‘The Legend Of Korra’ Feminist? Writers Didn’t Want A ‘Trophy For Male Characters’
Does The Legend Of Korra have a feminist message? The writers for the Nickelodeon cartoon, which tells the story of a strong female avatar, are saying they specifically wanted a tough character who could stand on her own.
In a related report by The Inquisitr, a drop in ratings may seem a reason to fear seeing The Legend Of Korra cancelled soon, especially since Nickelodeon has shifted the show to such an odd release schedule. But while it’s always possible the worst could happen, it seems very likely The Legend Of Korra Season 3 will allowed to be played out. Book 4 is already in the works and the writers behind the story say Season 4 is when it will definitely end.
It be argued that The Legend Of Korra is no stranger to weaving modern political topics into its story. Some say Book 2 was unique because it resembled American politics and centralized on the theme of a government shutdown near the beginning of the season. Some political pundits even took this idea and ran with it, comparing President Obama to Korra and Varrick to Dick Cheney and the Koch brothers.
Based upon this quote, when writer Bryan Konietzko spoke to Salon about his intentions for The Legend Of Korra, it seems he was purposefully shooting for creating a good example of feminism:
“I am certainly proud to add Korra to the pantheon of TV characters, which is perpetually sorely lacking in multifaceted female characters who aren’t sidekicks, subordinates or mere trophies for male characters. The notion that she is the most potent female character you can think of, and no other comes to mind, in a time when I hear there are more TV shows in production than ever before, is pretty depressing. Hopefully, Korra and our many other dynamic female characters, including the new ones we will be introducing in Books Three and Four, will help inspire kids and adults alike, open doors for more main female characters in all media.”
In the world of video games, the lack of a strong female character in Assassin’s Creed has had critics complaining about the direction in which Ubisoft has taken the series. The criticism was highest when it was discovered that co-op play would not allow for female characters and instead used clones of the main male lead character. Considering that AC5 is based on the French revolution, others point out that a fictional female character should have played a prominent role since Charlotte Corday was the most well-known real-life assassin of that era.
Getting back to The Legend Of Korra, the writers also are trying to incorporate the message that even well-intentioned power will corrupt and ideology can be used to oppress people. They want to examine how even “good” people can get out of balance, which some critics believe may have had happened to the modern feminist movement. For example, some people liked a father wearing a T-shirt with a supposedly feminist message, but others thought it was out of whack and would open up daughters to sexual predators. There’s even controversy over what exactly feminism even means since Miley Cryus considers herself a feminist and Katy Perry thinks the word “means that I love myself as a female and I also love men.”
Do you think The Legend Of Korra has a feminist message?
