To me, strength varies, really. I'm a little off-kilter to speak very eloquently, but I'll try my best.
Basically, you can be strong in different ways. You can be physical like Kyoshi (who also had a penchant for politics), or you can be resourceful and monetary like Roku (although fuck he used force when he had to). Yangchen clearly killed; that much is evident in her answer to Aang in the finale, but does that make her stronger than Aang, who chose not to? Kuruk was lazy, but he had to spend his entire afterlife regretting and hunting for redemption. To me, in different ways, each Avatar is strong, regardless of sex or method.
What I found particularly stunning in the show was that the creators were willing to show that a male can still be strong and badass and still cry. When I was growing up, I honestly can count all of the cartoons I was raised with that showed that. The whole "Men can't cry" bullshit is so tiresome that it makes me so glad that ATLA never stooped to that; they weren't afraid to show the heroes shedding tears when they felt sad or angry or happy.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-07-22 05:25 pm (UTC)Basically, you can be strong in different ways. You can be physical like Kyoshi (who also had a penchant for politics), or you can be resourceful and monetary like Roku (although fuck he used force when he had to). Yangchen clearly killed; that much is evident in her answer to Aang in the finale, but does that make her stronger than Aang, who chose not to? Kuruk was lazy, but he had to spend his entire afterlife regretting and hunting for redemption. To me, in different ways, each Avatar is strong, regardless of sex or method.
What I found particularly stunning in the show was that the creators were willing to show that a male can still be strong and badass and still cry. When I was growing up, I honestly can count all of the cartoons I was raised with that showed that. The whole "Men can't cry" bullshit is so tiresome that it makes me so glad that ATLA never stooped to that; they weren't afraid to show the heroes shedding tears when they felt sad or angry or happy.