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swatkatI don't generally repeat everything I say on Twitter or Tumblr here on LJ/DW, but I've been following the #Legend of Korra on Tumblr again and my feelings are threatening to overflow. So. I repeat: The reason I react in a knee-jerk fashion when Korra is dismissed as 'arrogant' is because I see her arrogance as the arrogance of a small puppy, proud of its teeth and pouncing abilities, completely unaware of the world, brought up as a blunt weapon by a bunch of old men following an obscure ideology that makes a vigilante out of the Avatar in today's world. And of course she needs many, many lessons - but the thought that she will grow to be as world-weary as, say, Buffy, is painful. It's a very real possibility in the AtLA verse, as the flashback seemed to hint at.
Am I guilty of woobification when I compare her to a small puppy? Yes and no, because well, let's face it, I love her little face and her little smile and want the entire world to be sunshine and roses (and a lot of bad guys to punch) for her, but also because it's a great analogy for her innocence and her sheltered little world, the foundations of which are just being shaken. Aang and co. were never that innocent - Aang had survived genocide; Sokka and Katara had witnessed near-genocide while Zuko and Azula participated in the same. They grew up in a time of (never-ending) war. Korra on the other hand has been brought up knowing she is the Saviour - only, she has never been exposed to the people she's meant to save; they're a mass of nothing to her, not living, breathing entities with thoughts and feelings. They're not real, not yet (and that is why Amon is so terrifying after episode four - he is real). It's interesting that her learning seems to not have included politics or strategy or anything of that sort, as though the Avatar is meant to punch things a lot. I wonder what Aang would have to say of this sort of training. I wonder how painful Korra becoming aware of the world (becoming the Avatar*) will be.
Why do I not have a Korra icon yet?
* 'Becoming I & II': One does not become the Slayer simply by having the requisite superpowers.
Am I guilty of woobification when I compare her to a small puppy? Yes and no, because well, let's face it, I love her little face and her little smile and want the entire world to be sunshine and roses (and a lot of bad guys to punch) for her, but also because it's a great analogy for her innocence and her sheltered little world, the foundations of which are just being shaken. Aang and co. were never that innocent - Aang had survived genocide; Sokka and Katara had witnessed near-genocide while Zuko and Azula participated in the same. They grew up in a time of (never-ending) war. Korra on the other hand has been brought up knowing she is the Saviour - only, she has never been exposed to the people she's meant to save; they're a mass of nothing to her, not living, breathing entities with thoughts and feelings. They're not real, not yet (and that is why Amon is so terrifying after episode four - he is real). It's interesting that her learning seems to not have included politics or strategy or anything of that sort, as though the Avatar is meant to punch things a lot. I wonder what Aang would have to say of this sort of training. I wonder how painful Korra becoming aware of the world (becoming the Avatar*) will be.
Why do I not have a Korra icon yet?
* 'Becoming I & II': One does not become the Slayer simply by having the requisite superpowers.
no subject
Date: 2012-05-09 04:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-09 07:08 pm (UTC)I admit I am overly sentimental about this. The Buffy parallels do not help.
(There should also be some nuanced discussion about confidence and arrogance in female protagonists I think. Next post, with less ~feelings, maybe!)