#natla

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER → ZUTARA

AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER - LIVE ACTION (S2) → ZUTARA

Avatar: The Last Airbender

→ please don't use, download, or screenshot my gifs without permission or credit! these are specially made and took time to create, so please ask first!

toph is an icon for disabled people. she’s one of so few blind characters who is a hero and whose disability is not her weakness or fatal flaw. while it does make her life harder, as any disability does, it also gives her strength. she is the greatest earthbender of her generation. she invented a whole new subsection of bending. the people behind the live action production had a chance to make history just by doing the bare minimum: casting a blind actress to play a blind character. they couldn’t even do that.

not only that, but they’re making her “slightly more feminine” to “humanize” her. as if there weren’t so many young girls out there who looked up to toph because she was weird and didn’t fit the mold. in “tales of ba sing se” she tells katara, “i don’t care what i look like. i’m not looking for anyone’s approval. i know who i am.” to have a female character who doesn’t conform to beauty standards is so important especially right now with the prevalent beauty influencer culture.

while the original cartoon’s representation of women wasn’t perfect, it was diverse. katara and ty lee were both feminine. they liked to dress up and look pretty. toph is not feminine. she grew up forced to dress in formal clothes and style herself a certain way and decided to liberate herself from that. all three of these women are incredibly strong and incredibly talented at what they do, and none of that is impacted by their appearance or gender presentation.

I absolutely love Miya Cech, I follow her on insta and she seems adorable. But I doubt this is the right track to follow for a character like Toph. (I'm also certain this wasn't Miya's decision but rather the writers, but they are once again letting the young actors take the fall for them just like they did with the changes in Sokka's character, I'm noticing a bad pattern here.)

The whole point of Toph is that she was raised with femininity and grace forced upon her, manners and etiquette being an important part of high society. Being feminine for her also meant not being able to fully embrace her element, seeing as earth is often associated with brute force and strength.

Being feminine just wasn't her, and in running away and embracing who she really is she rejected it completely, learning to love herself in her own way. Toph being Toph drove forward the story! And yes, this came with a bunch of flaws. Toph had a big mouth, was aggressive, rude (which she chose to be), not hygienic, and chose to exhibit bad manners.

Happy NATLA day! 🎉