Please Leave Elizabeth Yu Alone.
Okay, so as you all may know, the live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender has made its announcement of Season 2 coming soon, so you know there's a lot of excitement and thrill among the fanbase. I was scrolling through my for you page (on TikTok) and came across the video with the announcement, and I was enjoying the actors expressing their happiness, wrapping up the 2nd season, and prepping for the production of the 3rd one.
I was hoping that my feelings would be mutual amongst the fans, but to my surprise, it was DRENCHED with backhanded or snarky comments about Elizabeth Yu's appearance.
(This is how Elizabeth Yu looks now, my apologies, I can't find a better picture).
Some of the criteria stated, as I quote, "She now looks suited to play Azula", "Oh, thank God they recast her" (even though it's literally the same actress), "Oh Azula, I wasn't familiar with your game", and "Seems like the bully paid off . Look at her now" (yes, this is an actual quote).
Mind you... All she did was lose a little weight, and now EVERYONE loves her.
Elizabeth Yu was never "fat/chubby" as those losers claimed that she was.
She has a normal body that most people her age would have had (she was about 18/19 at the time of filming). They are over here talking about how she would be able to perform stunts (due to her weight) and whatnot (mind you... those would have been performed by stunt doubles anyways, regardless of the actor/actress' weight, so...???).
Not to mention, back then, people were suggesting that Ashley Liao (given her role as Clemensia Dovecote) and, even now, with her recent fame, Miku Martineau (Yumeko in Netflix's "Bet"), should have been the one to play Azula instead of Elizabeth.
(Ashley Liao)
(Miku Martineau)
So I'm here sitting and thinking to myself... y'all would have HATED if Miku or Ashley was given this role, saying some dumb shit like, "They should have been casted as Ty Lee", "Their features are too soft", or just whatever BS, they can pull of out their asses.
(This was on a TT video of a Miku Martineau's interview on playing Yumeko)
Like, dont get me wrong, Ashley Liao and Miku Martineau are SPLENDID actresses and I would love to see them in more roles, but... I really doubt they would approve of anyone dogging on Elizabeth just to uplift them (Ashley and Elizabeth follow each other on Instagram ffs).
I really dont give a rat's ass how you feel about Elizabeth's casting as Azula, but don't you EVER harrass her. She's just trying to make a name for herself in this vigorous industry, and Asian representation is very limited as it is. Avatar: The Last Airbender is such a good stepping stone for so many (unknown) Asian (and Indigneous) actors in this project... so to see so many people shame and bully them just trying to get their name out and then go ahead and suggest more known Asian actors (just because they're a more familiar face or they look more "accurcate" to a few pixels (some of them wouldn't even pass as 12-16 kids)) is really disheartening.
I just really hope that Elizabeth "lost" weight because she genuinely wants to and not because of the relentless bullying by the asian fetishers, the 50 y/o grandpas w/ 2 kids, and the "no posts/content" losers who can never have their face as their pfp for some reason...
It really isn't hard to just not leave a nasty comment on an actor's socials, they're people too with feelings and thoughts of their own.
Elizabeth Yu IS Azula. And if you have a problem with that, it's simple;
Do. Not. Watch. The. Show.
There are tons of fan remakes of iconic ATLA scenes on YouTube. Go watch those instead.
