The Last Hairbender: Hair Symbolism in Avatar

avatar the Last air bender is a master class on how to nail the art of subtle storytelling with us being able to clearly track the character's emotional states and personal development through minor shifts in their character design and of all these minor shifts changes to their hair appear to be the most consistent memorable ones the creators choose to employ Zuko is the character that typically comes to mind first when discussing this phenomenon as he's easily the character that undergos the most dramatic shift but in actuality we can easily see other examples of this in Ang qara Saka aula and iro with the growth or cutting of hair taking on radically different meanings depending on the character that's undergoing the change so without further Ado let's talk a bit about the hair symbolism of Avatar when it comes to discussing this phenomenon people immediately and instinctually poke fun at Ang as Ang doesn't actually have hair for the overwhelming majority of the show yet I feel this approach is a slight disservice to Ang because his hair or lack thereof still reveals important qualities in regards to his character for the majority of the series Ang prefers a shaved head to pay tribute to and maintain his connection to his air Nomad roots and when taking a look at the series as a whole there are three reasons provided for why air Nomads traditionally choose to shape their heads so let's examine each the first and most obvious reason is that shaving your head is something that denotes your devotion and discipline hair is such an important aspect of your personal identity that making the choice to shave your head in solidarity with other members of your community indicates Unity the fact the air Nomads subscribe to this tradition is most likely a reference to the Tibetan Buddhist monks they are modeled after and Buddhism shaving your head is a part of paja a term referring to the act of leaving your home to live amongst ordained monks with this being the first step in the process to become a proper monk in this context shaving your head is a purifying act that rids you of your vanity and ego and symbolizes a willingness to humble yourself before the masses all traits associated with spirituality the second reason air Nomads traditionally seem to shave their heads is that it allows their aot tattoos to be more prominently displayed these tattoos are something airon Nomads take a tremendous amount of pride in as they are symbols that publicly indicate their Personal Mastery of air bending but not only are they indicative of their physical skill and mental prowess the tattoos heavily tie into their spirituality the arrows follow the flow of chi the spiritual energy that allows for bending to be practiced at all throughout the body which is clarified in series as naturally starting at the base of the spine before moving towards the forehead in tattooing the arrows that follow the flow of this Chi the Aon Nomads are able to provide themselves permanent concrete physical reminders of the places they best ought to draw their energy from allowing them reference point with which to easily ground themselves and enter a meditative state that had better facilitate bending the third reason is one actually confirmed in Legend of Kora in which it's revealed there's a more practical reason a Nomads would traditionally want to shave their heads and that is that a shaved head allows the airon nomads to better sense vibrations in the air there's even a character that's able to evade a sneak attack this way meaning that shaving your head ultimately also confers a defensive benefit useful for a nation whose fighting tactics are centered around evasion the only time Ang doesn't have his head shaped is after being struck by zula's lightning at the end of book two during the weeks in which he is unconscious between books 2 and three his hair naturally grows in and obscures his tattoos this is the point in the story that marks what is arguably Ang's lowest low not only has he failed to stop the infiltration of bosing se but he's been defeated to the extent the general public believes him to be dead thus marking the second death of the Avatar and robbing Ang of a core aspect of his identity to make poor matters worse the two physical ties he once had to his culture have been marred the base of the arrow on his back being distorted by a lightning strike and the top being hidden by hair that he never would have wanted to grow under ordinary circumstances it's something that signifies a loss of autonomy that he cannot hope to regain in his current condition with infiltrating the Fire Nation requiring him to hide his arrows completely and grow out his new hair even more to assimilate however he isn't the only character that has to relinquish beloved cultural ties with qara having to hide her mother's necklace and restyle her hair without her signature Loops yet during the days of the black Sun an episode in which the Gang has concocted a plan that they are confident will culminate with the defeat of fire lord oai Ang is finally able to shave his head and once again reclaim his identity as the Avatar and while though this plan doesn't quite go exactly how our heroes imagined that it would this is the moment that marks the peak of Ang's maturity now he is no longer afraid to embrace his Destiny as the Avatar charging it head on instead of running from it with him displaying the same driven sense of purpose for the rest of the series however most importantly Ang shaving his head again could be interpreted as him recommitting himself to the philosophies of the airn ads with him managing to defeat firel Lord oai in a fashion that coincides with the principles that he personally holds most dear to's hairstyle similarly remains almost remarkably consistent considering the Top's only appropriate frame of reference for how it's supposed to be styled is how it feels versus what it looks like tumbler user Avatar culture was the first to point out that to's hairstyle is heavily shaped off a popular Tang Dynasty hairstyle known as GA G which literally translates into high hairstyle while beautiful just by looking at it this gives the impression of a complicated timec consuming hairstyle that would easily become undone in Conflict something that doesn't quite align with Rough and Tumble practical tough and yet if we examine how one's hair was perceived in the Tang Dynasty The Cutting of your hair was something only performed in the event of the death of a spouse or parent something to signify a partial death of oneself and for all the conflict between Toff and her parents the maintenance of this hairstyle shows that Toof can clearly not bring herself to sever that connection still taking care to maintain the most public symbol of her relationship to them Sak is another character where this phenomenon may appear more subtly Asaka like Ang retains a similar hairstyle for the majority of the show like Atara Saka also wears a cultural hairstyle popular among the men of his tribe with this style being known as a Warrior's wolf taale however the series hints to us that Sak's wolf tail doesn't quite look the way that it's supposed to with it likely not being as long or as thick as that of the other Warriors qara even pokes fun at him claiming that what he's wearing is more akin to a ponytail and on an extremely literal level a wolf pup's tail tail is significantly shorter and thinner than that of its adult counterpart hinting that although Saka desperately wants to be perceived as a warrior he still has yet to fully mature into that role but regardless that is the way that Saka perceives himself having your hair tied back like this makes combat more convenient and showcases that Saka is ready for a fight at virtually any time in the instances where he wears his hair down it's typically in more relaxed settings most commonly when he's asleep or about to go to bed Saka wolf tail is also unique in that the sides of his head are shaved to accentuate it because this is the First Quality Saka wants people to take note of when they look at him when in reality it seems the men of his tribe actually grow out the sides to accompany the length of the tail something that Saka actually does in later episodes better reflecting the image of the warrior he wished to become while Katara also wears a similar cultural hair style katara's hair undergos a far more drastic change throughout the course of the series qara begins Avatar with her hair styled in a single neat braid down her back with her Signature Hair Loops these Signature Hair Loops actually being modeled after a real inid hairstyle called G the loops typically being fully braided in real life while I struggle to find the exact implications of this hairstyle or any information regarding the connection the Canadian in you would have to their hair there are numerous indigenous American groups that perceive their hair as a sacred intrinsic aspect of their identities while the exact meaning fluctuates group to group hair can signify anything from a connection to the Earth to the ties to your community with the act of braiding each other's hair being a bonding activity that reinforces the value of your personal connections and relationships and when examining both the northern and southern water tribe we see that both men and women as a general rule of thumb keep their hair long part of the reason that it's so important for qara to maintain this hairstyle throughout the series is that it's a public connection to her Heritage and culture this isn't just a public display of love but of Defiance the two qualities that qara is arguably most heavily driven by at the beginning of the series you'll notice that katara's hair Loops are significantly looser than they are at the end this looseness implicating playfulness innocence youth with the loops growing progressively Tighter and more fixed to her scalp as she grows matures and progresses but from a more practical and heart-wrenching perspective there's also the possibility the reason that her braids are so much looser at the start is that she struggles to do them without her mother take a look at how much tighter her braids are in the scenes where she's a small child versus after her mother is killed and think of how a little girl's braids look when they attempt to do them on their own For the First Time versus when their mother does them this Progressive tightening potentially indicates that qara has now learned to survive on her own and can now care for herself while katara's main braid also signifies a similar connection to her community there are numerous indigenous cultures that perceive aaid as being an inherently stronger entity than singular strands of hair this idea is signifying the simple notion that there is strength in unity and strength in numbers other indigenous cultures May perceive braids as being symbolic of the Union of Body Mind and Spirit and while you could certainly pose the argument that Katara does not begin the series harboring this sort of unity the moments in the series in which her braid becomes undone most certainly symbolize A disruption of it Kara's braids most commonly become undone in moments of intense conflict where she is specific specifically losing when fighting paku for instance these are not only moments in the series that challenge qara physically they force her to re-evaluate the beliefs that she's harbored thus far and mark the moments in which she can better Define her desires and world viw for example fighting paku forces qara to re-evaluate the extent to which she's willing to adhere to Old tradition after witnessing just what stubborn adherence ultimately cost paku and could have cost her grandr these moments of unraveling allow qara to reassemble and repe her worldview with a fresh broaden perspective and mark the moments of the series in which she internalizes her most important lessons yet there is a distinct moment in which the sprid unravels in which it's never redone and that is the moment the gang infiltrates the Fire Nation like gang qara must rid herself of a beloved tie to her people but with the removal of this tie also comes a radical challenge to every belief she's previously harbored about the Fire Nation and the people that reside within it the information qara learns in these instances is fundamentally incompatible with her previous perceptions of the world of the nature of Good and Evil and of what constitutes Justice and while qara red does her hair Loops she never braids her hair again although qara retains her connection to the culture and Community she values so deeply she has decided to Define and interact with the world in accordance with the unique view her experiences have bestowed upon her this allowing her to attain a sort of unique freedom without constraint she maintains till the end of the series now for our Fire Nation characters the Fire Nation is a nation that has an intricate Concrete in Universe explanation for the relationship the citizens generally have with their hair the rise of Kyoshi states that in the Fire Nation her is heavily linked with honor Losers of an important agnik Kai would shave parts of their head bald laying patches of their scalp bear to symbolize an extra level of humility from their defeat but the top knot was always sacred never touched except in circumstances akin to death furthermore in Rise of Kyoshi kyoshi's romantic partner allows her to kiss and touch her hair an act that cements the closeness and intimacy of their relationship however circling back to the top knot sacred nature this knowledge makes the moment in which Ro and Zuko cut theirs off all the more impactful for them to explicitly cut their hair over just letting their Top Knots loose signifies permanent Severance from their Nation culture and status as nobility and all that's associated with such the Fire Nation top knot also Bears a strong resemblance to a traditional Japanese hairstyle known as a Chon commonly associated with Samurai and nobility to cut this was to display Public Disgrace or loss of honor and the act of Zuko cutting his is what marks the moment in which he begins to learn to define the concept of Honor on his own terms as book two progresses and Zuko spends time in the Fire Nation as a refugee his hair slowly regrows this is the first time in Zuko's life that he has presented the opportunity to re-evaluate and explore his identity in a context beyond the role that he was born into as fire lord ozai's son auko gradually comes to the realization that he does not have to adhere to his father's goals of Conquest in order to be a fulfilled and honorable person the length of his hair increases and remains loose up until the book two finale The Crossroads of Destiny where he Embraces his fire nation Roots once more as at the expense of iro and the avatar for the first half of season 3 we see him with his signatured top knot and yet although he's clearly had the physical symbol of his honor restored for Zuko there's no joy in this Victory it's not until the moment that he Retreats from the Fire Nation once again and undo his top knot that he's able to find the Fulfillment that he craves and yet know that in this particular example Zuko merely unti his top knot over cutting it he is making the deliberate choice to not abandon his identity as a member of the Fire Nation he is merely forsaking the principles they conduct themselves by to adhere to his own while zugo does assume the customary Fire Nation top knot when he becomes Fire Lord this moment occurs after the defeat of fire lord oai and the philosophy that he reigned the Fire Nation Under And now in the wake of this moment Zuko can proudly reintegrate the symbol of Honor into his day-to-day dress knowing that he now is fully worthy of wearing it yet where Zuko's hair is defined by its growth aulas is defined according to its shortening aula is actually first presented to the audience as a person that never has so much a hair out of place instantly framing her as a person that strives for nothing less than perfection in all things and who has devoted her life to inuring that she is revered in every room she enters in her eyes even the most benign minor flaws in her presentation are unacceptable and whereas Zuko altering his original hair implicates healing growth and renewal aula doing the same implicates self-destruction for the majority of the series any noticeable alterations to ula's hair aren't made consciously with her Loose Hair being the product of her battles but the point in which she does start altering it arguably marks the beginning of the end take for instance the battle between her and Zuko in which she catches herself on the side of a cliff using her hairpin this is a moment where her ability to survive is contingent on her ability to sacrifice a symbol indicative of Honor composure and nobility hinting at how far Zula is willing to go to attain her goals as her coronation nears and pressure mounts we start witnessing her impulsively banish more and more people the first scene in which she does so being one in which she's having her hair done an act previously established as being one link to intimacy and Community all things isula explicitly rejects in the pursuit of perfection which leads us to the moment that she cuts her hair aula cutting her hair isn't an act of severance in the way that it is for Zuko it's a desperate attempt to retain some element of control in an instance where it's actively slipping away from her if aula cannot retain control over something her hair in this example then in her eyes it best ought to be destroyed this is the moment that marks her complete and utter psychological unraveling with her altering her hair twisty in which it cannot properly be returned to the style that she prefers this is symbolism that further carries toora but that's a story for another day thank you all so much for listening and if you enjoyed the video make sure to take the time to like comment and subscribe and here's an extra special thank you to our patreons what we do would not be possible without your support if you would like to count yourself among them the link is in my bio thank you so much for your time and have a wonderful day

Channel: Lucky

Views: 350,701

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Id: -9YqyQNeGOk

Length: 14min 54sec (894 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 15 2024