Sometimes People Aren't Being Malicious When They Want To Know What They Did Wrong - Tumblr Posts
Vague language and redemptions
An important thing about ATLA's treatment of Zuko that I think people miss is the way its characters talk about his past wrongdoings.
“I can understand why you wouldn't trust me. And I know I've made some mistakes in the past—”
“Like when you attacked our village?”
“Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?”
“Look, I admit I've done some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and I'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should've sent that Fire Nation assassin after you.”
“You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates.”
“Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island.”
“Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple.”
“Actually, we met a long time ago.”
“We did?”
“Yeah. You… kinda burned down my village.”
“This isn't fair. Everyone else seems to trust me now. What is it with you?”
“Oh, everyone trusts you now? I was the first person to trust you, remember? Back in Ba Sing Se. And you turned around and betrayed me! Betrayed all of us!”
Basically, they bring up specific events instead of limiting themselves to blanket statements that can mean anything from “was kinda rude” to “commited mass murder”. In fact, it almost seems deliberate — when Zuko tries for a vague “mistakes were made”, the others make sure to name exactly what mistakes.
Now let's take a look at the way SPoP talks about Catra:
“Look, I know this is gonna sound crazy and dangerous, and I know Catra was our enemy and she's done a lot of bad things and hurt a lot of people but—”
What bad things? What people? How did she hurt them?
This is precisely what I meant by “blanket statements”. The closest we get to a proper acknowledgement is Adora and Bow off-handedly mentioning that Catra tried to kill them before, but trying to kill the heroes is still very basic villain stuff. Even Scorpia and Entrapta did it (for Entrapta it was her bots, but she knew how they were being used) and they're nowhere near Catra's level.
The narrative never directly addresses things like:
Catra stabbing Entrapta in the back and sending her to die (vaguely alluded to but not outright said, stops being an issue altogether after a generic apology that could apply to anything)
Catra opening a Portal and indirectly killing Angella (Glimmer, whose entire character arc in Season 4 is driven by her mother's death, never bothers to broach the topic despite having literally nothing to do other than converse with Catra. nor does Angella's husband, sister-in-law…)
Catra brainwashing Adora into trying to murder her friends (which has not one, not two, but three different parallels, one of which takes place in Season 5, making it a perfect opportunity to touch upon this)
Catra torturing Adora with electricity (this is quite literally the last time they saw each other before the events of this season, and it somehow doesn't affect their interactions at all)
This is one of the biggest reasons why her redemption arc doesn't work. If even the writers aren't brave enough to fully embrace the things they made her do, how can Catra herself own up to them? How can she face the consequences of her actions if the universe is so insistent on pretending those actions never happened?