Kataang's core of existence makes it impossible to work in ANY universe
So, I wanted to make a post about Kataang since I created this team, but because Im on vacation I didnt have the time, and i have so many things to say that I'll make more posts in the future as well so...lets go.
We all know why Kataang cannot work in terms of maturity, boundaries etc, but we havent thought that EVEN the core of Kataang, the idea behind it makes it impossible for this ship to even exist.
THE BABY SITTING FANTASY
[ "A younger boy has a crush on an older girl who views him like a "babysitter" or a "little brother" ]
Lets all try to digest that.
So, Bryke basically try to normalize to KIDS that watch the show that a child and its babysitter is normal and its okay if you try to kiss her and she kisses you back.
Here is the thing, yes some people say no, thats not true, but the show is for kids. The message is simple. The main character is the viewer ( the kid), the love interest is the baby sitter ( Katara aka the girl the child might like). They try to call this relationship "normal" when in the first place, there shouldnt be ANY RELATIONSHIP to begin with!
No, its not normal for the child and the babysitter to make out. No, its not normal for the party that is responsible for taking care of the other party that needs to be pretected as the imatture and younger one, to be involved in an intimate relationship with it.
No, it wasnt normal for Katara to act like Aang's mother, then pretending to be his mother, and to then make out with him. No, it wasnt normal for Aang to expect for Katara to want to become his girlfriend.
If this was real life, the babysitter would be in big trouble. And this in fact doesnt work in the live action either.
THE LIVE ACTION PROBLEM
When I see two actors, who's one of them is 14 years old and the other is 18, and they are filming "romantic" coded scenes together, I want to vomit. Gordon was 14 when they filmed s2 and s3, and turned 15 when they finished it. Kiawentiio was 18 and then 19. So, this is not a gap of 2 years that still doesnt make sense in the cartoon, in this version, Katara and Aang have a BIGGER age gap, and not only that, but WE CAN ALL TELL.
Kiawentiio in those scenes looked so UNCOFORTABLE that made me even me feel it. I felt so weird when Gordon was directed to look at her like he has a crush on her that I could not even see it more than onces. I had to though, in order to talk about it now and I STILL FEEL THE SAME WEIRD AND UNCOFORTABLE VIBES i felt whe i first saw their " moments".
Yes, Netflix has made a minor and an adult to make out before. In "Never have i ever" the actors were 17 and 27, but here is the thing. Here, Gordon is 14. He is not as mature as a 17 year old. In season 3's filming, he was STILL 14.
People expecting for them to kiss, making videos about them, shipping even the actors etc, are SICK. And the funny thing is, that in the cartoon, they keep shipping them, because they cannot tell that this is how they would look like if they were real ( image above):
THE RACISM THEORY
Aang is a racist. Yes, he is the Avatar and all, he always seems to remember how to bow correctly and act WHENEVER IT IS CONVENIENT for the narrative. BUT! Whe in comes to Katara's nationality, Aang has a problem with it. Why? Because Katara's nationality with Aang's are the opposites of each other. The Southern Water Tribe is a culture that allows marriages. A culture where its people eat meat, use in their everyday life animals' fur, they eat what they can get from narute around them. Aang's nation doest do all those things. Air Nomads people do not allow marriages, the very existence of children is happening because IT MUST HAPPEN. They are all vegeterians, they do not use ( according to the narrative) animals' fur, or eat the same things, which is why Aang seems to be disgusted by Katara's nation habits a lot in the show ( IT HAPPENED MANY TIMES, ONLY WITH HER NATION THOUGH).
And this is why Kataang is worse that you think. This is why Aang's believes about the creation of his people from the start, is crueler than you think. Based on the narrative that Bryke and the other writers wanted to follow in the first series, Aang is not only traumatised from the loss of his people (even if in the atla we only saw him experiencing the grief for a few episodes), and that lead him in LOK, to take the decision and make Katara have 3 children in order to "get out of her" an airbender. But Aang's nation is basically lead him to it. It is his duty as an Air Nomad to do that, to find a woman to give birth to his children and then...not care at all about them. Because thats what the Airnomads USED TO DO. See how worse things get? And it only gets worse.
Since Aang didnt like Katara's culture at all in the atla, not making his kids adapt Katara's culture elements in ANY domain in their life, not allowing ( READ IT AGAIN, NOT ALLOWING), Katara to show her kids ANYTHING about her culture and instead focusing their whole existences and childhood to Aang's culture and identity, teaching them WHY THEY ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO BE AIRNOMADS, introducing them to the believes of the Air Nomads and NEVER to the Southern Water's Tribe's, the nation that is very different from Aang's even in terms of the usual habbits of life, the culture that the husband's believes are contradicted with, is racist.
Bumi denied both nations, we never really see him express anything in the show about those nations, because he was never allowed to be part of the Water Tribe, and because he WAS NEVER part of the Air Nomads. Why? Because he wasn't an airbender. So, Aang was dissapointed with his existece ( according to the narrative) to the point where Bumi literally left home and joined the army. Kya was born but was a waterbender, Aang was dissapointed again, why? Cause she wasnt an airbender. So, what happened? Kya felt that she disappointed daddy again and tried to learn the ONLY thing her mother was allowed to show her. Healing. Why? Because that what Katara was. A healer and not a fighter. Why? Cause she WASNT ALLOWED to be anything else. Her husband made sure of that. Since you know...he was traveling around, on his own to find anything relatble to air nomads, because he CLEARLY didnt care about his kids that didn't belong to HIS NATION, so Katara was left WITHOUT A CHOICE. Taught Kya the only thing she knew. Healing. Because think for a second, that if Katara was anything else than a healer, she would have a statue. She worked a lot on he rown to protect Republic City, in the movie when Aang was not around, and SHE DIDNT EVEN GET A FUCKING STATUE!!! Instead, her husband did. He was praised as the founder of the city. As the one who had the MOST POWER. It wasn't the fire lord, it wasnt the council, it wasnt his wife who protected the city ( accodring to the leaked movie), it was Aang, her husband. The one who wasnt EVEN THERE. Katara wasnt able to actually be the one who made bloodbending forbiddem why? Because if that was the case, she would have a political power, to have a political power, it means she would have a statue, she doesnt have a statue, so she didnt have ANY political power, so who had the biggest power in the city so he would be able to create laws? Her HUSBAND!
So, Katara was only allowed to basically be exactly the other thing she knew. A healer. A healer who was living in the South Pole, with her children, on their own and wasnt even allowed to show them anything from the Water Tribe Culture. Why? Because, if she "was allowed", if she "wanted to"., then the kids would show in lok, that they had love the Water Tribe. The only thing they talked about? AANG'S CULTURE! THE AIR NOMADS! Kya wasn't even living in the South Pole, she went there when Aang died, because Katara was alone. She didnt even want to go there. Why? Cause obviously there was a HUGE GAP between her and that culture, her mother, eveyrthing, and that BECAUSE OF AANG.
What happened next? Aang wanted more kids. So, Katara HAD to stay pregnant again, in order for Aang to get the kid he dreamed of. When that happened, Aang kept NOT GIVING A FUCK about his other kids, and made sure to put the responsabilities of a WHOLE NATION to his younger child, that clearly didnt have ANY CHOICE either, since Aang decided his whole future and life to the point where even Tenzin, WAS TRYING TO MAKE HIS WIFE GIVE BIRTH TO AIRBENDERS over and over again.
The next time you will think that Aang wanted to create his nation from the start BECAUSE of his grief ( the grief that wasnt even so much at the center of the show, in contrast with his crush to his babysitter, since you know, Aang didnt really have a problem letting go his people but he did have a problem on letting go the girl he liked, to open up his last chakra and save the world), lets remember a little how the Air Nomads used to live back then, based always on the atla series.
They didnt give a shit about parenting.
They only cared about giving birth to airnomads because that was the only reason for their nation to exist.
And you will tell me, that is insane and i will ask you.
If my claim is insane, then....WHERE THE HELL ARE AANG'S PARENTS?
Aang in legend of korra is not a bad father just because. But because his nation's believes makes him a racist. His children are not "pure air nation people". And that, because ALL THE AIR NOMADS are air benders. So, whoever is not an airbender or a bender, does not belong to the Air Nation. And that is canon, because the Air Nation Nomads, is the ONLY nation where ALL the people that belong in it, CAN BEND.
Do you see now why Aang is racist? Aang never saw ( according to the story so far) any Air Nation people that couldnt bend air. So, he ultimatly never thought of Bumi or Kya as Air Nation people. HECK, AANG IN THE COMICS WASNT A SUPPORTER OF MIXING CULTURES!! AND YET HE WAS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A WOMAN FROM A DIFFERENT NATION!!!
Kya and Bymi were already Air Nation people. They had their parent's blood inside them, like we today have our parents's. It was Aang who didn't count them as air Nation people. Why? Because the Air Nomads believed that whoever BENDS THE AIR IS AN AIRNOMAD. And that continued to be the belief of this nation even in lok. Instead of Bryke writing a new belief, a new basic belief of the Air Nomads, connected to the philosophy of the soul, to show the developpent of the Nation, the new birth of the Air Nation, they kept it the same.
Superficial and Racist.
Bumi WAS an Air Nomad.
Kya WAS an Air Nomad.
The Air Nomads, NEVER stopped existing. The monks existed. The philosophy, the viganism, the old beliefs, kept existing EVEN in LOK. Tenzing and his family LITERALLY went for vacation in a monastery at some point in lok. But Tenzin and his family in general, kept the old believes, Aang's believes that were...182 years old, and acted based on them.
This is why Aang is a racist.
This is why Aang wanted an air bender and rejected ANYTHING that wasn't following his nation's beliefs. . His non air benders kids, and his wife's culture.
As the viewer i feel very uncorfotable watching them having anything else than friendship in both seasons or anywhere. Kataang was never meant to work because the basic core behind this ship's existence is inappropriate. From now on, I will reject ( as an VERY OLD ex kataanger and Zutara shipper) all their scenes that the narrative wants to advertize as "romantic" because in any universe, kataang is INAPPROPRIATE AND AWFUL.
A kid cannot be in a relationship with his babysitter.
A kid cannot be in a relationship with his mother.
A kid cannot force himself upon a girl JUST BECAUSE HE WANTS TO.
I will not support ANY ship where the one party, is CLEARLY racist towards the other party.
Think of it with a today's example. Put a Greek and an African together, think of the basic beliefs those nations have and make the parent think of any of those kids as non Greeks or non Africans.
Or even take an example from fiction for all I care. Try to see Aang as the poor boy who lost his people and not a racist dude that wants "pure bloods". Cause bro is basically acting like Lucious Malfoy, you know, the bad father that forced his kid to be the best from his people and judged someone's worth based on the basic genetic traits of the magicians?
Which is EXACTLY what Aang is doing with his kids.
It wasn't Aang's kids that needed to change. It was Aang's beliefs.
Because they were clearly RACIST.
Try to unsee it now. I dare you.
So, yes. We all know the basic ideas of why Kataang doesnt work. But have you ever thought of those reasons? What is your opinion? Let me know.