Looking at the Ávila

colorblocking:

“You can’t knock me down!”

It’s been over a month since ‘The Legend of Korra’ ended its first season and during this time I’ve reflected on many aspects of the show. The stuff I liked and the stuff I didn’t like, but during all this reflection I keep going back to this line. “You can’t knock me down.” Now, this line isn’t from ‘Korra’ it’s from its predecessor ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender.’ But it clearly illustrates to me what is alternately the most disappointing and infuriating failing of the first season of ‘Korra’. And that’s the writing of the female characters. 

When Katara said this line in the original show it was a moment of defiance and empowerment. It was tailored to Katara in that specific moment but in my mind it became one of the biggest mission statements for female characters in the show.  In ‘Avatar’, the female characters had agency, they had development, and they had power that was manifested in many different ways. Some were love interests but being a love interest wasn’t ALL they were. They made mistakes. They fell down but the narrative allowed them to rise and be better than they ever were before. Even Azula, who ended the show broken, wasn’t that way because the show was being cruel or careless to her character. It was the natural ending of her arc that the show had been crafting for two seasons.

The key reason why ‘Avatar’ succeeded where ‘Korra’ failed is that there was a clear respect for the narratives of ladies in ‘Avatar’ that is just not there in ‘Korra.’

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Everything wrong with the development in the first season of Korra… So, so, true

Joining the general feelings… What did I just watch? Oh God, I’m dying here now, need a preview/leak/anything, please be Saturday now how am I supposed to get going

So, I’ve been having really detailed LOK-related dreams for two days in a row: first, Amorra and now a Team Avatar one with some Makorra/Masami involved. Keep the dreams coming, subconscious. I’m loving them.

No, really. It’s not solving a scientific problem or piloting a car or creating a war balloon or actually bending lighting. It’s a glove.

alisonwritingbadly:

#01 - Walking
After successfully helming his first ice dodging, the girls swoon over Tonraq — he walks a little taller, his chest puffs out a bit more — except for Senna, who rolls her eyes and tells him that he looks like an otter penguin when he walks like that.

#02 - Waltz
During an annual Water Tribe festival, Senna sits on the sidelines and watches the elderly dancing couples with a small smile on her face, when she glances at the opposite side of the dance floor, she notices that Tonraq is doing the exact same thing.

#03 - Wishes
Tonraq doesn’t know what to wish for on his birthday — last year, he wanted to become a warrior and he already accomplished that — but then he notices Senna’s face, illuminated by the candles on his cake, and he notes that she remains luminous even after he extinguishes the flames and makes his wish.

#04 - Wonder
Three years (and no granted wishes) later, Tonraq sits at the foot of Sokka’s statue, the newest wonder in the post-War world, and silently wonders whether the old chief had any girl problems back in the day.

#05 - Worry
Everyone tells him that he shouldn’t worry, but that doesn’t stop Tonraq from sweating in the below-freezing weather when he knocks on Senna’s door.

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