Cloud Babies

(trigger warning: mentions of fatphobia, possibly body imagery, self-esteem issues, etc)

I can't believe I have to come on here and say this again, but please leave the live action cast of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender ALONEEEEEE.

Specifically, Thalia Tran (who portrays Mai). (I've already defended Elizabeth Yu, who plays Azula, and I won't even start the weirdos who switched up on her now that she "lost weight")

I don't know if you guys have seen, but ever since Season 2's release on June 25th, the whole fandom practically flipped on itself, and it's literally hell out there.

Thousands upon thousands of comments criticize and tear apart the season, and all the criticism seems to be directed at the cast (not the production team).

I literally can't go into a comment section on my TT w/o someone taking a jab at these young actors' appearance. Especially Mai's actress. Like a video (or should I say edit) would have literally any other character, and live action Mai will show up for a split second, and the comments would be FILLED with "Mai ate Appa", "Appa's sister" or awful AI-modified images of Mai eating a burger.

These are just like... a millionth of the criticism I've seen hurled towards Thalia Tran, whether it be TT, or her own IG.

Like, look, I get that she's not exactly what people imagine Mai to look like (and they're valid in expressing this opinion; I, too, imagined Mai differently), but at the end of the day, Mai is a 14/15-year-old (South)east Asian-coded girl from a stylized cartoon, and Thalia Tran is a REAL PERSON. WITH REAL FEELINGS. She's reading these comments.

It saddens me so much seeing people leave such nasty remarks about a 20-YEAR-OLD GIRL about her naturally, ethnic Vietnamese features (doe-like eyes, round face). Features she's BORN with and CANNOT change (unless she goes under the knife and even then, they're STILL gonna find a way to complain about how Hollywood is filled with "actors who can't move their faces" and that they "miss" natural faces (despite being the reason why people go under the knife)).

I think most people forget that most young Asian girls do not have the features Mai has in the cartoon. I've seen people suggest other young Asian actresses that would have fit the role "better," and I can guarantee those people would have found a way to bully and harass those women, too.

(I've seen people consistently suggest Miku Martineau, but I feel she looks too soft for the role, as she TOO has a round face and doe-like eyes (Though I would have really liked to see her in the NATLA). I've also seen Minnie Mills pop up as another suggestion, but she gives me more of a Rarity from MLP or Lyna from Lolirock vibe, not the "goth" or "emo" essence that I've seen Mai be described as)

Another suggestion I've seen (I think this is the most favored one) is Madison Hu, who played Fei, the farm girl with whom Zuko stays in S2.

And I have to admit, she was my fancast before the cast was announced. However, I won't deny that she, too, would have faced backlash from the fans. I've seen people say that she looks much older compared to Dallas Liu (Zuko), even though she's younger than him, or that she doesn't pass as a 14/15-year-old girl (even though at 15, she had this face, Frankie Wong from Bizaardvark, anyone?). Additionally, there are also people comparing her to Roh Jae-won, who played Nam-gyu in Squid Game. She would have been through hell, too.

(Also, there's this rumor going around that she "auditioned for Mai but wasn't picked," and I just want to throw it out there to say that is FALSE. There's no (credible) source verifying this information, and I feel like it was created to add more hate to the vitriol that Thalia is facing)

Not to mention, they're going around spreading MORE disinformation about Thalia acquiring the role through nepotism.

(these people can't even decide whether or not she's related to the director or the producer)

Again, there is NO (credible) source stating this information. Thalia's parents are IMMIGRANTS from Vietnam, and very little is known about them. I highly doubt people with little to no information about them on the internet can get Thalia a role in the live-action of a beloved cartoon series like Avatar: The Last Airbender.

People can't seem to accept her casting, so they do EVERYTHING to try and "cope" with it, to the point where there's this awful AI-generated version of Mai in real life, circulating on TT.

(for your reference)

and the comments (not surprisingly, but annoyingly) saying "tHiS iS tHe pErFeCt cAsTiNg", and "bEtTeR tHaN nEtFLIx" like we're genuinely devolving. The generic-looking AI girl looks NOTHING like the character, either, and people are eating it up.

And DON'T get me started on people wanting 30-year-old (or even older) WHITE women to play her. I've seen those awful AI casting videos where they're suggesting Maya Hawke???

Absolutely not. There are no white people in Avatar: TLA; get Maya out of here.

All I'm trying to say is, people are just doing the absolute MOST for NO REASON over a young woman who doesn't look like a bunch of pixels. And no, I'm not saying you can't have your opinion on Thalia's casting as Mai, but there's a DIFFERENCE between saying "I don't think she's fit for the role" VERSUS "Mai ate Appa" -_-.

All Thalia Tran did was audition for a role. If you know ANYTHING about casting, you would know that she probably didn't audition for Mai's role specifically, as they dont reveal a character's name to see which actor can best adapt to a certain scene (not to mention, the chemistry between the cast). She just HAPPENED to get a call back, and the role she plays just HAPPENED to be Mai. That is NOT her fault! She didn't cast herself.

It ALSO annoys me that the production crew has done NOTHING to protect her from the relentless bullying. The official TT account is just posting random clips from the show and replying to comments, glazing it. No statement whatsoever condemning the disgusting comments made by fans.

If you have SUCH a problem with her casting, go and bother the production crew who CHOSE HER for the role. Don't harass a young Asian woman just trying to get her name out there in an industry that makes it hard for minorities to find jobs.

disclaimer but this isn't me saying people shouldn't ship Zutara or that you're a misogynist if u do. Shipping isn't activism. I'm just here to examine why people view the ship the way they do, especially relative to the other ship in the fandom it's incessantly compared to. Although if you are a zutara shipper, you probably won't enjoy this. anyway

Half the chemistry many shippers see in Zuko x Katara but don't see or refuse to see in Kataang is because Aang and Katara's romantic relationship is subversive of typical heterosexual romantic relationships in popular media:

Aang, the male, is younger and smaller than Katara

Katara is the more protective one in the relationship

Katara takes the lead in the relationship

When a male takes the lead in a relationship dynamic, when he gets things on track, when he wants to be taken seriously, and he’s the one who teaches his partner, he is seen as an ideal male - a born leader. When a woman does it, she is seen as “motherly”.

Women cannot be afforded the privilege of being seen as leaders, especially towards men - they can only be given labels defined by men under a hetero-patriarchal lens. Hence Katara cannot be the emotional lead, she cannot simply be a friend worried about Aang's safety - she is being a "mother".

Even outside of her relationship with Aang, in scenes where men would be recognized as leaders and inspirations, people still see her as motherly.

Zutara shippers don’t see any chemistry in the scenes where Katara is protective of Aang because she is the woman being protective of a man.

It doesn’t appeal to the traditional heterosexual dynamic of the man being the protector. That’s why they don’t see chemistry when Katara threatens to kill Zuko if he ever even entertains the idea of hurting Aang, even though "touch her and die" is an extremely popular heterosexual romance trope. That’s why people don’t see chemistry when it’s Katara who saves Aang, who carries his lifeless body out of Ba Sing Se and cradles him close her chest when he's between life and death, but they do see the chemistry when Zuko covers his teammates with his body, and they see it when Zuko takes lightning for Katara. Because he’s the man in that dynamic.

Zuko being older and taller than Katara is really less of an analysis of the story itself but more just a generally applicable observation across most media with heterosexual shipping cultures. It doesn’t appeal to the hetero-patriarchal power structures for the man to be shorter or smaller in stature than the woman, the same way it doesn’t appeal to the same power structure for a woman to be darker-skinned than the man.