Dema, you've drawn a lot of Zuko. I can't 'see' Zuko in the images I've seen from the upcoming movie. Other than the scar, he looks like a new character to me.
Can you explain what are some of the main visual elements of a Zuko? I'm wondering if the bangs are making his face shape look different, or if I'm being thrown off by the insane muscles.
I...might have gone a bit overload.
Extra Zukos + character design comparison between ATLA Zuko and Movie Zuko + long ramble about the danger of beauty conventions under the cut!
So, a little rant to complement...whatever this is.
I genuinely think that, out of all members of the Gaang, Zuko's the one who resembles himself the most in the new movie. Aside from the Ozai-bulk (which, yes, it does serve to distract you from everything else—except for his lack of lightning scar whereisthelightningscar); Movie Zuko looks like an adult Zuko would.
Compare his new design to, I don't know, Katara's (which I'm SO salty about), and you'll quickly notice which character is more identifiable as themselves.
(I'm adding my reference board for Zuko + a comparison between ATLA Katara and Movie Katara. You know. For evidence.)
See what I'm talking about? The sheer difference is asinine, but the explanation behind the change in design is both fairly simple and insultingly predictable:
Attractiveness.
Or, rather, what is believed to be found attractive by certain audiences.
Listen, I'm not saying anything new. Certainly nothing that a thousand other people haven't already explained far better than my uneducated self ever could. But it goes like this: the new art style draws a lot from westernized anime, not only in the animation itself (which is awestriking), but also in the character design. But that influence carries its own vices.
In other words: the new Avatar movie, gorgeous as it is, has been infected with Same Face Syndrome.
Why? Because, in anime-inspired art styles, the less identifiable facial features your MC has, the more attractive they seem. Wide noses, thick lips, or small eyes are a big no-no, especially if you're the female deuteragonist in a coming-of-age story written for male audiences. Or any kind of audiences, really—it has less to do with open misogyny than it does with artistic conventions.
Make an experiment. Remove all openly identifiable characteristics from each Gaang member (I'm talking hair, scars, skin tone, etc) and compare them to one another. Would you be able to differentiate Aang from Sokka? Toph from Katara?
The erasure of distinct facial features comes from a place of "beauty equals perfection", and what is perfection if not the lack of flaws? What is a wide nose or full cheeks if not a flaw?
Now, I don't mean to come across as snippy or judgemental—these are just my observations on what this kind of art style entails given its characteristics, and the effect it has on the facial design of characters so widely known and loved. Especially characters with identifiable ethnicities.
The new style affects characters like Katara, Sokka, and Aang more than it does others in the series because some of their features simply don't fit with what's considered attractive here. That's the reason they look so alien and out of place—because what made their design so organic has been watered down or erased to fit a beautiful mold.
So, you may ask, what's the deal with Zuko?
Why has no one complained about his design (other than the missing lightning scar)? Why does he resemble himself the most? Why—characterization problems aside—does he still feel like Zuko?
The answer is...pretty simple, actually. A bit dumb, if you will.
The new over-beautification of the Gaang doesn't affect Zuko as much because he was already designed to be conventionally attractive.
Yes, I said it. And I'll say it again.
Zuko, Azula, Ozai, Ursa—they were all, canonically, gorgeous people. The Royal Family was intentionally designed to fit traditional East Asian beauty conventions. The long faces, the delicate, narrow features... It's a perfect, immaculate beauty, dutifully in line with the perfect, immaculate image royalty is meant to project.
So.
So.
All of this to say that:
A) most of the misgivings we have with the Gaang's adult designs can be blamed on the new art style/direction.
B) ethnic erasure for the sake of abiding by westernized beauty conventions is not alright. Nor does it work, so just. Stop it.
C) having distinctive features is awesome, actually. Plastic-perfect "attractiveness" can go check the #BanTheSameFaceSyndrome tag and learn a thing or two.
And ultimately:
D) Zuko has always been, canonically, the poster boy for Conventional Beauty. So we have permission to draw him as gorgeous as we damn well please.
I rest my case.
