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[Josephus]

To be fair, I felt the canon ship of Aang/Katara was pretty damn forced.

Really? I thought it was inevitable. Not that it seemed natural in any way (granted I haven't been 14 for almost a decade now) but rather that narrative causality required Aang and Katara to get together.

The formula was simple, especially in Avatar which had very clearly defined narrative roles in some parts.

Aang = Hero
Katara = The Girl
Narrative Causality = Hero and The Girl hook up, simply by virtue of the narrative roles they occupy

[kaijyuu]

Yeah that's probably why it felt forced to me. "Because the regular method of telling this sort of story says so" is never a good reason to do something.


It would've been fine I think as a precocious crush (aang is several years younger, after all), but real romance doesn't seem to fit.

[Neonivek]

Yeah that's probably why it felt forced to me. "Because the regular method of telling this sort of story says so" is never a good reason to do something.


It would've been fine I think as a precocious crush (aang is several years younger, after all), but real romance doesn't seem to fit.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Especially when an entire arc was dedicated to... ohh I don't know... Aang giving up his love for her in order to reach enlightenment.

Thank goodness he found the cosmic get out of jail free card.

[penguinofhonor]

I don't think he was giving up his love, he just had to realize it was less important than the rest of the world.

My biggest beef with the show is definitely that Aang manages to get out of every big sacrifice he doesn't want to make. Considering huge parts of his motivation were "I didn't want to be the avatar so I ran away instead of making the sacrifices I need to and that was immature" it was a little disappointing that he just found his way around everything he didn't want to do.

I mean I guess solving problems is better than running away from them, but I liked the whole "You're the avatar. You're going to have to do things you don't want for the good of the world." thing that they had going.

[Putnam]

This is interesting.

[Neonivek]

I don't think he was giving up his love, he just had to realize it was less important than the rest of the world.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No it was specifically that. If you understand the process he was going through he had to give up all attachments and love is one of them.

It isn't a process where one realises the order of importance.

[Scelly9]

This is interesting.

This may be the most awesome thing ever. On the other hand, it might just bomb too.

[Josephus]

I don't think he was giving up his love, he just had to realize it was less important than the rest of the world.

No it was specifically that. If you understand the process he was going through he had to give up all attachments and love is one of them.

Surrendering attachments =/= surrendering love. Avatar's mysticism is mostly based on a kind of pseudo-Dharmic blend of various traditions, and in at least one of those traditions "attachment" simply refers to one's ties to the world - your possessions, etcetera. In being told to give up Katara, Aang would have become free to love her.

Either that or Bryke don't understand the material that inspired them.

[Neonivek]

In being told to give up Katara, Aang would have become free to love her.

Sure but they would never get together because that in it of itself would be a desire.

He doesn't have to drop the emotion of love but he has to give up the act of love. Essentially giving up his love. Or else it wouldn't be a sacrifice.

[Josephus]

He doesn't have to drop the emotion of love but he has to give up the act of love.

What? No, celibacy is a totally different principle from attachmentlessness.

[Neonivek]

He doesn't have to drop the emotion of love but he has to give up the act of love.

What? No, celibacy is a totally different principle from attachmentlessness.

I never said anything about sex.

Mind you it is one of the reasons why the Avatars tended (and by that I mean we never hear otherwise) never to actually have children. Lucky for us Aang suffered Karmic destroying injuries. (DANG did I hate the ending...)

[kaijyuu]

Spoiler: avatar ending (click to show/hide)

For the most part I was okay with Aang's avoidance of consequences he didn't like. A little wish fulfillment on the part of the characters is okay; this isn't some super cynical series.

What I didn't like is the giant turtle that popped out of nowhere and gave him the method to defeat the fire lord without killing him.


Ever since they brought up the "should I kill the fire lord?" thing I knew how it was going to be resolved. Ty Lee's ability to temporarily stop bending very much reminded me of something similar from Bleach (stabbing people in the right spot removed their shinigami powers), and this show is no stranger to borrowing ideas from shonen animes. So I knew Aang was going to remove the fire lord's powers. I just didn't know how. And the way they eventually did it was... kinda anti-climatic.

One of the show's dynamics I liked was the implication that each of the Avatar's lives had something to teach. Each earned some piece of knowledge or wisdom in their lives to pass on to the next Avatar. Aang's was his ideals, I think, and sacrificing them would've kinda ruined that. This was the one thing he knew better than any of his predecessors, and that's what the show was trying to portray. Not wish fulfillment, but some wisdom about the possibility of third options. Not everything's a sadistic dichotomy.

If he had just come to that conclusion himself rather than being led by Giant Turtle From Nowhere, then I'd of been much happier.

[Josephus]

I never said anything about sex.

You said 'the act of love'. It really depends on whether you consider love an emotion or state(as in the Dharmic tradition), or a process (as in the Catholic tradition).

[Zangi]

AvatarAny shipping... yea... not a fan of that...

Pfft. You mean you don't like characters getting all smoochie smoochie in the most contrived of ways?

Yea, I'm also not big on the smoochie smoochie. >.>

To be fair, I felt the canon ship of Aang/Katara was pretty damn forced.

Really? I thought it was inevitable. Not that it seemed natural in any way (granted I haven't been 14 for almost a decade now) but rather that narrative causality required Aang and Katara to get together.

The formula was simple, especially in Avatar which had very clearly defined narrative roles in some parts.

Aang = Hero
Katara = The Girl
Narrative Causality = Hero and The Girl hook up, simply by virtue of the narrative roles they occupy

Considering it, I had the vibe that Katara was more of a mother figure then girl, the way she acted with Aang....  maybe that was me.  Aang of course ended up pining for her...


Fake Edit: Damn you all for posting so much.  *shakes fist*

[Neonivek]

I never said anything about sex.

You said 'the act of love'. It really depends on whether you consider love an emotion or state(as in the Dharmic tradition), or a process (as in the Catholic tradition).

I am seperating the emotion from the act of enacting the emotion.