emotions at all times, so when he lets his guard down (which he did, massively, to get them to accept him) he's like a helpless kitten emotionally and it's so easy to stomp on him. And the Gaang stomped on him a lot. And in that last scene Katara ground his head into the dirt with her heel.
Just when he thought things would be okay! Now he has to sleep with one eye open.
(Rawles)
Elsewhere, Rawles mocks this "sexual tension" Crackshipper misinterpretation of the scene:
Every interaction ever on Avatar is actually romantic in nature. Except for when Aang and Katara or Mai and Zuko make out.
Trying to read these occurrences as romantic is just being silly and delusional and serves as proof of one's failure to understand the deep, complex, and hidden meanings of the text.
(Rawles)
She's got a good point; there's an incredible double standard Crackshippers use in their approach to the narrative. ACTUAL Mai/Zuko and Aang/Katara text and subtext is ignored in favor of reading sexual tension into scenes like the death threat scene at the end of "The Western Air Temple."
Crackshipper Argument #2:
"Katara understands Zuko the most.
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Rawles sarcastically writes:
Someone who thinks of Zuko as something subhuman that doesn't have real human emotions is totes tuned in to the realities of who he is as a person.
(Rawles)
And she later adds:
The whole bit where Katara says that they both know Zuko has struggled with making the right choices before. That's not I SEE INTO YOUR SOOOUL AND KNOW YOUR INNER CONFLICT BETTER THAN ANYONE.
That's because she was standing there as he quite explicitly (and largely aloud) weighed the two options in CoD. And then after she thought he would choose Aang, he chose Azula. Now he shows up and says he's decided to choose Aang and she feels like this is the same sort of epiphany or whatever that he had in the cave and then did the wrong thing anyway; so, she doesn't trust him to not just up and change his mind again.
It's different for her, not because she has some deep rooted instinctual understanding of Zuko that the rest of the Gaang lacks (I think Aang has gotten her beat on that score, honestly), but because she has essentially seen this side of Zuko before and, in her mind, it was a lie.
And, of course, the fact that she thinks it was a lie, the fact that she doesn't understand how painfully earnest a person Zuko is, completely negates the idea that she really understands him at all.
(Rawles)
AJ adds:
I wonder how anyone can seriously believe Katara has some kind of insight on Zuko. She does not get him at all. She thinks he's some kind of manipulative mastermind, and he's a guileless dweeb who's just fumbling through life. It's just crazy.
(Aangryjerk)
In conclusion?
I bet the frog he was talking to knows more about Zuko than Katara does.
(SaberFireTiger)
Heeeee... too true, SaberFireTiger, too true.
Crackshipper Argument #3:
"Zuko smiled at Katara at the end. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Zuko smiled at Katara. Zuko also smiled at Toph. Zuko also smiled at Aang. Zuko also smiled at Sokka.
Annnnnnd so... your point is??
(Besides, Zuko was probably also expecting lunch, considering what Sokka had just said).
(art by dinglehopper)
Crackshipper Argument #4:
"Zuko and Katara are now in proximity. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
1. Zuko isn't (and won't be) into her; Katara isn't (and won't be) into him.
This picture from DA will do just fine:
(art by SractheNinja)
Rufftoon (one of the storyboard artists for season 3) knows that Zutara isn't going to happen, but because she knows this fandom so well and how seriously the Crackshippers take the idea of Zutara-as-Canon, she certainly doesn't want to be the one to break the news to them. But in her response to that picture, she comes dangerously close:
Haha, it does echo my thoughts. But I prefer to leave it at that, or else that would destroy my neutral shipping stand.
(Rufftoon)
There you have it. A showrunner's agreement.
And that picture on DA certainly doesn't exhaust the reasons why Zuko would never go for Katara. In 10 Reasons Why Zuko Is Highly Disinclined to Fall in Love with Katara, Thank You Very Much," Rawles points out in a nice list why Zuko just isn't going to be attracted to her:
1) She is not Mai.
2) She hates his guts.
3) She threatened to kill him over another guy.
4) She probably would.
5) Contrary to what bad anime, romcoms, and/or soapy romance melodrama would have you believe, the previous three items are not actually attractive.
6) She's self-righteous and judgmental.
7) She's also really bossy and overbearing.
8) Contrary to what Avatar's aggressively nonsensical fandom would have you believe, the previous two sets of traits neither mesh well with or are liable to be appreciated by someone both proud and oversensitive like Zuko.
9) Zuko, while not the sharpest tool in the shed, is not actually stupid enough not to understand how trying to mack on the Avatar's One True Love would be really detrimental to his training and befriending the Avatar. You know, his repeatedly stated DESTINY that it brought him peace and joy to finally fulfill?
Until #3 happened anyway...
9a) Relatedly...she's kind of a buzzkill.
10) She's still not Mai. This gets to be here twice because it is clearly the greatest failing any girl can have when it comes to winning Zuko's affections and, ironically, the one most ignored!
(Rawles)
That list is far from exhaustive. Regarding Katara not being Mai, some might try to say that Zuko put Mai behind her. Again, this is ridiculous.
Have these people never watched television before? Read a book? Experienced dramatic fiction in any way whatsoever?
In what universe does a protagonist nobly go off to fulfill his destiny after bidding a sad and apologetic farewell to his beloved, leaving her: 1) a lovingly constructed note, and 2) IN THE MIDST OF THOSE AGAINST WHOM HE IS FIGHTING, and then...never thinks about her again? That's just...the end of that! No waaaay that storyline ever pops up again at a climactic moment. No waaaay this incredibly fraught situation ever causes conflict in the story!
I mean, at the very least one has to acknowledge how much Avatar LOVES Chekhov's Gun and the note, in and of itself, is an obvious evocation of that.
(Rawles)
The point is: the Mai factor is hardly over. Mai/Zuko = so Endgame.
And so... yeah. Zuko's not into Katara. Zuko will never be into her.
Then there's Katara. Just to be even, let's talk about 10 reasons why Katara will never, ever fall in love with Zuko:
1) He is not Aang.
2) He is an angry jerk.
3) He is an insecure dweeb with no social skills, and certainly no game.
4) He has too many flaws, too many ways in which he needs to grow. Katara is a judgmental, unrelenting idealist. "Jet" showed that she can be attracted to the dashing, heroic type, and she believed the best in him, but the minute he showed darkness in his soul, showing that he was not the dashing, heroic type but the bad boy type instead, she felt intensely betrayed. He was not actually the guy she got a crush on, but a monster in her eyes. Bye-bye romantic feelings! He failed and she held a grudge against him that she may have never quite completely let go. That kind of unrelenting idealism is just one reason why Aang is so good for her: his ridiculously pure soul is just about the only one good enough for her ridiculously high standards.
5) He is too thin-skinned and proud to handle her bossy, overbearing motherliness. Result: resistance, frustration, temper.
6) He's emo and mopes around and scowls a lot.
7) He takes everything so seriously.
8) He just doesn't have any characteristics she would find attractive in a guy. Who do you think she is, Mai?! Mai loves him incredibly much, but she's drawn to a different kind of guy than Katara is.
9) In a relationship, he's a jealous, insecure, possessive freak.
10) He's still not Aang.
And again, that list is far from being exhaustive. There is no reason to think she would ever, ever be attracted to him, even if she wasn't attracted to the Avatar.
I seriously can't hardly think of two main or secondary characters that would be less likely to be romantically attracted to each other than Zuko and Katara... even if they didn't have their actual love interests.
I can't even picture Katara being into Zuko. The only thing more unlikely then that is Zuko being into Katara. And the only thing more unlikely then that is Katara being into Zuko. It's like a paradox, an ouroboros. It's a particle and a wave at the same time. It's impossible at any given time to figure out which is more unlikely because they are both so unlikely that they are a singularity of unlikeliness, if you go beyond the singularities event horizon you enter into a realm from which logic and reason cannot escape.
I've actually thought about the whole Zutara thing in those terms. Really, just try thinking about Zutara without getting into an arguement in your own head about who would find that situation more distasteful, Zuko or Katara.
(Planguy)
2. Connection does not romance make. Unlike many other shows, this show loves to show parallels and people interacting in friendly, non-romantic ways. This shipping-obsessed fandom likes to take two characters interacting and translate it into shipping. But Avatar, of all shows, shows the beauty of all kinds of relationships. Thematically the show is about Love's triumph, and, while that very much includes romantic love as a prominent part of it, it is actually a celebration of all expressions of Love.
There really is SUCH a long list of all sorts of random parallels between so many different characters. Many intentional and many that can easily be drawn (like, for instance, how Mai and Toph had similar upbringings with their overbearing, controlling parents, but reacted in completely opposite ways) that saying, "But Zuko and Katara have so much SUBTLELY CONNECTING THEM!!!1 SO THEY WILL FALL IN LOVE." is just silly.
One thing Avatar does very well is not limit characters' interactions and narrative connections to their love interests. That's something that happens a LOT in fiction and it's very annoying. And it's also trained people to interpret any sort of connection that any two characters have as having romantic undertones or being indicative of intended romance. Avatar allows people to have meaningful interactions with characters that they're not looking to bone. Fandom, sadly, takes it as the show being big on "ship-teasing."
(Rawles)
Along similar lines:
The active human mind loves patterns and hates coincidence. Because of this, it will often find patterns where no meaningful pattern actually exists. Someone hears a few sporadic instances of "mirrored" or similar dialogue for Zuko and Katara. Ignoring the fact that various other combinations of characters have shared similar dialogue and that there are easily perceivable instances of dialogue being intentionally mirrored in actual meaningful parallels (such as Aang and Zuko, being foils), they think: CONNECTION! But what is the feasible explanation?
That this could be an extremely, extremely obtuse attempt on the part of the creators to subtlely draw a parallel or connection between Zuko and Katara, in an even more obtuse and impenetrable bid to lay a really arcane foundation for when they'll suddenly pair them in the last 15% of the show when they had no meaningful relationship prior to that and it would be overturning two other highly prominent romances that have, together, dominated that aspect of the previous 85% of this show that was originally intended for 6-11 year olds,
OR
That the same staff writes and edits all the episodes so sometimes in all the thousands of lines of dialogue some of them come out similar or repeat, particularly when the characters are of similar temperament?
(Rawles)
So don't expect Zuko and Katara to fall in love just because they're... *gasp* interacting and there are parallels occasionally drawn between them. Neither the fact that there are parallels or the fact that they are now proximate and can interact has anything to do with romance or not.
Crackshipper Argument #5:
"The Scenes about Destiny were Juxtaposed with Katara's Death Threat. Therefore, Katara is Zuko's Destiny."
I actually already quoted this in my episode reaction post, but it's worth quoting again:
The juxtaposition was about the fact that Zuko is happy in that scene because he feels like he's FINALLY fulfilled the destiny his uncle saw for him (thus the staring at the portrait of Iroh): TEACHING AANG, what he would never have suspected. And he's finally on track and now everything can be roses. Then Katara shows up to remind him that his past deeds don't just disappear and fulfilling THIS destiny isn't necessarily going to be too much easier than when he was trying to do what his father wanted. Finally having chosen the right path doesn't mean that it's going to be cake to work with people that he's hunted and who have hated him for nigh on a year.
There is NOTHING romantic implicated in that scene. It's not a cute little juxtaposition to hint at HEE HEE INEVITABLE LUUURVE.
It's blocked like a freaking thriller, for goodness sake. Zuko is enjoying his joyful moment of peace at the close of the episode and you think that this is how it ends, and then he suddenly starts because he senses a malignant presence. He turns and the camera pans to Katara, lurking there ominously, and the music takes on equally ominous and forbidding tones in direct contrast to the Happiness of a Journey Concluded tone it had to express how Zuko was feeling as he looked at Iroh's picture and knew that his uncle would FINALLY be proud of him. Then she explicitly, vehemently, and coldly promises to kill him if he steps out of line.
It's the episode ending on an completely foreboding note with Katara as the antagonist. Confusing that with something ending on a wink-wink nudge-nudge romantic note (like the end of the volcano scene in The Fortuneteller or the end of the hippies departure scene in Cave of Two Lovers) is just silly. It's the same setup (someone enjoying a peaceful, quiet moment at the close of a hectic, emotional episode) that a million tv shows have trained us to expect to be followed by that same someone getting shot in the head.
(Rawles)
Rawles articulates essentially the same thing in another post:
I've watched that bit [the death threat scene] like a dozen times. It's SO well done.
What I decided that I loved most (you know, besides the fact THAT I WROTE EXACTLY THAT INTO A FIC LIKE SIX MONTHS AGO) was the way that it was blocked, almost like a horror movie or thriller. (Or the end of an episode of a television show where the character who is having the peaceful moment is going to get !!SURPRISE!! shot in the head in the last two minutes.)
Zuko is enjoying his moment of peace and joy, then he starts as he sense a malignant presence. He turns and Katara is lurking ominously in the doorway. Then the Doomy Music of Death Threats starts up and she delivers one of only three (I think) explicit declarations of the intent to kill ever on the show and then we end on the violently slammed door and the foreboding tones.
It was made of win and I have NEVER liked Katara more than I did that moment. Because she was kickass and cold and scary and as much as it was my headcanon, I never thought they'd go there.
(Rawles)
What is Zuko's Destiny, then? It's really pretty freakin' obvious:
I love how they ignore the fact that show has explicitly stated numerous times in the last two episodes what Zuko's destiny is (restoring balance; helping Aang) and then try to make Katara, who is actually set up by that last scene as a specific impediment to him happily fulfilling destiny, his destiny instead.
Way to miss the point. Way to miss the point by like LIGHT YEARS.
(Rawles)
Crackshipper Argument #6:
"[Insert Romantic Comedy Here] had this love-hate thing going on. The rules of narrative dictate that Katara will forgive and trust him. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
A bunch of Crackshippers have declared that Katara's hatred for him now narratively guarantees that she will love him later. This is a non sequitur... that just isn't how narrative works. True, she is likely to at least forgive him a little, and at least be amicable towards him. But it is a logical leap to say that she will then move on to romantic love.
It's a non sequitur, plain and simple.
A more sophisticated version of this argument, though equally illogical and misguided, cites various romantic comedies as proof. Right away that should make the alarm bells go off in your head, because this is an argument not from the show and the, you know, actual context, but an argument based on another genre of fiction entirely. Avatar has vastly more in common with Aladdin or The Little Mermaid or any other number of Disney fairy tales than it does with these romantic comedies cited by the Crackshippers.
Here's Rawles' response to someone who brought up various romantic comedies (Two Weeks Notice, You’ve Got Mail, The Cutting Edge, When Harry met Sally, Pride and Prejudice, The Princess Diaries 2, What Women Want, and As Good As It Gets):
The problem with reading Zuko/Katara as having the potential for "love/hate" romance is that:
1) This isn't based on misunderstanding or surface dislike. It's genuine antagonism based on the fact that Zuko spent almost a year constantly hunting them and then, after considering perhaps that it wasn't the right course once before, kept on hunting them and was responsible in part for Aang dying and various subsequent attempts on his life. Romcoms have corrupted people into assuming that any strong feeling, despite how negative it is, can realistically be the basis for LOVE. This is not true.
2) "Love/hate" relationships also don't take place when the actual romantic focus of the text is on the two characters being in love with other people. Only in fandom are two characters whose only bond is one of intense, violent antagonism AND who have prominent romantic storylines with other characters seen as a nascent "love/hate" relationship.
You could POSSIBLY get around one of those things. Not both. Fandom sees such things as obstacles, but they're not. They're just really blatant signs that that particular romance has no place. The fact that Katara may have the capacity, at some point, to interact with Zuko without watching him out of the corner of her eye looking for an excuse to kill him doesn't mean that the potential for romance honestly exists between them in this story. The structure of this particular narrative pretty expressly leaves those two with NO realistic potential as there isn't space, time, or intent.
I mean, people are free to pretend/ignore what's actually going on in the story and with the characters in an attempt to make it work. That's what fanon is for. But Zuko/Katara has no place in the actual canon of Avatar, actually, potentially, or otherwise. It's just not built for it.
(Rawles)
The debater then responded that in this situation, there was a misunderstanding, and that some romantic comedies have the romantic leads involved in relationships with other people to begin with. Rawles responded:
"there IS a misunderstanding in this situation, a huge one in my opinon. "
I didn't say that there wasn't a misunderstanding. Katara clearly misunderstands Zuko considering she thinks he is a subhuman, manipulator with no real emotions (in other words, she thinks he's his sister). But her hatred doesn't JUST revolve around the fact that she thinks he's a jerk or that she's sure that he's lying to them yet again. It's about the actions that he willfully took. A big point of the show (and, notably, something they made Mai communicate to Zuko in The Beach) is that you don't get a free pass for doing horrible things because of your crappy life. It's about culpability. The core reasons for Katara's very justified dislike of Zuko (i.e. his previous actions) aren't going to utterly disappear just because she'll inevitably realize that he's a decent human being. She just won't be raring to kill him.
"or example, in ‘You’ve Got Mail’, both leads started the story in stable, comfortable relationships with someone else. "
You misunderstand me. I didn't say no other relationship exists. I specifically said that those other relationships are not the focus of the text. In other words, in these romcoms and whatnot you're referencing, the love/hate relationship was THE clear romantic focus. Their relationships with other people were sidenotes and/or setup that were there only to illuminate the actual romance. The main thrust of the story was about the relationship between the two leads (no matter its status at that point in time), not their relationships with other people. They didn't spent 85% of the movies or books focusing on the relationships with those other people only to suddenly turn around and make the last 15% all about the two leads' great and sudden love for each other. And if they did, they were shitty stories and shouldn't be brought up as precedent to prove anything about Avatar which is a decidedly unshitty narrative.
"while Aang's feelings for Katara are very overt, her feelings for him are still ambiguous at best."
Only if you hang around in this fandom where people ignore anvils reading "Katara Is Into Aang" constantly dropped on their heads. This isn't an issue I argue anymore because I can't. The idea that Katara's reciprocation of Aang's feelings is questionable, especially at this point, is so flatly untrue that there's nothing I can say if someone doesn't see it thusly.
[. . .]
Zuko/Katara is very definitely out of the realm of possibility for the reasons I've outlined and many more besides both textual and metatextual. It always has been and it only ever became moreso as time passed.
If you want a pair of opposing ships that are both in the realm of possibility and where a degree of ambiguity exists wrt how they'll play out, then talk about Toph/Sokka and Sokka/Suki. But Aang and Zuko have had their separate designated love interests since the moment those two ladies appeared and that's not going to change.
(Rawles)
Then in response to the response, she writes:
"Avatar is NOT a pure romance. Yes, romance is woven into it, but it is not the FOCUS"
I was actually going to bring up this very point in my previous comment (but I figured it was already long enough), but only to make the exact opposite argument. The fact that romance is not the main focus of Avatar is exactly why the romance that is there is so straightforward. They don't have the time or the inclination to get melodramatic and twisty-turny shock-value with it because they have bigger fish to fry.
And your Harry Potter reference (one that I've made countless times myself) proves the point even more. Zuko/Katara is Harry/Hermione redux. Particularly in terms of the attitudes of the fandom. In both instances the fandoms surrounding the pairings insisted on reading way too much into the source that just wasn't intended and continuously ignored various hints from within the text itself and from the creators that what they were seeing wasn't actually there.
"If the relationships were THAT obvious, then i would have lost interest in them long ago."
Perhaps I should have said they are dead obvious to some? They're certainly dead obvious to me. As is just about every major plot development that's ever happened on the show. In season three and late season two particularly, for instance, things that I started speccing and arguing at at the opening of season two (or far earlier) have played out again and again and again (and I'm by no means the only one).
I don't disagree that Avatar has great, wonderful complexity and depth of character or beautiful, well-developed themes and motifs. It does. They're some of the many reasons that I love it. The other reason that I love it is the fact that its narrative is so tight and so IMPECCABLY structured, but that also makes it easy to predict the major turns of the story long before they happen. It's because they essentially set it up and knock it down. They foreshadow blatantly and they are hugely into the entire Chekhov's Gun approach. Right after The Avatar State aired, I specced that Aang would die in the Avatar State, thus disrupting his connection to it, and Katara would ressurect him with that oasis water. Because they all but explicitly said in the episode that that was what going to happen. Right after Return to Omashu aired, I went, "Oh, so there's Zuko's love interest aaaand she's going to end up having to choose between him and Azula." because there was no other reason, within the bounds of how Avatar is structured, for her character exist in the way that it does (yes, I'm aware that the second half of that hasn't happened yet, but, mark my words, IT WILL). And on and on in that manner.
And I'm not saying this to be all, "Oh, I am the all-knowing Avatar prophet," because I don't actually spec THAT often. I don't like being wrong either, in fact. Which is why the only time I do spec outright as in This Is What Will Happen is when it's a pretty damn sure thing. Like it's a pretty damn sure thing that Zuko/Katara = never going to happen. At all. Aang/Katara/Haru love triangle, on the other hand, is seeming pretty inevitable.
But c'est la vie. We each go about things in different ways. Though, I have to say, my mind is open too. I always completely consider all possibilities from all angles before I decide what's right and what's wrong. And if there is no way to deduce the definitively correct answer then I stay neutral. It's just not necessary to do so with Avatar shipping because they constantly TELL us the answer.
(Rawles)
Crackshipper Argument #7:
"There were no Mai/Zuko or Aang/Katara Scenes.
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Why weren't there any Mai scenes?
We're probably not going to get any Mai-related scenes until the episode where they go into her finding or not-finding that letter. Maybe a little nod, but it's Avatar's MO basically. The show compartmentalizes storylines a lot (see also: Sokka/Suki). And the way that their narrative works, there was no room for erstwhile hot, ninja girlfriend angst, because the focus was on Zuko fulfilling his "debt," in some sense, to Iroh and the peace and happiness that brought him. It was important that audience understands that he's fully committed to the cause because it's right and he's not still morally conflicted, so that it can be all the more horrifying when Katara gets scary on him because you KNOW that he's being genuine. Specifically showing him being upset about Mai this episode would give Katara's threat a certain amount of genuine justification (not just emotional justification), which, based on the way it was blocked, isn't something I think they really wanted it to have.
(Rawles)
How about Aang/Katara scenes? Why didn't we have any follow-up on the kiss & confession yet? Clearly because of time constraints, and, indeed, Avatar's tendency to compartmentalize storylines. It's the same thing that happened to Haru, Teo, and the Duke: the writers used every excuse they could to get them off-screen and out of the action. So much was going on in this episode and so much had to happen and so much had to be squeezed into such a small amount of time while still trying to maintain the right balance of action/humor/pathos that they couldn't present what they did AND do justice to Aang/Katara (something that is such a core emotional focus of the show).
The long and the short of it all?
Zuko/Katara never had the slightest chance of becoming canon. It still doesn't. End of story.
In essence, people see Zuko/Katara because they're looking too hard. Whether it be because they ship it or just because they're intrigued by the idea of such a "subtle plot twist." If you look for something hard enough, you're going to see it. And while you're staring at that, you tend to miss what is massive and neon-colored and very loud right in front of your face. In this case, the fact that Aang/Katara has been ensured as endgame since seven minutes into the first episode when he woke up in her arms and gasped. Mai/Zuko came along later, but was no less certain.
(Rawles)
However, I've kept reading fabulously well written meta in response to the crazy Crackshipper "theories."
(Parenthetical Note: I wish I didn't have to keep adding disclaimers like this, but, SRSLY here... "Crackshipper" is NOT an insult in any way, shape, or form. Heck, I've shipped crackships and fanon ships in other fandoms, so please don't misunderstand me and think labeling Zuko/Katara a crackship is an insult: it's not. It's just being honest. Zutara IS a crackship from a canon perspective, and that's all I'm reminding us of when I refer to canon!Zutarians as "Crackshippers." I'm certainly not denigrating the ship itself.)
And so, anyways... because of reading all of that great meta... I couldn't resist compiling more quotes for the AFS. (For the AFS Table of Contents, click here. Want to know what the AFS is all about? Check the FAQ.)
The Death Threat Scene
Before we respond to the Crackshippers, I think it's important to establish exactly what Katara was doing in that scene. If Bryan Konietzko were here, he would tell you that the answer is in the show itself. And I completely agree with him.
It's called OBSERVATION SKILLZ.
And our OBSERVATION SKILLZ inform us that Katara is really furious at Zuko, thinks he is a scummy, less-than-human manipulator (in a word: she thinks he is Azula). She hates his guts and wants him to die in a pool of boiling lava whilst being eaten by a pod of ravenous shark-squid. He's subhuman trash she's willing to kill for, especially to protect her boyfriend.
Her death threat is very straightforward, and she means every word.
Now, a few people have tried to say that she did not mean what she said (i.e. that the meaning of what was presented is... different from the meaning that was presented to us), and was perhaps instead trying to overcompensate for the guilt she feels at what went down in the crystal catacombs of Ba Sing Se.
I don't agree. Here's what Haro said about this:
I think it's less that she did it for herself and more that due to that situation she walked away from it feeling that Zuko was emotionally manipulating her and was very good at it. In her eyes, that may very well have happened here again except this time Zuko succeeded in manipulating the entire group. Of course we know that isn't the case in this situation, but to Katara it sort of seems a repeat of last season and so she's still extremely wary since she was the one who experienced it first hand last time. Last time she let her guard down around Zuko- Aang almost died, and so she sees Zuko and him "playing nice" as a danger to Aang. Thus, yes I absolutely believe she's doing it because she loves Aang. She is afraid for him. I don't think it's because of her guilt.
I agree that Zuko's arc is about redemption and that Katara will learn to forgive him, but I don't see how that changes the intent of her threat? Katara will of course, not have to go through with it so Zuko's story arc remains intact. Personally to have people still so wary of him to the point that he has to really earn their trust is both realistic and a much stronger way of doing this sort of redemption arc than just everyone being cool with him after one episode. The more Zuko has to overcome here, the more powerful his redemption will be.
It's not in Katara's nature to kill, but I do believe she would be able to do it if it came down to it. Like Blood-Bending, which she did when forced as you said. This isn't to say she wouldn't feel guilty or what have you, but if anything were to get her to kill it would be to protect Aang and especially after he almost died last season. I simply can't imagine Katara not being completely serious about her threat. The scene was deathly serious. We have never seen Katara so ruthless with someone.
(Haro)
Rawles agrees:
Katara isn't guilty and afraid. She's wary and very, very angry. In her mind this is the exact same shtick he pulled before that made her pity him and then Aang died and she literally had to resurrect him. She's pretty clearly not going to let that happen again. She's not afraid to believe Zuko. Saying that she's afraid to do so implies that she has some desire to do so. She has no such desire. She just flat DOESN'T believe him because she thinks he's a manipulative subhuman monster just like his sister. I think a lot of people miss how unrelenting Katara is. She's such an idealist that it's completely believable that you get one chance with her. You get one chance to be conflicted, to understand that there is another path you can take, and when you don't, like Zuko didn't, she doesn't want to hear later that you've changed your mind.
And the fact that Katara will inevitably learn to, at least, tolerate Zuko doesn't mean that she wasn't utterly serious in that scene. I talked about the blocking [see below for her discussion of the blocking] and I hold to that. She was scary and ruthless and dark because she was MEANT to be. This was clearly not supposed to be taken as Katara just running her mouth. This was a honest-to-goodness threat against Zuko's life. Ominous closeups, foreboding music, and all.
(Rawles)
Where is this character-arc headed? Will Katara bloodbend Zuko or something? What will make her see Zuko in a different light? Rawles gives her spec:
I'm also ambivalent on whether Katara will do anything too horrible to Zuko before she accepts that he actually is a human with emotions. What I am not ambivalent about however is the fact that Zuko exhibiting human emotions is going to be directly related to Iroh, Ursa, and/or Mai.
(Rawles)
We'll see where the story goes, but she will definitely realize that he is human and sincere and not the sociopathic mastermind manipulator his sister is. And I agree with Rawles that it will involve his love with one of the three people in his life who truly love him.
Now that we've got the canon straight, let's move on to the Crackshipper craziness.
Crackshipper Argument #1:
"There is a thin line between hate and love. There was so much sexual tension!
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
What a dumb argument. Senigata notes:
A romance of that kind (which they so desperately claim it to be) should actually be called thin line between dislike and love. Hate is really just hate most of the time.
(Senigata)
Rawles elaborates further:
Of all the stupid cliches and tropes that people, this fandom ESPECIALLY, use to justify shipping everyone who ever interacts in any way (well, in any way, except BLATANTLY ROMANTICALLY, apparently) "There's a thin line between love and hate" has been my most despised one for EIGHT YEARS.
There is NOT a thin line between love and hate. Not actual hate. There is a thin line between attraction expressed through seeking positive attention and attractive expressed through seeking negative attention. Little kids and arrested adolescent adults SOMETIMES pick on or act aggressively towards people they like because they don't know any other way to attract their attention. People SOMETIMES throw mud in people's faces and push them into fountains and punch their arms a lot and make jokes at their expense because they are into them and are not the best at expressing it.
People threaten to kill people for helping to kill their boyfriend because they hate them, think they are subhuman, and wouldn't mind if they were dead. Let's not confuse the two.
If there is one thing I could stand never to see again, it's people seriously arguing for ships based on the fact that the people involved hate each other. Drives me up the frigging wall. Not to mention makes me inclined to start being sad about people's ideals about relationships.
Not all intense emotion is positive. Just because someone feels strongly about something doesn't mean that there's something beautiful there, under the surface. Sometimes, a lot of the times, it's just ugly. And Katara's completely serious threat on Zuko's life was ugly, by design.
(Rawles)
And... "sexual tension!?" You've got to be kidding me. Try, "murder tension."
There were intense murder rays coming off of Katara (assisted by the Ominous Doom Music of Death Threats). But Zuko was actually extremely passive and "...whuh?" about the whole thing. Which is extra hilarious. But also sad because Zuko is someone who is just so earnest and straightforward about his emotions at all times, so when he lets his guard down (which he did, massively, to get them to accept him) he's like a helpless kitten emotionally and it's so easy to stomp on him. And the Gaang stomped on him a lot. And in that last scene Katara ground his head into the dirt with her heel.
Just when he thought things would be okay! Now he has to sleep with one eye open.
(Rawles)
Elsewhere, Rawles mocks this "sexual tension" Crackshipper misinterpretation of the scene:
Every interaction ever on Avatar is actually romantic in nature. Except for when Aang and Katara or Mai and Zuko make out.
Trying to read these occurrences as romantic is just being silly and delusional and serves as proof of one's failure to understand the deep, complex, and hidden meanings of the text.
(Rawles)
She's got a good point; there's an incredible double standard Crackshippers use in their approach to the narrative. ACTUAL Mai/Zuko and Aang/Katara text and subtext is ignored in favor of reading sexual tension into scenes like the death threat scene at the end of "The Western Air Temple."
Crackshipper Argument #2:
"Katara understands Zuko the most.
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Rawles sarcastically writes:
Someone who thinks of Zuko as something subhuman that doesn't have real human emotions is totes tuned in to the realities of who he is as a person.
(Rawles)
And she later adds:
The whole bit where Katara says that they both know Zuko has struggled with making the right choices before. That's not I SEE INTO YOUR SOOOUL AND KNOW YOUR INNER CONFLICT BETTER THAN ANYONE.
That's because she was standing there as he quite explicitly (and largely aloud) weighed the two options in CoD. And then after she thought he would choose Aang, he chose Azula. Now he shows up and says he's decided to choose Aang and she feels like this is the same sort of epiphany or whatever that he had in the cave and then did the wrong thing anyway; so, she doesn't trust him to not just up and change his mind again.
It's different for her, not because she has some deep rooted instinctual understanding of Zuko that the rest of the Gaang lacks (I think Aang has gotten her beat on that score, honestly), but because she has essentially seen this side of Zuko before and, in her mind, it was a lie.
And, of course, the fact that she thinks it was a lie, the fact that she doesn't understand how painfully earnest a person Zuko is, completely negates the idea that she really understands him at all.
(Rawles)
AJ adds:
I wonder how anyone can seriously believe Katara has some kind of insight on Zuko. She does not get him at all. She thinks he's some kind of manipulative mastermind, and he's a guileless dweeb who's just fumbling through life. It's just crazy.
(Aangryjerk)
In conclusion?
I bet the frog he was talking to knows more about Zuko than Katara does.
(SaberFireTiger)
Heeeee... too true, SaberFireTiger, too true.
Crackshipper Argument #3:
"Zuko smiled at Katara at the end. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Zuko smiled at Katara. Zuko also smiled at Toph. Zuko also smiled at Aang. Zuko also smiled at Sokka.
Annnnnnd so... your point is??
(Besides, Zuko was probably also expecting lunch, considering what Sokka had just said).
(art by dinglehopper)
Crackshipper Argument #4:
"Zuko and Katara are now in proximity. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
1. Zuko isn't (and won't be) into her; Katara isn't (and won't be) into him.
This picture from DA will do just fine:
(art by SractheNinja)
Rufftoon (one of the storyboard artists for season 3) knows that Zutara isn't going to happen, but because she knows this fandom so well and how seriously the Crackshippers take the idea of Zutara-as-Canon, she certainly doesn't want to be the one to break the news to them. But in her response to that picture, she comes dangerously close:
Haha, it does echo my thoughts. But I prefer to leave it at that, or else that would destroy my neutral shipping stand.
(Rufftoon)
There you have it. A showrunner's agreement.
And that picture on DA certainly doesn't exhaust the reasons why Zuko would never go for Katara. In 10 Reasons Why Zuko Is Highly Disinclined to Fall in Love with Katara, Thank You Very Much," Rawles points out in a nice list why Zuko just isn't going to be attracted to her:
1) She is not Mai.
2) She hates his guts.
3) She threatened to kill him over another guy.
4) She probably would.
5) Contrary to what bad anime, romcoms, and/or soapy romance melodrama would have you believe, the previous three items are not actually attractive.
6) She's self-righteous and judgmental.
7) She's also really bossy and overbearing.
8) Contrary to what Avatar's aggressively nonsensical fandom would have you believe, the previous two sets of traits neither mesh well with or are liable to be appreciated by someone both proud and oversensitive like Zuko.
9) Zuko, while not the sharpest tool in the shed, is not actually stupid enough not to understand how trying to mack on the Avatar's One True Love would be really detrimental to his training and befriending the Avatar. You know, his repeatedly stated DESTINY that it brought him peace and joy to finally fulfill?
Until #3 happened anyway...
9a) Relatedly...she's kind of a buzzkill.
10) She's still not Mai. This gets to be here twice because it is clearly the greatest failing any girl can have when it comes to winning Zuko's affections and, ironically, the one most ignored!
(Rawles)
That list is far from exhaustive. Regarding Katara not being Mai, some might try to say that Zuko put Mai behind her. Again, this is ridiculous.
Have these people never watched television before? Read a book? Experienced dramatic fiction in any way whatsoever?
In what universe does a protagonist nobly go off to fulfill his destiny after bidding a sad and apologetic farewell to his beloved, leaving her: 1) a lovingly constructed note, and 2) IN THE MIDST OF THOSE AGAINST WHOM HE IS FIGHTING, and then...never thinks about her again? That's just...the end of that! No waaaay that storyline ever pops up again at a climactic moment. No waaaay this incredibly fraught situation ever causes conflict in the story!
I mean, at the very least one has to acknowledge how much Avatar LOVES Chekhov's Gun and the note, in and of itself, is an obvious evocation of that.
(Rawles)
The point is: the Mai factor is hardly over. Mai/Zuko = so Endgame.
And so... yeah. Zuko's not into Katara. Zuko will never be into her.
Then there's Katara. Just to be even, let's talk about 10 reasons why Katara will never, ever fall in love with Zuko:
1) He is not Aang.
2) He is an angry jerk.
3) He is an insecure dweeb with no social skills, and certainly no game.
4) He has too many flaws, too many ways in which he needs to grow. Katara is a judgmental, unrelenting idealist. "Jet" showed that she can be attracted to the dashing, heroic type, and she believed the best in him, but the minute he showed darkness in his soul, showing that he was not the dashing, heroic type but the bad boy type instead, she felt intensely betrayed. He was not actually the guy she got a crush on, but a monster in her eyes. Bye-bye romantic feelings! He failed and she held a grudge against him that she may have never quite completely let go. That kind of unrelenting idealism is just one reason why Aang is so good for her: his ridiculously pure soul is just about the only one good enough for her ridiculously high standards.
5) He is too thin-skinned and proud to handle her bossy, overbearing motherliness. Result: resistance, frustration, temper.
6) He's emo and mopes around and scowls a lot.
7) He takes everything so seriously.
8) He just doesn't have any characteristics she would find attractive in a guy. Who do you think she is, Mai?! Mai loves him incredibly much, but she's drawn to a different kind of guy than Katara is.
9) In a relationship, he's a jealous, insecure, possessive freak.
10) He's still not Aang.
And again, that list is far from being exhaustive. There is no reason to think she would ever, ever be attracted to him, even if she wasn't attracted to the Avatar.
I seriously can't hardly think of two main or secondary characters that would be less likely to be romantically attracted to each other than Zuko and Katara... even if they didn't have their actual love interests.
I can't even picture Katara being into Zuko. The only thing more unlikely then that is Zuko being into Katara. And the only thing more unlikely then that is Katara being into Zuko. It's like a paradox, an ouroboros. It's a particle and a wave at the same time. It's impossible at any given time to figure out which is more unlikely because they are both so unlikely that they are a singularity of unlikeliness, if you go beyond the singularities event horizon you enter into a realm from which logic and reason cannot escape.
I've actually thought about the whole Zutara thing in those terms. Really, just try thinking about Zutara without getting into an arguement in your own head about who would find that situation more distasteful, Zuko or Katara.
(Planguy)
2. Connection does not romance make. Unlike many other shows, this show loves to show parallels and people interacting in friendly, non-romantic ways. This shipping-obsessed fandom likes to take two characters interacting and translate it into shipping. But Avatar, of all shows, shows the beauty of all kinds of relationships. Thematically the show is about Love's triumph, and, while that very much includes romantic love as a prominent part of it, it is actually a celebration of all expressions of Love.
There really is SUCH a long list of all sorts of random parallels between so many different characters. Many intentional and many that can easily be drawn (like, for instance, how Mai and Toph had similar upbringings with their overbearing, controlling parents, but reacted in completely opposite ways) that saying, "But Zuko and Katara have so much SUBTLELY CONNECTING THEM!!!1 SO THEY WILL FALL IN LOVE." is just silly.
One thing Avatar does very well is not limit characters' interactions and narrative connections to their love interests. That's something that happens a LOT in fiction and it's very annoying. And it's also trained people to interpret any sort of connection that any two characters have as having romantic undertones or being indicative of intended romance. Avatar allows people to have meaningful interactions with characters that they're not looking to bone. Fandom, sadly, takes it as the show being big on "ship-teasing."
(Rawles)
Along similar lines:
The active human mind loves patterns and hates coincidence. Because of this, it will often find patterns where no meaningful pattern actually exists. Someone hears a few sporadic instances of "mirrored" or similar dialogue for Zuko and Katara. Ignoring the fact that various other combinations of characters have shared similar dialogue and that there are easily perceivable instances of dialogue being intentionally mirrored in actual meaningful parallels (such as Aang and Zuko, being foils), they think: CONNECTION! But what is the feasible explanation?
That this could be an extremely, extremely obtuse attempt on the part of the creators to subtlely draw a parallel or connection between Zuko and Katara, in an even more obtuse and impenetrable bid to lay a really arcane foundation for when they'll suddenly pair them in the last 15% of the show when they had no meaningful relationship prior to that and it would be overturning two other highly prominent romances that have, together, dominated that aspect of the previous 85% of this show that was originally intended for 6-11 year olds,
OR
That the same staff writes and edits all the episodes so sometimes in all the thousands of lines of dialogue some of them come out similar or repeat, particularly when the characters are of similar temperament?
(Rawles)
So don't expect Zuko and Katara to fall in love just because they're... *gasp* interacting and there are parallels occasionally drawn between them. Neither the fact that there are parallels or the fact that they are now proximate and can interact has anything to do with romance or not.
Crackshipper Argument #5:
"The Scenes about Destiny were Juxtaposed with Katara's Death Threat. Therefore, Katara is Zuko's Destiny."
I actually already quoted this in my episode reaction post, but it's worth quoting again:
The juxtaposition was about the fact that Zuko is happy in that scene because he feels like he's FINALLY fulfilled the destiny his uncle saw for him (thus the staring at the portrait of Iroh): TEACHING AANG, what he would never have suspected. And he's finally on track and now everything can be roses. Then Katara shows up to remind him that his past deeds don't just disappear and fulfilling THIS destiny isn't necessarily going to be too much easier than when he was trying to do what his father wanted. Finally having chosen the right path doesn't mean that it's going to be cake to work with people that he's hunted and who have hated him for nigh on a year.
There is NOTHING romantic implicated in that scene. It's not a cute little juxtaposition to hint at HEE HEE INEVITABLE LUUURVE.
It's blocked like a freaking thriller, for goodness sake. Zuko is enjoying his joyful moment of peace at the close of the episode and you think that this is how it ends, and then he suddenly starts because he senses a malignant presence. He turns and the camera pans to Katara, lurking there ominously, and the music takes on equally ominous and forbidding tones in direct contrast to the Happiness of a Journey Concluded tone it had to express how Zuko was feeling as he looked at Iroh's picture and knew that his uncle would FINALLY be proud of him. Then she explicitly, vehemently, and coldly promises to kill him if he steps out of line.
It's the episode ending on an completely foreboding note with Katara as the antagonist. Confusing that with something ending on a wink-wink nudge-nudge romantic note (like the end of the volcano scene in The Fortuneteller or the end of the hippies departure scene in Cave of Two Lovers) is just silly. It's the same setup (someone enjoying a peaceful, quiet moment at the close of a hectic, emotional episode) that a million tv shows have trained us to expect to be followed by that same someone getting shot in the head.
(Rawles)
Rawles articulates essentially the same thing in another post:
I've watched that bit [the death threat scene] like a dozen times. It's SO well done.
What I decided that I loved most (you know, besides the fact THAT I WROTE EXACTLY THAT INTO A FIC LIKE SIX MONTHS AGO) was the way that it was blocked, almost like a horror movie or thriller. (Or the end of an episode of a television show where the character who is having the peaceful moment is going to get !!SURPRISE!! shot in the head in the last two minutes.)
Zuko is enjoying his moment of peace and joy, then he starts as he sense a malignant presence. He turns and Katara is lurking ominously in the doorway. Then the Doomy Music of Death Threats starts up and she delivers one of only three (I think) explicit declarations of the intent to kill ever on the show and then we end on the violently slammed door and the foreboding tones.
It was made of win and I have NEVER liked Katara more than I did that moment. Because she was kickass and cold and scary and as much as it was my headcanon, I never thought they'd go there.
(Rawles)
What is Zuko's Destiny, then? It's really pretty freakin' obvious:
I love how they ignore the fact that show has explicitly stated numerous times in the last two episodes what Zuko's destiny is (restoring balance; helping Aang) and then try to make Katara, who is actually set up by that last scene as a specific impediment to him happily fulfilling destiny, his destiny instead.
Way to miss the point. Way to miss the point by like LIGHT YEARS.
(Rawles)
Crackshipper Argument #6:
"[Insert Romantic Comedy Here] had this love-hate thing going on. The rules of narrative dictate that Katara will forgive and trust him. Therefore, Zutara will happen."
A bunch of Crackshippers have declared that Katara's hatred for him now narratively guarantees that she will love him later. This is a non sequitur... that just isn't how narrative works. True, she is likely to at least forgive him a little, and at least be amicable towards him. But it is a logical leap to say that she will then move on to romantic love.
It's a non sequitur, plain and simple.
A more sophisticated version of this argument, though equally illogical and misguided, cites various romantic comedies as proof. Right away that should make the alarm bells go off in your head, because this is an argument not from the show and the, you know, actual context, but an argument based on another genre of fiction entirely. Avatar has vastly more in common with Aladdin or The Little Mermaid or any other number of Disney fairy tales than it does with these romantic comedies cited by the Crackshippers.
Here's Rawles' response to someone who brought up various romantic comedies (Two Weeks Notice, You’ve Got Mail, The Cutting Edge, When Harry met Sally, Pride and Prejudice, The Princess Diaries 2, What Women Want, and As Good As It Gets):
The problem with reading Zuko/Katara as having the potential for "love/hate" romance is that:
1) This isn't based on misunderstanding or surface dislike. It's genuine antagonism based on the fact that Zuko spent almost a year constantly hunting them and then, after considering perhaps that it wasn't the right course once before, kept on hunting them and was responsible in part for Aang dying and various subsequent attempts on his life. Romcoms have corrupted people into assuming that any strong feeling, despite how negative it is, can realistically be the basis for LOVE. This is not true.
2) "Love/hate" relationships also don't take place when the actual romantic focus of the text is on the two characters being in love with other people. Only in fandom are two characters whose only bond is one of intense, violent antagonism AND who have prominent romantic storylines with other characters seen as a nascent "love/hate" relationship.
You could POSSIBLY get around one of those things. Not both. Fandom sees such things as obstacles, but they're not. They're just really blatant signs that that particular romance has no place. The fact that Katara may have the capacity, at some point, to interact with Zuko without watching him out of the corner of her eye looking for an excuse to kill him doesn't mean that the potential for romance honestly exists between them in this story. The structure of this particular narrative pretty expressly leaves those two with NO realistic potential as there isn't space, time, or intent.
I mean, people are free to pretend/ignore what's actually going on in the story and with the characters in an attempt to make it work. That's what fanon is for. But Zuko/Katara has no place in the actual canon of Avatar, actually, potentially, or otherwise. It's just not built for it.
(Rawles)
The debater then responded that in this situation, there was a misunderstanding, and that some romantic comedies have the romantic leads involved in relationships with other people to begin with. Rawles responded:
"there IS a misunderstanding in this situation, a huge one in my opinon. "
I didn't say that there wasn't a misunderstanding. Katara clearly misunderstands Zuko considering she thinks he is a subhuman, manipulator with no real emotions (in other words, she thinks he's his sister). But her hatred doesn't JUST revolve around the fact that she thinks he's a jerk or that she's sure that he's lying to them yet again. It's about the actions that he willfully took. A big point of the show (and, notably, something they made Mai communicate to Zuko in The Beach) is that you don't get a free pass for doing horrible things because of your crappy life. It's about culpability. The core reasons for Katara's very justified dislike of Zuko (i.e. his previous actions) aren't going to utterly disappear just because she'll inevitably realize that he's a decent human being. She just won't be raring to kill him.
"or example, in ‘You’ve Got Mail’, both leads started the story in stable, comfortable relationships with someone else. "
You misunderstand me. I didn't say no other relationship exists. I specifically said that those other relationships are not the focus of the text. In other words, in these romcoms and whatnot you're referencing, the love/hate relationship was THE clear romantic focus. Their relationships with other people were sidenotes and/or setup that were there only to illuminate the actual romance. The main thrust of the story was about the relationship between the two leads (no matter its status at that point in time), not their relationships with other people. They didn't spent 85% of the movies or books focusing on the relationships with those other people only to suddenly turn around and make the last 15% all about the two leads' great and sudden love for each other. And if they did, they were shitty stories and shouldn't be brought up as precedent to prove anything about Avatar which is a decidedly unshitty narrative.
"while Aang's feelings for Katara are very overt, her feelings for him are still ambiguous at best."
Only if you hang around in this fandom where people ignore anvils reading "Katara Is Into Aang" constantly dropped on their heads. This isn't an issue I argue anymore because I can't. The idea that Katara's reciprocation of Aang's feelings is questionable, especially at this point, is so flatly untrue that there's nothing I can say if someone doesn't see it thusly.
[. . .]
Zuko/Katara is very definitely out of the realm of possibility for the reasons I've outlined and many more besides both textual and metatextual. It always has been and it only ever became moreso as time passed.
If you want a pair of opposing ships that are both in the realm of possibility and where a degree of ambiguity exists wrt how they'll play out, then talk about Toph/Sokka and Sokka/Suki. But Aang and Zuko have had their separate designated love interests since the moment those two ladies appeared and that's not going to change.
(Rawles)
Then in response to the response, she writes:
"Avatar is NOT a pure romance. Yes, romance is woven into it, but it is not the FOCUS"
I was actually going to bring up this very point in my previous comment (but I figured it was already long enough), but only to make the exact opposite argument. The fact that romance is not the main focus of Avatar is exactly why the romance that is there is so straightforward. They don't have the time or the inclination to get melodramatic and twisty-turny shock-value with it because they have bigger fish to fry.
And your Harry Potter reference (one that I've made countless times myself) proves the point even more. Zuko/Katara is Harry/Hermione redux. Particularly in terms of the attitudes of the fandom. In both instances the fandoms surrounding the pairings insisted on reading way too much into the source that just wasn't intended and continuously ignored various hints from within the text itself and from the creators that what they were seeing wasn't actually there.
"If the relationships were THAT obvious, then i would have lost interest in them long ago."
Perhaps I should have said they are dead obvious to some? They're certainly dead obvious to me. As is just about every major plot development that's ever happened on the show. In season three and late season two particularly, for instance, things that I started speccing and arguing at at the opening of season two (or far earlier) have played out again and again and again (and I'm by no means the only one).
I don't disagree that Avatar has great, wonderful complexity and depth of character or beautiful, well-developed themes and motifs. It does. They're some of the many reasons that I love it. The other reason that I love it is the fact that its narrative is so tight and so IMPECCABLY structured, but that also makes it easy to predict the major turns of the story long before they happen. It's because they essentially set it up and knock it down. They foreshadow blatantly and they are hugely into the entire Chekhov's Gun approach. Right after The Avatar State aired, I specced that Aang would die in the Avatar State, thus disrupting his connection to it, and Katara would ressurect him with that oasis water. Because they all but explicitly said in the episode that that was what going to happen. Right after Return to Omashu aired, I went, "Oh, so there's Zuko's love interest aaaand she's going to end up having to choose between him and Azula." because there was no other reason, within the bounds of how Avatar is structured, for her character exist in the way that it does (yes, I'm aware that the second half of that hasn't happened yet, but, mark my words, IT WILL). And on and on in that manner.
And I'm not saying this to be all, "Oh, I am the all-knowing Avatar prophet," because I don't actually spec THAT often. I don't like being wrong either, in fact. Which is why the only time I do spec outright as in This Is What Will Happen is when it's a pretty damn sure thing. Like it's a pretty damn sure thing that Zuko/Katara = never going to happen. At all. Aang/Katara/Haru love triangle, on the other hand, is seeming pretty inevitable.
But c'est la vie. We each go about things in different ways. Though, I have to say, my mind is open too. I always completely consider all possibilities from all angles before I decide what's right and what's wrong. And if there is no way to deduce the definitively correct answer then I stay neutral. It's just not necessary to do so with Avatar shipping because they constantly TELL us the answer.
(Rawles)
Crackshipper Argument #7:
"There were no Mai/Zuko or Aang/Katara Scenes.
Therefore, Zutara will happen."
Why weren't there any Mai scenes?
We're probably not going to get any Mai-related scenes until the episode where they go into her finding or not-finding that letter. Maybe a little nod, but it's Avatar's MO basically. The show compartmentalizes storylines a lot (see also: Sokka/Suki). And the way that their narrative works, there was no room for erstwhile hot, ninja girlfriend angst, because the focus was on Zuko fulfilling his "debt," in some sense, to Iroh and the peace and happiness that brought him. It was important that audience understands that he's fully committed to the cause because it's right and he's not still morally conflicted, so that it can be all the more horrifying when Katara gets scary on him because you KNOW that he's being genuine. Specifically showing him being upset about Mai this episode would give Katara's threat a certain amount of genuine justification (not just emotional justification), which, based on the way it was blocked, isn't something I think they really wanted it to have.
(Rawles)
How about Aang/Katara scenes? Why didn't we have any follow-up on the kiss & confession yet? Clearly because of time constraints, and, indeed, Avatar's tendency to compartmentalize storylines. It's the same thing that happened to Haru, Teo, and the Duke: the writers used every excuse they could to get them off-screen and out of the action. So much was going on in this episode and so much had to happen and so much had to be squeezed into such a small amount of time while still trying to maintain the right balance of action/humor/pathos that they couldn't present what they did AND do justice to Aang/Katara (something that is such a core emotional focus of the show).
The long and the short of it all?
Zuko/Katara never had the slightest chance of becoming canon. It still doesn't. End of story.
In essence, people see Zuko/Katara because they're looking too hard. Whether it be because they ship it or just because they're intrigued by the idea of such a "subtle plot twist." If you look for something hard enough, you're going to see it. And while you're staring at that, you tend to miss what is massive and neon-colored and very loud right in front of your face. In this case, the fact that Aang/Katara has been ensured as endgame since seven minutes into the first episode when he woke up in her arms and gasped. Mai/Zuko came along later, but was no less certain.
(Rawles)