Anti Anti Kataang - Tumblr Posts

1 month ago

The continued motherification of Katara is tiring and needs to stop.

One of the first interactions between Aang and Katara is him taking her Penguin sledding and she says "I haven't done this since I was a kid!" and he yells back "You still are one!" and that will forever be one of the greatest moments in the show for me.

The show says time and time again that Katara does not like being perceived as a mother figure but that is the way she knows to show her care due to the role she was forced into at a young age.

The biggest point of contention between her and Toph is that Katara cares by mothering and Toph doesn't want a mother and they have to reach an understanding with each other on how to love the other properly. It wasn't just about toph learning to accept Katara's mothering but also Katara moving away from her equation of mothering = love, finding new ways to express that love and care. And their relationship is better for it.

Katara's mothering while not inherently bad or something I think she can ever really separate herself from, is not just a quirk of her character but an internalization of a deep trauma and duty. She's a kid in a tough situation that cares deeply for everyone around her but she’s still a kid. She still wants to be a kid.


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