#south asian zutara

[forevermore05]

1. I can't speak for other cultures that were represented in this show (I'm so sorry if your representation was ruined too), but since I'm a South Asian and specifically an Indian and Hindu. I think I have some credibility. Ok, so this may depend on the interpretations of Hinduism that you've grown up with if you're a Hindu reading this. Well, growing up, I was always taught that Chakras were so important. I learned that the GODS could not accomplish something unless they access all their Chakras (again, this is the interpretation I grew up with it might not be the same for you). So the fact that watching Aang just be able to live life without accessing all of his charkas properly was a big slap to the face. Let me just say this right now. If you were representing a culture, especially the culture that you base the entire show on you either do it correctly or you don't do it at all. Don't make it half-baked because that's just disrespecting the people who follow that religion. And you're emphasizing how insignificant their religious values are (mind you Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world). What little representation we had was also ruined.

2. I also want to talk about another point since I'm here. I think I've made it very clear that I'm a woman of color. Even though me and Katara Are not the same ethnicity. She was my representation through skin color. And it's so interesting. How even though I knew that she was not my ethnicity, I still grasped onto her as a representation. Now this is not a PSA for studios to say "Hey, let's have a person that is brown, and everyone will be okay with it because they will have a person of the same skin to relate to." No this is me criticizing the lack of diversity in the show. The fact that you can base an entire show on a culture but not be able to handle a main character from that culture. And also I think the reason why I like Zuko and Katara ( I've made this point before) But the amount of respect that they have. As a woman of color, I have not exactly received respect from other men whether that be because of my gender or my skin color. So seeing a woman of color be respected regardless it's just so refreshing to me.

3. Also I want people to be mindful that a lot of people who ship this ship. Are women of color and/or part of the LGBTQIA2S+ community. However, I'm going to talk specifically about women of color since I'm straight. A lot of us have come from countries that have been colonized and still face the repercussions of colonization to this day, so what I'm trying to say is. When woc ship this duo they know what they're doing and they're not doing anything wrong. It's disrespectful to insult them for being racist and misogynistic when in reality a lot of these women face misogyny and racism in their own lives. They understand why they ship this ship. They understand it very well because they able to see and understand what is truly going on.

4. If you have a problem with this post and want to potentially hunt me down. I'm only saying this because I've seen other women of color be harassed for liking Zutara. I need you to remember that I'm a teenager. I'm a kid. I don't think you want to beef with a kid. And no, it does not matter that I'm 18. You shouldn't be harassing anyone over a ship. In fact, accusing shippers of being racist but then being racist to that poc/woc shipper is insane. It kind of shows that those people are not on a moral high horse.

5. I'm a kid......don't even think about it.

[human-calcifer]

Avatar the last Airbender fans talk so much about perfection in casting of accurate descent actor but Avatar is rooted in Hinduism and Buddhism also originated in India . Buddha was born in Nepal ...so the casting of Aang should have been from Nepal/North Eastern/ Tibetan descent. Why does this fandom always erases ancient India influence. Also saying Buddhism influence is never going to take away from ancient Indian influence. India originated Buddhism. Especially ethnicity I belong to ,they spread it .My ancestor helped in Buddha achieving his enlightenment. You people were mad about sokka casting why was their not fight enough for Indian subcontinent representation? You people fought a lot for water tribe casting. People are just hypocrites and also racist towards South Asian in atla fandom. Considering how racist are east Asian and SEA region people towards South Asian.. oh well the casting...

And dear westerners croony sjws of atla fandom please get in your head easily that Asians are not interchangeable..

PS: there is no hate for any actor being cast Gordon is the loveliest kid .I am just angry at casting and atla fandom (who are not so woke and as educated). Lack of enthusiasm and acknowledgment towards this is very very disappointing. Especially this fandom really throws their half baked ideologies on others. Just do better

[mintchochipkookie]

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[eponastory]

Well, I guess I'm going to have to address this now...

Since Blackbullet99 seems to have a hard-on for Zutara shippers who call it like it is.

Well, blackbullet99 can fuck off.

I'm not even going to get into why two American men decided to write a character like this, but it is what it is.

Bryke is the person responsible for the shitty writing that doesn't really address the trauma of a fictional character that I genuinely can't stand because he is one foot into Gary Stu territory and is a McGuffin at best.

Does this mean I hate Kataang? Not really. My problem is with Bryke and their stupidity about Westernizing South Asian Culture and how they wrote Aang. I'm not South Asian, but I do have some friends that are, and I'm very protective over them and their beliefs. I will admit when I'm being stupid and apologize for misunderstanding. Clearly, it is something that is blatantly going on with blackbullet here.

So in light of that, this reblog was discussing something about Aang's character being (hold on brain fart)... more or less unaccountable for any of his actions.

Here's the deal. I don't downplay actual real world genocide. I condemn it, my ancestors were victims of colonization and at the same time genocide on one side and the other were the colonizers. It's horrible. I am a student of history and I know things about genocide and war that most wouldn't believe happened. But here we are. It's bloody, it's inhumane.

But for a fictional character that is written by two white men from America... it's hard for me to empathize with that. I don't know how anyone can look at that and say oh yeah... they know! When they don't.

As a writer, I understand that we use real world events to inspire our work. But, here is the thing, we write what we know. I can not possibly know what it's like to survive a genocide and be able to write about it from that perspective. I have sympathy and I love those that have witnessed it first hand. But this is beyond my comprehension. I do my best to make things realistic in my writing by reading first hand accounts, but Bryke... sweet Godzilla... they know nothing.

So there. My defense against someone who thinks they are morally superior.

And they can still fuck off.

[burst-of-iridescent]

atla live action thoughts: episodes 3 & 4

SPOILERS AHEAD

tw: opinions

things i liked:

jet, you beautiful, beautiful man. had me twirling my hair and kicking my feet fr i NEED this show to get a season 2 just so i can see more of him in the ba sing se arc please netflix

but looks aside, sebastian amoruso DELIVERED on the performance. the softness, the vulnerability, the charm, the intelligence, yet also the ruthlessness beneath it all? KILLED IT.

the moment between him and katara where he tells her to remember her mother as she was alive and not just her death was absolutely lovely. “remember the sunrise” made me very emotional

on that note, can’t believe jetara fake marriage is canon now lmao

i am SO here for desi omashu. i love the vibe and aesthetic of the city and again the visuals are STUNNING. live action repping the south asians better than the original ever did i’ll be honest

shameless fan service but “MY CABBAGES” being so fucking dramatic had me dying

of all the things i expected from the atla live action, secret tunnel and omashu being lesbians wasn’t even on the list but i’m not mad. hilarious that they turned the cave of two lovers into the cave of two platonic siblings though

jet, omashu and northern air temple arcs actually meshed together better than i thought. the NAT episode never sat well with me in the original so i’m glad they moved them to omashu instead.

the freedom fighters were RIGHT OUT OF THE ANIMATION. casting directors absolutely killed

love that they showed resistance movements within the fire nation and azula being part of rooting them out. it’s a nice nod to the deserter, since i’m guessing they’re not including that episode

really glad to see that the atla live action is following the tradition of having weirdly unnecessary zutara crumbs in every iteration of the story because what in the om shanti om was that zutara scarf moment. 10/10 no notes

having one of the earthbenders transporting iroh be angry over losing a loved one because of iroh’s siege of ba sing se was a really great change. i’ve always thought the original glossed over the true extent of the damage iroh did, so having him come face to face with what he’d done in the past was a great way to add some complexity

“how dare you beat up that child!” everyone go home seeing zuko being beat up by a random old lady is the highlight of this series. really love that they were just running around throwing things at each other that was major book 1 zuko/aang fight energy lmao

SECRET TUNNELLLLLLLL

leaves from the vine instrumental was 100% to inflict emotional damage and it fucking worked. the scene between zuko and iroh at lu ten’s funeral was so beautiful & then to have it flipped around at the end when iroh says “everything i need is on this boat”… fuck you for this netflix i didn’t need these tears today

things i disliked/am conflicted about:

not a fan of what they’re doing with katara’s character. they’re toning down a lot of her rage and fierceness, and boiling her down to “trauma over mother’s death.” in the original katara didn’t freeze jet and splash water at him because he tried to fight her, she did it because she was hurt and pissed off! there’s no way animated katara would’ve just run away from jet without sending a water whip at his face first. i’m concerned for how the pakku fight is gonna go tbh

bumi my guy, what did they do to you 💀 this series seems hellbent on having everyone remind aang that he ran away which doesn’t work when a) you already changed aang actively running away to him just going off for a break and b) you’ve made that point! the original omashu episode was about bumi teaching aang to look at the world differently, here it just weirdly feels as though he’s punishing aang by venting all his anger and despair on him?? that’s NOT what animated bumi was like & they didn’t even have the two of them go sliding down the delivery system in the flashbacks so adding it in at the end felt very out of nowhere. they didn’t even genuinely seem to be FRIENDS

having aang immediately figure out it was bumi was… sigh. can we please not do the thing where characters already know everything it’s giving me trauma flashbacks to the percy jackson show

jet’s plan feels more reasonable here than it did in the original. i get they’re trying to show that he didn’t care about the collateral damage to innocent people and that’s bad, but idk him wiping out an entire town unilaterally felt more extreme than a few bombings.

heavily dislike what they’ve done with zhao. i know they’re trying to show him clawing his way to power but that’s more of a long feng move than a ZHAO move. it’s important that zhao always holds more power than zuko and that he has an overinflated sense of ego from the start for him to fulfil his narrative purpose of serving as a warning to zuko of what he might become.

i like seeing mailee but why are they in this show? it feels as though they’re cardboard cutouts there for fan service instead of being actual characters

overall i liked these episodes better than the previous two & i do enjoy how action-packed and visually pleasing the show has been so far.

overall rating: 8/10 for episode 3, 7/10 for episode 4

[darklinaforever]

Wedding present/ gift for after she becomes queen zuko gives katara, zuko manages to find more dragon eggs, this time blue dragons. He gives one to Katara. Yes I want this mostly because imagine when (a better written) legend of korra comes around and ambassador/queen mother katara comes to teach Korra water bending and she comes to the south pole on the back of her big blue dragon all badass looking and queenly.

And the dragon is so sweet and nice, and loves Korra and Naga, but if you hurt his queen he cooks you alive. Basically Katara's dragon is a protective zuko but sweeter.

Oh my God ! A blue dragon for Katara given by Zuko as a wedding gift ?! I would love it ! Even only within the framework of their great friendship! I'm literally working on the concept of a story based on a romance / fantasy, coded Zutara, and the girl with water summoning powers actually has a dragon. But a water dragon, precisely, to correspond to Asian mythology. While the boy will have a phoenix. I really like imagining this alternate universe where Zutara took place ! Especially when we have ideas like that !

[wilcze-kudly]

I once told a Kataang anti trying to do the 'Kataangers worship Bryke so that's why they're hating Natla even though they ALSO ruined Katara' narrative when plenty of Kataangers are critical of Bryke that they(and Zutaras in gen)don't actually talk to Kataang shippers other than to bully us and i quote 'I see you EVERYWHERE get a JOB' and i feel that really sums up my feelings on Z/Ks.They love making everything about their ships and anti ships even on strangers' post and that is absolute jobless behavior coming from someone with a part time job who does activism like charity and community service too💀Sucks 2 suck and comrade Zuko wouldn't be havin' that shit

Yeah see while I try not to have an irrational hatered of bryke, I approach them (as I do most big creators tbh) with a certain level of scepticism and distrust. They've certainly made a lot of blunders and shitty decisions both in their works and irl. But I think sometimes the fandom misses out on 2 very important things. 1) Mike and Bryan are 2 seperate people you'll be surprised how many people I've seen gomplain about them that thought they were one guy. And 2) we are not privy to evrry conversation, every discussion etc. We can only speculate and go off testimonies when it comes to things like theorising on who in the writers room made what decision etc etc.

I will gladly call them out on things they mess up (I mean look at me screaming into the void about Kuvira and how they fucked that storyline over.) Like for example, the less then stellar treatment of South Asian cultures and people in both atla and tlok, which I think is a much more obvious and poignant subject than busting out the red yarn and trying to figure out whether or not they injected their own preferences into Kataang or something equally nebulous.

I just don't really understand the animosity from a lot of zutara shipers ig? Like girl why are you beefing with a 12 year old fictional character and having a weird parasocial hateful obsession with two white guys. Make some soup. Eat a snickers. Moisturise.

[airiustide]

[ID: Image in three panels taking place in the Southern Water Tribe. First panel Zuko is dressed in Fire Nation attire and a furred cloak with long hair and topknot. He has a stunned expression and is cuffed at the right wrist with ice against a pillar. Second panel, Katara is dressing in traditional Water Tribe attire and with her hair in a single braid. She is seen in a bending form. Zuko is scowling. At the bottom panel it reads, “Katara, Queen Consort of the Fire Nation...do not forget I am your husband.” Third panel, Katara is smirking and waterbends. Zuko is melting the ice cuff around his wrist. End ID]

My contribution for @south-asian-zutara. Based on the lovely fic by @that-turtleduck and @ai-manre and their adaption of one of my favorite bollywood movies, Jodhaa Akbar. It has been an absolute pleasure to work on this project and the amazingly talented people that are part of it. Please check out @risemaclay beautiful art piece for this story as well. And a big thanks to @whisperingwinds007 and @hvitserker for being betas!

[feeplings]

"When someone is in love… there is no right or wrong." – Jab We Met (2007)

Here's my contribution for @south-asian-zutara's Zutara Dhamaka! I had so much fun with my team and I've learned quite a lot of new things which I'm grateful for. Sharing cultures is always such a wonderful thing and I'm happy I could do it in a way I love the most 🧡 (Also this movie was so good omg)

Please check out the fic I drew this for as well as Rise's art piece! Thank you for my other teammates who helped with this project.

AO3: wherever i go (i see you) by @burst-of-iridescent Art by @risemaclay Additional help from @kaoruhana08 @hvitserker

[forevermore05]

You know, I have one thing to say to the writers of ATLA after taking South Asian culture and Hinduism and using it as the backbone for your show and then also demeaning its values and scripture.

विनाशकारी विपरीत बुद्धि। which means destructive opposite intelligence

This speaks for itself in all aspects of the show, whether that be how the characters were written, or the romance (ifykyk) and morals that are in this show.

[risemaclay]

"Judge from the heart what you want to do ... your mind will find a way for it." [Dil Dhadakne Do, 2015]

[ID: Katara and Zuko are sitting on a round rock, facing the cityscape. The landscape is painted in hue of yellow, orange and violent for the sunset's light, with rosy clouds in the sky. They're dressed in modern clothes: Katara has her long hair free and is wearing dark turquoise trousers and terracotta red top with white lace decoration over it; Zuko has short hair and is wearing pair of long white trousers and a blue shirt with white stripes. Both have their hair blowing in the wind. End ID]

Another art, another beautiful story for @south-asian-zutara 's project Zutara Dhamaka! Working with @thebansheeandherboy @justanotherghostwriter @nanunanu22 and Integra was a wonderful experience and I'm so happy I had this chance. Working on this piece inspired by Dil Dhadakne Do, which is the Bollywood film Banshee used as inspiration for her story Sharing My Fragile Truth, was wonderful but challenging for me. Drawing a city view was more complicated that what I thought, but it was worth it!

Be sure to check out Integra's work, Nanu beautiful aesthetic board, read the fanfiction, and Let Your Heart Beat ✨

Link to AO3

Link to Integra's art (posted by Banshee)

Link to Nanu's aesthetic board

[mintchochipkookie]

ATLA Fic Masterlist

Zutara

Stay By My Side (one shot, fluff, canon divergence) Part 1 of the "I Will Draw a Beautiful Purple Shade" series Written for Zutara Minibang 2021 AO3 | Fanart

One Step at a Time (fluff, canon divergence) Part 2 of the "I Will Draw a Beautiful Purple Shade" series AO3

Sharing My Fragile Truth (fluff, modern au, south asian au) Written for Zutara Dhamaka 2021 AO3 | Fanart 1 | Fanart 2 | Aesthetic Board

The Stars of Your Galaxy (one shot, fluff, modern au, meet-cute) AO3

Can't Get Close Enough to You (fluff, smut, modern au) Part 1 of the "Moon in the Summer Night" series AO3 | Inspiration

"Friends"…Just For Now (one shot, humour, text messages/smau, modern au, gaang pov) Part 1.5 of the "Moon in the Summer Night" series AO3

Take My Hands and Trace Your Lines (fluff, smut, modern au) Part 2 of the "Moon in the Summer Night" series AO3 | Inspiration

The Star in My Heart (one shot, fluff, modern au) Part 3 of the "Moon in the Summer Night" series AO3

Kantoph

Hectic (one shot, fluff, modern au) AO3

[eponastory]

So, I've been working on my Zutara fic and listening to Eivor...

Specifically, Salt.

It's so Katara that it isn't even funny.

This is the English version, but the original is sung in Faroese dialect. Eivor has been giving me some inspiration with her music even though it's Faroese and not Inuit (which I've also been listening to), but Eivor has a particular throat and breathing technique that just makes her music so earthy and primordial. It just matches the theme I'm going for as far as Katara and the culture of the Southern Water Tribe.

Speaking of culture... I do a lot of research on cultures when I want to add real-world aspects. As far as Inuit goes, there are many things I want to add to the Water Tribes to give them more of a foundation. There are several ethnic groups that were part of the Inuit that I will also be pulling from, specifically some of the Siberian and Greenland tribes. They are different yet share a lot of the same traditions that may have been altered when the whole groups split thousands of years ago (and yes, I mean thousands).

The same will be done with the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom with their East Asian and South Asian roots (including Mongolian because we need a whole group of horse-ostritch people with their badass throat singing while riding into battle) because there is so much to expand on in this universe and I hate that Bryke couldn't go deep into culture (is it fair to say that it's been Americanized to where cultures aren't thoroughly represented?). I'm disappointed in them, to be honest...

Still, I'll do my best with what I can dig up via the peer reviewed articles and studies done by actual anthropologists, historians, and cultural experts.

Why not? If you're going to do something... do it right. Don't half ass it.

[mesencephaleisole]

Art for the piecehttps://archiveofourown.org/works/35110162/chapters/87463165 , written by @twinsarekeepers in an awesome fest @southasianzutara

[south-asian-zutara]

Zutara Dhamaka Alert!

The posting for the Zutara Dhamaka begins on 13/11/21 at 6am PST! We’ve got a global team of very talented writers, betas and artists who have lined up a Zutara Big Bang event based on South Asian movies and culture!!

Unfortunately, we cannot access our original account @southasianzutara - this new one will be the official account for event purposes.

So buckle up as you experience the story of Zuko and Katara once again- desi style.

[southasianzutara]

Calling all South Asian Zutarians: the Contributor Applications for the Zutara Dhamaka are now open!

What is the Zutara Dhamaka?

A collaborative effort to make Zuko and Katara fall in love in one more universe - this time, Bollywood-style!

*Cue dramatic camera panning, ridiculously exaggerated expressions, and a very random roll of thunder.*

We'll put our heads together to create a project (or projects - depending on interest!) that packages together fanart, fanfic, edits, AMVs, and any other sort of content you can come up with, and the end result should be mind-blowing.

(Some examples of movies we could consider adapting are Jaane Tu...Ya Jaane Na, Baahubali, Bajirao Mastani, and the like. We'll all be brainstorming/voting on this together, so don't worry too much about this part! You do not need to have any prior knowledge of Bollywood to participate.)

More information can be found in the form itself. Any questions can be directed to our moderators through the Discord server, Twitter, or Tumblr.

If you're interested in being a writer, artist, beta reader, musician, gifset/edit creator, or creating any other type of content for this event, please fill out the form by July 11th, 11:59 P.M. EST.