I thought Korra was entertaining, but it lacked a lot of the internal consistency that ATLA had, in favor of superficial explorations of something vaguely resembling political ideology. ATLA dealt with issues of poverty, non-violence and resistance in the face of oppression, while still being a show for children with magic martial arts and beautiful music. I think Korra did a few things very well, but everything else felt like squandered potential.
As for the portrayal of fascism on LOK, i recommend this video to see better why it doesn’t really work because of the very clear limitations the show runners have.
It’s so sad because Nickelodeon actually let Brike get away with a lot of stuff in Korra (on-screen torture of protagonist, on-screen execution of political leader, fascist dogwhistling, contradictions of industrial capitalism, woman protagonist, adult main cast) all for it to be squandered on an orientalist neoliberal imagination that has nothing to say.
If I didn’t know any better I would think that Brike were charged to write Korra so that they could ruin any sort of leftist thought in children’s television after ATLA’s mindblowing success. But it was most likely because Brike are extremely egotistical white who drive success off of controversy and clicks.
Also it’s really funny that the straw that broke the indigenous female protagonist’s back was the queerbait kiss at the end. The nick execs really could not tolerate that.
I thought Korra was entertaining, but it lacked a lot of the internal consistency that ATLA had, in favor of superficial explorations of something vaguely resembling political ideology. ATLA dealt with issues of poverty, non-violence and resistance in the face of oppression, while still being a show for children with magic martial arts and beautiful music. I think Korra did a few things very well, but everything else felt like squandered potential.
As for the portrayal of fascism on LOK, i recommend this video to see better why it doesn’t really work because of the very clear limitations the show runners have.
It’s so sad because Nickelodeon actually let Brike get away with a lot of stuff in Korra (on-screen torture of protagonist, on-screen execution of political leader, fascist dogwhistling, contradictions of industrial capitalism, woman protagonist, adult main cast) all for it to be squandered on an orientalist neoliberal imagination that has nothing to say.
If I didn’t know any better I would think that Brike were charged to write Korra so that they could ruin any sort of leftist thought in children’s television after ATLA’s mindblowing success. But it was most likely because Brike are extremely egotistical white
who drive success off of controversy and clicks.
Also it’s really funny that the straw that broke the indigenous female protagonist’s back was the queerbait kiss at the end. The nick execs really could not tolerate that.