Yeah. I know I haven't blogged for ages, but this is pretty much what came to mind. Took my own time to say it, and all. The Legend of Korra is as bad as the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy.
I know about the hatred and complaining and the divisions between those who saw the Prequel Trilogy as just as good as the Original Trilogy and the fans (mostly the original, die-hard fans) who saw the Prequel Trilogy as a gross degradation of the OT, and Han shot first, and so on, and so on. That's not to mention the rather disturbing aspects of the mythic Star Wars franchise that the Prequel Triology confirmed (and I'm taking this from David Brin here) -
1. Elitism and feudalism taken to its extreme. The denizens of the galaxy are forced to choose between one elite and another with little say in their lives.
2. The presence of "Holy Royalty" like Anakin Skywalker (whose virgin birth makes absolutely no sense at all) and who have midichlorians, while others don't. The force in the Original Trilogy was even described as being like Yoga, as something anybody could learn to use.
3. A rather worse portrayal of women. Princess Leia ruled the roost in Episode IV but was conspicuously absent for the climactic battle in which Luke blew up the Death Star. Her role in V and VI is significantly diminished and she's no longer as tough or as capable as she used to be, and she has been fetishized like all hell in VI. Padme Amidala in the prequels is a nightmare for feminists, with one analysis comparing her unfavourably to Bella Swan - Bella Swan!!! If Padme is worse than Bella, well...that's the end of it...
So how does Korra compare, at the end of two seasons?
1. Destruction of an existing mythology - the whole bit about Lion Turtles giving people their bending powers was utterly, absolutely pointless and useless, and the part about Raava giving Wan his powers made the line "The glow is the past Avatars channeling their energy through you" from the original show meaningless too.
2. "Holy Royalty" and "bending magic" - the bending arts are no longer martial arts that must be studied and learned, and for which a spiritual connection can be developed over the ages. They're now magic granted by the Lion Turtles, which makes the entire point of the bending arts thoroughly, absolutely useless. People need to be magically granted their bending powers, rather than learning them through physical and spiritual development (The Lion Turtle who taught Aang energybending is an exception, because there's nothing that says that Ozai can't slowly redevelop his spiritual connection if he tried, unless he was in some way permanently damaged). The Lion Turtle story also kills the story of Oma and Shu from "The Cave of Two Lovers". These retcons solve nothing.
3. Why does Korra suddenly decide that bringing the human and spirit worlds in contact is a good thing? The spirits that caused the humans so much trouble in Wan's time were normal, light spirits, not the corrupted dark spirits of Vaatu (although those were even worse). Korra has no idea whether the spirits are as good as she thinks they are - and even with a much stronger spirit of light with her, what guarantee does she have that the spirits won't start causing trouble for humans again? No explanation.
4. The villains have gone down the drain. Amon landed up being creepy, awesome and sad at the same time, but so much potential to explore his motivations, his actions, or the actions of his chi-blocker followers was completely missed out. And he had a perfectly good reason to be fighting. Unalaq is far, far worse. There's nothing about him that's human, or funny, or even remotely redeeming. He's boring, flat, predictable and downright stupid. Unlike Ozai, who was given a chance to redeem himself at the end of the story and who seems to have had an abusive parent in Fire Lord Azulon, Unalaq has no such excuse. He's a villain who exists just because the story needs a villain, and doesn't serve as anything other than a stupid, one-dimensional plot device, no better than Newt Gunray.
5. Plot, pacing and secondary characters have all gone down the drain. Bolin is a crude caricature, Asami suffers terribly in the second season, Mako I won't even bother to complain about because his behavior towards the women in his life is pathetic, and Lin Beifong is wrecked in the second season. President Raiko, likewise, exists solely as a plot device meant to prevent Korra from attacking the Northern Water Tribe. He's perfectly right - where's the evidence that Unalaq has planned to turn into an evil Dark Avatar with an army of evil spirits? Making Korra correct just because she's the Avatar and she's the living incarnate of the spirt of light is utterly lazy, stupid, miserable writing. Aang wasn't "right" because he was the Avatar, and the way Chin the Conqueror was seen as a hero and Kyoshi a villain for indirectly killing him showed that an Avatar need no be seen as a hero, or even as a good human being. Legend of Korra changes that with rotten protagonist-centered morality.
I could go on and on, but I think I've brought out my main gripes. Right now, Seasons 3 and 4 are likely to be an exercise in slaughter like none other before.
I know about the hatred and complaining and the divisions between those who saw the Prequel Trilogy as just as good as the Original Trilogy and the fans (mostly the original, die-hard fans) who saw the Prequel Trilogy as a gross degradation of the OT, and Han shot first, and so on, and so on. That's not to mention the rather disturbing aspects of the mythic Star Wars franchise that the Prequel Triology confirmed (and I'm taking this from David Brin here) -
1. Elitism and feudalism taken to its extreme. The denizens of the galaxy are forced to choose between one elite and another with little say in their lives.
2. The presence of "Holy Royalty" like Anakin Skywalker (whose virgin birth makes absolutely no sense at all) and who have midichlorians, while others don't. The force in the Original Trilogy was even described as being like Yoga, as something anybody could learn to use.
3. A rather worse portrayal of women. Princess Leia ruled the roost in Episode IV but was conspicuously absent for the climactic battle in which Luke blew up the Death Star. Her role in V and VI is significantly diminished and she's no longer as tough or as capable as she used to be, and she has been fetishized like all hell in VI. Padme Amidala in the prequels is a nightmare for feminists, with one analysis comparing her unfavourably to Bella Swan - Bella Swan!!! If Padme is worse than Bella, well...that's the end of it...
So how does Korra compare, at the end of two seasons?
1. Destruction of an existing mythology - the whole bit about Lion Turtles giving people their bending powers was utterly, absolutely pointless and useless, and the part about Raava giving Wan his powers made the line "The glow is the past Avatars channeling their energy through you" from the original show meaningless too.
2. "Holy Royalty" and "bending magic" - the bending arts are no longer martial arts that must be studied and learned, and for which a spiritual connection can be developed over the ages. They're now magic granted by the Lion Turtles, which makes the entire point of the bending arts thoroughly, absolutely useless. People need to be magically granted their bending powers, rather than learning them through physical and spiritual development (The Lion Turtle who taught Aang energybending is an exception, because there's nothing that says that Ozai can't slowly redevelop his spiritual connection if he tried, unless he was in some way permanently damaged). The Lion Turtle story also kills the story of Oma and Shu from "The Cave of Two Lovers". These retcons solve nothing.
3. Why does Korra suddenly decide that bringing the human and spirit worlds in contact is a good thing? The spirits that caused the humans so much trouble in Wan's time were normal, light spirits, not the corrupted dark spirits of Vaatu (although those were even worse). Korra has no idea whether the spirits are as good as she thinks they are - and even with a much stronger spirit of light with her, what guarantee does she have that the spirits won't start causing trouble for humans again? No explanation.
4. The villains have gone down the drain. Amon landed up being creepy, awesome and sad at the same time, but so much potential to explore his motivations, his actions, or the actions of his chi-blocker followers was completely missed out. And he had a perfectly good reason to be fighting. Unalaq is far, far worse. There's nothing about him that's human, or funny, or even remotely redeeming. He's boring, flat, predictable and downright stupid. Unlike Ozai, who was given a chance to redeem himself at the end of the story and who seems to have had an abusive parent in Fire Lord Azulon, Unalaq has no such excuse. He's a villain who exists just because the story needs a villain, and doesn't serve as anything other than a stupid, one-dimensional plot device, no better than Newt Gunray.
5. Plot, pacing and secondary characters have all gone down the drain. Bolin is a crude caricature, Asami suffers terribly in the second season, Mako I won't even bother to complain about because his behavior towards the women in his life is pathetic, and Lin Beifong is wrecked in the second season. President Raiko, likewise, exists solely as a plot device meant to prevent Korra from attacking the Northern Water Tribe. He's perfectly right - where's the evidence that Unalaq has planned to turn into an evil Dark Avatar with an army of evil spirits? Making Korra correct just because she's the Avatar and she's the living incarnate of the spirt of light is utterly lazy, stupid, miserable writing. Aang wasn't "right" because he was the Avatar, and the way Chin the Conqueror was seen as a hero and Kyoshi a villain for indirectly killing him showed that an Avatar need no be seen as a hero, or even as a good human being. Legend of Korra changes that with rotten protagonist-centered morality.
I could go on and on, but I think I've brought out my main gripes. Right now, Seasons 3 and 4 are likely to be an exercise in slaughter like none other before.
