How We Quit The Forest
So, on ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atla_unspoiled, there was a poster talking about how, typically, Zutara shippers ship Suki/Sokka, and Kataang shippers ship Toph/Sokka. (Which I think is true, based on my totally unscientific experiences). She then suggested that this was because of the shippers looking for 'viability.' (Which doesn't make sense to me.) I think it's more likely the that similarity in character interactions and relationship dynamics is what makes it more likely for a Zutara shipper to like Suki/Sokka, and for a Kataanger to like Toph/Sokka.
(And of course, there all the various permutations of who ships what as a primary ship, and I KNOW that there are people who like Suki/Sokka and Kataang, and Zutara shippers who like Toph/Sokka, to name just two.)
Your thoughts?
atla_unspoiled, there was a poster talking about how, typically, Zutara shippers ship Suki/Sokka, and Kataang shippers ship Toph/Sokka. (Which I think is true, based on my totally unscientific experiences). She then suggested that this was because of the shippers looking for 'viability.' (Which doesn't make sense to me.) I think it's more likely the that similarity in character interactions and relationship dynamics is what makes it more likely for a Zutara shipper to like Suki/Sokka, and for a Kataanger to like Toph/Sokka.(And of course, there all the various permutations of who ships what as a primary ship, and I KNOW that there are people who like Suki/Sokka and Kataang, and Zutara shippers who like Toph/Sokka, to name just two.)
Your thoughts?
no subject
(Incidentally, as for mutated character dynamics in fanon Zutara...I'm a Katara/Zuko shipper who developed independently outside the fandom, then poked my nose in to see what the fanon take on them was and felt like the kid at the beach who curiously pries up the pretty rock and suddenly has swarms of fleeing sand lice skittering all over her bare feet. Those two have a great dynamic, both present and potential-future, just the way they are in canon. If only more than 5% of their fanwork would actually pay any attention to it...)
no subject
Thank you. I really love finding control Zutara shippers. I was pimped into this show via that pairing. ("Hey Red, check out this awesome show, it has an enemies!pairing that is the most popular in the fandom! And it's HET!" and I went "Sweet jesus where is this holy land of which you speak?")
I was actually just thinking about if/how my relationship with shipping would be if I wasn't in fandom. Specifically, prior to getting into fandom, I was like 'well, my pairing isn't going to be canon, but I've liked most everything B&M have done so far,' and then with the massive pairing wars, Sozin's Comet, the horrible airing dates, the spoilers I couldn't avoid, I'm like, 'I'm going to hate the ending, aren't I? I'm going to hate it and then have to deal with the Hiroshimi-like fallout and smile for my mother the Maiko shipper, aren't I? Why god? Why have you abandoned meeeeeee???!?!?!!'
no subject
That would be regrettable. I hope that you can find the attitude of 'well, my pairing isn't going to be canon, but I've liked most everything B&M have done so far,', because I think that even though Zuko and Katara will not be a canon pairing, I think that they will developp a positive relationship that can still be explored in fanfics. I might not be a fan of the romantic pairing, but I'm looking forward to whatever friendship Katara and Zuko might developp and I hope it's as good as the platonic Zuko/Aang and Zuko/Sokka, we have seen so far.
(I was sold to Mai/Zuko in the Awakening and The Headband, before I even found out about the comic, so I can not help you with this one, but I still think that Katara/Zuko will be interesting to explore as an Alternative Pairing, even if the canon goes otherwise. :))
no subject
That was my attitude before fandom got so freaking intense, and I'm doing my best to get back to that place. It helps that after getting burned too many times with spoilers (which totally did not help, I'm barely in the fandom anymmore). I mean, I always knew the Katara/Zuko wasn't going to be canon (was happier that way, frankly) but M & B have always given me subtext to work with, and I was totally happy with that.
no subject
Those two have a great dynamic, both present and potential-future, just the way they are in canon.
I think for them to come together in canon the story would have to be structured a bit differently, but I'm really looking forward to whatever positive dynamic they can developp, and I can certainly see the potential of the relationship, especially at this point of the story. I'm not so much in the love/hate conception of the pairing, and I have to admit that while I thought that their fight in the Spirit Oasis was pretty intense, I don't see much UST in it. I think the real interesting aspect about their dynamic in canon is that both of them needed to learn to see the other one as a real person. In the past, Zuko has only seen Katara as a means to get to Aang, or as an obstacle, while Katara, as she said, saw him as the "face of the enemy".
no subject
Katara and Zuko fascinate me for two reasons, mostly; the way they mirror each other in the plot, and their highly compatible personalities (if they could ever get past their false images of each other).
I know fans go oogly about how She Is Water, He Is Fire, and the sun/moon thing, but that's really just the most superficial surface of how they match each other in the plot of Avatar. They've both gone through terrible trauma early in life. The war took both their mothers from them. They both have troubled relationships with fathers who haven't always been what they wanted them to be (though Hakoda's motivations and therefore his character are the polar opposite of Ozai's, bless him). They both left their homes at age fourteen to follow the Avatar, and they've both made him the center of their lives, physically and spiritually. They've both gone through periods of bright idealism, fighting for the underdogs; they've both had that idealism smacked out of them by the harsh realities of war, and while Zuko has begun the climb out of that pit, Katara has only just begun to fall in...
Haha, look at me gabbling on. Cliff Notes: Losing their mothers is only the beginning of what they have in common.
I don't see a simple sun/moon yinyang. I see two fish circling in the Spirit Oasis with the Avatar standing glowing in the middle, traveling parallel life paths in reversed colors around the boy who gives those lives meaning and purpose. Even without the possibility of romance there (which is where their personalities come into play, for me), the dynamic itself is fascinating.
no subject
YES! That's almost the same thought, I expressed on another forum a little while back, as one of my reactions to the NYCC trailer. The episode that really highlights these parallels is The Storm. Actually, if I ever shipped romantic Zuko/Katara, this would have been one of my starting points.
On the platonic level, I really love that Zuko has some connecting points with all the members of the gaang, which makes his bonding time with them so good, once the preliminary problems are overcome.
no subject
(And, yes, there's a fragment of Zuko's experience in each of them--Toph's escape from a life of porcelain, protected nobility that drove her crazy; Aang's feelings of failure in the past and determination to strive for honor and the good of the world in the future; Sokka's warrior upbringing. One of the aspects of the general ignoring-the-Gaang-Plus that especially disappointed me was losing the chance to see Zuko interact with Haru, Teo, and the Duke. Father/mother issues and learning to stand on your own two feet...physical scarring and learning to move beyond it...rebellion, repentance, and heck, knowing Jet...they had so much to talk about, but alas, it remains forever in the realm of fill-the-gap fanfic.)