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arduinnaThis was going to be a post about the latest ep, but turned into more general Korra ramblings, with no specific spoilers at all.
I've been poking sort of gingerly at some Korra posts to see what people think, and while I've seen some positive reaction, I've also seen some frustration with the storyline, and how A:tLA was more interesting, and how Aang seemed to be a more well-rounded character who was willing to learn and grow much more than Korra is.
The thing is, I think people are comparing the wrong -- well, everything. The creators specifically set out to make a completely different show, so of course it feels different. AtLA was about kids with almost zero adult supervision, on a specific hero quest: unlock the achievements to gain the power to save the prophesied day. They had room to play around in the timeline so it wasn't all a grim march toward battle, but it was always a very focused quest.
Korra had to be different; Avatars don't usually have quests. Usually they're born, discovered, raised, trained, and step into their role as balancer of the world.
So instead of a prepubescent kid growing from childhood into adolescence (and creating a new family for himself as he does), we get an adolescent struggling her way into adulthood, doing what teenagers do and veering back and forth between maturity and childishness, learning to separate from her family and figure out how to be her own person.
Korra isn't the Aang-equivalent here in terms of character growth; she's the Zuko-equivalent. Remember how Zuko was completely stuck in his particular headspace for the first two years, having to be shown over and over that there was a better way of doing things, that his headstrong "I must be right, I must win!" attitude was shooting himself in the foot?
Yeah, that's Korra. She's about the same age Zuko was, and in similar circumstances in some ways: both raised as relatively pampered heirs to power, isolated from the rest of the world; both facing an abrupt entry into the world in their mid-teens and discovering that their vaunted power doesn't actually amount to that much in the eyes of most other people; both growing scornful of the "learn patience" teachings of their mentor, just wanting to punch everything into doing what they want.
Korra's upbringing has crippled her politically, to a breathtaking degree. I really want to know what they were protecting her from, because dear god, isolating her like that was a brutal thing to do to a girl who was meant to grow up and be the center of world politics, able to handle all four nations diplomatically. Aang had friends all over the world, in every nation, before he hit puberty; Korra barely even met anyone but her own tribe. So now she's stuck: she's not 11 and still totally adaptable; she's 16 and hormonal and rebellious and trying to figure out her place in the world, as adults with a hundred times her experience try to manipulate her -- which, hey, *works* on good-hearted, trusting 16-year-olds, done right.
She was raised to believe she had the innate ability and duty to bring balance to the world, and anyone can twist that around to make her work for them and think she's working for the good of all.
Anyway. All of that aside, I really am fascinated with the intense focus on siblings this season, especially surrounding only-child Korra. But now it's almost midnight, and I want to keep my posting streak going. *g* So that will have to wait for another day.
I've been poking sort of gingerly at some Korra posts to see what people think, and while I've seen some positive reaction, I've also seen some frustration with the storyline, and how A:tLA was more interesting, and how Aang seemed to be a more well-rounded character who was willing to learn and grow much more than Korra is.
The thing is, I think people are comparing the wrong -- well, everything. The creators specifically set out to make a completely different show, so of course it feels different. AtLA was about kids with almost zero adult supervision, on a specific hero quest: unlock the achievements to gain the power to save the prophesied day. They had room to play around in the timeline so it wasn't all a grim march toward battle, but it was always a very focused quest.
Korra had to be different; Avatars don't usually have quests. Usually they're born, discovered, raised, trained, and step into their role as balancer of the world.
So instead of a prepubescent kid growing from childhood into adolescence (and creating a new family for himself as he does), we get an adolescent struggling her way into adulthood, doing what teenagers do and veering back and forth between maturity and childishness, learning to separate from her family and figure out how to be her own person.
Korra isn't the Aang-equivalent here in terms of character growth; she's the Zuko-equivalent. Remember how Zuko was completely stuck in his particular headspace for the first two years, having to be shown over and over that there was a better way of doing things, that his headstrong "I must be right, I must win!" attitude was shooting himself in the foot?
Yeah, that's Korra. She's about the same age Zuko was, and in similar circumstances in some ways: both raised as relatively pampered heirs to power, isolated from the rest of the world; both facing an abrupt entry into the world in their mid-teens and discovering that their vaunted power doesn't actually amount to that much in the eyes of most other people; both growing scornful of the "learn patience" teachings of their mentor, just wanting to punch everything into doing what they want.
Korra's upbringing has crippled her politically, to a breathtaking degree. I really want to know what they were protecting her from, because dear god, isolating her like that was a brutal thing to do to a girl who was meant to grow up and be the center of world politics, able to handle all four nations diplomatically. Aang had friends all over the world, in every nation, before he hit puberty; Korra barely even met anyone but her own tribe. So now she's stuck: she's not 11 and still totally adaptable; she's 16 and hormonal and rebellious and trying to figure out her place in the world, as adults with a hundred times her experience try to manipulate her -- which, hey, *works* on good-hearted, trusting 16-year-olds, done right.
She was raised to believe she had the innate ability and duty to bring balance to the world, and anyone can twist that around to make her work for them and think she's working for the good of all.
Anyway. All of that aside, I really am fascinated with the intense focus on siblings this season, especially surrounding only-child Korra. But now it's almost midnight, and I want to keep my posting streak going. *g* So that will have to wait for another day.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-22 02:58 pm (UTC)I like Korra. I'm okay with her being a fuck-up right now. But the pacing of the show is driving me crazy.