"Then you didn't love her the way I did" - In Katara's defense
I grew up watching Avatar the Last Airbender and loving the show. And I remember this scene sticking out to me vividly. Sokka's hurt reply to Katara's out lash when he tried to stop her from seeking revenge on the man who killed their mother. "Then you didn't love her the way I did." Katara said.
As a seasoned fan, yes, I find myself watching reactions from my friends and also on YouTube. Whenever this scene comes up the most common response is that Katara is out of line. In addition to that, everything else that she does in the episode is seen as her going too far. Namely the blood bending and her anger and distrust towards Zuko.
I want to only focus on the statement she made here. I believe that Katara is justified in telling Sokka that he didn't love their mother the same way as she did. Based on the following three points.
1. Culture
The amazing world building of Avatar the Last Airbender clearly encapsulates a non-western world. The positioning of man and woman within the water tribe is noteworthy for this argument. In the first season we learn about customs of the Southern and northern water tribe. We learn in the first episode that the water tribe recruits men to defend the front. Yes, Sokka's attempt to recruit kindergartners can't be taken that seriously, but there are no other girls included in his attempt.
Further, master Paku made it clear that in the Northern water tribe woman should heal and nurture, rather than fight and be equally treated as men.
What this does, is creating a barrier in the relationship of parents and their children of a different gender. I can personally attest that in a non western culture that it is very common for mothers and their daughters to hav
... keep reading on reddit ➡When Katara and Pakku fight after he refuses to teach her, Katara does not have a “girl power” moment where she beats his ass to teach the audience that sexism is wrong. He was established as a master beforehand and it shows in the fight. She is resoundingly beaten, even if she impresses him with her skill, and he doesn’t magically drop his opinions just because she isn’t weak and helpless. After the fight, when Pakku finds Katara’s necklace, we are shown the actual cost of his beliefs on his life. He lost the woman of his dreams because of his beliefs and that reflection results in his attitudes changing.
To me, this is a much better lesson in sexist attitudes than the comical beatdown that most shows trying to touch on sexism portray. The man isn’t incompetent just because he’s sexist and the woman isn’t overpowered just because she calls him out for it. Both are shown to have conviction, and Pakku’s lesson is something he learned from reflection.
First off, she is the only member of Team Avatar to directly threaten to kill someone (Zuko). And there was a post here recently about her fight with Paku which made me realize, she’s also the only one to fight with murderous intent.
Not to mention, she bloodbent someone who wasn’t a real threat to her solely because she was angry and it was the easiest course of action (the Fire Nation officer on the ship).
Not to mention, it was her getting angry that led to Aang’s glacier cracking and rather than getting scared or freaked out, she rushed in to get him out of the iceberg. I mean that could be chalked up to her being nice and helpful but I know I’d just try to forget I ever saw or did that. Also, she just stole from pirates like it was nothing.
Sure, she let the guy who killed her mom go, but arguably he was worse off alive at that point than dead. Also, she’s the only one who’s never scared of Avatar state Aang. She’s very motherly so it’s easy to underestimate how metal she is but she’s right proper badass. Talk about queen shit.
Is the reason in which Katara was so level-headed during episodes such as The Desert... because she was like, "I don't see no kids, grandkids, or great grandkids yet, so I'm good?" She just had an invisible layer of plot armor, the entire series?
