No, no, now you're confusing me, haha. I was referring to part of my first comment: "like, so you have the Queen Bees find their following and the quiet/weird girls pair off, etc."
I don't even know what I was talking about, but definitely not Katara and Toph :> I can't picture either of them as a queen. That's really where the metaphor fails for me-- because I do think guys are literally endowed with a pack mentality, but I don't see girls falling into a queen/worker binary so easily. I feel like some girls do and some girls, er, don't. I know I don't, haha. I prefer to be Switzerland when it comes to human (or female/female) relationships, and I also don't prefer or focus on female/female relationships any more than f/m or f/f/m or m/m/f or something. What happens when bees and dogs cross over? Worlds collide! haha. So yeah, in my personal experience, I just quietly pair off with other quiet girls who like to pair off (and even if they're queenish or outgoing, they tone it down with me, because I just don't mix with groups very well, as all my friends know).
So yeah, I dunno. Um, I don't think Katara tried to *dominate* Toph, exactly...?? And also, these power-struggles aren't automatically *those* sorts of power struggles (and besides, the Queen doesn't really struggle or fight for her position the way an Alpha does, she's just sort of... different). Like, Toph is very individualistic and 'hey, I can do it myself, thanks', which makes her like me in that sense-- this is where the whole queen metaphor breaks down, too. You can be a 'lone wolf' (outside the hierarchy), but there are no lone bees. Which makes sense-- while dogs and other pack animals are in our bloodlines pretty directly, we're not really related to bees, hahah.
So yeah, I don't think Toph wanted dominance over anyone, but rather autonomy and independence, which is different. Katara, on the other hand, also wanted something that's not quite queeny-type dominance-- she's not Azula in that she wants power/fear/respect/minions. Rather, she's a different archetype: rather than being taken care of or 'served' as a Queen, she wants to take care and to serve. This is sort of the flipside of that feminine archetype: the Bitch Queen vs. the Sweet Mother. Sometimes, 'tis true, the Mother is a bitch (haha) but usually this involves different motivations and conditions and such. Katara seems to be a bitch to Toph and/or trying to 'claim' her, but really she's just frustrated Toph isn't appreciating her efforts to draw her in.
Though really, Katara has more of a 'hive' (well, family) than Toph does: she wanted to share that with her, though Toph perceived the sharing as stifling (always a danger with that type of person). Katara has Sokka and Aang, and they're both very much hers. But this is different than how Azula possesses the other girls, mostly 'cause Azula uses intimidation/force rather than love.
Anyway, the metaphor gets really weird when it's possible to have a hive of one, hahah; it seems like a contradiction in terms (isn't every individual then a hive of one? haha though I suppose Aang is special having all the Avatars inside him, but it's not like he's aware of them unless he's in the Avatar state, and who knows what he's really aware of then... though now this is amusing me as an AU-- like, Aang gets stuck in the Avatar state, oh noes!).
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-06-21 06:41 am (UTC)I don't even know what I was talking about, but definitely not Katara and Toph :>
I can't picture either of them as a queen. That's really where the metaphor fails for me-- because I do think guys are literally endowed with a pack mentality, but I don't see girls falling into a queen/worker binary so easily. I feel like some girls do and some girls, er, don't. I know I don't, haha. I prefer to be Switzerland when it comes to human (or female/female) relationships, and I also don't prefer or focus on female/female relationships any more than f/m or f/f/m or m/m/f or something. What happens when bees and dogs cross over? Worlds collide! haha. So yeah, in my personal experience, I just quietly pair off with other quiet girls who like to pair off (and even if they're queenish or outgoing, they tone it down with me, because I just don't mix with groups very well, as all my friends know).
So yeah, I dunno. Um, I don't think Katara tried to *dominate* Toph, exactly...?? And also, these power-struggles aren't automatically *those* sorts of power struggles (and besides, the Queen doesn't really struggle or fight for her position the way an Alpha does, she's just sort of... different). Like, Toph is very individualistic and 'hey, I can do it myself, thanks', which makes her like me in that sense-- this is where the whole queen metaphor breaks down, too. You can be a 'lone wolf' (outside the hierarchy), but there are no lone bees. Which makes sense-- while dogs and other pack animals are in our bloodlines pretty directly, we're not really related to bees, hahah.
So yeah, I don't think Toph wanted dominance over anyone, but rather autonomy and independence, which is different. Katara, on the other hand, also wanted something that's not quite queeny-type dominance-- she's not Azula in that she wants power/fear/respect/minions. Rather, she's a different archetype: rather than being taken care of or 'served' as a Queen, she wants to take care and to serve. This is sort of the flipside of that feminine archetype: the Bitch Queen vs. the Sweet Mother. Sometimes, 'tis true, the Mother is a bitch (haha) but usually this involves different motivations and conditions and such. Katara seems to be a bitch to Toph and/or trying to 'claim' her, but really she's just frustrated Toph isn't appreciating her efforts to draw her in.
Though really, Katara has more of a 'hive' (well, family) than Toph does: she wanted to share that with her, though Toph perceived the sharing as stifling (always a danger with that type of person). Katara has Sokka and Aang, and they're both very much hers. But this is different than how Azula possesses the other girls, mostly 'cause Azula uses intimidation/force rather than love.
Anyway, the metaphor gets really weird when it's possible to have a hive of one, hahah; it seems like a contradiction in terms (isn't every individual then a hive of one? haha though I suppose Aang is special having all the Avatars inside him, but it's not like he's aware of them unless he's in the Avatar state, and who knows what he's really aware of then... though now this is amusing me as an AU-- like, Aang gets stuck in the Avatar state, oh noes!).