Korra Is Not Tan

Deedee:

I didn’t post your message so I didn’t entirely read it but as someone who’s very annoyed with many things of LOK I’ll def answer this questions and then allow Mary to come back and talk about the post. 

There are people who are very un pleased with LOK. There was an expectation of greatness and some of the same feelings that many didn’t get. 

There was no friendship. No lessons. No nothing. 

People do not have to be happy with a show because of a past project or because they feel they owe the creators anything. 

People do not have to be angry about their show problems in silence or at a moderate level to appease the people who are fine with it. 

I’m one of the people that participation in Mako Criticism day because as a character, as a the lead boy and that people the lead relationship with Korra, his entire existence irks my soul. If I had a child I would not allow them to watch LOK flat out because I wouldn’t want my sun believing he could treat girls like that and I wouldn’t want my daughter to believe she suppose to desire such toxic attention. 

Many of the posts people have against characters like Mako are founded, not hate speech. And because someone doesn’t like something the same thing you do doesn’t mean it’s hate. If someone actually hated the show they wouldn’t waste their time even speaking on it. They would chock it up to 12 episodes of their life wasted and move on to something new. These people are upset because this show had all the potential in the world but it wasted it. 

Just like people read a book and sit around picking over it at a book club meeting is the same way people are talking about problems with this show and have every right to. Learn to tumblr savior or just skip over because unless they are spouting actual sexist (in terms of Asami and Pema) nonsense or other problematic things to ‘win their argument’ allow those people to do as they please because this show wasn’t made in a bubble, Bryke does not pay anyone’s bills and it is a show placed on their air for public viewing. Not everyone in the public is going to have the same view.  

Mary:

Okay. Let me say why I have a problem (many problems actually) with Legend of Korra. Now, I had an uneasy feeling in my stomach when I learned Bryke would be writing the entire show. I remembered the few episodes they’d written, and found them to be…subpar compared to episodes written by, say, Aaron Ehasz or Joaquim dos Santos.

First of all, the amount of privilege spewed throughout the show. At first, the plot of nonbenders feeling oppressed by benders was brilliant. But then when it was revealed that Amon was a liar and was actually a waterbender named Noatok, it degraded the entire idea of nonbenders feeling oppressed. It made it so that non privileged people appear to be fools, and liars. For example, Asami was painted as a “good” nonbender for siding with benders. When Mako threatened that one equalist when searching for Korra, neither Lin nor Tenzin stopped him or called him out for acting like an oppressor. Also, when “Team Avatar”* was hiding out among the benders & nonbenders underground, Gommu basically said the equivalent of “why can’t we all just get along?”.

If the show had been written properly, Gommu wouldn’t have said that. As a nonbender (and homeless), he’d know exactly what he was talking about with privilege. Being rich, Asami would’ve been shielded from the worst of it. But Gommu would’ve known what it’s like to lose opportunities to benders, to be looked down upon and treated poorly due to his lack of bending. If the show had been written properly and with sensitivity, he would’ve talked to the group about how benders use their power to their own advantage way too often, and that nonbenders have to be heard.

Another problem I had was the whole love quadrangle bullshit. First of all, Mako was an asshole. He kept going back and forth between Korra and Asami, and broke Asami’s heart. Not to mention how Bolin was handed the short end of the stick and was forced to deal with it all on his own. And seeing how Mako raised Bolin from childhood, I found it completely out of the description of his character as on the profile on Nick.com. You would think that Mako would care about his brother above all others, seeing as the boy is all the family he has left. But no. Instead, he thinks with his dick and pulls both girls along. And then has the nerve to wonder why Asami is so upset when she calls him out on his bullshit.

Then there’s how Korra passes out every damn time she gets into real trouble. Now, a part of it I will chalk up to how the White Lotus raised her. They obviously didn’t train her well enough-they coddled her-but I digress. As a WoC, I gained a ton of self esteem from seeing Sokka, Katara, and other Water Tribe people on AtLA being strong, 3 dimensional characters. They were brown-just like me-and yet were more than extras or stereotypes. Then came LoK. First of all, Katara and Sokka being made lighter as adults? Fucked up. Second, Korra not being seen as beautiful the way Katara was in the first series? Fucked up. Asami, being lighter skinned, was automatically seen as gorgeous and wanted. Not Korra. Bolin-the fucking comic relief character-was the only one who honestly saw her as desirable. And no, Mako doesn’t count.

I could go on and on as to how Legend of Korra bothered me, but this reply has already gotten a lot longer than I expected…

*I put Team Avatar in quotation marks because, honestly, there was no real friendship between the four.