there’s a reason why the entire story of avatar the last airbender begins and ends with katara. there’s a reason why we are introduced to katara first before we are introduced to any other character. there’s a reason why katara is the narrator. there’s a reason why the creators have emphasized over and over again that katara is just as titular to the story as aang - she’s the other main character.
when you water down katara - remove her compassion, her ability to connect with others, her nurturing role, her ANGER and RAGE and DRIVE - you water down the very fundamentals of the story. you drastically and severely alter the core dynamics of the gaang, because katara was so important to the development of every single one of them. she was the rock and glue that held team avatar together.
katara was unlike any other character to ever appear on television; she was a young brown girl who took no shit from anyone, yet at the same time remained kind and compassionate and nurturing. katara was a force of nature; proud of her heritage and culture, burdened by the responsibility of being the last southern water bender of the water tribe, angered over the death of her mother and everything that the fire nation took from her, determined to help every single person in need, determined to change the world, angry and resentful because old men and rules and laws kept telling her what she could or could not do, thus, she was determined to restructure thousands of years of patriarchy that stood against her from accomplishing her goals and dreams.
watering down katara into at most 2-3 tangible characteristics, stripping her away of all her motivation and agency and nuance, telling the audience that she wants to help and change the world only to have her stand in the background with an air of grief, demonstrates that the writers of the live action fundamentally misunderstand the spirit of avatar. and that’s something so unforgivable. no matter how many changes they decide to make, or how much they decide to stay true to the original story in other areas, no matter how many flashy VFX fight scenes we get - if you fail to properly understand katara, you fail to understand the heart and soul of avatar the last airbender, everything that makes avatar such a timeless classic.
Night at the Museum scratches my brain the same way that Hetalia does and I feel like there's something there that can be explored. Like, a regular mortal as a museum where all the reps are from those old paintings or cartoons where they're representing their nations?? I dunno, Night at the Museum slaps and is a fun little premise.
Watching atla, Sokka's Master, and I just love the size difference between Piandao and Sokka bc he's so tiny, you know, like the child that he is. So used to Sokka being the oldest and tallest one in the group that seeing him around adults reminds you that he's just a kid and he's itty bitty—look at him!!
thr funniest part of therapy to me is when you first come in and you're exchanging niceties and they say "hello! how are you" and you say "im fine how are you :)" and then 30 seconds later they put on their therapist voice and say "so how are you doing?" and you go well lisa. believe it or not im doing Bad
they "toned down the misogyny" w Sokka but then made Katara into a passive child™️ when she is notoriously head strong and just as stubborn as Sokka and a Mom™️ to them all. me thinks the misogyny just got rebranded
For me, it’s when you’re able to see where they’re coming from but find them completely atrocious at the same time because they never stop being villains and the show and/or movie doesn’t try to make them anything other than a villain.
In Hercules, for instance, yes I am using a 90s Disney film, I think Hades is a complex villain because his job sucks
and all of the other gods are terrible to him:
Like Zeus is a douche so why wouldn’t Hades want to overthrow the gods and take over Olympus? LIKE LOOK AT WHERE HE WORKS:
But at the same time, Hades is a villain, like he owns Meg’s soul and makes her do things she doesn’t want to do:
and essentially pimps her out:
and he’s legit trying to kill Hercules:
who he tried to get his minions to kill when he was a baby:
and when he makes the deal with Hercules to make him mortal, he tells him that Meg was working for him the entire time and Hercules can barely even stand and Pain and Panic dump drinks on him and laugh in his face as they run away like that’s COLD.
He released the Titans who have wreaked havoc on Greece:
Like he’s still a terrible guy but I get it, I get where he’s coming from.
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