I always thought Katara just chose Aang because she literally had no reason not to. Maybe she would have felt guilty if she didn't. He was nice, did everything for her, they got along nicely and he saved the world so he is "entitled" to his "trophy" at the end. It is like a marriage for superficial reasons ("He is a good guy." "He will try to make you happy") I think that's a little problematic because it shows to young guys that you are entitled to any girl you want if you just treat her right and earn her respect. (epedemic of the "softboy" wich is almost as toxic as fuckboys) She wouldn't have chosen Zuko because she felt he hadn't "deserved" her because of his past compared to pure, innocent Aang.
There's also this "nice guy" trope going on which is really unfortunate. It wasn't THAT clear in the show, yet in one video Brykes described the potential situation of Katara choosing someone over Aang ending with this scenario - 'she breaks the heart of a nice guy who really loves her and goes for someone who doesn't care for her' and that it's gonna end badly for everyone. You know? It happens in media a lot. If the girl doesn't choose the nice guy who's head over heels about her, she's gonna regret it eventually. That's the idea.
"She" here being Bryke, invested as they are in the conventions of a heteronormative love plot - while not following through on the work & development.
i dunno man, if someone asks if i'm a guy's girlfriend and i DON'T secretly have a crush on him, i'm probably not going to blush and shout "i'm NOT his GIRLFRIEND!" (conversely if i was a guy and someone asked me if a girl is my girlfriend and i didn't have feelings for her, i probably wouldn't blush and shout "she is NOT my GIRLFRIEND!") i took that as a pretty explicit display of their (unacknowledged) feelings for each other, and it was certainly more of a reaction than either of the canon ships got.
I have a feeling this comment is going to turn into an essay. (I'm so sorry!) I watched this back when you only had the two-hour version up, but I've been rewatching it and have so many things I want to discuss. The tl;dr version is I agree with basically everything you've said, and it's refreshing to have it all laid out so tidily. This is going to seem like a tangent, but I promise it ties into Zutara. You briefly mentioned how you didn't mind that Aang spared Ozai. I agree. In fact, Aang sparing Ozai is literally The Whole Point. Not just for Aang's arc, but for Ozai's. Ozai doesn't have an arc in the sense that he learns something and changes, but he still went through the structure of an arc. He just failed it every step of the way. Ozai's arc is about learning mercy isn't weakness. It's why his inciting incident is the moment a young Zuko speaks out in the war room in favour of mercy. And it's why Ozai must be defeated THROUGH an act of mercy. If Aang had killed him, it would have muddled the themes and entirely botched the lesson of Ozai's arc. In order to pull off this lesson of "mercy isn't weakness" properly, Aang needed to have his access to the avatar state returned for this final fight, because he needed to have the option to /not/ choose mercy but to choose mercy anyway. Otherwise, without both options available, his choice is meaningless, and so is the lesson. What all this means is that dropping the plotline of Aang needing to let go of his attachment to Katara kind of forced the writers into a corner where they had to use deus ex machina to give Aang the avatar state back so the fight between Ozai and Aang could play out the way they needed. I think the writers needed to introduce a dilemma for Aang to narratively earn his right to use the avatar state. We don't like characters gaining new powers without earning them. Introducing Katara as "the problem" Aang needed to overcome to master the avatar state was the /perfect/ choice. Making Aang's attachment to her a problem means the thing (person) he wants most stands in the way of 1. his task to defeat the Fire Lord (external conflict), 2. his redemption arc (he's stepping into his responsibilities as avatar--one of which is to master the avatar state--to redeem himself from running away from those responsibilities and allowing the war to happen in the first place), and 3. his cultural identity (he feels a responsibility to follow and pass on the traditions of his culture, and one of the traditions of his culture was giving up earthy desires). Honestly, I don't think they could have picked an internal conflict for Aang that had more potential. It places his feelings for Katara in direct opposition to some of his most deeply-held values. I would have loved to see him trying to reconcile how his feelings for Katara fit or didn't fit with his responsibility as avatar and his responsibility toward his culture. Had the writers accepted the challenge, they could have turned it into an even more fascinating character struggle than Zuko's (potentially). I also wanted to mention the scene when Aang asks his past lives for advice on how to deal with Ozai. He thinks every last one of them is telling him to kill Ozai, but none of them actually tell him to do that. (I mean, tbh, Kyoshi would likely have zero problems telling him to kill, but that's not actually what she said). Every one of them gives him advice he needs--and advice that ends up being integral to how Aang defeats Ozai. Be decisive. Bring peace through justice. Actively shape the destiny of the world. But there was one piece of advice that always bothered me, because I could never figure out how it fit in with Aang's defeat of Ozai, and that was Yangchen's advice about the avatar's duties requiring Aang to sacrifice his own spiritual needs. Because...when does he do that? Maybe I'm just missing it, but he didn't seem to sacrifice anything. However, if the writers had followed through on Aang needing to let go of his attachment to Katara, perhaps if he'd done it to gain the avatar state just before his battle with Ozai, then Yangchen's advice would have made sense. Aang letting go of his attachment would have been a form of spiritual sacrifice. But ANYway. Basically I'm saying having Zutara happen, or at least exploring the "Katara problem" for Aang rather than dropping that plotline entirely, would have been good for Ozai's arc as well and would have negated the need for deus ex machina. (At least when it came to the avatar state. It doesn't solve the deus ex lion turtle problem.) The other thing I wanted to bring up was the connection between the episodes "The Crossroads of Destiny" and "The Blue Spirit." Because these two episodes have an almost identical structure. JustWrite, in his review of "The Last Airbender" film mentioned that the purpose of "The Blue Spirit" episode is to show the viewer how well Zuko and Aang would work as a team if only they were on the same side. The purpose is to make you hope for a day when they can be friends. It's why when Aang asks Zuko at the end of the episode if they could have been friends and Zuko responds by firebending at him, we're sad. We don't want Zuko's downfall anymore. We want them to be friends, because now we know how good they'd be together. We're sad because Zuko isn't ready for that yet. "The Crossroads of Destiny" is, I feel, Zuko and Katara's "The Blue Spirit" episode. It functions exactly the same way. Show just how well Katara/Zuko could work together if only they were on the same side. Make the viewers hope for the day when they can have that emotional bond for realsies. Have Katara confront Zuko. "I thought you had changed." And have Zuko react poorly, "I /have/ changed," and firebend. Then the viewers are sad because they now know how well the characters could be together, but Zuko isn't ready for that yet. So it seems so odd to me that Zutara was just shipbaiting. Anyway, I have so much more I want to say, but this comment is already embarrasingly long. So, great video, as always! I definitely won't complain if you want to make more two-hour Avatar analyses. A girl's got to have her deep literary analysis while she does laundry, after all. lol (Again. So sorry for my long-winded rambling.)
Don't worry, I read it all! I loved hearing your thoughts and I do agree with pretty much all of it. I'm so happy my video inspired such a thoughtful comment from a viewer :)
i disagree that aang's past lives aren't telling him to kill ozai. he is upfront with each of them that everyone else expects him to kill ozai but he doesn't want to. none of them say "you are right, you don't need to/shouldn't kill ozai." roku states that if he had taken sozin out of the picture the first time, the genocide and 100 year war wouldn't have happened. kyoshi all but brags about killing chin the conqueror to protect the earth kingdom. and yangchen tells him "YOUR wants and needs are irrelevant. you may not want to kill but it's not about you, it's about protecting the world." if they were suggesting that he show mercy instead, they would have said as much, especially yangchen who knew that aang was explicitly asking "do i have to kill ozai?" if the answer was no, she would have said "your spiritual values are guiding you to the correct answer" or some crap like that. aang said "my values say it's wrong to kill" and yangchen said "sod your values, you have to do what is best for THE WORLD." mercy is not weakness, but cop-outs aren't justice. what the world needed more than mercy was justice. even the avatar state itself said as much. "you have committed the ultimate sin, and so you will pay the ultimate price." it's not about teaching ozai a lesson, because as you said, he can't be taught. he won't learn that lesson. "i don't think he's gonna get that message, joe." so in lieu of teaching a lesson that won't be learned, he must see that justice is served. and merely taking away his bending (while still leaving him to function as a figurehead for a fascist insurrection) is not justice.
I saw the original, 2 hour long video, So I’m not going to watch this but I’m clicking on them all and liking them because you deserve more views and likes. 😊❤️
Totally echo you on zutara getting me interested in critical reading of literature. I dont think ive seen anyone else put that feeling as clearly as you have and im so glad that zutara gave someone else that experience as well! I dont know what it is about zutara that always has you coming back to it but theres something just so fascinating about it i always end up holding other romantic relationships up to it as a standard -- maybe not what was there in canon but the thematic potential it had ❤️🔥🌊
I shipped Zutara since way before it even made sence at all, just because I saw potential in their interactions and how the story will ultimetly grow. The episode that sealed the deal for me with this ship was "The Crossroads of destiny", and at that point I strated debating about it with friends just to be called "crazy". I never explored internet at that time so I never knew about the ship war in that regard. The ship war from my side was my friends (predominatly male), saying "poor Aang" and dismissing my arguments about Zutara as if I was just imagining things, like a crazy person just because I "found Zuko hot". I think that treatment really made me go through all my emotional investment in the series in silence, and ultimatly, when Zutara didin't happen I felt dissapointed but I just didin't think too much about it, even when something didn't feel right at all. I think that at some point it kind of made me feel like my friends were right and that I was crazy, and just seeing things that were not there. So this essay valiting what I saw at that time is making me very emotional somehow. I think I needed to mourn that ship, somehow (if that makes sense), and this video helped me with it. Thanks (I'm sorry if it's a little too dramatic but idk, I just feel like this, I can't handle it)
Awww man that genuinely hurts to hear. It's so dismissive when people try to reduce the love of the ship down to shallow factors like appearance, or the "bad boy good girl" trope (which doesn't even represent these two characters anyway). I know what you mean by needing to "mourn" and I'm really glad I could help. Reading your comment was incredibly touching, thank you so much for taking the time and writing it out.
Love revisiting this video(s) whenever I get my annual Zutara fixation thanks to watching some random YT reactor watching the series for the first time. Your mom is adorable and SO RIGHT! My mom actually watched the whole series with me, with Season 3 as it was airing live, and even she was pro-Zutara and felt the connection, was a bit disappointed when Kataang happened. And honestly I was a hardcore shipper as a feisty 12-14 year old watching, I went on forums and Neopet board and RUclips comments to plead my unhinged takes. I REMEMBER that "Why Zutara will be canon" video series (I think it was like the Encyclopedia of Zutara? something like that) that posted after every episode, before Viacom eventually wiped it out. I screamed when watching the Zutara bait during a recording of the final trailer in ComicCon. But I did expect Kataang to be endgame and while disappointed, I wasn't devastated, I felt maybe a LITTLE crazy but my adoration for the ship didn't go away, but it was tamer....until...the creators made that Book: Air parody video. You know the one. And then suddenly my fire for the ship was re-ignited to Sozin's Comet buffed levels. At that point it was both passion and defiance that carried me through to making more for the ship and STILL to this day pouring my heart out into it.
Honestly, I was just really tired of Aang shoving his face in Katara's (mind, I was in my late twenties/early thirties watching this at the time--there were a lot of us adults watching this; parents watching alongside their kids etc) and I thought Aang was adorable and wanted to have him as my kid.). But, and this is me thinking about him as a young kid who could have been MY kid, and needed some discipline, I was REALLY unhappy with him doing that. EXTREMELY. You do *not* stick your face into the face of someone else uninvited, *especially* when said person is literally telling you how confused they are!
The thing is that letting go of earthly attachments doesn't even have to mean "don't ever experience romantic love" (because former avatars did have partners). It just means the avatar should always put his duty to the world ABOVE said romantic love. The way I interpreted it, was that Aang had to come to terms with himself that if he ever had to choose between Katara and "the world" he's choose the world. Otherwise I can't explain how he managed to "let go of her" at the end of season 2, cause you can't just control not having a crush from a minute to another. But if it was about the conscious acknowledgement that "this crush isn't worth endangering other people" then it still takes work but it's an achievable state of mind. So instead of rock-to-the-back ex machina, the writers could've explored what exactly letting go of Katara means for Aang and how he deals with it. And if at the end of the show they really still wanted to make kataang cannon, then it had to be from an "Aang doesn't care much either way but he might as well" angle. Which would've been unsatisfying and anticlimactic but at least it would make sense on a story-level. Because you can't have Guru Pathik and eat it.
You pretty much mirrored my thoughts exactly with everything you said in this video. Honestly, I can't believe anyone who is opposed to Zutara would still be able to deny that it's not the better ship that makes more sense after watching all 3 videos without lying. You can still like Kataang better, that's fine, but to deny Zutara's validation is either a lie or pure denial. I actually think many Kataangers DO recognize Zutara's legitimacy, but to say it would give the Zutarians argument have power and merit, and from my experience, many Kataangers can't stand the fact that despite their ship being canon, that Zutara is still the more popular ship, which is why they, for lack of a better word, "attack" any who ships Zutara and do their utmost to try and convert them and rain hate on Zutara. It doesn't work though, as Zutara is and always has been the most popular ship of the series (surpassed only BRIEFLY by Kataang when it became canon before reclaiming it's crown and remaining the most popular ever since). And remember, Zutara is up against those who are Kataangers, Maikos, Anti-Zutaraians, and those who don't care about shipping and will just vote Kataang simply because it's canon, and it's STILL the more popular and most popular ship of the series, the face of the fan-preferred couple trope, and, arguably, the most popular ship in western animation. And that's because people recognize it for how great it is and what it should have been.
Let's just be happy the story did not become extra realistic and stayed kid friendly. Here's my fanfic A fanfic avatar TLAB book 4 air For political reasons katara has to be married to ang and zuko has to be married to Mai. But the more they see each other, the more they wonder if there was something happening between them and if they even married to the right person. Slowly but surely both marriages become miserable but zuko and katara realize they're happy together. And then, one day, both decided to be honest with themselves to leave there partners and disappear together. This is the beginning of the story "The Dark Avatar Ang"
For people who want context on the "Credits" bit and missed the drama as it was happening, I basically had a battle with Sony UMG over a period of almost 2 months over my usage of the Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek" song (my Credits section was basically an entire "Whatcha say" meme; you can see how it was meant to look/sound in my original 2 hour long vid - Link here: ruclips.net/video/eRxtWMODfAc/видео.html ) At one point during all this my original video got taken down for a couple of weeks. I went and recorded myself singing a different set of lyrics (to roast SME, fair-use style) so I could re-upload my video while I fought the takedown on my original vid. I managed to get the original vid back up eventually (yay!). But yeah, that's why this credits section has my scratchy voice bashing Sony on top of a bunch of Azula lightning clips - this was the re-upload version. 😂
A huge request for the channel's author: please, make Russian subtitles. I love your content very much, but I cannot understand it entirely, because of my poor knowledge of English. Your content and the way you interpret the romance in the work of De Martino and Konietzko helps me in my own work. Thanks
I'm really sorry, I don't know any Russian and I genuinely wouldn't know where to begin with translating! D: If I get the time, I'll see if I can put proper English subtitles on the vid. I think there's a way you can download the subs as an srt file once it's uploaded. From there, perhaps if you know any good program (or even better, a person) that's able to translate them from English to Russian, you can run them through that translation and have a Russian version. (Google translate is pretty awful for translating; at least, from English to Vietnamese anyway, which is the only other language I'm fluent in 😂). It's a bit of work on your end, but if I have a Russian subtitle file to upload, I'm certainly willing to do that! I just genuinely wouldn't know how to translate it myself (and check for accuracy and such).
@@SneezyReviews Then I propose to do this: I will make an agreement with one community on Zutara, which published your videos for the first time, and as soon as I reach an agreement, I will write to you (if possible, please tell me your contacts to make it faster). We will make the translation and you will use it to create Russian subtitles Thanks in advance
@@mr.dizelpunk I'd be happy to do that! Message me back here if/when you manage to sort things out on your end, I'll figure out the best way for you to send me the necessary files ^^
I have a question: if Zuko and Katara were together, what kind of dynamic do you imagine will there be between Azula and Katara, since they will be sisters in law. That would be interesting to see!
Katara would try to be nice with her of course, but I have two thoughts about Azula, she'd either be "I wish you good luck peasant" or "you two are cute but break his heart and I'll burn you to ashes"
I think I'm still a Katar Aang shipper but I really enjoyed your videos, I think maybe because of my Autism I'm unable to read much beyond the text, so seeing Aang and Katara hugging and kissing are the performative actions of a relationship so my brain is like "yup automatically a couple". I think your videos are really good and make sense but I think I'm still a Katara Aang shipper.
I get that. I mean like I said I don't see Zuko and Katara as a couple at the end of the show either. I just think it would have been narratively satisfying for them to have become one :)
@@SneezyReviews I think its also important to understand how absolutely bad I was at reading in between the lines when it comes to text, in the BaSingSe arc I had no idea people wanted Zuko to turn sides cause I didn't get that it was supposed be a bait and switch for his redemption later on in season 3. When Zuko changed over my little kid brain was like "um ok...coolllll"
Maybe it never went canon because the writers were trying to illustrate that every single day sees soulmates and perfect lovers miss their connection… 🤔
I always thought Katara just chose Aang because she literally had no reason not to. Maybe she would have felt guilty if she didn't. He was nice, did everything for her, they got along nicely and he saved the world so he is "entitled" to his "trophy" at the end. It is like a marriage for superficial reasons ("He is a good guy." "He will try to make you happy")
I think that's a little problematic because it shows to young guys that you are entitled to any girl you want if you just treat her right and earn her respect. (epedemic of the "softboy" wich is almost as toxic as fuckboys)
She wouldn't have chosen Zuko because she felt he hadn't "deserved" her because of his past compared to pure, innocent Aang.
There's also this "nice guy" trope going on which is really unfortunate. It wasn't THAT clear in the show, yet in one video Brykes described the potential situation of Katara choosing someone over Aang ending with this scenario - 'she breaks the heart of a nice guy who really loves her and goes for someone who doesn't care for her' and that it's gonna end badly for everyone.
You know? It happens in media a lot. If the girl doesn't choose the nice guy who's head over heels about her, she's gonna regret it eventually. That's the idea.
"She" here being Bryke, invested as they are in the conventions of a heteronormative love plot - while not following through on the work & development.
i dunno man, if someone asks if i'm a guy's girlfriend and i DON'T secretly have a crush on him, i'm probably not going to blush and shout "i'm NOT his GIRLFRIEND!" (conversely if i was a guy and someone asked me if a girl is my girlfriend and i didn't have feelings for her, i probably wouldn't blush and shout "she is NOT my GIRLFRIEND!") i took that as a pretty explicit display of their (unacknowledged) feelings for each other, and it was certainly more of a reaction than either of the canon ships got.
The main writers for ATLA are saying they shipped Zutara, that's all the confirmation I need that the inferences we see are legit! 😄
Might be the only confirmation you need, but not the only confirmation you’re getting LOL
I have a feeling this comment is going to turn into an essay. (I'm so sorry!) I watched this back when you only had the two-hour version up, but I've been rewatching it and have so many things I want to discuss. The tl;dr version is I agree with basically everything you've said, and it's refreshing to have it all laid out so tidily.
This is going to seem like a tangent, but I promise it ties into Zutara. You briefly mentioned how you didn't mind that Aang spared Ozai. I agree. In fact, Aang sparing Ozai is literally The Whole Point. Not just for Aang's arc, but for Ozai's. Ozai doesn't have an arc in the sense that he learns something and changes, but he still went through the structure of an arc. He just failed it every step of the way.
Ozai's arc is about learning mercy isn't weakness. It's why his inciting incident is the moment a young Zuko speaks out in the war room in favour of mercy. And it's why Ozai must be defeated THROUGH an act of mercy. If Aang had killed him, it would have muddled the themes and entirely botched the lesson of Ozai's arc. In order to pull off this lesson of "mercy isn't weakness" properly, Aang needed to have his access to the avatar state returned for this final fight, because he needed to have the option to /not/ choose mercy but to choose mercy anyway. Otherwise, without both options available, his choice is meaningless, and so is the lesson.
What all this means is that dropping the plotline of Aang needing to let go of his attachment to Katara kind of forced the writers into a corner where they had to use deus ex machina to give Aang the avatar state back so the fight between Ozai and Aang could play out the way they needed.
I think the writers needed to introduce a dilemma for Aang to narratively earn his right to use the avatar state. We don't like characters gaining new powers without earning them. Introducing Katara as "the problem" Aang needed to overcome to master the avatar state was the /perfect/ choice. Making Aang's attachment to her a problem means the thing (person) he wants most stands in the way of 1. his task to defeat the Fire Lord (external conflict), 2. his redemption arc (he's stepping into his responsibilities as avatar--one of which is to master the avatar state--to redeem himself from running away from those responsibilities and allowing the war to happen in the first place), and 3. his cultural identity (he feels a responsibility to follow and pass on the traditions of his culture, and one of the traditions of his culture was giving up earthy desires). Honestly, I don't think they could have picked an internal conflict for Aang that had more potential. It places his feelings for Katara in direct opposition to some of his most deeply-held values. I would have loved to see him trying to reconcile how his feelings for Katara fit or didn't fit with his responsibility as avatar and his responsibility toward his culture. Had the writers accepted the challenge, they could have turned it into an even more fascinating character struggle than Zuko's (potentially).
I also wanted to mention the scene when Aang asks his past lives for advice on how to deal with Ozai. He thinks every last one of them is telling him to kill Ozai, but none of them actually tell him to do that. (I mean, tbh, Kyoshi would likely have zero problems telling him to kill, but that's not actually what she said). Every one of them gives him advice he needs--and advice that ends up being integral to how Aang defeats Ozai. Be decisive. Bring peace through justice. Actively shape the destiny of the world.
But there was one piece of advice that always bothered me, because I could never figure out how it fit in with Aang's defeat of Ozai, and that was Yangchen's advice about the avatar's duties requiring Aang to sacrifice his own spiritual needs. Because...when does he do that? Maybe I'm just missing it, but he didn't seem to sacrifice anything.
However, if the writers had followed through on Aang needing to let go of his attachment to Katara, perhaps if he'd done it to gain the avatar state just before his battle with Ozai, then Yangchen's advice would have made sense. Aang letting go of his attachment would have been a form of spiritual sacrifice.
But ANYway. Basically I'm saying having Zutara happen, or at least exploring the "Katara problem" for Aang rather than dropping that plotline entirely, would have been good for Ozai's arc as well and would have negated the need for deus ex machina. (At least when it came to the avatar state. It doesn't solve the deus ex lion turtle problem.)
The other thing I wanted to bring up was the connection between the episodes "The Crossroads of Destiny" and "The Blue Spirit." Because these two episodes have an almost identical structure.
JustWrite, in his review of "The Last Airbender" film mentioned that the purpose of "The Blue Spirit" episode is to show the viewer how well Zuko and Aang would work as a team if only they were on the same side. The purpose is to make you hope for a day when they can be friends. It's why when Aang asks Zuko at the end of the episode if they could have been friends and Zuko responds by firebending at him, we're sad. We don't want Zuko's downfall anymore. We want them to be friends, because now we know how good they'd be together. We're sad because Zuko isn't ready for that yet.
"The Crossroads of Destiny" is, I feel, Zuko and Katara's "The Blue Spirit" episode. It functions exactly the same way. Show just how well Katara/Zuko could work together if only they were on the same side. Make the viewers hope for the day when they can have that emotional bond for realsies. Have Katara confront Zuko. "I thought you had changed." And have Zuko react poorly, "I /have/ changed," and firebend. Then the viewers are sad because they now know how well the characters could be together, but Zuko isn't ready for that yet. So it seems so odd to me that Zutara was just shipbaiting.
Anyway, I have so much more I want to say, but this comment is already embarrasingly long. So, great video, as always! I definitely won't complain if you want to make more two-hour Avatar analyses. A girl's got to have her deep literary analysis while she does laundry, after all. lol
(Again. So sorry for my long-winded rambling.)
Don't worry, I read it all! I loved hearing your thoughts and I do agree with pretty much all of it. I'm so happy my video inspired such a thoughtful comment from a viewer :)
i disagree that aang's past lives aren't telling him to kill ozai. he is upfront with each of them that everyone else expects him to kill ozai but he doesn't want to. none of them say "you are right, you don't need to/shouldn't kill ozai." roku states that if he had taken sozin out of the picture the first time, the genocide and 100 year war wouldn't have happened. kyoshi all but brags about killing chin the conqueror to protect the earth kingdom. and yangchen tells him "YOUR wants and needs are irrelevant. you may not want to kill but it's not about you, it's about protecting the world." if they were suggesting that he show mercy instead, they would have said as much, especially yangchen who knew that aang was explicitly asking "do i have to kill ozai?" if the answer was no, she would have said "your spiritual values are guiding you to the correct answer" or some crap like that. aang said "my values say it's wrong to kill" and yangchen said "sod your values, you have to do what is best for THE WORLD."
mercy is not weakness, but cop-outs aren't justice. what the world needed more than mercy was justice. even the avatar state itself said as much. "you have committed the ultimate sin, and so you will pay the ultimate price." it's not about teaching ozai a lesson, because as you said, he can't be taught. he won't learn that lesson. "i don't think he's gonna get that message, joe." so in lieu of teaching a lesson that won't be learned, he must see that justice is served. and merely taking away his bending (while still leaving him to function as a figurehead for a fascist insurrection) is not justice.
I saw the original, 2 hour long video, So I’m not going to watch this but I’m clicking on them all and liking them because you deserve more views and likes. 😊❤️
I appreciate it, thank you!!
Same 😌
Totally echo you on zutara getting me interested in critical reading of literature. I dont think ive seen anyone else put that feeling as clearly as you have and im so glad that zutara gave someone else that experience as well! I dont know what it is about zutara that always has you coming back to it but theres something just so fascinating about it i always end up holding other romantic relationships up to it as a standard -- maybe not what was there in canon but the thematic potential it had ❤️🔥🌊
I shipped Zutara since way before it even made sence at all, just because I saw potential in their interactions and how the story will ultimetly grow. The episode that sealed the deal for me with this ship was "The Crossroads of destiny", and at that point I strated debating about it with friends just to be called "crazy". I never explored internet at that time so I never knew about the ship war in that regard. The ship war from my side was my friends (predominatly male), saying "poor Aang" and dismissing my arguments about Zutara as if I was just imagining things, like a crazy person just because I "found Zuko hot".
I think that treatment really made me go through all my emotional investment in the series in silence, and ultimatly, when Zutara didin't happen I felt dissapointed but I just didin't think too much about it, even when something didn't feel right at all. I think that at some point it kind of made me feel like my friends were right and that I was crazy, and just seeing things that were not there. So this essay valiting what I saw at that time is making me very emotional somehow.
I think I needed to mourn that ship, somehow (if that makes sense), and this video helped me with it. Thanks (I'm sorry if it's a little too dramatic but idk, I just feel like this, I can't handle it)
Awww man that genuinely hurts to hear. It's so dismissive when people try to reduce the love of the ship down to shallow factors like appearance, or the "bad boy good girl" trope (which doesn't even represent these two characters anyway). I know what you mean by needing to "mourn" and I'm really glad I could help. Reading your comment was incredibly touching, thank you so much for taking the time and writing it out.
@@SneezyReviews Thanks🥺I really apreciate your video and your words a lot. Hope I can see more of your thoughts in the future too ♥
Love revisiting this video(s) whenever I get my annual Zutara fixation thanks to watching some random YT reactor watching the series for the first time.
Your mom is adorable and SO RIGHT! My mom actually watched the whole series with me, with Season 3 as it was airing live, and even she was pro-Zutara and felt the connection, was a bit disappointed when Kataang happened.
And honestly I was a hardcore shipper as a feisty 12-14 year old watching, I went on forums and Neopet board and RUclips comments to plead my unhinged takes. I REMEMBER that "Why Zutara will be canon" video series (I think it was like the Encyclopedia of Zutara? something like that) that posted after every episode, before Viacom eventually wiped it out. I screamed when watching the Zutara bait during a recording of the final trailer in ComicCon. But I did expect Kataang to be endgame and while disappointed, I wasn't devastated, I felt maybe a LITTLE crazy but my adoration for the ship didn't go away, but it was tamer....until...the creators made that Book: Air parody video. You know the one. And then suddenly my fire for the ship was re-ignited to Sozin's Comet buffed levels. At that point it was both passion and defiance that carried me through to making more for the ship and STILL to this day pouring my heart out into it.
Please make a video about how the bending philosophies play in to Zuko and Katara's struggles! I will watch the heck out of that!
Always interested in more of your Zutara content, I loved all 3 videos, I watched them all while I should've been writing my thesis hehe...
I completely agree with what you said here and see that yeah its kinda sad it didn't happen.
Yes! Add all the stuff you weren't able to get into!
This made me think that maybe in the liveaction we have Zutara canon, I don't have much hope about the quality of that show, but maybe... I don't know
Honestly, I was just really tired of Aang shoving his face in Katara's (mind, I was in my late twenties/early thirties watching this at the time--there were a lot of us adults watching this; parents watching alongside their kids etc) and I thought Aang was adorable and wanted to have him as my kid.). But, and this is me thinking about him as a young kid who could have been MY kid, and needed some discipline, I was REALLY unhappy with him doing that. EXTREMELY. You do *not* stick your face into the face of someone else uninvited, *especially* when said person is literally telling you how confused they are!
You are just everything ❤️❤️❤️✨✨
The thing is that letting go of earthly attachments doesn't even have to mean "don't ever experience romantic love" (because former avatars did have partners). It just means the avatar should always put his duty to the world ABOVE said romantic love. The way I interpreted it, was that Aang had to come to terms with himself that if he ever had to choose between Katara and "the world" he's choose the world. Otherwise I can't explain how he managed to "let go of her" at the end of season 2, cause you can't just control not having a crush from a minute to another. But if it was about the conscious acknowledgement that "this crush isn't worth endangering other people" then it still takes work but it's an achievable state of mind.
So instead of rock-to-the-back ex machina, the writers could've explored what exactly letting go of Katara means for Aang and how he deals with it. And if at the end of the show they really still wanted to make kataang cannon, then it had to be from an "Aang doesn't care much either way but he might as well" angle. Which would've been unsatisfying and anticlimactic but at least it would make sense on a story-level. Because you can't have Guru Pathik and eat it.
You pretty much mirrored my thoughts exactly with everything you said in this video. Honestly, I can't believe anyone who is opposed to Zutara would still be able to deny that it's not the better ship that makes more sense after watching all 3 videos without lying. You can still like Kataang better, that's fine, but to deny Zutara's validation is either a lie or pure denial. I actually think many Kataangers DO recognize Zutara's legitimacy, but to say it would give the Zutarians argument have power and merit, and from my experience, many Kataangers can't stand the fact that despite their ship being canon, that Zutara is still the more popular ship, which is why they, for lack of a better word, "attack" any who ships Zutara and do their utmost to try and convert them and rain hate on Zutara. It doesn't work though, as Zutara is and always has been the most popular ship of the series (surpassed only BRIEFLY by Kataang when it became canon before reclaiming it's crown and remaining the most popular ever since). And remember, Zutara is up against those who are Kataangers, Maikos, Anti-Zutaraians, and those who don't care about shipping and will just vote Kataang simply because it's canon, and it's STILL the more popular and most popular ship of the series, the face of the fan-preferred couple trope, and, arguably, the most popular ship in western animation. And that's because people recognize it for how great it is and what it should have been.
Let's just be happy the story did not become extra realistic and stayed kid friendly. Here's my fanfic
A fanfic avatar TLAB book 4 air
For political reasons katara has to be married to ang and zuko has to be married to Mai. But the more they see each other, the more they wonder if there was something happening between them and if they even married to the right person. Slowly but surely both marriages become miserable but zuko and katara realize they're happy together. And then, one day, both decided to be honest with themselves to leave there partners and disappear together.
This is the beginning of the story "The Dark Avatar Ang"
For people who want context on the "Credits" bit and missed the drama as it was happening, I basically had a battle with Sony UMG over a period of almost 2 months over my usage of the Imogen Heap "Hide and Seek" song (my Credits section was basically an entire "Whatcha say" meme; you can see how it was meant to look/sound in my original 2 hour long vid - Link here: ruclips.net/video/eRxtWMODfAc/видео.html )
At one point during all this my original video got taken down for a couple of weeks. I went and recorded myself singing a different set of lyrics (to roast SME, fair-use style) so I could re-upload my video while I fought the takedown on my original vid. I managed to get the original vid back up eventually (yay!). But yeah, that's why this credits section has my scratchy voice bashing Sony on top of a bunch of Azula lightning clips - this was the re-upload version. 😂
A huge request for the channel's author: please, make Russian subtitles. I love your content very much, but I cannot understand it entirely, because of my poor knowledge of English.
Your content and the way you interpret the romance in the work of De Martino and Konietzko helps me in my own work.
Thanks
I'm really sorry, I don't know any Russian and I genuinely wouldn't know where to begin with translating! D:
If I get the time, I'll see if I can put proper English subtitles on the vid. I think there's a way you can download the subs as an srt file once it's uploaded. From there, perhaps if you know any good program (or even better, a person) that's able to translate them from English to Russian, you can run them through that translation and have a Russian version. (Google translate is pretty awful for translating; at least, from English to Vietnamese anyway, which is the only other language I'm fluent in 😂). It's a bit of work on your end, but if I have a Russian subtitle file to upload, I'm certainly willing to do that! I just genuinely wouldn't know how to translate it myself (and check for accuracy and such).
@@SneezyReviews Then I propose to do this: I will make an agreement with one community on Zutara, which published your videos for the first time, and as soon as I reach an agreement, I will write to you (if possible, please tell me your contacts to make it faster). We will make the translation and you will use it to create Russian subtitles
Thanks in advance
@@mr.dizelpunk I'd be happy to do that! Message me back here if/when you manage to sort things out on your end, I'll figure out the best way for you to send me the necessary files ^^
@@SneezyReviews
thanks, wait
To you think there is a possibility that in the netflix live action we will get zutara?
Much too early to say. Either way, I'm sure they'll shipbait it (again) for all it's worth.
I have a question: if Zuko and Katara were together, what kind of dynamic do you imagine will there be between Azula and Katara, since they will be sisters in law. That would be interesting to see!
Katara would try to be nice with her of course, but I have two thoughts about Azula, she'd either be "I wish you good luck peasant" or "you two are cute but break his heart and I'll burn you to ashes"
I think I'm still a Katar Aang shipper but I really enjoyed your videos, I think maybe because of my Autism I'm unable to read much beyond the text, so seeing Aang and Katara hugging and kissing are the performative actions of a relationship so my brain is like "yup automatically a couple". I think your videos are really good and make sense but I think I'm still a Katara Aang shipper.
I get that. I mean like I said I don't see Zuko and Katara as a couple at the end of the show either. I just think it would have been narratively satisfying for them to have become one :)
@@SneezyReviews I think its also important to understand how absolutely bad I was at reading in between the lines when it comes to text, in the BaSingSe arc I had no idea people wanted Zuko to turn sides cause I didn't get that it was supposed be a bait and switch for his redemption later on in season 3. When Zuko changed over my little kid brain was like "um ok...coolllll"
Maybe it never went canon because the writers were trying to illustrate that every single day sees soulmates and perfect lovers miss their connection… 🤔
Can you make a video about Zuko x Sokka or Sokka x Azula? it’s the same as Zutara but hot spicy
1st comment!!!