I think, moreover, that there?s something more than your average ?bitches be crazy? trope going on in The Legend of Korra. I think the show is having a hard time coping with their female protagonist.
You would not thing a strong female protagonist would be a problem for the writers of Korra, given that the previoous series, Avatar, is full of strong, interesting women: Katara, the waterbending master, Toph, one of the greatest earthbenders to ever live, Azula, who? I mean, how do you even talk about the powerhouse that is Azula? And Mai, Tai-Lee and Suki, three non-benders who could stand toe-to-toe with any bender and come out on top.
But in Avatar, unlike in Korra, there was always one male character who was theoretically more powerful than any given woman: Aang, by virtue of being the Avatar. In Legend of Korra, however, the protagonist is female. Aang is dead and Korra is the new Avatar ? the most powerful person in the entire show. Once she?s fully trained, nothing will be able to stand against her. There is no male character more powerful than Korra.
People have? problems with that kind of female power. A whole lot of writers just have no idea how to deal with it, especially in the context of western patriarchy and western-prescribed gender roles (most of the characters of Avatar are POC, and the areas they live in correspond to asian and first nations locations, but the writers of the show are mainly from north america). There aren?t a whole lot of creators with the kind of talent and chutzpah to deal with a world where women and men are on equal footing ? and where a woman is the ?savior? of the world.
Which is where you get weird stuff like the Korra abuse narrative. The writers are unable to separate the world of Korra from western ideas about gender and patriarchal structures. More specifically, they?re unable to conceive of a world where the strength of women doesn?t come at the expense of the strength of men. They?ve moved beyond the patriarchy by flipping it.
Thus, in Korra, gender equality doesn?t mean that relationships will become healthier and more equitable. No ? a gain in power by women must mean a loss in power by men, since we?re still stuck in gender hierarchies. Thus, if women are the ?strong? ones ? if women are captains of industry (Asami), police chiefs (Lin Bei Fong), Avatars (Korra) and incredibly powerful waterbenders (Eska) ? then the men must be the ?weak? ones. Thus, we get all the heterosexual relationships where the women are abusive and the men are passive.
Which, I should note, tells you a whole lot about how the writers conceive traditional male-female relationships. And a whole lot about how the writers conceive ?strength.? They seem unable to conceive of a woman with stereotypically male attributes ? like Korra, who is very physically strong, who acts first and think later, who is competitive and impulsive ? without also making her borderline abusive. I don?t know if it?s because the writer?s vision of masculinity is so entwined with strength-as-abuse, or if it?s because they can?t help but see a character like Korra as an aberration, and thus infuse her with ?bad? qualities. Whatever it is, it?s disturbing.
