kyoshi-lesbians

[kyoshi-lesbians]

IT’S GONNA BE MAI

#ITS HER TIME!!!!! #SHE IS THE MOMENT!!! #mai #art

[kyoshi-lesbians]

#anyways. happy April 30th ig #mai

[kyoshi-lesbians]

a really defining moment of aang and sokka’s relationship is that sokka literally lets himself get beat up for aang’s amusement and entertainment like a day into knowing him. like he is literally letting aang drop him onto the ground from a not insignificant height over and over again just to see aang smile and laugh. he is putting his own safety and physical wellbeing at risk because it makes aang happy. and there’s a lot we could get into here about how sokka fundamentally views himself and his body as a vessel through which to provide services to others instead of a whole human being in his own right, but what matters for the purposes of this post is that it’s very immediately established that sokka will do anything to see aang enjoy himself, to the point that he will quite literally put up with physical abuse without complaint to make aang happy. so when people are like “it’s crazy how sokka is so smart and yet loses all his braincells whenever he’s around aang,” it’s like yeah, teenage boy adhd2adhd communication will do that, but also a large part of it is sokka contorting himself into an image that he thinks aang will appreciate, because he knows just how valuable preserving aang’s childhood joy and laughter is.

and what’s beautiful is that through actively becoming this person for aang’s benefit, he also actually starts to internalize the sentiment. through the process of letting himself be silly and goofy for the sake of making aang happy, he also absorbs some of that sillygoofy happiness and regains some of his own childhood joy and laughter and sense of wonder he truly thought he had lost forever. he’s not just helping aang retain his childhood, but aang is also helping sokka regain his sense of humanity. the sokka of book 3 is someone who enjoys “wacky, time wasting nonsense” and throws beach parties, a far cry from the sokka of book 1 who thought fun and joy were luxuries no one could afford. his selfless love for aang is also self-affirming, helps him to embrace aang’s point of view, to love himself slightly more than he otherwise would have. because to love aang is to necessarily let kindness into your life; it’s to learn how to be free.

#tears in my eyes from the power of friendship and love and how loving and valuing oneself (aang) #can extend outwards to those who love you (sokka) #sokka #aang

[kyoshi-lesbians]

#i need to make something

[kyoshi-lesbians]

her ba sing slay

#GORGEOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #katara #art #HER STYLE SLAY! YOUR ART SLAY! OUGH

[kyoshi-lesbians]

people tend to talk more about the doll iroh gives azula as a spoil of war that directly illustrates iroh’s attitude of colonial paternalism, but there’s something so fascinating to me about how iroh gives zuko a knife that says “made in earth kingdom” on one side and “never give up without a fight” on the other, reducing a call to action, direct resistance through any means necessary, into an abstract, inspirational quote. a weapon that symbolizes the strength of a nation of resist imperialist conquest/colonial occupation is put in the hands of a ten year old who has no way of truly understanding the implications of that slogan. of course, zuko eventually does come to understand, and he does refuse to give up without a fight, as does iroh, but at the time that iroh gives zuko the knife, he is perverting that symbol of revolutionary action & resistance into a colonial artifact, a mere child’s plaything, its blade dulled and its power denied through the act of gifting it to the sheltered prince of the nation against whom they are fighting. yes, zuko has his own fight, and must face his own struggles, and he is largely defined by his persistence, so it’s easy to forget what this knife means within its original cultural context: “made in earth kingdom” isn’t just a dismissive joke, it’s also a grave reminder of who iroh was, what his “gifts” represent, and where they came from.

#iroh #zuko #atla

[kyoshi-lesbians]

The Gaang take another vacation at the library

#FAVE #gaang #art #undescribed

[kyoshi-lesbians]

Katara >///<

#katara #art #undescribed

[kyoshi-lesbians]

“Indeed the essence of the Blue Spirit is its love of the unnatural: of artífice and exaggeration. And the Blue Spirit is esoteric - something of a private code, a badge of identity even.

10. The Blue Spirit sees everything in quotation marks. It's not a lamp, but a "lamp"; not a woman, but a "woman." To perceive the Blue Spirit in objects and persons is to understand Being-as-Playing-a-Role. It is the farthest extension, in sensibility, of the metaphor of life as theater.

16. Thus, the Blue Spirit sensibility is one that is alive to the double sense in which some things can be taken. But this is not the familiar split-level construction of a literal meaning, on one hand, it is a symbolic meaning, on the other. It is the difference, rather, between the thing as meaning something, anything, and the thing as pure artifice.

23. In naïve, or pure, the essential element is seriousness, a seriousness that fails. Of course, not all seriousness that fails can be redeemed as the Blue Spirit. Only that which has the proper mixture of the exaggerated, the fantastic, the passionate, and the naïve.

56. The Blue Spirit is a kind of love, a love for human nature. It relishes, rather than judges, the little triumphs and awkward intensities of “character”… The Blue Spirit identifies with what it is enjoying. People who share this sensibility are not laughing at this thing they label as “The Blue Spirit,” they’re enjoying it. The Blue Spirit is a tender feeling.”

— Susan Sontag, Notes on the Blue Spirit

#PERFECT POST! #zuko #the blue spirit

[kyoshi-lesbians]

hi anon 👋 i'm not going to respond directly to that post (there's a lot there) but I will go into why I personally find ty lee & suki interesting!

the fun part of tysuki for me is that they would not get along at first. it would take time for both of them to trust each other and significant growth, especially for ty lee. (also, to note for this analysis, I interpret ty lee as having air nomad heritage and being aware of this in some way. that’s just sort of the base for any post-war imaginings I have for ty lee. an interpretation of their relationship where ty lee is not an air nomad is interesting for how it is a sort of microcosm of the decolonization and reconciliation that must take place after the war, but I won't delve into that.) what makes their dynamic compelling to me is suki’s justified distrust of ty lee and ty lee striving to become worthy of suki’s trust −  because she would respect suki, who leads the warriors with love and compassion and without competition, unlike any group ty lee has been part of before (including the circus, the cruelty of which we see through the eyes of appa). 

first step would be ty lee sincerely apologizing to suki for her role in the war. no matter the circumstances ty lee was operating under, she caused immense harm to the world and suki personally. ty lee may have earned the trust of the other warriors but suki wasn't there for that - that suki doesn't advocate to kick her out of the warriors is a testament to the level of trust between suki and her sister warriors, and probably the structure of decision making in the group as well (consensus or majority rule). 

but as an ongoing practice, ty lee would struggle to let her guard down around the leader of a powerful warrior group, while some honest vulnerability is a part of what suki would need to trust ty lee after the war. their skills and personalities complement each other, but only after they understand the logic the other operates under. 

as intelligent as ty lee is, as much as she can recognize and appreciate that the kyoshi warriors have a unique culture that is nothing like the fire nation, ty lee has been operating under (cultural) threat for her entire life in the fire nation and direct physical threat from azula for several years (childhood, with a break from her time in the circus, to being back under her thumb in more danger than ever.) her way of navigating the world wouldn’t completely change, but I do think it will take time, energy, and a lot of healing for ty lee to develop a ways of relating to people (other than mai) that are more emotionally honest and healthy.

but ty lee could. as a part of the warriors she would start using her people skills for group cohesion instead of solely her default state of personal protection (and, even more important to her, protection of mai). she starts to consciously consider it her social role/ responsibility within the warriors to manage the tense moments that come up in any large group −  even a tight knit, disciplined sisterhood like the kyoshi warriors. once suki recognizes ty lee is actively choosing to do this for the group, only then does she fully emotionally accept ty lee as one of the warriors. suki (to her own surprise) even starts to rely on ty lee's perceptiveness for group dynamics during difficult situations.

however to suki's dismay, ty lee can read her too, including when suki is struggling but not showing it for the sake of the other warriors. initially suki would be deeply uncomfortable with this, offended even when ty lee attempts to support suki personally (how dare she question suki's leadership? suki is fine. she's a teenager leading an elite warrior group while reconstructing her village, their island, other towns in the earth kingdom, providing advice to the fire lord to maintain world peace, she's fine, she even got a full 4 hours of sleep last night. she doesn't need ty lee telling her to take a nap while ty lee takes over leading afternoon training) but suki grows to accept the support, eventually recognizing that she has a responsibility to her girls to take care of herself.

I'm oscillating on whether they would develop a leader/second-in-command type dynamic. it's a role ty lee could slot into comfortably, hopefully now in a healthy way. either way, the work they go through to trust and understand each other would, i think, create something beautiful. 

and maybe, after some time (and a visit from aang) ty lee would open up about her heritage to suki. and suki, who as a kyoshi islander exists on the margins of the earth kingdom and whose home was destroyed by colonial powers, would understand. (this shared personal understanding is maybe the one thing that mai can't provide ty lee. and I think mai would recognize this and be grateful for the people in ty lee's life who can, like suki.)

ty lee wouldn't stay on kyoshi island forever… maybe a year or so before moving on to the most important mission for herself and the most meaningful she could do in the service of kyoshi: rebuilding the air nation with aang and her own family. but when she or suki need some rest or some fun, kyoshi island is just a bison ride away.

#next ty lee analysis i will go into how ty lee exists on the periphery in every single way . but for now…. #tysuki #ty lee #suki #air nomad ty lee #<- tag has lots more if interested in that #asks #anon #also i turned anon asks back on for ya #not that i bite. but i get it 👍

[kyoshi-lesbians]

Since you guys seemed to really dig the first bunch, here are a few more studies of the kids :>

★ patreon || website || twitter ★

#oh these are lovely!!! #gaang #art

[kyoshi-lesbians]

i enjoy the way that sokka & zuko both have a conversation with the universe/creator in "bitter work" so you compare & contrast zuko crying screaming begging to be struck by lightening with sokka facetiously promising that he will give up his entire (projected) identity to live another day

#“they stuck that boy in a hole for 22 minutes” episode

[kyoshi-lesbians]

season 2 zuko's gayest season

#SHIRA. #zuko

[kyoshi-lesbians]

"twinkle-toes" don't worry toph we can see the slurs you're throwing thru the PG filter

"i figured you wouldn't mind. and besides even if you did, you're too much of a pushover to do anything about it" cartoon version of toph calling aang a pussy like I know she wanted

#toph #i adore her #r.post

[kyoshi-lesbians]

"i figured you wouldn't mind. and besides even if you did, you're too much of a pushover to do anything about it" cartoon version of toph calling aang a pussy like I know she wanted

#watching this scene #my mind slipped for half a second #and just followed that “pu” to what is the logical conclusion characterwise #alas. childrens cartoon.

[kyoshi-lesbians]

the thing is, mai’s most significant act is a direct parallel to zuko. Standing up to azula while disproving her logic and asserting her power by hurting azula as much as possible − mai's  “I guess you don’t think you know people as well as you think you do” and  “I love zuko more than I fear you”  is zuko's “it was cruel and it was wrong” and redirect of ozai's lightning.

zuko’s arc being his rejection of imperial patriarchal logic−  driven by his lifelong inability to conform to the violent (male) role others demanded he embody, as much as he wanted to −  loops back to mai’s relationship to fire nation patriarchy. her personhood was always put below her father’s. she was effectively told to be “seen, not heard” but unlike zuko she did have the ability to conform to their expectations and she often did (though she did have her little personal rebellions and snark through it. “Fire flakes dad?” and “I’m not going in that sludge”). Mai craves freedom and is defined largely by how she represses expressions of that. 

zuko joining the resistance against the fire nation proves to be the catalyst for mai actively rejecting the logic that has put her, even with her extremely privileged position, in a lesser category than men. mai committing treason against the fire nation princess undoubtedly destroyed her father’s political career. By betraying azula, mai puts her own feelings above her father who is acting on behalf of the ultimate patriarch, the fire lord. ironically, the moment we see mai the most free is when she is being put in chains. (being in prison is also when she is the most safe.) 

zuko and mai’s acts of resistance are defying an imperial patriarchal system that dehumanizes the majority of the world and personally harms them. zuko’s actions are partly influenced by his being gay and mai’s decision is influenced by….?  yeah.

I’ve said this before but that mai dating zuko literally makes her gayer is so funny. “I love zuko more than I fear you” and she's STILL SO GAY. that’s crazy.

#okay now I'm done #mai #zuko #r.post

[kyoshi-lesbians]

like I could believe mailee being one sided if it wasn’t for zuko being gay. luckily whenever zuko attempts heterosexuality it becomes obvious how homosexual he is. and we are left interpreting what this reveals about the girls he attempts to be heterosexual with

I’ve said this before but that mai dating zuko literally makes her gayer is so funny. “I love zuko more than I fear you” and she's STILL SO GAY. that’s crazy.

#like with how jin is the opposite of her intended normal girl function #KEEP HOLDING IM ALMOST THERE #I simply enjoy the cadence of a multipost. it reflects the path of my logic