The Failed Femininity of Netflix's Katara

Last year, some idiot made a video titled Toth andara, strong female characters. Don Wright. In this atrocious video essay, he posited that the female leads of Avatar The Last Airbender are two shining examples of how to showcase

femininity

through two drastically different but wonderfully lovingly crafted characters. This believed that their compassion, care, patience, persistence, passion and hope, not simply their ability to throw natural elements at bad guys, was what made them much-needed paradigms of powerful feminine virtue in the modern world of entertainment. Well, luckily, Netflix showed up to show that fool what The Real Strong Woman should say: Okay, enough of the sarcasm.

I can't let that be my entire identity. It really is remarkable how Hollywood manages to destroy female characters time and time again. Oh, they do it at least a little right from time to time. For a while, more recently, Mizu from Blue-Eyed Samurai, despite her incredible power, is actually quite well done, but most major releases that feature a woman of a certain skill or ability continue to follow the same path by write characters whose central arc is that of oneself. What's incredibly depressing about many of these stories is not only that they follow the same internal pattern, but also that they manage to destroy what is unique. carefully constructed arc of the original character and making it worse in every possible way, they call me incredibly optimistic, but I was starting to think that maybe we were coming out of this phase where the industry realized that these kinds of character arcs are tremendously unpopular with audiences the writers had finally decided to inject some life into the boring, self-fulfilling wooden bosses that plagued the late 2010s.

If any show were to break that mold, it would surely be the adaptation of the masterpiece that is Avatar, the last airbender, Netflix would surely watch. the brilliance of the original and main maintain the depth of its characters that form the heart of that incredible story, well, it didn't now qara is not the only character that Netflix did a disservice to, almost all the characters in the adaptation act as if they were We're doing a half-assed job trying to keep Co from stealing their faces and even those actors who managed to get through the incredibly mediocre script have their characters severely degraded from their original form, but someone had to be the first to get cut and Being a cheeky kind of guy, I say ladies first, so we start with qara Or that's the mock qara that completely misses the mark set by its animated counterpart, the first hint that 2024 qar would lack some key elements of the character comes in from the beginning with the opening voiceover which lacks the iconic line but I think Ang can save the world and it doesn't actually seem to be given by Qara at all and yes I know the opening monologue in the first episode of the original doesn't have that line, but it expresses the same feeling of hope that is absolutely crucial to qara as a character even though the first new episode gives us the feeling that he understands the importance of qatar's relentless hope when he tells him.

He tells Saka that that is the Avatar. He is hope and people need him as much as food and shelter. This unwavering belief that you can make a difference no matter the odds, if you simply try to help people in need, is what makes qara qara. He allows you to be the beating Heart. I consider Team Avatar to be the glue that keeps them together when they're on the brink of collapse, so it was heartening to hear her express this sentiment so early. The problem, however, is that it almost never comes up again in the next six hours. of the runtime, the only other time we get any kind of speech about Hope is in the spirit world episode where Netflix just copy and paste qatar's original line about New Life coming out of the dead, beyond that, the overly emotional qara who can't help but cry. speeches about Hope just isn't there a fact that highlights the real problem with the Netflix qara that shows why she is a failure of

femininity

, it's just no big deal, the low res qara doesn't just fail at her femininity because it doesn't is so motherly or because her romantic relationship with Ang is out of orbit or because she doesn't wear Sak's pants, after all, femininity cannot be limited to a certain set of behaviors or practices, it is simply about living virtuously as a woman , so we must ask the question. then it is a copy of virtuous qara well no no really that does not mean that she is a bad person or that she is swimming in vices she is a modern heroine of course she is not but the virtues compassion affection trust ardor and of course hope which The defined qara simply does not is present, they are stripped almost completely, leaving the imitation of qara hollow and lacking significant character work.

Her failure as a character as a woman is not defined so much by what Netflix did with her arc as by what they did. Don't reduce Kara's relationship with Ang to the level of friends doing things together, she's not the one who brings him out of the southern air Avatar state. Temple Saka accompanies her through the Cave of the Two Lovers, yes, that's in the first season now. there's just nothing else out there for them, they just hang out and go on trips together, all the fun interpersonal dialogue that takes place in the original isn't here, the show just assumes that because they're doing things together, they're They worry about each other.

Others, in some vague way, as if they were friends, remember how Qara gave an incredibly idealistic and overly optimistic speech to the imprisoned Earthbenders, certain that her words would galvanize them to fight for their freedom and then, when that

failed

, she had to temper your relentless sense of hope with something. realism and practicality to make things work, yeah, that's just not here. You know how Qara fell totally in love with and completely trusted Jet, this freedom fighter who is as good with people as he is with his swords and how the discovery that he was, in fact, quite a monster.

He disturbed her deeply. Her betrayal of his trust left a lasting wound because of his great capacity to care and love. No, she now finds out he's a terrorist, teases him a little, and goes on her merry way without a second. I thought then, what does that leave us? What remnant of Katara's personality is left to work with? Well, pretty much one thing and one thing only, ripping apart the entire character of Xerox Kara. Arc is just her learning to be a master water bender, but not only that. For a fighter, of course, the original also addresses this topic, but we'll get to that comparison later from the beginning.

The qara clone proudly proclaims to Ang: I am a warrior, this despite the fact that she literally just told Saka no everything. it's about preparing to fight, but that was for her Arc character, not her, so there's obviously no need for her to be consistent and oh, you better believe we're going to talk about how my son Saka was massacred, but let's go back to Katara, who she is now. argue with Saka about whether they should go or return to the southern water tribe. I refuse to call it Wolf Cove. His argument that they need to help the Avatar save the world doesn't sway his older brother, but you know what? her statement that it's about more than just helping Ang, meaning it's about her before Ang showed up, she couldn't bend, but now thanks to a couple of energy tips he gave her, she can make all kinds of water.

Bending, I can't go back is her definitive statement and that's how she wins the argument, that's why Saka accompanies her on this journey because desire.com Katara needs to be able to bend with water naturally so learning to waterbending is a part of it. important part of his character in book one, however, learning a skill is not the most interesting. character work. how they learn that skill is much more compelling. The challenges the characters have to overcome and the sacrifices they have to make are the key elements of such a journey. How Qara showed his growth into virtuous femininity as she battled his self-doubt and learned to temper her wildly optimistic expectations of him with practicality.

Remember how Ang was a naturally talented waterbender while Qara struggled to get the right form. remember how that frustrated her deeply and Remember how she then surpassed Ang in skill because she refused to let that frustration get in her way and she worked much harder than her airheaded counterpart. It's hard to forget, assuming you've seen the original show, it's a pretty crucial character point for both qara and well, to no one's surprise, it disappeared here Netflix took that scene and then just gave impressionistic qara the natural talent and even tells him how much you're a natural he says you're a real water bender qara now it's not necessarily a problem for someone to be naturally good at something or even completely self-taught to the Master level in that discipline, but if they are and they really don't They have difficulties like Qara now does not have difficulties, so there needs to be something else that they have to fight with.

There will be other character work happening and for Clarence ale Katara there's just nothing else going on, she's learning to bend, that's all her character, Arc, and although she became proficient in waterbending, it really mattered to qara, the presentation gave more flavor and depth to your trip. de Ang is naturally skilled, a fact that bothered qara, it didn't stop her from eventually becoming her teacher, why cut that out? It just takes away from both characters, gives faximile Ang less maturity to win since he no longer has to overcome the laziness associated with natural talent, and makes the imitation qara much less perseverant because he doesn't have that example of skill by the way. which one should work;

However, it wouldn't be fair for me to say that she has no problem controlling water when she tries to do it. discover the water whip, imitate qara, she can't do it well and when Ang tells her to take advantage of her emotions, she remembers her mother dying and fails even more spectacularly. This comes up again when she talks to Jet, who reveals that my mother. she was the fighter in my family because of course she was and the skit qara mentions how thoughts from the night her mother died have been coming back to her and I think it's been affecting my bending jet tells her you have to use use everything what's inside you to help you fight and asks you to remember what Kaa was like before he died.

By doing so, Azat Katara can now beat water with the best at first glance. This is not bad. Find healing by remembering how your deceased mother loved you. how she found joy in the dawn and the little things in life make any possible sense the problem once again lies not so much in what this scene is but in what it meant for her to lose her mother meant that she, despite being younger, she essentially had to become Alias's mother, she had to raise her older brother, she had to take on duties within her home and her village far beyond those typical for her age, it forced her to mature a lot. faster than normal, caused her to lose much of the innocence and carefreeness inherent to childhood, led her to be protective and cautious, even to the extreme;

In other words, it had a deep and lasting impact on Qara, shaping the very nature of her personality's motivations and fears, but because of the type of Qara her mother's death is really only important because it relates to her bending because her bending and her desire to be a Bender warrior is the only consistent and significant character trait present in this poor imitation of our favorite crazy-haired heroine in the first episode, as mentioned, she tells Ang. I'm a warrior despite having no training or real ability to bend water, at that point in the second episode she reads Grandma's exposition scroll that tells her that you're a water bender, that's what you've always been. been in the third episode.

Jet tells him that I had a feeling that you knew how to handle yourself because fighting prowess is absolutely the first thing that comes to you when you look at the little boy in the fourth episode, Qara discovers Jet's terrorist ways and confronts him and then freezes him, lo which makes him say look at the power. You got that's my fault, but oh no, we can't let that be true. Qara must be done by itself. That wasn't you. It was me, although he later tells Saka Jet that he helped me with some things. her previous statement to Jet was, in fact, just her pride, she didn't want to admit that the boy she now despises could have helped her, but it was never based on Beyond This Line, which is a missed opportunity to, you know, do some real character work in the In the fifth episode, Qara single-handedly sends an entire squad of firebenders flying without impaling any of them because it's still a kids show and Ang, of course, notices how he is inventing new moves that are the mark of a skilled master and then when we cut back to the day kar's mother dies, kaa tells him that one day you will show the world whatpowerful that you are and oh my god can we please not do it?

I mean, you're one iteration away from literally saying I'm a woman, listen to me roar, and look, Kara wants to be a skilled waterbender and wanting to be able to fight to protect her home and her friends isn't a bad thing, it's actually a very good thing, but it can't be everything. A's entire character, Arc, isn't just learning the other three elements in order to save. the world is also about freedom, maturity, responsibility, guilt, and the importance of deeply held beliefs and those elements that give his death in Arc, this show understands that, to some extent, it didn't do the best job with h and a lot of which makes him a beloved character.

He's been stripped, but at least there's an attempt to get him to overcome his guilt and the weight of his duty aside from his training in the Bending Arts, which this season simply doesn't include for some unfathomable reason when a character's focus is on their power. he barely becomes a character, he's basically just a weapon kit. Avatar uses qara, it's super effective. What we want from our heroines is for them to be just swords that the story can wield to take down the bad guys and yes, qara simulation. he's fighting the bad guys, he's actually on the right side, but his attention is so focused inward that it almost doesn't matter.

Remember how Qara just wanted the Earthbenders to stand up and fight, even if she could barely bend a bubble at the time. Remember when Qara urged. Ang to enter the sanctuary at Roku Temple even though it meant sacrificing her freedom and perhaps her life, she remembers when Qara defended Ang's honor in the storm only to discover that her story was more complex than she believed. , but then encouraged him nonetheless, assuring Ang that if he had stayed, he would have been killed along with the rest of the Southern Air Temple sidenote. Netflix gave that line in much of Ang's guitar relationship to Monk Gatso in case you needed more proof that they intentionally downplayed it.

In qara and Ang's relationship, they knew that Ang needed to be encouraged and consulted, but we couldn't let Captain Qara do that because that would distract her from bending all that to say that qara does a lot of important, notable, impactful things without having to. do waterbending. a drop I ask you which is a better example of strong, beautiful femininity: a heroine who can throw a little H2O or someone who can motivate, inspire and strengthen others while simultaneously learning how to become whole. The answer, of course, is someone who can do both. Yeah, no, Tara apparently wants to be able to bend to protect those who can't protect themselves, but there's so little relationship building and so much water fighting.

You see conversations that any sense of self-donation or self-sacrifice is drowned out, but let's talk about it. That's both because yes, of course, the real qar actually cares a lot about being able to control water. She goes to Great Links to acquire the Waterbending scroll, which is a much more creative and interesting way to show how much she wants to learn qara. controlling water than simply having her tell us that I'm a warrior and having Grandma Exposition tell her that she's always been a waterbender, so naturally that when paku refuses to train qara after Team Avatar arrives to the northern water tribe, she feels a little disturbed as she says Least as you remember, despite her frustrations within the North Stagi customs and her personal irritation with Master Paku, Kara still wants Ang to train with him, This is naturally because he recognizes that there are much more important things at stake here than his own ability to dominate.

Bending the Avatar with water and learning the four elements is Team Avatar's main mission, so she encourages him to learn from Baku, even if he's a huge idiot, again, that story element is simply not present in the Netflix show, as Ang mentioned. Water never bends and buck9 Katara only makes a half-assed attempt to get him to try so Netflix paku isn't for Netflix and he is for Netflix qara because everything about her is meant to make him bend with the water. and the writers weren't happy with paku just upholding the tribe's customs, they had to make it personal you're not strong enough women aren't strong enough he tells her yeah that's a stupid plot and the original show doesn't have it.

Do it for a reason, these are basically magical powers, even an old coo like Paku would recognize that physical strength has very little to do with the actual ability to fight, especially since he is a master of waterbending, an art defined by using of one's strength. opponent against him, you could make all sorts of suggestions as to why the Northern Water Tribe only trains men to fight. You might suggest that men are naturally more aggressive or more protective by nature, that keeping women away from the front lines is an honorable thing to do. but whether or not you think that's not really relevant, broad rules like men fighting and women healing can be generally useful, but exceptions can and should be made when necessary.

All Masters, one might say, should have the freedom to do their duty. Kara's duty in both the original and the imitation is to protect and train a, so yes, she is right, she should be allowed to train with paku, she should be allowed to face fire, Bender in combat, however, only because you're right about one thing it doesn't sanctify all your other related arguments Hox qara tells Saka all my life that I held back and I'm not going to let anyone else do it now, which is not true. True, you could say that Grandma Exposition stopped her by not giving her water. parchment bending but we have seen no evidence that qara herself ever reigned in her bending abilities for any reason.

The first time we see her, she is practicing water bending and then immediately proceeds to argue with Saka about the value of said art. There's another reason to inject this line into the story besides painting qara as a self-realized, self-made boss whose entire character arc revolves around her ability to do something, what a waste ah but we still have her duel with paku What will become of Netflix? Will they really let her qara lose? Well yeah, turns out the writers were smart enough not to change that story element and realized it would probably piss off a lot of fans even though they think we'd somehow miss everything else they stripped away.

However, away from her character, they significantly altered the tone of the fight and its narrative impact, all to fit the so-called Katara robot character development, first after losing, she asks paku, but you still won, let me fight and he states that wait, wait, fight, don't train. Not only is the fight contrary to the narrative given by the original show where Qara needed a master to train her, but it contradicts this show where Qara very clearly states her need and desire to train with the masters of the Northern Water Tribe, even goes into details. about what aspects of her bending she thinks need improvement, but I guess we've forgotten all that because qara is enough for qara second, of course everyone just congratulates her for losing impressively, so basically it's like she didn't lose nothing because we can.

I really don't have to lose, third, remember how Paku, after having won the fight, sees Kara's necklace and recognizes it as the one carved for his fiancee by a woman he loved but who went to the South Pole in rejection of the rigid Customs of the North, remember how remembering that painful memory made him recognize that his inflexible ways should bend a little and that's why he agrees to train qara together with h, yeah, that's not here either, okay, why isn't it easy if paku realized his customs through the memory of their lost Love in the past, that would mean that Katara was not the one who changed her mind and they needed Qara to be the one to change her mind, so on the brink of battle, Qara is going to even the odds and then he approaches Master Paku saying.

We know we can make a difference and by us, of course, that means all the women in the tribe. That's right, Katara has brought to the front lines dozens of women whose only waterbending skill is healing. I don't need to go into details. Why is this a terrible plan? We all understand that these women are going to be slaughtered because they have absolutely no idea what to do, unless of course they have been practicing in secret all these years. Orar made a short PowerPoint presentation based on her scroll that conveniently allowed all the women to instantly learn the water bending side of the martial art, but who cares about logical consistency?

It's about qara proving to the big bad man that girls can fight anything that gets in their way again qara is right and paku is wrong, this is established in the original show but while that story handled the resolution of this conflict with some tact and added depth to Pak's character, meanwhile the adaptation just has Katara beat him over the head until it's really no surprise. the show is clunky and clumsy in virtually all of its storytelling, would you like some proof? You probably don't need more, but in the spirit of clumsy, I'm giving you more, remember zuku's iconic line, little peasant, you found a master refuge.

Don't you get it, to my un-ironic delight, that line finds its way into the adaptation but of course Paku didn't actually train Simum Qara, he just let her fight, so what will Qara say to Zuko's question? You're looking at his ladies and gentlemen. the jury rest my case Netflix qara is a water bender, that's it, that's all she is, it's her whole character, oh there are occasional lines that are added in there to try to give her something more, like at the end of the season when he tells Avatar. rage monster, I need you, but those moments only serve to remind us how underdeveloped her character has been throughout the show.

Do you need Ang? Why sure in the first episode she proclaimed that the Avatar is Hope and needs hope, but where did that go? In the last six hours long, the feeling was not based in the slightest. Qara spends most of the episodes away from Ang. He is with Jet outside Omashu with Saka in the Cave of the Two Lovers, alone in the spirit world, without masks. all and mostly with paku at the North Pole and the scenes they have together, they're mostly just together, they have one or two bonding scenes that do very little to really establish their relationship and virtually nothing to suggest that qara needed Ang for anything more than starting his waterbending battery, this moment is not bad in a vacuum qara should need Ang and Ang should respond to Katara's need for him, the problem is that this moment does not exist in a vacuum, it occurs within the context from a show that does almost nothing to Dev, the relationship that the writers now want you to believe exists because they recognize how important that relationship is to the narrative even though they've completely ignored it for 95% of the show.

In essence, femininity is relational, let's not say that masculinity is not, but let's not fall down that rabbit hole, this is because the virtues necessary for true genuine femininity allow one to relate appropriately with others qara shows many of those virtues, some established, others still developing. throughout the original show compassion passion perseverance altruism patience understanding and hope are central parts of who she is qara they give depth to her character they make her feel real Netflix qara feels like a 2019 boss, she has been stripped of those virtues that defined her her, save for a slight smidge here and there, and was left with only her skill and combat ability as the defining traits of her character, the achievement of said skill as her only character growth, and the realization that she is her own Master.

It is the fulfillment of his character. a waste