[001]
Tyoria
Current Version
Changed line(s) 5 from:
n
But I think the entry is a valid one for the trope that\'s actually on the page, your issue with the name aside. The trope is about the preoccupation with one\'s looks and one\'s desirability to others. Women primp and preen and present themselves as objects of desirability. Doing so is \
to:
But I think the entry is a valid one for the trope that\\\'s actually on the page, your issue with the name aside. The trope is about the preoccupation with one\\\'s looks and one\\\'s desirability to others. Women primp and preen and present themselves as objects of desirability. Doing so is \\\"feminine\\\". (Whether \\\"feminine\\\" itself is defined as a good or bad thing can vary.) It\\\'s a conceit that is ultimately dependent on the well-regard of other people. We call that \\\"vain\\\". As a word, that is a simplification of the entire, often dismissive, way in which the complex is presented... but if you think about it, that too is often an integral part of the trope. Why do women pack a week\\\'s worth of clothing for an overnight campout? They\\\'re \\\"vain\\\".
I don\\\'t think Toph was being vain in the sense that you describe, but that would be a strawman of the position I\\\'ve staked out on it. Toph generally does not give a shit about presentation. Toph is not quite so immune to the preoccupation of what other people think of her as she ordinarily lets on. I think that\\\'s understandable. It\\\'s also a well-done moment of vulnerability. But I\\\'m not the one who linked that whole exchange with having a girls day out which for heaven\\\'s sake is self-defined as girly. If it weren\\\'t girly it wouldn\\\'t be called a girl\\\'s day out, it would be the Self-Empowered Gender Neutral Day Out of Excessive Politically Correct Superlatives.
I can\\\'t see the scene playing out the same way with a man, not if the subject were whether or not he was actually \\\"pretty\\\" or \\\"handsome\\\". That would not be portrayed as heartbreaking. That would be portrayed as comedic. Because men aren\\\'t supposed to give a shit, that\\\'s a feminine-linked vulnerability, not a masculine one.
I don\\\'t think Toph was being vain in the sense that you describe, but that would be a strawman of the position I\\\'ve staked out on it. Toph generally does not give a shit about presentation. Toph is not quite so immune to the preoccupation of what other people think of her as she ordinarily lets on. I think that\\\'s understandable. It\\\'s also a well-done moment of vulnerability. But I\\\'m not the one who linked that whole exchange with having a girls day out which for heaven\\\'s sake is self-defined as girly. If it weren\\\'t girly it wouldn\\\'t be called a girl\\\'s day out, it would be the Self-Empowered Gender Neutral Day Out of Excessive Politically Correct Superlatives.
I can\\\'t see the scene playing out the same way with a man, not if the subject were whether or not he was actually \\\"pretty\\\" or \\\"handsome\\\". That would not be portrayed as heartbreaking. That would be portrayed as comedic. Because men aren\\\'t supposed to give a shit, that\\\'s a feminine-linked vulnerability, not a masculine one.
