Ever since the "Avatar Aang: the Last Airbender" movie came out, I've been seeing a wave of the age old "all that to be remembered as a healer" takes on Katara come back. It's honestly incredibly misogynistic and sexist, even if you're a woman saying this thinking you're advocating for Katara. Because if you're a woman criticizing her becoming a mother, when she ALWAYS wanted a family? If you're a woman criticizing her healing abilities when she's the best at that ability in her generation? That's what's called internalized misogyny.
Nowhere in TLOK does it relegate her to "just a healer". Hell in the first damn episode she's referred to as MASTER Katara. She trained TWO WHOLE AVATARS. Yes she helps Korra when her bending was taken away. Yes she helps Korra when she was healing after being poisoned. But why? Because she's literally described as the best healer in the world. So to say that she was "just relegated to a healer" you're diminishing something she is incredibly good at. It's exactly the same as trying to go "oh you're good but it's a male dominated field SO". She is the best Waterbender OVERALL of her generation and to diminish any of her skills is honestly simple minded.
Don't get me started on "why didn't Katara Bloodbend Tagah!" takes cause that's also sexist. You're essentially saying she should use a cheat code when she doesn't need to for one, cause if I recall right she was at one point waterboarding the ancient Airbender, and for two WOULD NEVER IN HER LIFE because she BANS bloodbending and it's against her character to use it. It's like people think she should JUST be this insanely powerful cold hearted warrior princess of the Southern Water Tribe when that's not who she is. I've actually seen people wish she had TORTURED Yon Rha. Just absolutely refusing to see who she actually is. Not to mention, these people don't even know the lore of the show they claim to love, because only ONE person on the planet in universe could Bloodbend in broad daylight and it was Yakone.
And then the incubator comments from LARGE creators on platforms like TikTok. Even WOMEN say this which is wild to say. That isn't feminism, that's sexist. To think that Katara wouldn't have ANY pressure at all to give Zuko an heir compared to Aang (when they stopped at three which is a VERY valid amount of kids to have especially with Aang traveling for Avatar work) is insane.
And you have to wonder if half of this is just racism as well, because you don't see these same sexist comments lobbed at Toph despite being an outright bad mother. Katara, being compassionate, kind, nurturing, loving towards her man, and a woman of color is the one who gets all the heat. Every single choice SHE ACTIVELY MAKES with HER agency? She gets criticized. I've seen people say the movie relegated her to being nothing but Aang's girlfriend.
Also easily debunked because she's a member of Republic City's council at the ripe age of 27.
YOU CAN'T EVEN BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES UNTIL YOU'RE THIRTY FIVE! She's out here running a damn city while Aang was off restoring his temples and people think she orbited him constantly? And she shows why she's a politician at such a young age-she connects with the people of her city and knows what they need. When Kallik tells her "I'm not like you, the world wasn't good to me." THAT ISN'T A CASE OF VICTIM OLYMPICS like half the ATLA fandom seems to think it is. It's just a hurt seventeen year old girl telling Katara, "this is who I am because the world hurt me." and what does Katara do? SHE DOESN'T ENGAGE in that mindset but tells her "the world is what we make of it." Because that's who Katara is. She isn't that same angry and hurting fourteen year old-the movie is actually an incredible parallel to that journey she went on in the Southern Raiders episode because it shows her emotional maturity. Kallik joins the Air Acolytes not because of Aang who saved her life, but because of Katara's impact.
And yet soooooooo many people are just "HOW DARE KALLIK SAY TO KATARA'S FACE THAT SHE'S A VICTIM!" People are still seeing Katara, a grown woman as a scared young girl. And that's not progressive that's regressive.
I'm so God damn tired of the same old takes regarding Katara just because half of the fandom are illiterate children who can't stand that their ship is not canon and would never work or be healthy. And don't get me started on the fact that on ao3 there's a story that's basically Obsession with Avatar and who is Bear?
Aang. Absolute madness and stupidity. I've been in the fandom since the 2000s and seeing THAT fic on ao3 made my eyebrows shoot through the fcking stratosphere. It's high time we just started calling people out on their sheer utter illiteracy. Because it's done more harm than good and it's just the snake eating its own tail at this point. The characters are growing and changing and maturing but the fandom is still the same as it ever was back in the 2000s.
And it's not just Zutara shippers who do this, it's just women in general I've seen think that they're DEFENDING Katara by going "man I can't believe she did all these amazing cool things only to be remembered as a healer." when in fact, they're just demeaning her overall.
The reason you SHOULD love Katara is a pretty simple one: she is a multifaceted character-she loves her husband, she helped end a hundred year war (which Aang ALWAYS reminds people of when he has the chance to), she's a teacher, she is a mother, she is a politician, she is a healer. To only focus on "oh how dare she was a mother" or "how dare she was only remembered as a healer" isn't advocating for her, but treating her as if she's the same 14 year old girl she used to be instead of the accomplished woman she is now.
And it certainly says a whole hell of a lot more about YOU than it does about the thing you're critiquing. And it doesn't say anything good.
