... wish I could be excited for this. An episode like this is a fine line between great and cringe, especially because Korra already has the tendency to complain too much (I'm not a hater, I actually like her character, but even I think she should just suck it up sometimes).Happiness Assassin said:
Legend of Korra: What Happened to Korra and Who Is Kuvira?
- Thread starter Mike Hoffman
- Start date
What? First off, while they were occasionally referred to as the Air Nation in the old show and here as well, they're not really a nation. They're monks/nomads/whatever. Tenzin evolved their role from that, of course. They clearly have been given a license to do what they're doing. They have been given acknowledgement regardless whether or not it's official. I don't see how they can be viewed as trying to gain political power considering not only how new they are, but also how FEW of them are. There's like what? Dozens of them, maybe? Yeah, that's a great force to seize political control with.giles said:
Yes, they're similar to Kuvira, but Kuvira is clearly aggressive about how she goes about things and if you're going to compare them to Kuvira then you can't call them vigilantes. She has sanction to do what she is doing as well.
To call them Batman is ingenuous; even with all the acknowledgement he gets he's got no license to do what he does. Tenzin was REQUESTED for help. It's not like there was an Avatar version of the bat signal that they turned on. The only reason he sent airbenders in training is because the Air Nation is spread so thin or at least that was my interpretation.
Unlike the last point, this is just a matter of difference of opinion. I actually know people classified as inherently passive aggressive. I don't consider Opal passive aggressive in this regard because of my past dealings with passive aggressive people. They hadn't talked in the past because they're separated a lot, I'm guessing. Bolin made a good retort. The problem here is that Bolin knows that Opal just wants him to leave Kuvira. He's not THAT thick. That's why she turns around: She doesn't approve of what he's doing anymore. It's also been made clear that Kuvira's method of uniting while noble is not looked fondly upon. She has been called a conqueror, a person of destruction, and a few other nasty things, all by people who experience the side effects of what she does firsthand or who have witnessed the actual problems she addresses more consistently than she does (She comes in, does what she does, leaves, doesn't stay to get a bigger picture, or at least that is how it comes off to me). As for that scene of Bolin looking happy, she looks at him sadly then walks away. Again, I don't call that passive aggressive. She has made her beefs clear enough. The only reason she isn't more specific is because of how frustrated she is over the whole thing. For me to call her passive aggressive, she would have to be doing NOTHING but the things you are highlighting. At least, she somewhat describes her beefs. That's not true passive aggressiveness to me. Like I said, we're just going to have to agree to disagree here.giles said:
Eh. Fair enough, I guess. I definitely agree with the "no more love triangles" sentiment. Dear god, NO. Just keep the creators away from the serious writing room. They're good world builders and visionaries, but their writing can get very iffy around certain topics, mostly political strawman and romantic stuff. They only wrote 2 of the fan favorite episodes of the old show and 1 of those was written with help from a colleague.giles said:
Again, difference of opinion is all we have on this point. I don't interpret Mako as constantly bitching. That's more what Zuko does. In Zuko's case, it was central to his character though and written well enough to usually not be annoying. He definitely is the character to give stuff to do, to the point that in Book 2 Lin and the police force had to be dumbed down, so he could have his big detective moment. And, he wasn't even a detective yet! I always got the impression that the job was important because 1) he wants to redeem his criminal past (personal interpretation), 2) wanted to provide for himself and his brother (somewhat implied, mostly personal interpretation), and 3) enjoys it/has more talent for it than other things (actually stated, we see him genuinely happy and figuring out stuff on his own as early as Book 1 with Amon).giles said:
Frankly, Mako is the one character to never fully grow on me. Every other character I had problems with has grown on me eventually, which includes Korra, Asami, Bolin, Jinora, Meelo, Lin, everyone really. So, I don't blame you for not caring.
Fair enough, I guess you could interpret it that way.jamail77 said:
It just feels like it all goes against everything that Tenzin was trying to do in Book 3 - you know, rebuilding the Air Nation. Passing on the culture. Felt like they should be living more like the Air Nomads if that's what Tenzin was trying to do.
Guess the main the reason it annoyed me so much were those goddamn totally-not-a-superhero-custome-wingsuits. They all wore Air Nomad clothing and had gliders in the last Book. Is that out of fashion? Is this the new dress code for Air Nomads? What happened to passing on the culture? I could get behind it if it was some functional "uniform" for Tenzin's Airbender Task Force (TATF), but why are Tenzin's kids wearing it at the dinner table?
So, throughout all of its depictions, the Earth Kingdom has been basically portrayed as China. A (very) rough history of China shows that following the end of the Qing dynasty, there was a period of lawlessness and, thanks to the Yellow River changing course, widespread hunger and displaced peoples. Then came two men who both sought to unite China, Mao Zedong (who came from the people, was well loved, but extremely authoritarian), and Chiang Kai-Shek (who favored Democracy, was the favorite of more Capitalist nations *cough* Republic City *cough*).
Following this line of metaphor, I await Kuvira's Cultural Revolution. If they don't deliver, I will be very sad.
Following this line of metaphor, I await Kuvira's Cultural Revolution. If they don't deliver, I will be very sad.
I PERSONALLY don't feel like it goes against anything. He's trying to reestablish the Air Nation for the modern world. That requires trial and error. Hopefully, he is still doing some of what he was doing in Book 3 because I do hope they go back to the old culture and things like that. Like I said, in one of my earlier replies, I saw most of the Air Nation as secretly very selfish (Not to say that the real life peoples they're influenced from are, but the way they practiced? Most definitely). I want them to take all the culture and not apply it in the close-minded way their predecessors did. If the Air Nation has really changed into superhero costume wingsuit taskforce I'll be disappointed, but the fact Tenzin still wears his traditional robes does give me some hope, they'll addresses this the right way. Because there is a right way to address this. Then again, as you said, even his kids are wearing the getup.giles said:
On a side note, I get the feeling the wingsuits are influenced from Zaheer. His flying ability, without the use of a staff, made him OP. They can't gain the ability because of what it takes to obtain it, so wingsuits are the next best thing.
That would be nice to see in the Avatar world. Let's hope the creators have only the minimum necessary writing control. They have a tendency to strawman more complex political matters.silverhawk100 said:
Is it just me, or does Kuvira's army look like a fascist organization. the uncomfortable way they prey on people's fears to get supporters, the military dress that the pie-throwers were wearing in Republic City, and, for the love of shit, we get a quick shot of her soldiers wearing what amount to stormtrooper helmets. I'm calling it right now, definitely fascism
In my defense, you do call Kuvira a villain yourself in the article, or at least refer to her in that context:Mike Hoffman said:
"It's still too early to really judge the character, but the villains from ATLA and Legend of Korra have often been more intriguing and better motivated than what we are seeing in Kuvira. This is the end of the series and the final antagonist should hopefully be more than someone craving power, especially after Zaheer and the Red Lotus, villains that were legitimately anarchists."
In season 3 we didn't actually learn anything about the antagonists till half way through the season, and Amon's motivations didn't come into light till the last few episodes. I do think it's far too early to be criticizing and comparing Kuvira to fully fleshed out antagonists with only one episode for herself to go on.
Heck so far the most simple villain in the entire franchise has been The Last Airbender's Firelord Ozai (Bwahaha, I shall conquer the world WITH FIRE), and people seem to love him just fine once he was given some screentime and built into a legitimate threat. Who's to say Kuvira couldn't do the same, even if it turns out she does just have simplistic goals of conquest?
In any case complaints of villainous cynicism aside, fair enough. Just going to have to wait and see where the show goes with all this and whether it builds up to something or falls flat.