The final season or book 4 of The Legend of Korra was phenomenal but it’s the last scene of the finale episode that still have people talking.
I have to say, I didn’t see that last scene coming. The scene showed Avatar Korra and Asami Sato holding hands as they made their way on a vacation to the Spirit World. That hand hold revealed that Korra and Asami have become more than just friends. I was a little surprised but not entirely because although I always thought Korra and asami were just friends there were little hints that maybe they were more than just good friends. The shows’ creative team acknowledged and confirmed that Korra and Asami were becoming more romantically involved and the ending was the perfect way to show that.
My surprise aside, I thought that was a bold move they took and I also think it’s rather cool that they took a different approach with the romance. With Mako being the resident hot guy on the show, I figured by the end of the series they would put either Korra or Asami back together with him. The Mako/Asami relationship worked but not the Mako/Korra relationship it just didn't work at all and season 2 showed it. Although, Korra and Asami both dated Mako in the past it probably would not have been out of the question for one of them to end back up with him again. However, what the creative team did instead was to go a completely different route by introducing the romance between Korra and Asami.
Has anything like this been done before for a children’s television show and certainly not with a cartoon series? I think that was truly groundbreaking.
Another thing that surprised me although as I think about it, it shouldn’t have but it did. It was the mean and hate filled comments and messages posted online following the end of the series. The shows’ creators knew they were going to get some negative reaction but I wonder if they were truly expecting such vehemence from some viewers. Many couldn’t believe the creative team made Korra and Asami gay or bi-sexual. For the many who disapproved there were a large number who thought it was great and praised the show. I’m in that category because to me Korra and Asami are both great characters as well as being heroes and their sexuality shouldn’t diminish that.
I guess it’s hard for me to understand why there was so much hate dished out, as a straight woman I see myself shown pretty much everywhere in TV, movies, books, etc. and it makes me wonder why can’t different relationships be shown more? Love is universal. Many of the comments argue that it was a children’s show and should not have been shown there.
Hey, let’s face it, maturity wise The Legend of Korra was leaps and bounds ahead of Avatar: The Last Airbender that showed twelve year old Aang on his journey to becoming the Avatar as he planned to defeat the Fire Nation. Since the characters Korra, Bolin, Mako and Asami were considerably older than Aang, Katara, Sokka, Toph and Zuko that gave the show more leeway to introduce more daring topics. I would say TLoK was more geared towards teens and older viewers.
Honestly, what’s the big deal about the ending or this relationship? Many have taken a sweet and romantic ending and have turned it into something ugly. I noticed on Amazon that there are already negative comments and ratings posted for the finale season, although it’s not scheduled to be released on DVD/Blu-ray until March 10th. It’s okay not to like the finale season if you didn’t think it delivered for you story wise but some of those negative comments/ratings are focused only on that last scene.
I'm going to end this post by saying that The Legend of Korra was a fantastic fantasy adventure show that introduced some amazing characters and brought back some familiar faces. And reinforced that Toph is still the greatest Earthbender there is. This series ended with Korra finally becoming the Avatar she wanted to be and she found a new love on her journey as a more enlightened Avatar.
No comments:
Post a Comment