Off-Topic General Discussion - Page 4317

Snape kills Dumbledore

Anyways, I'm going to have to defend Korra. I love TLA and it's certainly quite close to my heart, but Korra was a fantastic series on its own, though some of the parallels in both are rather obvious (eg. Fire Nation and Imperial Japan reference in TLA, or the Earth Queen as Cixi analogue, the Earth Kingdom Anarchy a reference to the warlord period following the collapse of the Qing, and Kuvira as a blatant Mao reference [they even gave her an obvious Mao-mole]).

That's to be expected; they're both suppose to be kids shows with PG ratings, though Korra was obviously given far less restrictions on that matter, and the villains needed to be apparent and probably abit too cardboard. Hence one-dimensional, powercrazy Firelord, Kuvira creating concentration camps and the like (though I'm not too fond of it being given out of the blue), Unalaq being batshit, etc.

I'm still fond of TLA. It was exceptional in the way it was able to keep the atmosphere humorous and mostly light, when dealing with extremely heavy topics, ranging from genocide (not only of the Air Nomads, but thinking of the Southern Raiders here), to the complexities of war and redemption (most notably thinking about Zuko, + Show Spoiler +). And the character development in the series was somewhat deeper (to an extent: Zuko's introduction and slow but steady redemption and development as the secondary protagonist was extremely ell-executed; but the rest of the cast tended to be far more static in their personalities).

If it didn't have PG restrictions and wasn't a movie directed by M. Night Whatatwist Shyamalan, it would likely be too dark and uncomfortable to watch. The implications of many things being...well, rather depressing already. But things tend to be after a 100 year long war that started with the genocide of an entire nation of pacifists.



In Korra, it's similar to TLA. Many of the side characters tend to be much more static in their personalities (Bolin is the comic relief, etc.), but the focus of development is on Korra herself and how she develops and matures throughout the series, and deals with her issues. Especially in Season 4, her condition and PTSD were brilliantly handled. Besides the random Korra/Mako ship that they started the series off with to appease the rabid Zutara fans; but the development of her and Asami's relationship was organic, could be seen developing from mid-season 2 onwards, and also an extremely progressive and well-done ending, overall [trust me, LGBT viewers appreciated how it was treated], i thought they developed her character far more deeply than Aang did (who wasn't an one-dimensional character, but wasn't nearly as complex as Korra turned out to be; Aang always held true to his Air Nomad heritage and teachings throughout). Indeed, while the villains were undoubtedly portrayed as villains, Korra did a much better job making them less mustache-twirlers than did TLA (where firebenders were...yeah),TLA had Azula and Zuko, but most of the antagonist cast in Korra had more developed character and motivations than Ozai's clear case of megalomania and BURN DA WORLD DOWN! syndrome. Amon and Kuvira most notably. Vaatu not so much.

http://www.themarysue.com/the-psychology-of-inspirational-women-korra/

(WARNING, MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THE LINK, OBVIOUSLY)


In fact, Aang and Korra mirror each other extremely well. Aang never wanted to be Avatar, but learned to accept his destiny while staying true to himself as the series progressed (while picking up all the bending elements within a year). Korra always wanted to be Avatar, but had trouble doing so through much of the series and needed to (she couldn't airbend and had trouble attuning with her Avatar spirit/past lives/Spirit World, something Aang never had trouble with). Aang was kind, considerate, and an Air Nomad to the core. Korra...well, the opposite.

Also Ketarah, Harmonic Convergence. Seriously, they needed to reintroduce air bending to the world, and the explanation fit. Did you complain when the Lion Turtles gave people bending? Probably not. If you want to ask me what's the unbelievable part, how the fuck was Kuvira able to get so much fucking platinum to coat and armor a GIANT STEAMPUNK MECHA when it's so goddamn rare a material. But it's not fucking reality, unless you also want to pick on the inconsistencies of bending and HOW CAN PEOPLE CONTROL AIR, WATER, FIRE, AND EARTH, AND ONLY THE AVATAR CAN CONTROL ALL FOUR ELEMENTS?!?!?!?! like, this complaint is so inane.

I'm starting to ramble at this point, but I'll just say I disagree. Both were fantastic series.



Uh, Korra's PTSD was a long time running. The fuck do you think the Lotus' faces turning into her past enemies were references to? Unlike after Vaatu, Korra was literally unable to perform her duties as Avatar, something she had constructed her ENTIRE IDENTITY around, and had her mentor tell her that he and the air nation will take up her task, take as long as you need to recover (unintentionally reinforcing all of her fears, everything her previous antagonists, etc. have been trying to force on her). Vaatu hurt her by completely severing her connection to her past lives, yes; she can no longer call on their wisdom, but she never did that much to begin with. After Zaheer? Yeah, not being able to walk is a pretty big impediment.

The link provides a more detailed analysis of it, but I have no problems with her PTSD depiction.