queertoonqueertoons:

lokgifsandmusings:

Yeah for her arc and journey it was exactly what was needed, too. Korra set her own path, and was truly the “first Avatar” for the new age. Beautiful. Sad, also. I wonder if Tenzin or Katara felt a bit like..not angry with her (wasn’t her fault), but a sense of loss maybe, once those ties were severed. Obviously Korra did herself, but it’s an interesting tension that wasn’t explored. I hadn’t heard that hard-drive analogy before. I love that. She got rid of all the malware Roku accidentally downloaded because he never understood what spam looks like.

I’m actually playing with the idea for a shorter essay (>2000 words) that sort of discusses the Raava/Wan transition to Raava/Korra.

Bryke takes the heternormative pairing of female-energy bonds with male-body (the traditional path). I remember being like, “Oh my gosh… Really, Bryke? The first Avatar was a boy?! Classic.” And then they did this thing… where they smashed it to pieces.

Not only that, but then its born anew into a female-body, breaking not just the traditional narrative structure but also how we read Wan and Raava’s relationship. There is a queerness in the female-female energy bond between Raava and Korra, the same way there is a heteronormativity to Raava and Wan. And I don’t mean sexuality, here, I mean in terms of interpretation. While certainly the spirits do not operate within gender, the same way human do, there is a conscious decision to juxtapose her female-voice with Vaatu’s obviously male-voice.

I mean, I think for me, this was the first serious nod that not only did Bryke recognize the way myths have often been structured around male heroes, and rather than build on them… they smashed them. They were like, this is how things operated 10,000 years ago… This is not how they should be operating now.

And Korra’s decision to keep the Spirit Portals is in direct opposition to Wan’s segregationist methods, a system of oppression that is often done with the best of intentions by men with power (read: all of American history, ever). Her intuition and sense of justice does not stem from any other influence than her own. And that level of autonomy for a female character on TV is absolutely incredible.

Like I said, in retrospect, season two might be the most significant season of the whole bunch (and actually is pretty amazing if you erase all of Masami 2.0).

Thoughts?