“Toxic masculinity” is a term which has come to represent in pop culture personally and socially destructive patterns of belief and behavior in men. While the entirety of Avatar: The Last Airbender is required viewing, it’s Zuko’s arc in particular that offers a timely, much-needed reminder of the importance of challenging toxic masculinity, and unlearning harmful, misguided beliefs and behaviors at large. The list of crimes against humanity and the natural world go on and on. America’s leaders are enacting devastating anti-immigrant and anti-queer policies and unravelling climate protections. Recent weeks have witnessed millions turn out for protests and uprisings against our country’s ingrained anti-blackness, manifested in the disproportionate murder of Black people by police George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and so many others. As Americans processes the fear, rage, and grief permeating every fabric of our lives, The Last Airbender presents us a (however fantastical) thought-provoking, cathartic exploration of uniquely relevant issues: fascism, imperialism, state-sanctioned military violence, xenophobia, prejudice, marginalization and oppression, environmental destruction, and the forces of liberation tirelessly doing the work to, quite literally, save the world.Īmerica now faces the world’s highest rates of coronavirus infection, an under-estimated 2.5 million, with over 120,000 people dead at this writing. The industrialized Fire Nation launches a bid for world domination, genociding the air nation as the Firelord seeks to capture the newest incarnation of the Avatar, an airbender, and the only person who can master all four elements, defeat him, and “restore balance to the world.” The Intro says it all, and if you’re a ’90s kid, you’ve got it memorized.īut why does this fictional, animated tale of teens in a magical realm matter so much, especially in these times?īeing forced to quarantine and/or work indoors for indefinite periods of time has people turning to art, often TV, for solace. As the New York Times recently pointed out, it also presents a fully-realized vision of a world without whiteness, although a substantial portion of lead vocal talent in the series is white.įor the uninitiated, the series follows a ragtag group of kids in a fantastical world informed by East Asian (notably Chinese) aesthetics and culture, where some people can control or “bend” elements (fire, earth, water, air). The lessons and tools his journey taught me about confronting, unlearning, taking responsibility for, and changing destructive beliefs and behaviors, are more relevant now in these times of the Trump administration in the US, the global coronavirus pandemic, and growing calls for racial justice than when it was originally aired.Ī recent addition to Netflix, Avatar: The Last Airbenderhas re-entered the pop-culture consciousness in a big way, becoming the summer’s breakout hit and sparking renewed appreciation for its complex characters, outstanding narrative quality, and hard-hitting themes. Zuko (voiced by Dante Basco) went from a willful, pony-tailed jerk hellbent on capturing the Avatar at all costs to a willful, shaggy-haired hero hellbent on helping the Avatar at all costs.Īs a trans boy coming of age during The Last Airbender‘s original airing, I found in Zuko’s plotline meaningful inspiration for challenging my toxic masculinity (which I’ll break down). Few characters in American television history have had redemption arcs as compelling and universally lauded as that of Prince Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, the animated series which ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008.
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