![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeOne 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.
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.
