And most of this critique of empire is completely lost in Legend of Korra. A show that does nothing to reconcile the past with the present. Instead it preaches literal horseshoe theory as the over arching message of the show.

"what did Amon want? Equality for all. Unalaq? He brought back the spirits. And Zaheer believed in freedom. [...] The problem was, those guys were totally out of balance and they took their ideologies too far. " - Toph, EP 43, "The Calling"

Each of these villains, including the final one, Kuvira, represent a kind of ideological boogie man.

Amon is the minority rights Boogie Man, he espoused the ideals of equality. One could interpret him as the white genocide boogie man but there is little evidence of any kind of true class division between bender's and non-benders. A shallow caricature at best.
Unalaq was the religion or spirituality boogie man, or could be interpreted as the "return to tradition" boogie man.
Zaheer is the anarchist boogie man.
Kuvira is the totalitarian dictator aka Communist boogie man.

At no point in the show does Korra have to struggle against any of these ideas and combat them in any ideological way. They are all metaphorical punching bags. Each of them "to extreme" to allow to exist. Each contrasted against each other as though they were equals.

Republic City stands at the center of the show as the only constant and good political organization. A representative democracy. Tied explicitly to Aang to drive the point home, if you had any doubt's about its goodness. A stand in for America with its own statue of liberty.

In the end, the heir to the Earth Kingdom Monarchy gives up his throne to install a representative democracy in the Earth Kingdom. The result of this shallow attempt at writing leaves the shows saying almost nothing at all. It's as if it was written to tell 13 year olds that their anarchist or communist curiosities are misguided and simply a phase.

[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 8 points 8 months ago (2 children)

The whole overarching theme of the two series is totally different.

ATLA is about restoring peace from an objectively big-bad. It’s a story of perseverance and self-improvement. And it’s about recognizing and correcting mistakes…Aang, in saving the world after he abandoned it; and Zuko’s entire story arc.

Contrast that with Korra (which Nick studios really messed up). There was not supposed to be more than one season, initially. And they ruined the last season (or two, I think) by rushing it out as an online exclusive.

If you have to pick a theme for Korra, though, it’s about balance and nuance. None of the big bads are objectively totally bad. They all have redeeming factors and all of them, you could say, are somewhat right. But, as you said, they go too far.

Even towards the end as Korra has the mercury poisoning and PTSD and depression, it’s about inner balance and harmony. Honestly, mental health is a huge topic for a kids show to try to tackle, and they did it wonderfully.

[+] Cottenlai_Zhou@hexbear.net 6 points 8 months ago (1 children)

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[–] RedWizard@hexbear.net 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Yes this is exactly my point. Zaheer is a vague shadow that represents Anarchist ideology. He says he wants to bring "Chaos" to the world because somehow that is a preferable world state to order. Except Anarchism isn't about "chaos" or "lawlessness" its about building horizontal organizations instead of vertical ones. Its about dismantling unjust hierarchies and being vigilant in your critical view of hierarchies. I'm not even an anarchist and I understand that much. Even if I'm talking out the side of my mouth, I'm being more generous then the show.

At no point is Zaheer interested in sticking around to educate the Earth Kingdom citizens in how to reorganize their society in a more ethical and equitable way. He just wants to do wacky disruptive assassination while quoting vaguely Zen Buddhist philosophy about detachment from worldly possessions.

Kuvira is attempting to restore "order" as a result of Zaheer's Chaos, and they paint her as an "authoritarian" as if her actions are some how philosophically different then Zaheer's, who enforced his own authority over the Earth Kingdom by killing the Queen. She has no "ideology". She's not trying to build an Earth Kingdom ruled by the proletariat. She's not trying to build a Fascist Earth Kingdom bent on exploiting its citizens for capital gains. None of that is explicitly stated. They simply drag out every anticommunist trope and have her do them all.

reeducation camps
forced labor camps
forced starvation
one party rule as a smoke screen for her singular authority (part of the deal with Yi was the governor would stay in place under Kuvira's "supervision")

Again, it's a shallow exploration of these "ideologies" or worldviews, it's clear the writers had no intention of understanding them or struggling against them.

But also what is to say about the first season and equality? That equality can "go to far" or that behind every equality leader there is an evil intention? Are we to then look at the equal rights movement and ponder in what ways it went "to far"? Should we look at people like Malcolm X and say they were the Aamon in this situation? We should be skeptical of equality movements? At no point do they address the concerns of the non benders who clearly believed they were second class citizens. Was there a kernel of truth there or did the inequality only exist in their brain washed minds? Which is something people say to minorities today, that there is no inequality it's just your bad mindset...