[ SECRET POST #1946 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #1946 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 04 pages, 092 secrets from Secret Submission Post #278.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - hit/ship/spiration ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

First anon

and leaves the reader hoping for them to get together from that early moment

Er...not everyone wants the hero to get the girl every time. In fact a lot of people are sick of it. And I don't typically ship people when they've only had one or two episodes together.

Anyway, my question was, it kind of sounded like you thought Aang and Katara were supposed to be together JUST BECAUSE they were the first couple. Which...is kind of a weird reason. I mean you can ship for whatever the reason you want but to me it seems very arbitrary. And boring.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

First meetings in narrative can establish expectations, though. If there's any romantic tension created in the meeting that's one kind of expectation that the reader/viewer's given. I agree that being "together," as in two characters just present together, isn't enough, you are right! But romantic tension can be established in a few words or looks and can broadcast the author's intention. When that happens to characters before they've established romantic tension with anyone else in the story (I'm going to assume that's what we both mean by the "first couple"; by all means correct me if you meant something else) then that can be a powerful expectation, and it's true, I do like to cling to that unless I actively dislike the pairing idea from the start. Especially if the moments of romantic tension continue to be developed; a sudden change after all of that gets established feels like something went askew with the intended storyline.

[(Anonymous)]

Those are all very good points, but I disagree with your overall assessment for two reasons. One, I didn't pick up any romantic tension between Katara and Aang in the first episode, and I know I'm far from the only one. They did pick some up as the season progressed, though imo it was not as much as Katara had with Zuko or even Jet (probably because of Aang's immaturity). And yeah, I definitely thought by "first couple" you meant Main Guy and Main Girl who became friends in first episode. But even if they were the first couple to be presented romantically (which I guess they are unless you count Katara and Jet, as well as a few pairings that had nothing to do with either of them) that doesn't automatically mean people will think they should end up together or even that the writers were trying to say that. It's pretty common for a character to end up with someone other than their first romantic interest (see lots of examples from Harry Potter, for instance).

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

This is the point where I pretty much nod and agree with just about everything you've said, because now you're narrowing it down specifically to ATLA and the example of Aang and Katara, and you say, "I didn't pick up any romantic tension between Katara and Aang in the first episode." If the reader/viewer doesn't see romantic tension then no argument about author intention or narrative expectations are going to satisfy, I agree. I did perceive romantic tension between Aang and Katara right away, but you're right, not every viewer will. And boy, have I been on that side at times--the "What? You think that was romantic tension?" side. Don't get me started, I'll be here all night. ^_^