Neat Critique. I Never Knew Peeps Had Issues With The Runaway Like That Along With Sokka's "when I Think

Neat critique. I never knew peeps had issues with the runaway like that along with Sokka's "when I think of mom...I see Katara's face". I didn't think much of it besides sokka trying to patch a hole between the two.

Also find it a weird coincidence that of the Gaang that's a cynic, it's the nonbender. I doubt a deeper statement goes into it but it's kinda funny to see

notes on “the runaway”

the more i see people discuss how strangely sokka’s character is portrayed in “the runaway” the more i cannot help but feel that all my ad hoc rationalizations and justifications as to why he would contradict himself so greatly might actually be meaningless. why would he allow the gaang to endanger themselves for foolish reasons when he is the overly paranoid voice of caution in literally every other episode? why would he be so easily swayed by toph’s manipulative promise of buying him a fancy atlas when he’s literally holding her wanted poster? and most crucially, why would he say that he sees katara as his mother when no other episode in the show indicates that this is remotely the case?

this episode is great for katara and toph, whose hangups are compellingly explored here. i won’t get into the common misconceptions about katara being “motherly” or why they’re even at loggerheads to begin with, as i’ve discussed this at length in the past, but it’s actually undeniable that the assumption that katara is the de facto “mom friend” stems primarily from this episode, where toph all but outright accuses her of fancying herself their collective mother. however, katara becoming “the mother” of the group is very much a post-toph shift in her character, and you see her femininity being accentuated in contrast with toph’s deliberate lack of femininity also being linked to this sort of maternal role that she occasionally adopts, especially around toph. but i don’t actually think the issue is one of katara being a smothering, maternal figure towards toph, but rather a miscommunication regarding power, gender, class, and community vs independence. when katara and toph fight, it is for far more complex and nuanced reasons than the notion that katara is simply too overbearing. if anything, it’s the way in which she is overbearing that irks toph, just as toph’s rudeness is not the central issue, but rather that toph’s values (those of total independence and freedom) are misinterpreted as malice by katara (who values community and collaboration), and vice versa.

something very crucial to understand about this episode is that katara is not actually mad that toph endangered their group by pulling fun scams. katara has endangered their group countless times in the past to satisfy her own impulsive desires (and yes, she wants justice, but toph similarly rationalizes her scams through the lens of achieving moral vindication). katara would be all over toph’s scammery, would come up with scams of her own, would be having more fun than anyone—had she been included from the start. which is exactly the point. it is her exclusion that foments her critique, not the subject of their act itself (and the reason that you could not replace katara with sokka in this scenario is simply because toph would never exclude sokka in the first place). but katara would never admit that she is hurt by toph’s exclusion aloud, because katara is an extremely proud person. and a prideful, wounded fourteen year old is not going to thoughtfully use “i statements” as if in a group therapy session with the equally prideful twelve year old who deliberately excluded her; no, she is going to lash out. (lest we forget that in their first real episode establishing their group dynamic, katara literally mocks toph’s blindness. hardly an okay thing to do, in my opinion!) their conflict stems from their differences, but also from their similarities. they are both proud, angry, powerful, stubborn, and must assert their dominance at all times. it’s clear they both want to be friends with each other, and at times they are, but it is really only in this episode where they are able to cross a threshold that allows them to be truly honest about more meaningful insecurities than simply their looks (although i do of course find their exchange in “tales” beautiful as well). and you know who is instrumental (albeit reluctant to interfere) in facilitating that growth? sokka.

i’ve gone more in depth in the past analyzing why sokka’s speech in this episode regarding his mother and katara isn’t exactly as it sounds. i personally interpret his admission, that katara has always been there for him and that her face is all he sees when he tries to picture his mother, as an illustration of his codependent attachment to her, as she is the very locus of his identity. this interpretation is compounded by the fact that when kya’s face is finally revealed later in the season, she does bear an uncanny resemblance to sokka, which to me signifies the way in which sokka sublimates his own face for katara’s—which is also deeply unhealthy, but in a different way than an older brother parentifying his younger sister would be.

the fact is that there is simply no indication throughout the entire show (including this episode) that sokka views or treats katara as a parent. there are of course moments wherein she supports him emotionally or materially, but most of the time she is in fact teasing, tormenting, undermining, yelling at, or otherwise making life harder for him, at which point he is far more likely to act as her guardian figure and admonish her while simultaneously helping her get out of whatever mess she’s caused. and considering that sokka’s defining moment is when hakoda stakes his identity to protecting his (ontologically special) sister (which, as we know, as the bearer of kya’s face, in fact means dying for her), this dynamic makes far more sense than the other way around. i know that people commonly portray katara as the voice of reason who cleans up sokka’s messes, but besides a couple examples, it’s consistently the other way around. yes, it’s very easy to assume that sokka’s speech indicates that he sees katara as his replacement mother, but we cannot take this speech at face value if we are also to take the rest of the text into account, which we must.

but then there’s also the other glaring question that must be taken into account: why would sokka even allow all this? considering the first thing toph bartered was the sword he has painstakingly crafted just an episode prior, why didn’t sokka just pull the plug then and there? it really doesn’t make sense that sokka wouldn’t take katara’s side just for practical, logistical reasons. even if she doesn’t really care about the own point she’s making (as demonstrated by the fact that the scam she devises literally lands her in jail), sokka would see the logic in it. but... he does. he is the one to first discover the wanted poster, and he immediately points out to toph that their scams are drawing undue attention to her, and that they should put an end to it now that's it's putting them at risk. and yet, toph successfully bribes him, and so he continues to participate. why? what about the prospect of having money is so appealing to sokka that he’s willing to risk his precious rationality and caution for the potential of acquiring more of it? well, it’s actually quite simple.

toph is scamming for the thrill of the game. she loves proving the kind of men who undermined and demeaned her all her life wrong. she loves humiliating the people of the world who had once humiliated her. she’s not someone who values earthly possessions or really even understands that money is a finite resource. to her, these scams are a matter of ego. aang is also scamming for the thrill of the game. he loves a prank, a bit of mischief, getting into some tomfoolery. he loves spending time pulling hijinks with his friends. it’s funny, it’s fun, and it’s lucrative on top of that. but it’s clear that he views it as a game. now, sokka similarly enjoys pulling these scams. he adores toph and clearly finds it nearly as satisfying as she does to watch her destroy the egos of men thrice her size. but even more potent than his adoration for toph, is his appreciation for money.

when katara put them all in danger countless times in the past, it may have been to enact righteous justice, but it was never materially beneficial to sokka. sokka is a very practical person, and growing up in a state of colonial abjection taking on the role of provider for a couple dozen people mostly comprised of elderly women and small children makes you appreciate the value of goods and resources in a way that an aristocrat and a monk do not. you may be asking, "are you really arguing that sokka would undermine his own values and endanger himself and his friends so readily for the prospect of financial security?" to which i would argue that you underestimate how truly cynical sokka is. of course he loves money and food he doesn’t have to catch or forage – see: his appreciation for the immediate luxury of ba sing se that everyone else finds so stifling. he is not spiritual; he is attached to earthly possessions and the immediate physical needs of those around him. so of course he loves a material object. in his own words: “i do believe in the power of stuff.” because even when sokka is supposedly being uncharacteristically foolish or naive, he is in fact nonetheless promoting the cynic’s agenda every step of the way.

“the runaway” is a good episode, perhaps even a great one. however, it has also lent to some of the fundamental misinterpretations i see of katara, sokka, and toph that are constantly thrown around (including the occasional citing of this episode to justify that aang apparently “sees katara as his mother”). so in some ways, i do resent this episode for begetting those strange and incorrect takes, even if i think that in a vacuum, it is well-executed. it is an episode that complicates our characters, adds nuances and shades of grey to their pre-established characterizations, but does not actually rewrite them. sure, if this was the only episode of the show i had ever seen, i too might assume that katara was the maternal and responsible figure of the group, toph was a careless and rude little bitch, and aang and sokka were idiots who relied solely on katara’s infinite well of long-suffering guidance. but even within this episode, that is clearly not established to be the case, and if that notion is not sufficiently undermined by the episode’s conclusion, it is quite clearly by the episodes bracketing it, which provide crucial context through which to inform our understandings of the choices made in this episode, and why they are indeed interesting, but nonetheless do not reflect the characterizations established in the series as a whole.

Blue Claw (on youtube) dropped the hardest Kataang edit ever

To the dum and war hungry:

Ceasefire Good. Genocide Bad.

My new "favorite" kind of post: dumbass berating people for not being neutral on the Israel and Palestine thing. Like, my guy:

1 - One side is literally commiting genocide against the other. Hamas being terrible doesn't excuse Israel attacking civilians, kicking them out of their homes, kidnapign them, bombing hospitals, making human zoos, and then saying they'll not stop until all palestinians are dead.

2 - Literally EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE POSTS also get mad at people for wanting a complete ceasefire - not even wanting to free Palestine, just "stop murdering children and violating every human right imaginable". If you can only accept unconditional support of all of Israel's bullshit, you're not "neutral", you're just using "we should all be neutral" as an excuse to bully people into shutting up because there's no argument in the whole world that justifies what the side you're supporting is doing.

i just never understand why peeps are defending companies.

Tale as Old as Time…

Bryke: Netflix created a hostile work environment so we left. What they’re making isn’t ATLA.

Ehasz: I reached out to Netflix to help with writing but they ghosted me and didn’t invite me to the premiere despite Kim’s best efforts. Every Recognized Cherokee Nation: Netflix disrespected our sovereignty by casting a registered member of a “pretendian” scam tribe which lets you pay to pretend you’re Cherokee regardless of whether you are or not, to facilitate the stealing of resources set aside to help disadvantaged indigenous people. Netflix responded by launching an aggressive propaganda campaign to misrepresent our objections as “just some Twitter user with no proof”. NATLA Apologists: Season 1 was really good! You guys just wanted a 1:1 remake! They did the best they could! Some things about NATLA are better than the original, even! Fans are just whining! Bryke only left to make Avatar Studios - ignore their angry parting statements about Netflix stifling creativity! Ousley is LITERALLY Sokka-coded and anyone who shares the Cherokee Nations’ objections are haters! Ignore that they brown-faced him with darker makeup! The only problem was too few episodes! The next two seasons will be even better and then haters will eat their words! I believe in Kim’s vision!

Albert Kim: I did what I was hired to do. I’m moving on and have no desire to show run two more seasons of this.

Netflix:

We told you.

Corporate cash-grab.

You’ll get the show you asked for.

I blame Mattel.

Zuko would make a terrible puppet Firelord

I have seen the idea thrown around that Azula must have intended to use Zuko as her puppet Firelord and that must be the only reason that she brought him home. On the other hand, we have people talking about Zuko potentially being a White Lotus puppet. Yet it’s pretty clear that Zuko would not be a great choice as a puppet Firelord.

Zuko is impulsive, stubborn, opinionated, and arrogant. Once he settles on a course of action, he will let nothing discourage him from it, whether it be the weight of circumstances or the advice of others wiser than him.  He often  disregards the opinions of even those he acknowledges to have great wisdom.  Throughout the series Iroh struggles, with little success, to make Zuko listen to him, and at least once Azula shows great frustration about how impossible it can be to make Zuko listen to reason. He’s no King Kuei, and a “puppet-manipulator” would struggle both getting Zuko to follow their “guidance” in the first place and in preventing him from spontanously flying off the handle and impulsively changing policy. And of course, Zuko is not the sort of person to accept playing second-fiddle when he’s the official Firelord.

Meanwhile, for Azula in specific, trying to use Zuko as a puppet would have obvious drawbacks. First, he strongly dislikes her, and legally and symbolically empowering people who strongly dislike you is generally not considered to be a good move when you are trying to perputuate your own power. Second, figureheads and pupper rulers are normally used because they have some form of legitimacy that the “real” ruler lacks and cannot easily acquire. Yet Azula has an extremely strong claim to the throne in her own right, and, due to her embodiement of many Fire Nation values, she’s also more popular with the court and the public than Zuko is. Zuko literally complains about how “ everyone adores her,” after all. Azula has little to gain from trying to use Zuko as a puppet.

With all of that said, I think it’s possible to imagine a circumstance where Zuko finds ruling to be tedious and boring, and thus leaves most of the work and responsibility of ruling to others. However, that’s very different from situations where where people imagine someone trying to intentionally use Zuko as a figurehead.

Domino's luck powers save her everytime, allowing her to come back with as many puns as she wants. Truly the most dangerous mutant.

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