Korra 1.03 - "The Revelation"

[lizbee]

AMAZING. Predictable, in that fandom guessed that spiritbending would be Amon's secret power a few weeks back, but AMAZING. I loved seeing Mako and Bolin's life, and the daily lives of benders in a society where they're not automatically soldiers in a war.

I really, really love the parallels between the Equalists and Communism. I keep seeing people saying it's disturbing that the villains are called Equalists, but hey, it's also disturbing that there's a totalitarian state that calls itself the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. So you have the park protestor, who is of the same ilk as the socialists who cluster in the mall on Friday nights, chanting slogans and harassing people into signing petitions that are never sent, and then you have Amon, your Mao figure -- down to the oppressed rural origins -- who is genuinely dangerous, and who is, in the manner common to Communist leaders, likely to end up exploiting his followers in the name of liberating them. And the injustices they point to are real and should be addressed, while their methods of doing so are abhorrent.

And I love that nothing here is black and white -- benders have inherent power, which some use to oppress others, and there seem to be jobs, like Chief Beifong's elite cops, open only to benders. But at the same time, there are benders who live (or lived) on the streets, who work menial jobs to get by. And then there's Tenzin and his family, who have material privilege while also being the sole remnants of a culture destroyed by genocide. (And even though they're rebuilding, Tenzin has a nuclear family unit and eschews a nomadic lifestyle, so something has been lost forever.)

I FIND IT ALL QUITE INTERESTING. While also side-eying the people declaring themselves TEAM AMON, on account of how I know HISTORY. (It's one of my less practical superpowers.)

Other things:

- Jinora and Ikki are both lovely, and I really want a whole episode just about them
- Mako IS Batman. Or at least Bruce Wayne. Only without the wealth and loving butler and bat fetish.
- Did we all spot the parallels between Amon and Mako?
- It seems like firebenders are still aggressors? Or perceived as such? Or is it just easier to threaten people if you can set them on fire with your brain?
- Lightningbending seems a lot more common than it used to be. Much like metalbending, actually. Both have been industrialised. Will it turn out that bloodbending has been applied in a medical context?
- I love that Korra's still being confronted by her own sheltered background, and learning to work in a team.
- HER HAT. I WANT IT.

Comments

[lizbee]

I, OTOH, only saw Bebop dubbed (pretty sure that was all our Blockbuster had), and even years later, I still remember and admire his work.

[melengro]

Cowboy Bebop dubbed is still leagues better than most anime subbed even if you can understand Japanese. It's not even appreciably worse than Bebop subbed and several voices are actually better. Spike's is one of those voices IMO.