What's most impressive about the Korra and Asami relationship is that it tips its hat to not one, but two bisexual characters. It's possible that 20 years from now, we'll look back at this show as a milestone for more than just children's TV. And I didn't want to look back in 20 years and think, "Man, we could have fought harder for that." Mike and I talked it over and decided it was important to be unambiguous about the intended relationship.
If we want to see that paradigm evolve, we need to take a stand against it. It was just another assumption based on a paradigm that marginalizes non-heterosexual people. So we alluded to it throughout the second half of the series, working in the idea that their trajectory could be heading towards a romance.īut as we got close to finishing the finale, the thought struck me: How do I know we can't openly depict that? No one ever explicitly said so. However, we still operated under this notion, another "unwritten rule," that we would not be allowed to depict that in our show. The more Korra and Asami's relationship progressed, the more the idea of a romance between them organically blossomed for us. No, not everyone is queer, but the other side of that coin is that not everyone is straight. Konietzko comments briefly on how he didn't want Korra to " have to end up with someone," but that the idea was one that progressed as the show did. The pairing between the two was never "endgame," he wrote, but then again, none of Korra's relationships were. "At first we didn't give it much weight, not because we think same-sex relationships are a joke, but because we never assumed it was something we would ever get away with depicting on an animated show for a kids network in this day and age, or at least in 2010," he wrote. In a post on his personal website talking about the finale, Konietzko explains that pairing Korra and Asami was an idea kicked around as early as season one. On-screen, their level of intimacy grew as Korra shut out her relationships and began to lean more heavily on Asami for support.īack in the writers' room, according to co-creator Bryan Konietzko, a romantic seed was planted much sooner. Once rivals for the same man, the two eventually developed a close friendship.
The evolution of Korra and Asami's relationship is almost unimaginable by Hollywood standards. The evolution of their relationship is almost unimaginable by Hollywood standards.
And then there were Korra's friends: the fierce Beifong sisters, Su and Lin, who braved more than a few suicide missions in their day the airbender Jinora, a young girl with tremendous spiritual power and of course Asami, a brilliant engineer with a complicated family. After three seasons of male masterminds, season four introduced the conquerer and villainess Kuvira. Over the course of the show, we've watched Avatar Korra transform from a hotheaded youth to a complex, thoughtful survivor struggling to overcome PTSD. Its racial variety is noticeable, and its women are a force to be reckoned with. The Legend of Korra has always been a progressive kids' show for tackling topics like equality, social class and political agendas with a diverse cast. What it achieved in those mere seconds is more than what most shows, let alone kids' shows, aspire to in their entire run. This scene was short it lasted for roughly half a minute. Yesterday, the show's creators confirmed this not-so-subtle pairing as a canon couple. The throwback, as many fans surmised, wasn't unintentional. As others have pointed out, this scene evokes the final moments of of The Last Airbender, in which the series' main couple shares a smooch. Just before the credits roll, we see Korra and her longtime friend Asami hold hands and lock eyes in a long, intimate gaze.
But if you were expecting the show to skip the part about getting the girl, you're wrong. Korra twists this well-worn conclusion in a few very important ways, the most obvious of which is that the hero is actually a heroine. The hero triumphs over evil and, hand-in-hand with a loved one, departs into the sunset (or in this case, a spirit portal). The final moments of The Legend of Korra, Nickelodeon's follow-up to animated hit Avatar: The Last Airbender, unfold in a very familiar way.
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This article includes spoilers for the series finale of The Legend of Korra.