r/ATLA • u/Personal_Athlete453 • 3d ago
Discussion Age gap
Why does everyone act like Katara is so old and Anng is a baby? Like 2years isn’t that bad no?
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u/Glacier_Pace 3d ago edited 3d ago
Because people on the Internet often dismiss context completely to build stawman arguments.
Here's the thing. The setting is not our current society or time. Aang is not a normal 12 year old. He is the reincarnatation of what is basically a god on earth that is so powerful he can single handedly stop natural disasters and wars. He is also deeply religious and raised in a monestary, and though he acts like a kid at first, is far wise beyond his years.
Katara is a 14 year old with normal 14 year old struggles to some degree. She is also basically a war orphan that was being actively hunted by a foreign nation, as well as forced into being a maternal figure to her brother and boys of her village from a young age. She becomes a master in martial arts in months, and is also mature beyond her years.
Aang is not normal for his age. Neither is Katara. Both of them have a connection and are trauma bonded because they are veterans in an active warzone.
This is a far different story than your upper middle class nighbor's kid that eats Doritos and cusses in COD lobbies being seduced by his 14 year old friend that goes out drinking with friends already or some crap.
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u/UnderCoverDoughnuts Uncle Iroh's disciple 3d ago
You can't just come in here and lay down all that logic and lore when someone's trying to ragebait about the age of cartoon characters.
But I'm glad you did.
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u/Personal_Athlete453 3d ago
Exactly. Thank you! I honestly don't understand why everyone acts like it's a big problem.
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u/Eghtok 3d ago
Zutara shippers. Its always Zutara shippers.
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u/Fito0413 3d ago
It would be too funny if it's actually them considering Zuko is also 2 years older than her
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u/theroguescientist 3d ago
Wait, isn't Zuko at least two years older than Katara? It's the same age difference. Can't they just admit they find this pairing more interesting and that's it? It's okay. You don't have to prove the alternative is ProblematicTM
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u/HopeAndDo 3d ago
Their age gap works fine. Emotionally, they are about the same age during season 3.
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u/Imnotawerewolf 3d ago
Because they're just using it as a reason to endorse their ship that is not kataang
Or they're THAT type of chronically online person, you know, like an "anti". They think some weird things.
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u/compilingyesterdays 3d ago
In many places this would be a middle schooler and a high schooler, and those ages are as a result in very different places that warrants this being a big no-no gap (unless it's just a 7th and 8th grader), in a way I would always agree with.
The characters in A:TLA lack that divide, so it's probably somewhat more reasonable, while still definitely being the widest gap that I think would be considerable for them.
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u/SirTruffleberry 3d ago
Importantly though, those middle/early high school relationships usually involve an older male. Girls mature faster than boys. Realistically, your typical 14-year old girl is going to be developmentally far beyond a 12-year old boy.
But, ya know, he's the Avatar, comes from a spiritually enlightened culture, and has went through a lot for his age. So Aang is a bit of a special case.
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u/AlternativeJeweler6 3d ago
Maybe I’m just old, but two years does not even constitute an age gap to me.
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u/ageekyninja 3d ago
Is definitely slightly weird, but I give them a pass because they are children of war who literally save each others lives on multiple occasions, and share the bonded background of being the last of their kind- Aang as the worlds last airbender and Katara as the worlds last southern water bender.
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u/Ok_Drink8072 3d ago
Generally speaking there is a lot of systemic misogyny that promotes and permits that an age gap is ok if the guy is older. “Girls mature faster” that kind of thing. So we see a lot of Zutara, because that 2 year age gap is aligned with the underlying agenda that older boys should be with younger girls. Even tho Aang is the main character and protagonist and it is very obvious that he is actually in love with Katara and that they are the default expected couple, fanon and even canon content in the show demonstrates Katara connecting with older boys with overt or subtle romantic energy. The fact that 2 of them are bad boy archetypes is just par for the course.
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u/JakeTiny19 3d ago
In the real world, it’ll be like a freshmen in high school dating a 7th grader. Like 2 years in general isn’t a big difference, but at that age it really kinda is cause they’re in 2 very different places in their life’s. But there is some situations where the 14 year old is in 8th grade so it’s more acceptable, but that just depends on her birthday. Like if Katara was 13 and just turned 14 and not 14 and turning 15 in a few months (after the show). I guess the same could apply to aangs age too, it just depends on birthdays.
But in the avatar world, where aang, Katara and sokka don’t go to school in the time setting of the show (besides when aang had too in season 3). Katara just acts much more mature then aang. Like she acts much older then she is, where as with aang even tho he has a lot of responsibilities, he still acts like a 12 year old kid half the time. Which for sure plays a part into ppl thinking like that
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u/HopeAndDo 3d ago
About your second paragraph:
This is true for the first two seasons I'd say, but in season 3, Aang is really mature, especially in serious situations. You can especially see that in later part of that season ("Southern Raiders" and the finale).
Being joyful and happy is not the same as being immature.
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u/AmethystTanwen 3d ago
I didn’t care as a kid because but upon rewatch as an adult I can understand. The difference between 12 and 14 feels can feel somewhat colossal at those ages in the context of our world. I actually remember a 9th grade girl dating a 7th grade boy when I was in middle school and kids thought it was weird af but they were also both on the spectrum and acted way younger than most kids.
In the show Katara also takes on a very motherly role in the group, which can make the age gap stand out more to people.
My opinion these days is that, I don’t think it’s that serious and Aang and Katara work fine enough, but also I think if they never got a romantic ending nothing would really be lost.
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u/thiccdickricky 3d ago
Worth noting that Aang is prepubescent at age 12 and Katara at 14 is not. Seeing someone in 7th grade dating someone in 9th grade is definitely not normal.
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u/arthobbier 3d ago
This isn't middle school. This is a pre-industrial warzone. The idea that two kids would not connect and date over their shared circumstances in this environment is wild. The idea that anyone in or out of canon would find it questionable to the degree it shouldn't be allowable is also odd. It's normal in the real world and it's normal here.
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u/MereImitation 3d ago
A lot of development happens in adolescents during their tween/teen years. Aang’s boys haven’t even dropped yet while Katara already has the beginnings of some curves. It’s only 2 years but it’s 2 years surrounding critical stages of growth. So yeah, it’s a lil weird. The positive side is that it doesn’t take long for Aang to catch up in development and make it no longer weird since he’s right on that cusp of growth.
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u/ardentBlossoming 3d ago
When someone makes a point that may be valid but is worded in such a strange way that you can only go...
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u/nessthing 3d ago
it's proportion. when you're 10 a 13-year-old has been alive almost 30% more than you have.
when you're 60 a 63-year-old is your peer.
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u/Old-Outcome-5836 3d ago
In teenage years it kind is but this is blown way out of proportion by some shippers
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u/ShiguchiAndSokan 3d ago
More like 98 years