Why I love Katara so damn much
Sep. 1st, 2010 07:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gryphonseggMy journal looks distressingly bare of content, so I'm reposting yesterday's LJ post here. Besides, there's no such thing as too much Katara.
Lately I've been running into more anti-Katara stupidity on the internet than usual, so I felt the not-entirely-rational need to post about how much I love a fictional character who just might be my favorite cartoon character of all time. I really like how her character developed throughout the series, and I think the writing behind her got better and better as the series went on. I especially love her in the third season-- there, I said it! Blasphemy, I know.
Katara was amazing in the third season. I don't think her characterization was inconsistent. I think it was complex. She changed and grew as a person, and at different points in the series she revealed different aspects of her personality. (I could go into a rant about how the same kind of writing gets criticized as inconsistency for female characters and hailed as complexity, depth, and personal growth for male characters, but I want this post to be specifically Katara-focused.) She improved her skills throughout the series, and the third season is when she really came into her own as a waterbender.
One of the things I appreciate most about the way the character was handled is that her powers weren't treated as an excuse to have her just point and hope and make things happen; all too often, female characters with magical/supernatural/psychic/etc. powers are treated as if their powers don't require any thought or skill to wield. I love how much of Katara's performance as a bender in the third season depends on her thinking of clever and creative ways to use her powers. My two favorite examples are how she had the idea to use her own sweat to escape from the cell in "The Runaway" and the freeze-then-melt trick she used to defeat Azula in the finale. Katara's victory in the finale is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen in animation. No, I don't think it was anti-feminist that she defeated Azula; I don't accept the idea that Katara is a weak female stereotype or that Azula is the one strong and worthy female character in the series. I also don't think Katara "stole" anything from Zuko by defeating his sister. Katara is a major character too; she was there from the beginning, and there is absolutely no good reason why her moment of glory should have been dropped in favor of giving it to Zuko.
Another thing I really appreciate is that Katara got her own arc about dealing with her memories of her mother and her mother's death. Even in series that are well written, it's still pretty rare for a female character to be given a non-romantic storyline with that kind of depth, especially one that centers her relationship with another female character. Besides, I'm a mama's girl IRL, so fictional mother-daughter angst pulls on my heartstrings hard. I like the way her friendship with Zuko developed in the episode about them seeking the man who killed her mother. I like her utter contempt for the guy when they finally found him and he offered his own mother's life in exchange. I don't have a problem with her willingness to use bloodbending in that episode or think it was inconsistent with the rest of her character-- it was a highly unusual and extreme set of circumstances (of course, it helps that I don't believe Hama is the The Evilest Evil That Ever Eviled). It should go without saying that I don't think Katara's mistrust and anger toward Zuko in the episodes leading up to that were inconsistent with the rest of her characterization or unreasonable given their history.
Oh, and I love Katara's relationship with Hama: how quickly they bonded and what a gut-wrenching twist it was for Katara to find out that Hama had been attacking civilians, so that the person she'd been thinking of as a friend and mentor (and possible mother figure, since her own mother was dead and her grandmother was far away?) turned out to be a mirror of her own potential corruption. No, I don't think this + bloodbending someone Katara (wrongly) believed to have been her mother's killer = Katara will grow up to be just like Hama and torment random civilians. Katara had her revenge arc, as discussed above, and it ends with her choosing not to let her justifiable anger against the Fire Nation turn her into someone who pursues vengeance at all costs. Also, as I said in the previous paragraph, it helps that I don't believe Hama is inherently or irredeemably evil, as some do. I think it was made very clear that Hama was deeply twisted by her years of captivity as a prisoner of war. There's a reasonable explanation for how she got the way she is by the time she meets Katara, and I find it heartbreaking and tragic.
So, yeah, I ADORE Katara, even-- hell, especially as she is written later in the series.
Lately I've been running into more anti-Katara stupidity on the internet than usual, so I felt the not-entirely-rational need to post about how much I love a fictional character who just might be my favorite cartoon character of all time. I really like how her character developed throughout the series, and I think the writing behind her got better and better as the series went on. I especially love her in the third season-- there, I said it! Blasphemy, I know.
Katara was amazing in the third season. I don't think her characterization was inconsistent. I think it was complex. She changed and grew as a person, and at different points in the series she revealed different aspects of her personality. (I could go into a rant about how the same kind of writing gets criticized as inconsistency for female characters and hailed as complexity, depth, and personal growth for male characters, but I want this post to be specifically Katara-focused.) She improved her skills throughout the series, and the third season is when she really came into her own as a waterbender.
One of the things I appreciate most about the way the character was handled is that her powers weren't treated as an excuse to have her just point and hope and make things happen; all too often, female characters with magical/supernatural/psychic/etc. powers are treated as if their powers don't require any thought or skill to wield. I love how much of Katara's performance as a bender in the third season depends on her thinking of clever and creative ways to use her powers. My two favorite examples are how she had the idea to use her own sweat to escape from the cell in "The Runaway" and the freeze-then-melt trick she used to defeat Azula in the finale. Katara's victory in the finale is one of the most awesome things I have ever seen in animation. No, I don't think it was anti-feminist that she defeated Azula; I don't accept the idea that Katara is a weak female stereotype or that Azula is the one strong and worthy female character in the series. I also don't think Katara "stole" anything from Zuko by defeating his sister. Katara is a major character too; she was there from the beginning, and there is absolutely no good reason why her moment of glory should have been dropped in favor of giving it to Zuko.
Another thing I really appreciate is that Katara got her own arc about dealing with her memories of her mother and her mother's death. Even in series that are well written, it's still pretty rare for a female character to be given a non-romantic storyline with that kind of depth, especially one that centers her relationship with another female character. Besides, I'm a mama's girl IRL, so fictional mother-daughter angst pulls on my heartstrings hard. I like the way her friendship with Zuko developed in the episode about them seeking the man who killed her mother. I like her utter contempt for the guy when they finally found him and he offered his own mother's life in exchange. I don't have a problem with her willingness to use bloodbending in that episode or think it was inconsistent with the rest of her character-- it was a highly unusual and extreme set of circumstances (of course, it helps that I don't believe Hama is the The Evilest Evil That Ever Eviled). It should go without saying that I don't think Katara's mistrust and anger toward Zuko in the episodes leading up to that were inconsistent with the rest of her characterization or unreasonable given their history.
Oh, and I love Katara's relationship with Hama: how quickly they bonded and what a gut-wrenching twist it was for Katara to find out that Hama had been attacking civilians, so that the person she'd been thinking of as a friend and mentor (and possible mother figure, since her own mother was dead and her grandmother was far away?) turned out to be a mirror of her own potential corruption. No, I don't think this + bloodbending someone Katara (wrongly) believed to have been her mother's killer = Katara will grow up to be just like Hama and torment random civilians. Katara had her revenge arc, as discussed above, and it ends with her choosing not to let her justifiable anger against the Fire Nation turn her into someone who pursues vengeance at all costs. Also, as I said in the previous paragraph, it helps that I don't believe Hama is inherently or irredeemably evil, as some do. I think it was made very clear that Hama was deeply twisted by her years of captivity as a prisoner of war. There's a reasonable explanation for how she got the way she is by the time she meets Katara, and I find it heartbreaking and tragic.
So, yeah, I ADORE Katara, even-- hell, especially as she is written later in the series.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-02 05:09 pm (UTC)her and Zuko defeating Azula the way they did was perfect; it was the only way it could have made narrative sense
Yes, this! Some Azula fans are unhappy about the breakdown at the end and claim that it's a flaw of the series that the protagonists couldn't defeat Azula until she went insane. I don't see that as a flaw at all. The way she had been built up before, it would have been a complete cop-out to have Azula bring her A game and get defeated. Also, I've seen people argue that the breakdown was sexist because Azula's a female character who went insane "when she got too much power," but I didn't read it that way at all-- just the opposite, in fact. Ozai wasn't giving her power when he made her Fire Lord and declared himself the Phoenix King. He was giving her a semblance of power, the title he'd trained her to strive to be worthy of her entire life but stripped of meaning and authority. What finally snapped her was that he appeared to be granting her greatest wish . . . and then in the next moment, he yanked everything that made it meaningful to her out from under her.
Of course, it helps that I saw the psychological cracks in her from the beginning. In her first appearance, Azula gets freakishly peeved about having a hair out of place, so I always thought of her as have the kind of unhealthily extreme perfectionism that causes an extremely talented person to crumble or blow up in the face of one setback too many. And I think she was telling the truth when she said that it hurt to know her mother was afraid of her and considered her a monster. I actually think Ursa's feelings for Azula were positive or at worst mixed, and Ozai convinced Azula that Ursa was afraid of her, but now I'm getting too far afield. Maybe I should do an Azula post some time.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-02 05:36 pm (UTC)You should do an Azula post! You should post about ALL the characters. XD
(no subject)
Date: 2010-09-03 12:38 am (UTC)