Okay, guys, just a few points I want to make before I get into the real meat of this. Firstly, what I'm going to be talking about is not only pretty heavy and disturbing stuff, but also full of spoilers regarding the Legend of Korra. So if you don't want to see either of those, walk away now. Secondly, I realise that I'm probably not the only person to have thought this stuff up, but this is nevertheless my personal views and interpretations that are being used here, and I wanted to get them out for people to read.
So, during the season three finale of The Legend of Korra, the show's principal protagonist, Korra, is captured by the season's main villains, the order of the Red Lotus, and poisoned as part of their plan to permanently kill her. And it is that moment that I wish to discuss. Taken on it's own, within the context of the episode, it truly is a marvel of disturbing imagery. With every passing moment we feel the pain and agony this young woman is going through. We feel her fear at the prospect of losing her own life. It's an utterly horrific scene that does well to show not only the seriousness of the situation, but also show us just how willing this show is to depicting more mature subject matter (though I'll get into that later). So on it's own, it should be praised for being able to so deftly take the audience out of our comfort zone. But, when you look closer at this scene, there's actually a lot going on here that needs to be discussed, and one matter in particular that is probably going to greatly shock people.
Firstly, I think the creative staff should be praised for even attempting to put something like this in a programme intended to be watched by families, and especially for children. It's a brave move and I wish more animated stories would be willing to take that kind of risk. In fact, this scene is probably a good example of just how dark the whole Avatar franchise has been willing to be. Granted the Korra show, and this season in particular, has had some pretty intense imagery, such as the murder of the Earth Queen a few episodes prior, but people tend to forget that the original Last Airbender show, while it was arguably more light-hearted, nevertheless had many mature elements to it. After all, that whole story started with an outright genocide, the extermination of the Air Nomads. And it wasn't the kind of thing they kept off-screen either, no, they even showed the BODIES.
And the same is true of this scene as well. It would have been so easy for the writers to just cut away and imply that Korra's torture happened in another time, but no, they stuck to their guns and showed every single painful moment. It's one of the reasons I love this show so much. They don't look down on their intended audience, children. Like all the great cartoon makers before them, these guys know that kids can handle more than most adults would think they can, and aren't afraid of showing how bad the world can be. Great cartoons of the past like the 90's animated Batman show, or Disney's Gargoyles, or some of the various Transformers cartoons. These were shows that knew kids were smart enough to know this stuff and never shied them away from it. It's that kind of courage in their work that has always marked the best of animated shows. So on that note, kudos, writers.
The second point that needs to be addressed in this is how much it shows that Korra has grown as a character. Her fight and struggle during her torture has, to me at least, two major points to make. The first and most obvious is her wish to stay alive, and like with everything else we've seen her do, she's giving it all she's got to make that happen. The second, and more important, is how much she's resisting going into the Avatar state. Granted, we know why she doesn?t, because it's what her enemies want. But I think there's another dimension to this. When Korra first got control of that state, she used it for everything, from fighting spirits to just winning races against Tenzin's children. But by this point, after everything she's learned about being an Avatar and how the cycle first started, knowing that her power comes from the light spirit Raava, she's come to respect it more, as well as respecting her role as the Avatar, and thus used it only in the most dire of circumstances.
So to me, this struggle against the poison isn't just her trying to preserve her own life. It's her trying to save the life of another, to save Raava. And in doing so, she saves the Avatar cycle as a whole, something she knows is far greater than just her, and something the world needs and HAS needed for thousands of years. But, perhaps most of all, I think she resists the need to go into the Avatar state is because she's grown out of her old way of thinking about herself. When the series first started, being the Avatar was how she viewed herself. As far as she was concerned, that was all she was, perhaps shown best by her fear of Amon taking her bending away. To Korra, if she wasn't the Avatar, she was nothing. But Korra has changed since those early days. Yes, being the Avatar is still important, but she's also some to appreciate that she's more than that, that being the Avatar isn't what defines her, or makes her special. So, to me, when I see Korra resisting the Avatar state, I think to myself that what she's truly trying to do here is ensure that she dies a human, as Korra, not as the Avatar.
And now we come to what is probably going to be the most controversial point of this whole ramble of mine. That being that I think this torture scene is actually trying to be a metaphor for something else.
That being, that this scene, to me, is this show's equivalent of a rape scene.
Now I know many people will disagree with me on that, but if I may say, just look at the imagery in this scene. A young woman (Korra) being captured and restrained by her opponents, is somewhat undressed (at least in her arms and legs), and has something done to her that's not only incredibly painful, but also emotionally and mentally scars her for many years afterwards. What Korra experiences here is not just torture, it's an outright violation, an attempt to destroy who she is. I am convinced that this was what the writers had in mind when they made this scene. Granted, I'll be the first to admit that they'd probably never have gotten away with putting an outright rape in the show, even with all the death and destruction they'd shown in the past, but when I watch the scene, that's what I take away from it. If that truly was the intent behind this, then I once again praise the show's creators for being bold enough to even attempt putting something like this in here, even if it was only a metaphor for it. It not only made the show darker, it also greatly developed her character by taking away from her earlier confidence and giving her something she had to work for years to get over. That's the kind of writing even some adult stories are hesitant to show, and I cannot stress enough how brave the writers were for taking a chance with it. At least, if that interpretation was indeed what was going on here.
Well, that's all I have to say on the matter. I hope you all enjoyed reading my interpretation of this incredible scene from this fantastic show.
So, during the season three finale of The Legend of Korra, the show's principal protagonist, Korra, is captured by the season's main villains, the order of the Red Lotus, and poisoned as part of their plan to permanently kill her. And it is that moment that I wish to discuss. Taken on it's own, within the context of the episode, it truly is a marvel of disturbing imagery. With every passing moment we feel the pain and agony this young woman is going through. We feel her fear at the prospect of losing her own life. It's an utterly horrific scene that does well to show not only the seriousness of the situation, but also show us just how willing this show is to depicting more mature subject matter (though I'll get into that later). So on it's own, it should be praised for being able to so deftly take the audience out of our comfort zone. But, when you look closer at this scene, there's actually a lot going on here that needs to be discussed, and one matter in particular that is probably going to greatly shock people.
Firstly, I think the creative staff should be praised for even attempting to put something like this in a programme intended to be watched by families, and especially for children. It's a brave move and I wish more animated stories would be willing to take that kind of risk. In fact, this scene is probably a good example of just how dark the whole Avatar franchise has been willing to be. Granted the Korra show, and this season in particular, has had some pretty intense imagery, such as the murder of the Earth Queen a few episodes prior, but people tend to forget that the original Last Airbender show, while it was arguably more light-hearted, nevertheless had many mature elements to it. After all, that whole story started with an outright genocide, the extermination of the Air Nomads. And it wasn't the kind of thing they kept off-screen either, no, they even showed the BODIES.
And the same is true of this scene as well. It would have been so easy for the writers to just cut away and imply that Korra's torture happened in another time, but no, they stuck to their guns and showed every single painful moment. It's one of the reasons I love this show so much. They don't look down on their intended audience, children. Like all the great cartoon makers before them, these guys know that kids can handle more than most adults would think they can, and aren't afraid of showing how bad the world can be. Great cartoons of the past like the 90's animated Batman show, or Disney's Gargoyles, or some of the various Transformers cartoons. These were shows that knew kids were smart enough to know this stuff and never shied them away from it. It's that kind of courage in their work that has always marked the best of animated shows. So on that note, kudos, writers.
The second point that needs to be addressed in this is how much it shows that Korra has grown as a character. Her fight and struggle during her torture has, to me at least, two major points to make. The first and most obvious is her wish to stay alive, and like with everything else we've seen her do, she's giving it all she's got to make that happen. The second, and more important, is how much she's resisting going into the Avatar state. Granted, we know why she doesn?t, because it's what her enemies want. But I think there's another dimension to this. When Korra first got control of that state, she used it for everything, from fighting spirits to just winning races against Tenzin's children. But by this point, after everything she's learned about being an Avatar and how the cycle first started, knowing that her power comes from the light spirit Raava, she's come to respect it more, as well as respecting her role as the Avatar, and thus used it only in the most dire of circumstances.
So to me, this struggle against the poison isn't just her trying to preserve her own life. It's her trying to save the life of another, to save Raava. And in doing so, she saves the Avatar cycle as a whole, something she knows is far greater than just her, and something the world needs and HAS needed for thousands of years. But, perhaps most of all, I think she resists the need to go into the Avatar state is because she's grown out of her old way of thinking about herself. When the series first started, being the Avatar was how she viewed herself. As far as she was concerned, that was all she was, perhaps shown best by her fear of Amon taking her bending away. To Korra, if she wasn't the Avatar, she was nothing. But Korra has changed since those early days. Yes, being the Avatar is still important, but she's also some to appreciate that she's more than that, that being the Avatar isn't what defines her, or makes her special. So, to me, when I see Korra resisting the Avatar state, I think to myself that what she's truly trying to do here is ensure that she dies a human, as Korra, not as the Avatar.
And now we come to what is probably going to be the most controversial point of this whole ramble of mine. That being that I think this torture scene is actually trying to be a metaphor for something else.
That being, that this scene, to me, is this show's equivalent of a rape scene.
Now I know many people will disagree with me on that, but if I may say, just look at the imagery in this scene. A young woman (Korra) being captured and restrained by her opponents, is somewhat undressed (at least in her arms and legs), and has something done to her that's not only incredibly painful, but also emotionally and mentally scars her for many years afterwards. What Korra experiences here is not just torture, it's an outright violation, an attempt to destroy who she is. I am convinced that this was what the writers had in mind when they made this scene. Granted, I'll be the first to admit that they'd probably never have gotten away with putting an outright rape in the show, even with all the death and destruction they'd shown in the past, but when I watch the scene, that's what I take away from it. If that truly was the intent behind this, then I once again praise the show's creators for being bold enough to even attempt putting something like this in here, even if it was only a metaphor for it. It not only made the show darker, it also greatly developed her character by taking away from her earlier confidence and giving her something she had to work for years to get over. That's the kind of writing even some adult stories are hesitant to show, and I cannot stress enough how brave the writers were for taking a chance with it. At least, if that interpretation was indeed what was going on here.
Well, that's all I have to say on the matter. I hope you all enjoyed reading my interpretation of this incredible scene from this fantastic show.
R, thought about making a short summary of what you are commenting?