Insight

[lizbee]

One of my very favourite sites on the entire internet is the AV Club, especially their TV recaps, which are insightful and funny and generally quite separate from fandom. (It probably helps that I often read it at work, where the comments are blocked.)

I really like this comment on Korra :

Korra is one person who doesn't seem to have changed at all, or to have learned much from the events of last season. Tenzin’s statement that while she’s learned Korra-style airbending, she still needs to learn real airbending is demonstrated to be extremely true in the second episode with her attempt to open the spirit gate by just punching it until it submits. She makes the near-exact same kinds of dumb decision she made in the first season (she might want to tattoo “Pay attention when Tenzin mistrusts sketchy Northern Water Tribe dudes” on her hand), and it comes from the same character flaw: She probably wouldn't acknowledge it, but deep down, she thinks she's better than the people she loves. And why would she take advice from someone who isn't as good as she is? Mako seems to have been getting the butt end of that stick in the past six months, as he clearly is now dodging her requests for advice in case he says something she doesn’t want to hear.

The only people that she does seem to instinctively trust are the people who set themselves up with a public image of being infallible at something Korra's not good at—Tarrlok at politics in the first season, Unalaq at spirit wrangling here—who are generally the worst possible people to trust.

It feels like Korra, like many people who were rewarded for being very good at things as children, has a hardwired internal connection between doing things perfectly and being good. It sort of makes sense that she seems inclined to respect and want to impress people who make her feel weak and incompetent. There's probably some parallels to be drawn with why she was initially attracted to Mako—you can’t actually know someone without breaking the illusion of perfection. And because of this, she continues to dismiss the advice of her friends and family in favor of people she barely knows.

AND THAT IS SO TRUE. She's a perfectionist, and she has trust issues -- probably because she's spent most of her life surrounded by people who know what's best for her, and don't bother explaining why or how, or the logic behind their decisions. In short, she's been raised by people who don't trust her. And that makes her really vulnerable to people who are better at concealing their agendas.

Now, if "competent and unimpressed" is what Korra subconsciously wants in a mentor, then you'd think she'd have spent book 1 following Beifong around like a puppy. But I think it's particularly men she's drawn to in this manner, because there was no absence of women who trusted her growing up. Katara is the most obvious example, of course, but we also see her mother is very willing to let her go. So, her discomfort with performative femininity aside, Korra has no lurking psychological vulnerabilities where women are concerned.

...I should probably be mad that this makes a big part of Korra's psychology All About The Dudes, but it's like they sat down and went, "Hey, let's make a show about Liz's issues!" and I'm neurotic enough without telling my neuroses off for being unfeminist.

Comments

[innerbrat]

YES. YES THIS IS KORRA.

And it's worth pointing out that Lin isn't good at something Korra considers herself bad at: Korra has no opinion of detecting/crimefighting/being Batman that Lin does really well, and the other thing Lin is awesome at is a very specialist kind of bending that Korra doesn't need to berate herself for not being able to do.

[rj_anderson]

This, yes. Plus Lin and Korra got off to a rough start when Lin hauled in Korra and raked her over the coals for doing something Korra believed needed doing and was proud of herself for doing so well (i.e. fighting! crime!). That put Korra's back up.

Also, both Tarrlok and Unalaq have played to Korra's pride, flattering her for being the Avatar and promising her a chance to prove herself to everyone. Lin never offered her that, so again there was nothing to appeal to Korra there.

Of course Tumblr hates Korra for behaving, oh, pretty much exactly like Zuko behaved for most of S1 and S2, taking for granted the people who love her and trying desperately to impress people who only care about themselves. But I suppose their excuse would be that Korra is supposed to be the heroine so she should be better than that? Because it couldn't possibly be misogyny on the viewer's part or anything. IT MUST BE BAD WRITING. OH AND THE ANIMATION IS BAD NOW TOO.

Meanwhile, my 10 and 8 year old boys loved it and are desperate for the next episode.

[lizbee]

Of course Tumblr hates Korra for behaving, oh, pretty much exactly like Zuko behaved for most of S1 and S2, taking for granted the people who love her and trying desperately to impress people who only care about themselves.

WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE SHE AND ZUKO ARE ABOUT THE SAME AGE AND BOTH STRUGGLING WITH RATHER AWESOME RESPONSIBILITIES AND TRYING TO BE ADULTS AND STUFF.

But I suppose their excuse would be that Korra is supposed to be the heroine so she should be better than that?

Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeah, Bryke spend a lot of the book 1 commentaries talking about how much they hate perfect characters, and wouldn't want to write about people who don't have room for improvement.

[attackfish]

WELL, IT'S NOT LIKE SHE AND ZUKO ARE ABOUT THE SAME AGE AND BOTH STRUGGLING WITH RATHER AWESOME RESPONSIBILITIES AND TRYING TO BE ADULTS AND STUFF.

THIS! Seriously, I'm slightly more partial to Zuko, because he's just so angry and I love my angry, broken characters, and I love pointing and laughing at them, but I spent most of book one Korra doing exactly what I did for almost all of A:tLA with Zuko, which was go "Oh, no, Korra/Zuko, baby, don't you ever learn? No, no, you're still not getting it, *facepalm* why do I love you so much?"

What drives me a little nuts though, is it seemed like the writers and Bryke were more aware that Zuko Hadn't Learned Anything Yet than they are of Korra. They act, and the world acts, like she learned something. When, no.

[rj_anderson]

Pfft, who cares what Bryke think? They're only the original authors without whom we wouldn't have AtLA or Korra in the first place! It's not like they know anything about, y'know, actual writing.

In other news, Tara Webster is too stupid to live and has no right to be the heroine of Dance Academy because she is a naive and sheltered teenaged girl who makes impulsive decisions based on emotion. THE NERVE!

[lizbee]

In other news, Tara Webster is too stupid to live and has no right to be the heroine of Dance Academy because she is a naive and sheltered teenaged girl who makes impulsive decisions based on emotion. THE NERVE!

What we REALLY need, to be truly progressive, is a media source with hardly any women at all! FEMINIST UTOPIA ACHIEVED! ALL HAIL WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE.

Also, now I really want an AU where Tara is the Avatar. I think Miss Rayne would make an amazing chief of police!

[rj_anderson]

FEMINIST UTOPIA ACHIEVED! ALL HAIL WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE.

*cackles* You're cheeky. I like you. (Guess what Tumblr tag has been in my XKit blacklist for about six weeks now?)

And I would totally read that Avatar/Dance Academy AU. Except that Ben would end up as Bolin, and I have mixed feelings about that because I still kind of like Bolin, even if he appears to be destined for nothing but Comedy Relief until the end of his days. (Please prove me wrong on that one, Bryke.)

[lizbee]

EXCUSE ME, Ben is Tahno. So is Grace. THEY SHARE.

I really like WtNV, except I also have it blocked, because no one cares about the bits I like, and Cecil/Carlos is kind of sketchy to me.

[rj_anderson]

I... just can't map Ben onto Tahno somehow. S1 Ethan is more like Tahno, I think.

I have never listened to WtNV; nothing about it (that I've seen anyway) interests me. So it just sort of buzzes irritatingly in the background of my Tumblr dash because a lot of fans don't bother tagging their posts.

I have similar feelings about Cabin Pressure. You all have fun now! I'm sure it's great! JUST TAG YOUR POSTS, PEOPLE.

[sabra_n]

Without actually reading below the cut? Yes, the AV Club reviews are often very good, and I read them at work too. :) I can't speak to the Korra ones, but a lot of times even the commentariat are quite good - verrrry full of inside jokes and such, but you'll find lots of insight and attention to detail, too.

[skywaterblue]

I actually read a lot of this episode to be about Korra's growing realization and frustration that she's a female Avatar living in a deeply patriarchal world... in a world where she grew up without a language accessible to discuss that. Is there a feminist movement in Republic City? I doubt it. In terms of world building, it seems like - because women are equally likely to grow up to be powerful benders, and because the Avatar seems equally likely to incarnate as female, the Avatar world doesn't really HAVE as much explicit patriarchy/rape-culture as ours.

But conversely, because there isn't a need to react against a blatant version of sexism that would keep women in subjugation, the cultures of the Avatar world still have deeply held bullshit like 'female waterbenders become healers' that has gone unchallenged for centuries.

They coddled Korra because she incarnated into a woman's body, and now the world (and Korra herself) are paying the price because being headstrong and conversely also wanting a powerful male figure to tell her the right path are two inverse emotional responses to the same problem. (Which Korra has correctly figured out: no one in the Avatar world trusts her to do her own job, despite the fact that she's really the only living being who can figure it out for herself.)

So of course the world is one ready to accept a Lin Beifong or a Korra, but without some kind of language of feminism, each woman is left to struggle against the patriarchal underpinnings on their own without knowing they're all fighting the same invisible currents.

[lizbee]

That's a really interesting perspective. I don't know if I buy that Korra was coddled because she was female -- it seems more likely to be a reaction against her youth at manifestation, and the fact that the last Avatar didn't really have a childhood -- but yes, I totally agree that she's dealing with a sort of "soft sexism" that's hard to fight because it's so nebulous.

...which brings me back to my theory that Republic City's real problem is capitalism. Korra's real problem is the patriarchy.

[skywaterblue]

Is cloistering her away and encouraging her to train for 15 some odd years really a solution to the problem of Aang's childhood, though? (In this episode, however, she seems familiar enough with the carnival to suspect they did let her out, but she doesn't seem to particularly know anyone outside her family.)

I mean, Korra was always a little spitfire, but I don't buy that even the most headstrong, potentially dangerous toddler is making her own decisions about her schooling.

I mean, I agree that none of the participants THOUGHT they were being sexist, but their decisions and Korra's resulting problems don't really strike me as being the result of a lot of women's voices on the White Lotus Team.

[skywaterblue]

The capitalism thought is really interesting too. I think we have to see how the new government (!) turns out because I'm not sure it's the very first thing I'd think of wrong with Republic City.

[lizbee]

It's funny, last year there were a lot of people on Tumblr saying it was incredibly unrealistic to have a 70-year-old nation that still effectively had a colonial government. MEANWHILE, Australia, you know?

Bryke have said in an interview that the new president is not a bender, so I guess, in a way, Amon's revolution worked, in that power is no longer largely in the hands of benders.

[skywaterblue]

MEANWHILE, Israel, too. Realistic examples, they are out there.

The Amon thing was so unsatisfactory because Amon's political points were based in a reality. Annnnd... aside from being revealed as a bender (and presumably Korra and friends told most of the real story) none of the reasons for the Equalists were resolved on screen. So hopefully we do get a lot more about this.