Goodbye... space sword

[tempestuously]

After sitting through hours and hours of Neopets and PetPet advertisements on Nickelodeon, I have completed my Avatar Book 3 marathon. I will be purchasing the DVD as soon as my card has money on it again, as Suncoast sucks and is all out. Some things I picked up upon rewatch:



- Zuko's transformation to the side of good wasn't as abrupt as I thought and actually had decent set-up.
- Seriously, Zuko and Mai is my favorite Avatar pairing ever, with the exception of Jun and Iroh.
- I still really hate Katara in this season. I think the only episode I somewhat tolerated her in was The Painted Lady and even that was iffy. I'm annoyed by her godmode, annoyed by her backstory, annoyed by the emphasis on how beautiful she is, annoyed by her self-righteousness, annoyed by her mothering and pretty much annoyed every time she opens her mouth. I loved Katara in Season 2 and liked her decently in Season 1. But Katara is everything I despise about girl characters in Season 3.
- And number one champion reason why I hate Katara in Season 3: SHE STEALS ZUKO'S FIGHT. I don't care what anyone else thinks. This infuriates me to this day because it was Zuko's fight and while I understand the significance of him protecting her and getting injured and all that, IT WAS HIS FIGHT. I'm iffy about how she wins too since I think Azula could just burn her way out of that as she has done before. Maybe she was too shocked? ZUKO'S FIGHT. Ahem.
- I am no longer as upset about Azula's going crazy. I think it makes perfect sense and I actually really like the idea of Azula as a very complex young woman who has built a world for herself and can't function without it, despite how powerful she is. I think it makes her a really intriguing character. And the pain in her final scene and in her visions of her mother is just so very real. It sucks for Azula, but it's damn good writing. Also, I think the creators said she's getting psychiatric treatment or something so that's nice. |D;;
- I do like that the lightning misdirection comes back thrice in this season. Nice touch.
- I love Zuko and his fail. I want the spin-off to have his and Mai's kid too.
- Still moody that blood-bending was only ever used for ONE scene after its introduction.
- I am sad there is no resolution between Toph and her parents.

I also caught RuPaul's DragU this week. Normally, I would have no problem with this show and I would like to emphasize that I only saw one episode so I have no idea whether the rest of the episodes follow a similar pattern. But I was severely squicked at the idea of taking women with extreme self-esteem issues (one was afraid to dress feminine because she had been raped) and then grading them on how well they demonstrate their feminine qualities at a mock-graduation. Especially giving them a C! That's just twisted. I like the idea of drag queens helping women from various walks pretty up, but I think it would work much better if it were more "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" than another competition show. I had some problem finding humor in one drag queen stealing another queen's wig for her protege when said protege was the former rape victim. Yeah.

And to conclude we shall have our whacky news of the week:

Man sprays semen on women at store. What is the world coming to?

Robbery victim uses feet to text for help. A much better version than what happened to another women in July.

Obama is against Prop 8 but has also said he's against gay marriage. Where do you go with this?

I will return with the final part of my writing meme tomorrow.

Comments

[nayami.livejournal.com]

I actually didn't mind some of the stuff Katara did in S1 since they all pretty much did some dumbass stuff throughout, though the stealing from pirates is ok bit was a little weird. And I liked the stuff with her and Pakku since it wasn't just about her but about Pakku holding a grudge for being jilted and hiding it behind culture. That fight got Pakku to realize what he already knew: that Katara was a fully capable bender and that his bitterness was all about his personal injury. It wasn't so much sexism in his case but projection. So I thought it was a unique twist on the usual story. And it wasn't about belittling the healers but about rejecting a conformist society that chooses who you marry and what role you take and such so Katara's frustration at being placed with the healers makes sense. This is helped by the fact that Katara is also a healer and understand the importance of that power and role. They made this very clear in the scene where Katara explains why her grandmother left the Northern Tribe, because she wanted to forge her own destiny. It's much more than simply a woman's role.

Second season, I liked her more because I got to see both her jesusy side and her ditzy side and her smart side. It made her more than just the power-girl. Katara wasn't all powerful. She could hold her own, but she wasn't invincible. Also, nice that the random dad bitterness wasn't in this season. I liked when she figured out the Kyoshi thing but let Sokka have his fun too. I liked how freaked out she was that Ty Lee could take her down and how she analyzed how it was done. The girls never thought of each other as rival girls but as equal warriors. Warriors who could still do things like flirt with boys and pretty themselves up. I wouldn't say Toph was so much a tomboy but more than she didn't want to be the socialite her family planned for her; she was rebelling against her weak status. She became tough to compensate for everyone considering her weak. This again is less of a feminist thing but more of a reaction to her being blind and small. But we also see that Toph does want to be pretty too and can gussy up when need be. The important thing with Toph is that she's fully capable of being noble but chooses not to because she just enjoys being laid-back and free. I thought the clash between her and Katara made sense, owing back to the elements, where water is more flexible and changing while earth is steadfast. This shows especially in the episode where Toph trains Aang in earthbending. I liked how Katara was willing to think of others a lot in this season, particularly when she agrees to stay behind and plan so Sokka can join their father and when she helps Jet, despite her very valid apprehensions with him. I think S2 balanced the healer and the warrior perfectly; that's why it's my favorite take on her.

Also, Ty Lee doesn't need validation from boys. She just wants to feel like an individual. That's why she acts so damn quirky, to escape being just the same as her gaggle of sisters. I liked that her backstory managed to be both hilarious shallow and yet somehow deep and relatable at the same time. I would also argue that Mai is not so much an action girl as one who can defend herself and was probably trained in her skills because of her family. Otherwise, Mai is probably the most normal of the lot.

I think the creators do a fairly good job with women (with the exception of Yue but that was a bit rushed), but I think they just love-fested too much on Katara in S3 and her character suffered for it.

[crystaldawn.livejournal.com]

Some of the stuff she did in Season One was explainable because she's just a 14 year old girl. 14 year old girls do stupid shit. And I agree that she was the most likable in season two. I really did like the way her and Toph were together in Ba Sing Se Stories. But yeah, all too often she got god status for no explicable reason.

Yeah, that was Ty Lee's explanation for it, and I think it's valid, but Mai's observation in that episode was also pretty valid. Both she and Mai had relatable backstories because they were perfectly normal things that teenagers rebel against.

I liked the women they did have, with the sole exception of Katara (and what WAS with the random daddy hate?), but I wished they hadn't seemed like they were all Action Girls.