Korra Discussion Post: 'The Revelation'

[whitelotusmods]

This is a post where you can discuss this week's episode* and link to your own reaction posts.

Spoilers for the series up until 1x03 below.

*(eeee I still can't over the fact that there are going to be new episodes every week now I am so excited. :D)

Comments

[sholio]

*nods* I don't disagree with this, I just think ... it's not that the seeds of a more nuanced view aren't there, it's that I feel as if the show right now is slanting heavily towards wanting us to empathize with Korra and see her POV as correct, which is made much easier because all the Equalists we've seen so far have been violent revolutionaries or buffoons. And they could easily have made it a bit more nuanced by making the Equalists a bit more nuanced. For example, in the scene in the park where Korra questions the guy -- I did feel that her approach was heavy-handed and borderline bullying, but she's also scared for her friend and the Equalist is being an ass to her, and IIRC (I've only watched the episode once) she didn't actually attack him until he sneered at her and refused to help her. So ... basically this is exactly the sort of behavior (on Korra's part) that has bred resentment among the non-benders in the city, but the instigator was the non-bender yanking her chain.

I really do think that the show is intentionally presenting Korra as a little bit of a bully in the way she uses her powers, or at least unaware of the power differential (in terms of both physical power and political power) between herself and other people, and that part of her character growth is going to be learning to get past that. I just think that I'd feel a little more confident that we are actually meant to see her this way if the other side weren't presented in such an uncompromisingly negative way, so that Korra's actions are largely justified.

However, I do think some important groundwork was laid in this episode with Mako pointing out that she's always had things given to her and never had to go hungry (even though her life admittedly hasn't been a bed of roses either).

They didn't exactly care to run in to save any of the more notable gang leaders, or even negatively question taking their abilities away.

Well, but I kinda had a problem with that too, actually? I hope I can explain this so that I don't come across as a total hypocrite, but as with the guy in the park and the beatdown that he got from Korra, here again I'm getting a slightly uncomfortable undertone of "bad people deserve what happens to them". Korra and Mako rescue Bolin because they care about him, but Korra doesn't have any way to know if the other gang members (well, aside from the gang leader) are in the same situation as Bolin: street kids who joined the gang because they didn't have any other way to make money. And what Amon is doing to them is just as wrong as what he's doing to Bolin (and I do have a huge problem with it -- I certainly don't mean to say that I think Amon is justified in his actions; he's basically appointed himself judge, jury and executioner). We (the audience) care about Bolin and want to see him rescued, but Korra and Mako aren't exerting themselves to rescue the others from Amon's vigilante justice.

The city as it currently stands is dysfunctional enough that Amon's vigilantism is actually (to an extent) justified -- certainly the authorities aren't doing anything about the gangs, while Amon is -- but then the one sympathetic character in the gang gets rescued, so we (the audience) don't have to deal with the consequences of what Amon is doing through the lens of someone we care about; like the characters, we can view it from a comfortable distance ...

[talibusorabat]

so we (the audience) don't have to deal with the consequences of what Amon is doing through the lens of someone we care about; like the characters, we can view it from a comfortable distance ...

I don't know. If the episodes were longer, maybe, and not geared towards kids, maybe, but I feel like taking away Mako & Bolin's ability to participate in the pro-bending tournament would be too much for 12 22-minute episodes to handle. You'd either have to add in another bender character, or you'd have to show how Mako & Bolin deal with being evicted, jobless, and having to rebuild their lives yet again. Which would be really interesting, but I don't think you could have both that storyline and the Equalist storyline in just twelve episodes and do either of them justice.

I also feel like having that happen right after we find out about the boys being orphans and what they've had to do to survive on the streets would push the show too far into really depressing territory. Bolin is a great big golden retriever of love... there's only so much I can watch him suffer while still being entertained. >.>;;;

[sholio]

Heh, yeah - I don't mean to be Squeeharsh McBuzzkill here, and I do think that a lot of my reaction to the show are simply things that it's not going to be able to deliver in a half-hour kids' show. High expectations much, self?

That said, I think most of my dissatisfaction comes down to being unhappy with how the central conflict is being handled (most of the rest of it is more along the lines of "wouldn't it be cool if ...?"). I agree with your comment above that it probably won't stay this black and white, and it is possible that it's only being set up so black and white at the beginning to make it more shocking for Korra when the rug is pulled out from under her feet. And I do love the shiny, squeeful, kids-throwing-fireballs-around aspects of the show, too! I just wish they were giving us a little more nuance in the Equalists' point of view, but perhaps that is still to come.

[talibusorabat]

Dude, I would totally want to be Squeeharsh McBuzzkill for the NAME ALONE.

But yeah, I feel you. I do think the story they want to tell would have been better served with a 24 episode season rather than a 12 episode season. The pacing feels SO FAST to me, and not in a fun way.

Not that the episodes aren't fun, because I'm totally along for the ride. It's mostly after the episode ends that I'm like "...wait. But where's...what...that went fast." I had the same issue with The Promise. The pace in the first book moved so quickly, I barely had time to breathe, much less truly connect with what the characters were feeling.


But I do believe more nuance for the Equalists is to come. If only because I have to. XD

[iosonochesono]

IDK, maybe if I was a kid I'd view it differently, but as an adult I sort of agree with the first comment - I'm actually feeling way more sympathy for the Equalists than for Korra and her friends. I can understand wanting to be snide when you have what seems a police force that doesn't want people to get involved with the gangsters. I can understand not trusting benders when they don't seem to give a crap about your life on either side, gangster or law enforcement/government. And I think if you have people abusing their bending power, taking it away as Aang did with Ozai is more or less justified, because they are harming other people. It's not a "bad people deserve what happen to them" stance, but "Your right to swing your fist ends at the start of my nose" deal. And I am pretty sure all three of those characters were some form of gang-member higher-up, not like Bolin. Aside from their clothes (a HUGE status mark in the 20s/30s era and I imagine meant to portray the same point here) I am pretty sure in the beginning he basically introduced the first three of them as people the non-benders were likely to know?

Like I admit, there could be more nuance, and it would be better if there were more episodes, but so far I'm actually pretty impressed for what has been pushed into three episodes. And I think (especially for kids) there should be some distance initially because you're right - for the younger audience, they haven't really gotten to empathize that much with non-benders except for when those gang leaders threatened a shop-keeper. But that said, they have definitely got a background for saying, "Hey, benders can be pretty shitty people too" - especially assuming most people are building on from A: TLA and the Fire Nation war. Mako and Bolin, Katara, theoretically Amon, and most people attending those meetings... There's something more than just "Those people are jealous" going on, and I feel like part of Korra's job as an Avatar is going to be addressing that (or they wouldn't have made it a conflict from episode one.)

I do agree with your assessment of Amon (judge, jury, executioner) and I don't think Amon should be the one making those decisions, but I don't think Amon is supposed to be 'a good guy.' But he is taking advantage of a real problem, and his theoretical real solution could, in theory, be applied to better the public (bending and non-bending alike.) That's not why he's doing it, I don't think, but I also don't think most of the Equalist's point or even the solution itself is bad. Maybe they should focus on rehabilitation before taking bending powers away, but the idea itself seems... A lot better than a lot of our own justice systems today, tbh. Like "Oh, you can't firebend anyone's face anymore, have a nice day."

I don't think I would have been happy if a character that's relied on their bending so much and has lost so much lost their bending powers right away; they really need more peripheral/nearly core characters in this show, but it's hard to get that by episode three. And I like Korra but even with that guy being a jerk... Even by episode three, she's seen some evidence that benders can suck for people and he might have reason to automatically be suspicious of her. She is kinda really bullying. And like I said, it was a silly thing to do because who expects a pamphlet person to know anything of value since they're the most likely to be hassled? I didn't really think all things considered his reactions were that unreasonable at all so much as, "I know, we'll bully the man and use bending on him to intimidating! SUPER EFFECTIVE." as opposed to just taking one of the pamphlets and leaving. I seriously thought when she approached that that would be the only sensible thing to want to do. :/