Mmm. Honestly, from the fic reading I have done so far, I do not see the point of Zutara. Maiko is much more my speed. Also, many of the Zutara epics I've glanced at seem to take 'destined love' as their base assumption, and that is a theme that drives me up the wall.
I am not opposed to Zutara -- I don't see the point in being opposed to ships in general -- and if a story takes the time to build a proper, non-melodramatic relationship between them without relying on the destined love trope, while also including an interesting gen plot, I may well enjoy it. But I have thus far found myself reading even those stories with a niggling voice at the back of my head saying, "Okay, fine, but can we stop lingering on the romance and get back to the gen plot, the world-building, and the character explication parts?" which is generally a sign that a pairing is not my cup of tea. *shrug* Obviously, your mileage varies!
While I agree that strongly sexualized Kataang would be icky until he is, as you say, fifteen-ish, young teenagers can be awfully cute in the throes of crushes and fumbling first tries at romance. And nothing says that Aang and Katara have to go past kissing during canon or for a few years thereafter. Since my impression of canon is that they do not particularly sexualize Kataang, I fail to see your objection to the pairing. Do you feel that all shipfics must be sexualized? If so, I would find that very odd. Or is it just that you have run across a lot of sexualized Kataang fics? Because I would find that rather odd as well.
Sorry for the doubled comment; I hit post too soon the first time.
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Date: 2009-10-20 06:26 am (UTC)I am not opposed to Zutara -- I don't see the point in being opposed to ships in general -- and if a story takes the time to build a proper, non-melodramatic relationship between them without relying on the destined love trope, while also including an interesting gen plot, I may well enjoy it. But I have thus far found myself reading even those stories with a niggling voice at the back of my head saying, "Okay, fine, but can we stop lingering on the romance and get back to the gen plot, the world-building, and the character explication parts?" which is generally a sign that a pairing is not my cup of tea. *shrug* Obviously, your mileage varies!
While I agree that strongly sexualized Kataang would be icky until he is, as you say, fifteen-ish, young teenagers can be awfully cute in the throes of crushes and fumbling first tries at romance. And nothing says that Aang and Katara have to go past kissing during canon or for a few years thereafter. Since my impression of canon is that they do not particularly sexualize Kataang, I fail to see your objection to the pairing. Do you feel that all shipfics must be sexualized? If so, I would find that very odd. Or is it just that you have run across a lot of sexualized Kataang fics? Because I would find that rather odd as well.
Sorry for the doubled comment; I hit post too soon the first time.