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[Column] General: Korra, Dorian & Bond - Moving Away from Center Stage
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
2014 will go down as a banner year for proponents of change in social tolerance. From the final episode of Legend of Korra to the announcement of a potential new James Bond to 'first of its kind' character in Dragon Age: Inquisition, we have borne witness to often overlooked segments of the larger society taking center stage in our television shows, movies and games.
Read more of Suzie Ford's Korra, Dorian & Bond - Moving Away from Center Stage.
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Comments
Indeed, it is heartening to see some attitudes and old social taboos softening a few degrees. Small steps on a very, very long road.
The whole thing with James Bond is that there's established intellectual property that they're essentially changing for the sake of inclusion. It's the same reason that people were ever-so-pissed-off at the Constantine show not having him smoke or have lung cancer (two major character defining traits of the comics) just because there's a strong movement against smoking in today's society.
Why consider changing around James Bond? Why not make another agent? 008? 009? 011? This character could become a focal point by also having Agent 007 being assassinated at the very beginning of the movie to show the reason for the shift of characters as well as main focus for the movie's plot as well.
Korra's inclusion wasn't well played out at all. The first two seasons of the show had her fawning for the guy from the Bending tournament, even after the breakup. She showed jealousy against Asami most the entire time with little liking. There was no evolution to this unless it was jerked in during the final two seasons/books. It felt way too tacked on and not at all organic as the writers claim it to be.
It's a matter of instead of pushing forwards towards the future of making inclusion part of the "new", there's an attempt of trying to rewrite history and make it part of the past. Take for example how they're trying to write in a female Captain America. There's many issues with this and the main one is the back story of the Captain America character being made in the WWII US Army, something well known to not have any females in at all. LEARN from the past and move forward unto the future, don't try to act like the past never happened at all by completely changing it.
Judging by your statement, you seem to have perhaps not watched the final two seasons of Legend of Korra. If you had, you would definitely have seen an evolution of the relationship between Korra and Asami. They went from rivals, to friends, to best friends and beyond by the end of this season.
Do yourself a favor and watch the last two seasons. They're very good and you won't find yourself too embroiled in a budding romance as it is something that comes through naturally to its conclusion at season's end.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
what ur claiming is not true - the james bond in the movies is completly different from the james bond in the books...the most recent film adaptations are a bit better, in the books, james bond is an alcoholic and mostly broken man...
besides, things can change - they dont have to stay the same all the time you know - if things had to stay the same we would still have slaves or burn red haired women...so change is good
It has been credibly argued in a lot of corners that neither Korra nor Asami are lesbians but are, in fact, bisexual. Both had been involved with Mako in the first two seasons and spent the largest part of seasons three and four developing a friendship with one another that evolved into something more.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I was just about to point out that she didn't need to be gay to have a relationship with another girl. Bisexual isn't even that rare, there have been plenty of characters across various media that fell into that category (mostly female ones though* :P).
* And of course Captain Jack!
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I don't understand how it's jerked on when half the time (as in, two books) was spent on leading up to it.
The last book was even more focused on personal change in Korra, to understand people, to be able to make them understand etc. And while it was rather short in the series, she spent *three years* in universe writing letters to Asami - and no one else.
They both were in a huge emotional turmoil due to recent events, there friendship grew over the last two books and over like four years in universe, both got "dropped" by the same guy, so lots to talk about etc..
And then the perfect opportunity arrived with the spirit portals.
And she obviously isn't lesbian, but bisexual at best. On top of that, people think of Korra x Asami because they extrapolate from the last two seasons including the ending. We didn't see him kissing or anytihng, they barely hold hands for a few moments there. So if it is "jerked on", then it's by you, because you think that once they are through the portal, they'll drop everything and go straight for a "home run" or whatever, instead of two very close friends with lots of things to talk about enjoying their holiday.
If you think something has to be there from the beginning and it has to be blatantly presented you don't seem to understand the concept of character development. Heck, i bet if they'd showed them making out without any previous indication of them being friends, it would count as "plot twist".
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
So you've never known anyone who appeared completely heterosexual and then "one day" was suddenly dating and enjoying a homosexual relationship?
Well, I have.
I can't say to have seen legend of Korra yet so I can't comment on how it was done.
Having said that, if your issue was with the "suddenly" I can most assuredly say that while at the conservatory I attended I saw several people "surprise" everyone and suddenly was with someone of the same sex and then proclaimed that they were gay.
To that end I also knew a woman who was always saying she was gay and then "suddenly" was dating guys.
Since they indicate that this character "may" move the relationship to that area I don't see what the big deal is with not having a "moment of shit" scene where she proclaims her thoughts on her sexuality.
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I recall back in the 90s when my kids were still very young, there was an afternoon show on PBS that portrayed life during the American Revolution. The show was based on American History and depicted life during the period and included all the founding fathers but was viewed through the eyes of children growing up then.
It was not an accurate portrayal. Now, I am no religious fanatic, but during the 1700s and 1800s, American life revolved around the churches pretty heavily. This is a historical fact. It's what they all did and it influenced all aspects of their daily lives back then. This cartoon simply wrote out every aspect of that part of life.
But in the late 20th and early 21st century, religion is taboo. so we simply rewrite history to fit a modern context.
Imagine 200 years from now, reading in history books, about the "War on Terror" with there being no mention what so ever about the Muslim and Christian influences.
Yeah because every American household has a pet cow.
When I was 6 and moved from CA. to CO. I thought I was going to have a horse because everyone in Colorado did according to the TV and movies. But than again I was 6.
well, growing up, I thought I was going to have a life because everyone on TV seemed to have one. Instead I got a job.
Really liked the ending to Korra, kinda wish they went further with the relationship, but Nick is Nick. Small steps.
The Bond thing is an odd one for me. The issue I have with it depends on how you look at Bond. Is Bond/007 a person or is that a codename for various agents through out the years.
If Bond is Bond the person than I do not like the new casting choice.
If Bond/007 is a codename underwhich many agents worked than I a more than happy since I love Idris Elbas previous work.
As for Dragon Age...again on the one hand having characters that go one way is more realistic, on the other I would have liked to romance Cassandra with my female warrior=)
Well I agreed with you, then I started to think. Bond has had different faces throughout the years. Why would it matter if this time the face end's up having a different tint. We all have a different skin tone you can find every possible tone between white and black within the human population. So then the question would arise how much could the skin-tone of the new bond deviate? How much lighter or darker should he then be? And that question would be just to silly to answer.
Personally, I had never heard of Korra up until last week when folks started talking about her sexuality. Was she an interesting character? What did she do? What made her so great that she was worth discussing? I didn't have the slightest clue. But I knew she was bisexual. Hopefully, one day such things are about as important as whether the heroine's hair is blonde or red.
Given how they progressed the show, I'd say they would basically have to be for it to make sense.
However I don't think the issue is what sexuality her final label is, but rather how well it was portrayed in the series. For example, Dorrian in DAi had his sexuality always there in the background. However the game gradually drops more and more hints / details as the game progresses. Comments, hints dropped throughout the game. Heck, in my game I even ask him if he prefers men and he gave the most curious 'what an interesting question' remark. In Korra it feels more like a switch being flipped, which is not really how it works. You don't flip a switch and become gay / bisexual. Even if a person was to try and hide / surpress it, that part of them is always there. As a question, as a curiosity, as a potential interest. Not to mention the potential for conflict / resolution and thus character depth.
If their intention all along was to make Korra gay / bisexual, than it would've made more sense to have her showing interest in others throughout the show. I can see why they didn't (it is still primarily a kids show, and as such issues of sexuality tend to be downplayed a lot), but it does make it seem a bit forced.
The show wasn't really meant to go on as long as it did. Only the main spirit arc was planned out, everything else was written like in any other show, meaning it was written as the show went. The Korrasami thing was kept in mind by the creators from the third seaon on.
In other words, the relationship was not planned from the begining. They just created characters that in time turned out to fit well together so they ran with it.
You realize that Korra's experience mirrors a lot of people's in the LGBTQ community? Your description: "It was jarring and out of character..." is exactly how it sometimes feels to suddenly discover you are not attracted to the opposite sex, and in fact have feelings towards your own sex. At least that was my experience when I first discovered that I wasn't sexually attracted to the opposite sex, and I know others in the community, and they've had similar experiences.
A lot of people say that the evolution of Korra's and Asami's relationship wasn't obvious enough. This to me shows that they are in a heterosexual mindset and because they haven't seen this kind of relationship displayed very often in TV, they just don't notice it and naturally assume that they are just really good friends. I'd argue though that it was extremely obvious. I mean what girl blushes when their "friend" compliments them on their hair? The Legend of Korra wasn't an anime with stereotypical girls that blush at everything, so that should have been a huge clue.
I will argue that the relationship transition went too smoothly, and lacked the realism of what actually happens when one discovers that their sexuality isn't the same as the majority of the population's sexuality. There is a lot denial for some of us and it takes a while for a lot of us to accept ourselves as we are, due largely to a lot society's harsh and extremely vocal views on our sexuality. Obviously though, this show wasn't steered to be quite that adult so that part of the transition of understanding oneself and ignoring the hateful nonsense that so many spout, was not portrayed.
Smile
Bond has always been a code name to me and not a specific person. Definitely a "type" of person but that has nothing to do with color. It's all about charisma.
I wasn't aware of that fact, but if that's true it wouldn't surprise me.
Tbh much of the Korra arc(s) felt forced / made up as it went. It's a shame, because I know that's not the fault of the writer's, that's one of the many issues I have w/ producers in general. They don't tend to think that stuff threw and then it's up to the artists (writers in this case) to pick up the pieces and do what they can w/ it.
And you're right, it does happen often.