thread on why i called out the subtle racism and sexism in hating on korra and katara sm. if youre gonna get pressed in my replies its an immediate block so if u wanna discuss this dont insult me or the characters or say it’s ‘just a show’.
tw// trauma breakdown

DISCLAIMER its fine to not like these characters. i’m calling out the biases in *why* it’s so popular to hate them so strongly compared to other characters.

read the full thread before replying.

let’s start with katara. she’s deemed ‘annoying’ and ‘uptight. the reasons why are that she mentions her mother so much and that she tries to smother the gaang.

first of all, we can clearly see a thread between the both of these problems, it’s in her issues with her mom.

this all stems from losing her mother at a young age, in which she soon became sokka’s (her OLDER brother) mother figure. she cooked and cleaned his stuff and he himself even stated that when he pictured his mom, he didn’t even see her. he saw katara.

from this we can take that

katara’s coping mechanism with the guilt of not being fast enough to save her mom (bc we all know thats why she was going for her dad) was to replace her. make sure it didnt cause problems for those around her (sokka, mostly, seeing as she knew firsthand what he lost).

so clearly she couldn’t complain, she was too busy making sure everything was still ok. she had explosive moments for sure but she was still repressing that trauma so she could still be ‘functional’. then, when aang comes along she suddenly has to go on a physically, emotionally-

and mentally exhausting trip with three other kids (one of which is sokka) and she’s used to being the mother to those near her age seeing as she was one of the oldest water tribe kids. it’s a comfort place for her. she knows how it feels and knows what to do. except these are

different ppl with different pasts than her own and sokka’s so it’s harder to figure out. and so that explains her being so sensitive/‘annoying’. it’s a result of repressing her emotions and somewhat unhealthy coping mechanisms. she tried to relate to other’s pain with her own-

and for her that’s the worst thing she could go through.

AND BEFORE YOU MENTION IT- ‘you didnt love her like i did’ let’s get to that part. the southern raiders gives us more bg on her resentment and her mother’s d*ath. so;

whilst it is harsh and insensitive to say that to her brother, it isn’t exactly false bc of what we stated before. of COURSE sokka loved his mother, there’s no doubt. but he didnt really lose his mother. he lost his mom but he still had someone to take care of him.

again, referencing to when he said that when he pictures his mom he sees katara’s face. he didnt lose that mother figure which immediately makes sokka and katara’s feelings completely different- although both are valid. sokka lost someone he loved whilst katara lost her childhood

now let’s compare how the fandom deals with and reacts to her trauma to other’s trauma. i’d say zuko is the best example seeing as aang’s just gets ignored. zuko’s trauma is very different to katara and in NO way do i mean to compare their traumas seeing as thats just insensitive

i’m simply comparing the fandom’s treatment to them. for zuko, something repeptitive would be his honor. zuko feels he lost his honor when he was banished and his whole character arc is about how he needs to redeem himself. every decision he makes is to regain his honor.

it’s a common theme and mentioned way more than katara’s mom. so why is it that his is a joke and everyone laughs whilst katara’s own trauma is a flaw and a reason to hate her so aggressively? i’m genuinely asking because i have no clue. i’ll leave that open to discussion.

now, korra. korra’s ‘flaws’ are how impulsive, temperamental and ‘overpowered’ she can be. first of all, the first two character traits are just negative ways to say that she’s bold and in touch with her emotions. just with that there’s a whole spin on these reasons to hate her

but let’s adress what happens with these personality traits. we all know korra had a great character arc. throughout the whole series she learned to take more time on her decisions and be less brass, try and be more tactful and ‘peace-keeping’. it’s so stark to aang’s own-

journey of being too optimistic and his last, small, arc of deciding what to do with ozai. which is immediately reflected on her powers and her struggle with air- but i’ll get to that in a bit. this sort of lack of compassion for others, so to say, comes from her childhood-

seeing as she grew up majorly isolated, her central point being that she’s the avatar. supposedly avatars dont find out about that until they’re approx. 16 but since she was a toddler she already was using three elements which is insane. so, she gets taken away and seperated-

from the rest of her peers. she’s in a more isolated part of the tribe and although she does participate in the water tribe activities it’s clear that she was held back from interacting from people closer to her age which stunted her emotional growth which comes off later on.

so, we have a reason as to why she’s like that and it’s clear that from interacting sm with other people she grows as a person and a character and becomes more understanding. now let’s compare on how it’s still bad according to the fandom with male characters.

whilst aang is the other avatar i feel like this comparison could really apply to any confident guy. because they are confident whilst korra is arrogant. because they’re assertive whilst korra is stubborn. because they’re consistent whilst korra is annoying.

now, ‘korra’s op’ first of all she’s the avatar so? but still, i digress. ‘She didnt have to work to learn airbending’ she actually did. she struggled a lot and due to who she is it’s very likely she was trying to figure out how to airbend since she was in the water tribe.

so she was determined to learn it but couldnt, then all of a sudden can airbend bc amon bloodbended her. i think she could airbend suddenly because a waterbender tried to take away the AVATAR’s powers and its obvious he’d never tried anything to that magnitude

but it’s not specified so who knows. but still, we clearly saw her struggle and trying beforehand so it wasnt just handed to her. lets compare this ‘sudden’ learning of a new element to aang who just. was suddenly amazing at waterbending? korra had a reason but aang...doesnt

he just suddenly knew how to do what katara had been figuring out for years. but korra’s the one who’s overpowered whilst aang is ‘so cool’ and ‘so strong’.

thats all i remember atm but if there’s more stuff to address i’ll add onto this thread later.

why i made this thread: https://twitter.com/wlwjackie/status/1284600152737542144?s=21 https://twitter.com/wlwjackie/status/1284600152737542144

tl;dr: basically im saying we’re used to holding brown women to a higher standard than other characters and i’m calling it out and asking if that’s the reason why katara and korra are such unpopular characters. i’m not saying yall are going ‘brown women go durr bad’