quentyl: avatarsymbolism:quentyl:avatarsymbolism:Not to undermine the importance of Katara’s c
quentyl: avatarsymbolism: quentyl: avatarsymbolism: Not to undermine the importance of Katara’s character (and I’ve recently talked a lot about Katara’s role in Avatar, so there’s that), but let me get this straight: Bryke: Creates the concept of Zuko and Aang’s friendship before they create the majority of the Avatar universe.Bryke: Creates two characters whose elements represent power on the one hand and freedom on the other.Bryke: Creates two characters whose abilities, while not polar opposites of each other, can at times be opposed to one another and exist as interdependent forces–much like Tui and La.Bryke: Creates two characters who start off on the opposite sides of the spectrum when it comes to fighting style (offense v defense), but who through time adopt components of each other’s fighting styles, as well as other forms of fighting into their style (ie., waterbending and earthbending moves).Bryke: Creates two characters whose plots and story arcs mirror and parallel each other almost completely. Bryke: Creates an entire episode dedicated to Zuko, and dedicates a crapload of screentime to Zuko. Bryke: Creates a shitload of symbolism relating to Zuko and Aang.Bryke: Creates a very interesting dynamic between Zuko and Aang.Bryke: Creates “The Avatar and the Firelord,” and other connections between Aang and Zuko. Bryke: Creates this giant theme of friendships that not only unites the members of the Gaang, but also ties into this whole idea of friendships transcending lifetimes.Bryke: Creates two characters who have an immense impact on one another, parallel one another, compete with one another, oppose one another, and finally befriend one another. Bryke: Calls Katara the deuteragonist. Ok, technically speaking, the only points relevant here are the ones having to do with Zuko and Aang paralleling each other, but still. Anyway, while Katara is incredibly important to the story (and I won’t argue with the “the story is being told from Katara’s POV,” point since I agree with it completely), but I’m hesitant to call her the deuteragonist. Yes, she’s a catalyst of sorts, and she helps connect Zuko and Aang, but when push comes to shove one of the most important relationships in Avatar was always between Aang and Zuko. Yes, there’s this lovely relationship between Aang and Katara where the two learn from each other and work and cooperate together both in situations where they need to bend together and other situations and it’s really great, and yes there is symbolism relating to Aang and Katara. But, to be fair, while there has been a lot of storytelling done to make Aang and Katara interact and learn from one another, the relationship between Aang and Zuko has always been a main focus of the series more than the relationship between Aang and Katara, I think. Although, to be fair, that may because Zuko’s not just an antagonist–he’s an antagonist turned protagonist with a strong connection to Aang. That, and there’s no mention of the sort of character that Bryke considers Zuko to be. Plus, we already know that Zuko is a favorite of Bryan’s, so there’s that I guess–but still. And I guess we can have more than one deuteragonist–the same way someone (looking at you, Zuzu) can be both an anti-hero and an anti-villain. Not to mention including two deuteragonists instead of demoting one character to the position of tritoagonist retains their importance. I‘m still getting a bit of this this weird “Bryke’s comment is more relevant to the pilot’s idea for the plot,” vibe though for some reason. And granted, as of recently, I’ve attempted to point out connections between all three central characters (as opposed to looking at Aang/Zuko, Aang/Katara, and Katara/Zuko separately), and maybe it’s best for it be done that way–otherwise you end up alienating one central character in favor of another and things get messy from there, especially when you have three central characters who are pretty crucial to the plot. That’s even why I created the central character tag in the first place. Final revelations aside, I’m still posting this though because reasons. And by reasons I mean “Bryke is puzzling.” Hell, they had an entire episode where Sokka’s down in the dumps because he’s supposedly just the “normal” guy even though he usually doesn’t give a rat’s ass about his lack of bending abilities and is actually pretty badass. Who needs bending when you’re an innovative genius? I have to say though, I think Mike and Bryan and are the only people I know of who have called Katara the deuteragonist. The only other variation of this I see is people calling Zuko the main character as opposed to Aang. I’ve never seen Katara called a the main character or deuteragonist though–unless I’m just looking in the wrong places. The way I see it, they are two different types of deuteragonists: those who are the second most important character in the story’s main plot (so they are on the protagonist’s side and their relationship with him/her will often be the most important of the story, at least in terms of volume), and those who are the main characters of their own secondary plot (so they are more physically independent from the protagonist than the first type, but tend to have more parallels with him/her because their journeys run parallel to each other). ATLA has both type with Katara and Zuko. FMA has both too: Alphonse Elric is the first type, Roy Mustang the second. LotR has Sam and Aragorn (both are often called “the real hero of the book” by fans). Some story only have one type (HP with Ron Weasley), some have neither (LoK as a whole). Some stories don’t even have a unique protagonist (MMFR has two, ASoIaF an army). I think some people tend to give more importance to one type of deuteragonists over the other, but personally I think it’s just a matter of perspective. Concerning Katara and Zuko in particular, I see them as more or less equivalent? Since Zuko’s storyline is mostly separate from Aang’s, you could cut him out of the story much more easily than Katara for example. In the show, Katara is the person who had the most influence on Aang, and I do think their relationship (as friends first and love interests second) is the “heart” of the show (which is why the show ended on closure to their own special subplot). Actually I would have said that Aang/Katara is undoubtedly the main focus of the show, so I was kinda surprised to see you disagreed, but yeah, I guess Aang/Zuko just got a different kind of focus (less present on an episode-by-episode basis, I’d say, but probably more important in terms of symbolism and the direction of show overall). (Also, to be fair, I’m pretty sure Katara was created before Zuko. Actually, wasn’t Zuko created to give Aang a more immediate antagonist than the Fire Lord in Book 1?) (Also yup I’m pretty sure I’ve seen Katara being called the actual main character - not as often as Zuko, but that’s normal for second-type deuteragonists since they are the most important character in their own story, in comparisons to first-types who are second to the protagonist in the main plot). I know Kataang is obviously in there, but I may have neglected to mention their relationship’s growth because I’m paying more attention to other elemnents of the story. I like the two types of deuteragonists though. That makes a boatload of sense, especially when you take everyone’s journey into account and how they affect each other. Anyway, nice commentary. You could be right about Katara being created before Zuko, but I’m not sure. All I know is that there was a “Zuko turns good,” idea for a very long while–although, judging by the unaired pilot he hadn’t yet become the banished exile we see in Book 1 judgeing by the ZUko staty I found where I got the idea that Zuko was created after the others. From the art book: (Of course, it doesn’t mean he’s any less important ^^ - I mean Momo was created at the same time as Aang.) (Oops - edited with a better screenshot) Cool. It’s been a while since I’ve seen that, so it’s nice to see it again. -- source link
#commentary