Comments on: “Avatar: The Legend of Korra” gets badass on gender expectations

By: Avatar Series Builds Characters (Cool Girl Ones Too) « Tiara and Glasses

Avatar Series Builds Characters (Cool Girl Ones Too) « Tiara and Glasses — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:04:25 +0000

[…] and muscular, and probably wouldn’t be considered beautiful. In fact, according to one posting on Bad Reputation, many of the comments about the first picture of her released online were about how much she looked […]

By: anthony

anthony — Sun, 04 Mar 2012 01:16:17 +0000

more korra stuff
http://sot.ag/NDA3NjY1

By: Damion

Damion — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 20:55:09 +0000

Haven’t seen the episodes with Korra yet, but she looks awesome. I love to see tough women in fiction, few as they may be at times. Then again, I’ve also watched a lot of Xena: warrior princess. I really don’t care if characters (or people) don’t conform to gender stereotypes, as long as they can kick ass.

By: Stephen B

Stephen B — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:21:22 +0000

In reply to Mawgen. The Taoist book they wrote is CRAZY. It has Bod characters demonstrating verses from the Tao Te Ching (emptiness is useful, if a bowl wasn't empty you wouldn't be able to put anything in it, etc) and Chuang Tzu (his dream with the butterfly, the giant bird etc) but it doesn't explain WHY any of these are important! The end result is trippy, and somehow manages to be faithful to the original tales while not making any sense to new readers, because there's no explanation of why he's riding on a bird!

By: Mawgen

Mawgen — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 23:03:54 +0000

In reply to Stephen B.

omgosh – I did not know that! :)

I knew bod was a boy, but I never thought of his clothes as a dress, and did not know about the monk stuff. That makes bod even more cool!

By: Jonathan H

Jonathan H — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:35:58 +0000

In reply to Stephen B.

Well, my thought processes are slightly meandering today. It’s an interesting journey, if not very practical. Kinda segued into live action more than cartoon, but it’s still the same mindset of ‘girls must be pretty’. Even our man, Whedon, despite his love of the strong women, never quite got past the idea that his protagonists (and even support cast) needed to be Made of Sexy (tm.).
What made me laugh however, was recently being told that the new Thundercats Cheetara was insufficiently sexy – by a woman. So it’s not just the teen boys. :)

By: Stephen B

Stephen B — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:26:20 +0000

In reply to Jonathan H. Yeah. It wasn't just that the response (from teen boys on the net) happened at all, although it was more vicious than the quotes I could remember here, but more that it made me appreciate once again how awesome A:TLA is! Ooh, good catch on Tripitaka :)

By: Jonathan H

Jonathan H — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 14:01:17 +0000

A couple of points here. Firstly, he (Steve B) really IS that old. He’s not lying. He’s like ‘Yellow Emperor old’. But I digress.
Secondly, I should point out that the gender ambiguity in Avatar and Bod (http://youtu.be/IEmxW9dweew or http://youtu.be/BwpouzNli8A – for the up-tempo youngsters out there) has been well seen in other sources too. Lest we not forget Tripitaka in ‘Monkey’ portrayed by Japanese actRESS and MODEL, Masako Natsume. Or even in the humble panto tradition of the male hero played by girls.
Bored numbering my points now, so I shall simply plough on.
I may be off-base slightly, but whilst I can see the concern that some elements are ‘bothered’ by the fact the female protagonists are not supermodel material – very likely young males who don’t quite grasp the nuances of gender politics or their own place in the world yet, anyway – I am not sure it would be my main issue. If you start thinking that way, then God help you, you have to take issue with the film and television industry as a whole, and that’s an argument for another time.
No, instead, I would look at the positive aspects. You hit the nail on the head with characters not entirely conforming to gender stereotype. You have female leads, and if the previous series was anything to go by, they are going to be kicking ass and taking names. They would chew bubblegum, but I am reliably informed, they are are all ‘outa gum’.
I don’t know how many peeps would agree, but I am quite encouraged by the increasing number of pretty good roles, of increasing depth and variety, out there in TV land for women. Many of my favourite shows coming out of the US have solid parts for women that make you actually want to listen rather than just sit back and enjoy the view. Of course, there is still the issue of most LA-based actors being gorgeous and not what you would call ‘ordinary’ looking, but this applies to the men as well, though perhaps a lesser extent.
If the good roles keep coming, then you never know, the move towards the less conventional ‘look’ may not be far away.

By: kaberett

kaberett — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:22:47 +0000

My reaction on looking at that picture was, in fact, “but! She is wearing clothes! And muscled! And of colour! What is this! Surely it is not mainstream TV!”

Or, to put it another way, :D :D :D. This is almost enough to *make me watch TV*.

By: Russell

Russell — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 12:43:39 +0000

Other than the fact that she’s a cartoon and it’s like applying a sexual attraction value to an inanimate object (ooh, that book makes me want to READ it so hard, yeah, I’m gonna give that novel a damn good reading), if you met someone who looked like what that cartoon would look like in real life, in real life, I don’t think you would make similar complaints about her attractiveness. These animated characters, drawing inspiration from the Japanese tradition, are typically unrealistically gorgeous no matter what you do. I think there is a degree of hyper-sensitivity here from the fans.

That said, I also think you’re totally on the money about it being okay for her to not be the paragon of physical gorgeousness as imagined by the white male, including what you said about trickster types, who are awesome and the best. :)