do you think it appropriate to say that aang defies gender norms? because on one hand, in the cultures upon which the air nomads were based, many of aang’s traits would not be outlandish at all for a boy. but on the other hand, aang exists in a piece of media for western audiences, who have western ideas of masculinity. i ask this because i’ve noticed a growing trend of people infantilizing indigenous masculinity, but i don’t know if aang falls into the same category.
this is a really good and complicated question. as you state, gender norms vary depending one’s society, since gender roles are obviously a social construct. within the show, aang definitely defies gender norms, because his culture was wiped out 100 years ago and a century of imperialism has only enforced the rest of the world’s patriarchal values.
sokka sometimes mocks aang for embracing (what he considers to be) traditionally feminine hobbies & values, instead of being a cold, calculating, detached warrior who only engages in useful activities (this isn’t to say that he doesn’t let aang have his fun, but it also takes sokka a really long time to even understand why aang would want to have fun in the first place, since that concept now seems so foreign to him).
aang’s values are what help him fight the fire nation so effectively. much like how they’ve never fought an airbender, fire nation soldiers have never accounted for an opponent who uses more feminine modes of fighting. like suki explains to sokka, “it’s about using your opponent’s force against them.” going underestimated and employing evasive strategies, as opposed to just charging in head-on (like early zuko and sokka do) is why so many of the main characters are able to take down trained soldiers twice, three times their age.
the fire nation’s patriarchal mindset actively hinders them, as does the water tribe’s, considering there were plenty of adult women who could have helped sokka (a child) fight, but he was left to shoulder that burden on his own. both sokka and zuko learn to value themselves outside of the constraints of masculinity they fail to live up to, but aang barely even seems to register that gender is like.... a thing that exists.
not only within the atla world, but to the show’s typical audience member, of course aang defies gender roles, especially as the protagonist of a quest narrative. he is not a typical western hero in the slightest, and i think that’s the reason a lot of people discredit him and consider him “weak,” when he consistently displays incredible strength and maturity. both aang and katara have no fears when it comes to being trusting, open, idealistic, and emotionally vulnerable, and these “feminine” traits make them unpopular characters among small-minded viewers who refuse to examine their own biases.
they also refuse to recognize that what makes sokka, zuko, and toph’s arcs so effective is that they all learn that it’s okay to be open and vulnerable, something they all struggle with over the course of the show for various reasons. and it is aang who ultimately helps them all to see that it is okay to rely one’s friends, to express affection, and to embrace their softness, their vulnerability, their quote-unquote “femininity.”
due to the genocide of the air nomads, aang’s values are considered a relic, fanciful but obsolete in the face of a global war. but it is aang’s steadfast belief in his values, his pacifism in particular, that ultimately wins the war. aang may not be any different from a typical air nomad monk, but his continued existence in a world that is constantly shouting that there is no room for his ideals or his values is inherently radical. he may not defy the norms of his culture, but he does defy patriarchy.
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