Latest Posts by yourlocaldreamergirl - Page 6

Katara: How Destiny is Defined as a Purpose (not a Person)

I know there are many other ATLA meta essays describing how “Katara had so much potential than just marry Aang and be a housewife/mom after ATLA” and I wanted to explore this topic with the focus on Destiny.

We all know the laundry list of characteristics she demonstrated in the show:

- Katara is a diplomatic, inspirational leader.  She got herself arrested and helped Earthbenders fight oppression and reclaim their dignity.

- Katara is a hardcore, non-apologetic feminist.  She challenged an elder in the Northern Water Tribe and broke their centuries of tradition to give female water-benders the opportunity to become soldiers as much as healers.

- Katara is resourceful and holds people together through hopeless times.  She directed the Gaang through the Si Wong desert on her own.

- Katara has a strong, impeccable sense of work ethic.  Without the luxury of having a teacher for most of her life, she managed to master water-bending in less than a year through sheer discipline.

- Katara is a believer of good virtues, and doesn’t abuse others with her extraordinary power.  Despite mastering the technique for Bloodbending, she chooses not to practice it.

- Katara practices positive reinforcement.  She knows how talk Aang through emotional obstacles, how to boost Sokka’s ego and make him feel like the “smarter” sibling, how to encourage Toph without being bossy, and how to reassure Zuko that his emotional growth has earned forgiveness.

- Katara is an environmental activist and encourages the less fortunate to fight for a better life.  She defended a small Fire Nation village from sickness and oppression, teaching them to help themselves rather than “wait for a hero to arrive.”

With all of these traits and characteristics, there was quite an array of potential that Katara could explore for herself at the end of the war… but it seemed as if her character and story arc faded behind the Avatar’s bigger narrative.

What really bothered me about the episode “the Fortuneteller” was that, rather than describing the amazing things Katara would accomplish in her life, Aunt Wu only seemed to imply that Katara’s destiny was established as the person she would eventually marry (”a very powerful bender”).  

It bothered me because it really set a precedent to just how little power the creators/writers of the show wanted to give Katara by the end of the show.  It was as if to say “no– she would not lead her own story and be remembered as Katara of the Southern Water Tribe.  History would only remember her as someone(most likely the Avatar)’s wife.”

There’s an additional layer to Katara’s character that makes this problematic to fix: Katara is a character deeply enveloped with hope, faith, and believing in the unbelievable… and her greatest belief was that the Avatar would save the world.  She had so much hope that the Avatar would return that deep down, she failed to realize that it was because of her that the Avatar is even back in the first place!  Aang didn’t return to the world on his own; he was found frozen in an iceberg.  Katara’s blessing and curse was that she grew up with a deep spiritual faith, and of emotional attachment due to the loss of her mother.  Finding Aang and realizing he’s the Avatar would be something out of a fairy tale for her, and she would idolize Aang for the rest of her life.  The idea of a spiritual person “letting go” of their spiritual idol in order to chart their own destiny would be very, very hard.  

While there is a small hint in the finale, thanks to Zuko holding Katara back from going to an upset Aang after a conversation of whether or not to kill the Fire Lord… Katara never realized she eventually had to “let go” of that emotional attachment to Aang.  

She never learned to separate her spiritual devotion to the Avatar from her friendship with Aang, understanding that the two relationships could be mutually exclusive from one another.

She never learned to let Aang’s destiny be defined by this kid’s own choices, not always relying on her personal influence on him.

This is were I strongly believe the writer’s could’ve done better:  Katara’s destiny is indeed entwined with Aang’s, but that didn’t mean that her life’s purpose was to follow Aang wherever he went.

Aang is the Avatar.  He is meant to travel all over the world and maintain spiritual peace and balance.  That is his destiny.  Of course, any kid would feel alone and overwhelmed by that amount of responsibility, but let’s remember how destiny can be shaped as needed.  Aang might feel alone in the world, but the world is also his home, and without changing who he is, Aang can make friends wherever he goes to help him successfully realize his role as the Avatar.

The problem was that Aang interpreted this flexibility about destiny as something else: that if he loved her enough, Katara would always be at his side.

What Aang should’ve understood about destiny is this: Katara is her own character, with her own defined values, needs, wants and drive.  Her destiny may have been entwined with Aang’s, but it was never actually Aang.  

Since the start of the show, Katara is very much a self-reliant, compassionate character with the goal of becoming a master water bender.  Rather than waiting for the men of her tribe to return, Katara wanted to play an active role and fight to end the great war, helping people in need along the way.  Traveling with Aang and training him as the Avatar helped to fulfill these goals.

Once the war is over after Sozin’s Comet arrives and Ozai is defeated, there’s no reason that Katara’s personal drive and initiative would slow down.  She wouldn’t want to simply go auto-pilot and appease to where Aang would ask her to go.  Katara would listen to her heart and her instincts, and find the courage to travel to wherever the world would need her most after the war.

Based on the various characteristics and traits that she demonstrated through the show, Katara’s destiny (in my own humble opinion) was to help rebuild the Southern Water Tribe with water benders and travel on her own to the Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation as a peace councillor, using her knowledge, experience, and water-bending mastery on behalf of Avatar Aang’s peaceful agenda.  She would be the Avatar’s greatest supporter without actually having to be at his side all the time.  

Katara’s destiny should not be to always be with Aang, romantically or platonically.  It does not end with finding the Avatar, or helping the Avatar into this unknown war-torn world, or even realizing how much the Avatar loves her.  Her destiny continues with whatever it is she wants to do for the world.

To sum up:

Destiny is an ongoing, personal journey defined by a sense of purpose. 

The ATLA writers and Bryke didn’t seem to have a problem placing Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph under this definition of Destiny: in LoK and in the comics, each of these characters would have their own goals and stories to later mark in history after the war.

Katara should’ve been no different.  

She was not meant to fade behind anyone else’s narrative after the war, and yet writers ultimately placed her story as secondary to Aang’s.  It was as if to say, if Katara’s story did not involve the Avatar, it was not worth telling… and this became a huge disservice to her character.

ua boyfriends

( Source )

a little comic about hands, love, and owning a body that was not your own

Some of my favourite recommendations for you to binge this summer:

The Society (15+)

Sweet Tooth (15+)

The A List (12+)

Young Royals (15+)

Atypical (12+)

Never Have I Ever (12+)

Skins (18+)

The End Of The F***ing World (15+)

Outer Banks (15+)

Fleabag (15+) - Amazon Prime

The Wilds (15+) - Amazon Prime

Sex Education (18+)

Anne with an E (12+)

Glee (12+)

The Queens Gambit (15+)

Stranger Things (15+)

I Am Not Okay With This (15+)

Locke & Key (15+)

Schitts Creek (15+)

Haven't watched a game in forever; but this makes me fucking heartbroken

❝The truth is my idea has been to always stay at Barcelona and see out the rest of my career here. Like I always say, one doesn’t know what can happen in the future, but if it were up to me to decide, I would stay at Barcelona for the rest of my career.❞ thank you, lionel messi 💖

I'm a sucker for the "there's no straight explanation for me and my bff even if we'll never become canon" mlm trope

Like, they seem to be very good friends

Anime edition:

BNHA - Kacchan/Deku

D Gray Man - Allen/Kanda

Fairy Tail - Natsu/Gray

K Project - Misaki/Saruhiko

Attack on Titan - Eren/Jean

Kuroko no Basuke - Kagami/Aomine

One Piece - Zoro/Sanji

Bungou Stray Dogs - Dazai/Chuuya

Durarara - Shizuo/Izaya

Top 10 anime ships that should have been canon

1. Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha (Naruto)

2. Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia Kuchiki (Bleach)

3. Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka (Naruto)

4. Ken Kaneki and Hideyoshi Nagachika (Tokyo Ghoul)

5. Orihime Inoue and Tatsuki Arisawa (Bleach)

6. Misaki Yata and Saruhiko Fushimi (K)

7. Toshiro Hitsugaya and Momo Hinamori (Bleach)

8. Mato Kuroi and Yomi Takanashi (Black Rock Shooter)

9. Hinata Hyuga and Kiba Inuzuka (Naruto)

10. Lucy Heartfilia and Loke/Leo (Fairy Tail)

I too make heart eyes whenever Sam Wilson does anything

#same bucky

I wouldn’t mind waking up everyday to see this :) [art not mine]

Kaneki and Hide “let’s go home.”  (ノД`)・゜・。

I just can’t get over it…. sorry about the horrible drawing, I really need to do this…..

(Pencil on paper, Photoshop)

Some excellent Spanish language series

Dota: Dragon’s Blood

For the 8 years that I have been drawing this series what I want to convey hasn't changed. A feeling of "wanting to live freely”. Look at what you want, eat what you wish, then sleep without any burdens, that is the kind of life I want to fulfill. If I draw out my characters living this simple way of life, maybe the reader too can feel a moment of happiness through this particular work. Then I think this is a good thing that I have done.

UMIBE NO ÉTRANGER / エトランゼシリーズ (2020)                     → dir. Akiyo Ohashi | original story by Kii Kanna

they’re not even trying to hide the parallels anymore

6 TED-Ed lessons to watch on International Women’s Day

Happy International Women’s Day! Here’s a list of TED-Ed Lessons to watch as you celebrate all of the world’s women, past and present.

The genius of Marie Curie: Marie Skłodowska Curie’s revolutionary research laid the groundwork for our understanding of physics and chemistry, blazing trails in oncology, technology, medicine, and nuclear physics, to name a few. But what did she actually do? Shohini Ghose expounds on some of Marie Skłodowska Curie’s most revolutionary discoveries.

The contributions of female explorers: During the Victorian Age, women were unlikely to become great explorers, but a few intelligent, gritty and brave women made major contributions to the study of previously little-understood territory. Courtney Stephens examines three women – Marianne North, Mary Kingsley and Alexandra David-Néel – who wouldn’t take no for an answer (and shows why we should be grateful that they didn’t).

Equality, sports and Title IX: In 1972, U.S. Congress passed Title IX, a law which prohibited discrimination against women in schools, colleges, and universities — including school-sponsored sports. Before this law, female athletes were few and far between, and funding was even scarcer. Erin Buzuvis and Kristine Newhall explore the significance and complexity of Title IX.

The true story of Sacajawea: In the early 19th century, a young Agaidika teenager named Sacajawea was enlisted by explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to aid her husband Toussaint Charbonneau as a guide to the Western United States. Karen Mensing debunks some of the myths that surround the familiar image of the heroic woman with a baby strapped to her back and a vast knowledge of the American wilderness.

Why should you read Virginia Woolf?: How best can we understand the internal experience of alienation? In both her essays and her fiction, Virginia Woolf shapes the slippery nature of subjective experience into words, while her characters frequently lead inner lives that are deeply at odds with their external existence. Iseult Gillespie helps make sense of these disparities to prepare you for the next time you read Virgina Woolf.

The pharaoh that wouldn’t be forgotten: Hatshepsut was a female pharaoh during the New Kingdom in Egypt. Twenty years after her death, somebody smashed her statues, took a chisel and attempted to erase the pharaoh’s name and image from history. But who did it? And why? Kate Green investigates Hatshepsut’s history for clues to this ancient puzzle. 

just how i feel, can you tell what’s real anymore cos i wouldn’t know

HAPPY WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH!  Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.

we’ve all heard of polio, a disabling and life-threatening disease caused by poliovirus, that ran rampant through the world before it was eradicated (in the west) with the introduction of a vaccine in the 1950s. enough time has passed that most of us, and most of our parents, have grown up without knowing people who survived polio.

what I bet you didn’t know about is something called Post-Polio Syndrome. it occurs in more than half of people who survive poliovirus, and it occurs decades later. year after people have lived through polio, years after they have “recovered,” they begin to struggle. they begin to decline. they experience pain and weakness and loss of function. they develop new disabilities, and see old disabilities worsen. and there is no cure, only management. 

That’s what happens post poliovirus. It happens bc poliovirus causes lifelong damage, the extent of which is only revealed decades later. We are among the first generations to grow up not knowing people who live with the longterm consequences of poliovirus.

We will be among the first to find out what Post-Corona Syndrome looks like.

The found family in Sk8 the infinity is something so beautiful

family gaming time (and everything is going according to keikaku 😼)

Papa! Mama said if you don’t get back soon, she’ll kill you.

Kiribaku Fics Rec

2am Knows All Secrets - 59k - … It wasn’t that he was annoyed. Okay, maybe he was a little annoyed, but that was just the lack of sleep talking. Because a certain explosive punk thought it was a good idea to test the flammability of his sheets at 2 in the morning. Every single morning. (In which Bakugou’s quirk wakes Kirishima up, and Kirishima gets way too invested in his bro’s well-being.)

downhill - 5.5k - Bakugou sleeping in the common areas like it’s no big deal seems to give everyone else permission to be just as bizarre, and little by little Kirishima starts learning things about his classmates he never knew.

Dulcet - 4.2k - He’s angry, and too embarrassed to specify at whom. There isn’t even any real need to be, and if he were smooth enough, he could have dished out some bullshit yet still acceptable reply. But instead, he chokes–stammers: “What the fuck?”

slow it down (go easy on me) - 26.9k - It’s at that moment that Bakugou realizes something is very, very wrong. He glances down at himself and sees scars he’s never had before along his arms, little nicks and scratches he’d never have been oblivious to. When he reaches up, his limbs feel longer, and as he staggers to his feet he stands several centimeters taller than he had, last thing he knew. He glances at the mirror, catches sight of his reflection, and screams. One of the doors on the opposite side of the room bursts open, steam spilling out into the bedroom. A man crosses the room in quick strides, looking around for some enemy he can’t yet see. No, not just a man. Kirishima. When a confrontation with a villain throws Bakugou through time, he’s forced to face a future he never imagined, and maybe something he can’t leave behind.

not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all - 4k - The proposition is simple: fake-date the single scariest human being on the planet so Todoroki Shouto can go out with his brother. The thing is, with Bakugou, Kirishima thinks he may have signed up for more than he’d bargained for. (A 10 Things I Hate About You AU.)

i want you to show me - 3.6k - “I already told you, I’m not gonna break, you don’t have to go slow.” “What if I want to, though?” Kirishima murmurs quietly. “What if I wanna take my time with you?” Bakugou shivers.

Overworked & Underfucked - 11.9k - “It’s just not manly to leave your bro like this, after knowing he can’t do anything about it, you know?” Kirishima blabbers some kind of bullshit excuse, and the worst part is that it looks like he’s totally convinced of it. “It’s just a— handjob,” he stumbles over the word, the weight of what he’s proposing hitting him all at once, but he doesn’t stop. “—but if you’re not into it we can pretend I didn’t just say that.” Bakugou has to restrain himself from saying that he’s very much into it. Like, a lot, really. - a.k.a Kirishima learns the reason behind Bakugou’s grumpiest days, and he offers to help because that’s what best bros do.

Love 101 (Aşk 101) : OT5

“We were all so different from each other… But that was the first time we felt like a team.We never talked about it,but we were all thinking the same thing.We changed each other.This friendship was good for all of us.”- Işık

+ bonus : 

9-1-1 ▸ 4.04 9-1-1, What’s Your Grievance?

It won't cure your mental illness, but it'll make it easier to exist in this world.

romanticize your life. i cannot stress this enough. use scented shower gel and shampoo, so you look forward to showers. go on walks and see how pretty the sky looks. notice the wildflowers on the roadside as you drive. light a candle when you get home to make your room smell good. notice & appreciate the little things in life. it won't cure your mental illness, but it'll make it easier to exist in this world.

This was super sweet!! ☀️

ISI & OSSI (2020), dir. Oliver Kienle

To a Decade of Anime

I can’t believe how fast time has gone, like how are we already at the end of a decade! Nevertheless, it has been a crazy couple years for me and I’m sure for most of us, lots of growing up and life changes. One thing that was special about this decade is I got into anime. I’ve always been a reserved person and around my high school days I had a lot of responsibilities that made it hard to do the things “normal” teenagers did. I think it would be safe to say that anime gave me enjoyment in life and the stories to be told. From the tearjerkers to the “WTF did I just watch”, the series that made me laugh like a maniac and the ones that left several holes in my walls, anime has definitely impacted my life one way or another (^^).

So to end this decade I’m going to be listing my favorite anime, some honorable mentions and underrated anime for each year (2010 - 2019). These are solely based on my own opinion and some shows not on here may just be ones I haven’t watched yet. Also I’m not going to be putting any continuing seasons, only season ones. I know I’m not very present on Tumblr as I used to be but I really love being on this platform. Happy new year and I hope the next decade treats everyone nice! 

PS. this is going to be a very long post sorry (><)

2010:

Favorite Anime: Angel Beats (P.A. Works)

Honorable Mentions: Durarara!! (Brain’s Base), The World God Only Knows (Manglobe), Maid Sama! (J.C.Staff)

Underrated Anime: Princess Jellyfish (Brain’s Base)

2011:

Favorite Anime: Fate/Zero (Ufotable)

Honorable Mentions: Blue Exorcist (A-1 Pictures), The Idolm@ster (A-1 Pictures), Anohana (A-1 Pictures)

Underrated Anime: Bunny Drop (Production I.G)

2012: 

Favorite Anime: Little Busters (J.C.Staff)

Honorable Mentions: Love Chunibyo & Other Delusions (Kyoto Animation), Kids on the Slope (MAPPA), Kuroko’s Basketball (Production I.G)

Underrated Anime: Tsuritama (A-1 Pictures)

2013: 

Favorite Anime: (I was stuck between these two so I made it a tie)

1.) Karneval (Manglobe)

2.) Galilei Donna (A-1 Pictures)

Honorable Mentions: Silver Spoon (A-1 Pictures), My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, As I Expected (Brain’s Base), Beyond the Boundary (Kyoto Animation)

Underrated Anime: Sunday Without God (Madhouse)

2014:

Favorite Anime:  Terror in Resonance (MAPPA)

Honorable Mentions: Monthly Girl’s Nozaki-kun (Doga Kobo), No Game No Life (Madhose), Mekakucity Actors (Shaft)

Underrated Anime:  Laughing Under the Clouds (Doga Kobo)

2015:

Favorite Anime:  Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches (Liden Films)

Honorable Mentions: Charlotte (P.A. Works), Assassination Classroom (Lerche), Death Parade (Madhouse)

Underrated Anime: Beautiful Bones: Sakurako’s Investigation (Troyca)

2016:

Favorite Anime: Erased (A-1 Pictures)

Honorable Mentions: Bungo Stray Dogs (Bones), Kiznaiver (Trigger), Servamp (Brain’s Base/Platinum Vision)

Underrated Anime:  Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash (A-1 Pictures)

2017:  

Favorite Anime:  Rage of Bahamut: Virgin Soul (MAPPA)

*I know technically this is sequel but I don’t really consider it as one

Honorable Mentions: Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid (Kyoto Animation), World End (Satelight/C2C), Masamune-kun’s Revenge (Silver Link)

Underrated Anime: Tsuredure Children (Studio Gokumi)

2018:

Favorite Anime: Violet Evergarden (Kyoto Animation)

Honorable Mentions: Banana Fish (MAPPA), Zombieland Saga (MAPPA), Citrus (Passione)

Underrated Anime: After the Rain (Wit Studio)

2019:

Favorite Anime: Fruits Basket (TMS/8PAN) *also I know this is a 2019 remake but how could I not put it on here

Honorable Mentions: Fire Force (David Production), The Quintessential Quintuplets (Tezuka Productions), Given (Lerche)

Underrated Anime: Dororo (Mushi Productions)

“When seeking guidance, don’t ever listen to the tiny-hearted. Be kind to them, heap them with blessing, cajole them, but do not follow their advice.”

— Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype

Kiri and flowersss!🥰

please you could not let me flop, you can draw this after a long time in artistic block, I was very proud🥺💖

Now that this corner is pretty much finished, I can turn my attention towards other parts of the house ✨